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A young relative is graduating from college in May and everyone in the family is very proud of him. He has a 3.9 GPA, a degree in Finance and a job offer. To show how proud we are of him relatives from all over the country will be driving or flying in to attend his graduation ceremony and participate in a number of family events and expensive dinners.
His parents, my brother, has decided to stay at the local Marriott in the college town where the celebrations will be held. Everyone else has decided that it would be easier for everyone to stay at the Marriott too. I thought it would be too, but not my wife. She said for the three nights spending $270 a night seems too expensive and wants to use Priceline or Hotwire to get a 2 star spot for about $60 a night.
This will be easier on the wallet but will make us outcasts in the family. Would you just stay at the very expensive Marriott with the rest of the family to not make waves, or save money by staying at the 2 Star motel?
A young relative is graduating from college in May and everyone in the family is very proud of him. He has a 3.9 GPA, a degree in Finance and a job offer. To show how proud we are of him relatives from all over the country will be driving or flying in to attend his graduation ceremony and participate in a number of family events and expensive dinners.
His parents, my brother, has decided to stay at the local Marriott in the college town where the celebrations will be held. Everyone else has decided that it would be easier for everyone to stay at the Marriott too. I thought it would be too, but not my wife. She said for the three nights spending $270 a night seems too expensive and wants to use Priceline or Hotwire to get a 2 star spot for about $60 a night.
This will be easier on the wallet but will make us outcasts in the family. Would you just stay at the very expensive Marriott with the rest of the family to not make waves, or save money by staying at the 2 Star motel?
Good luck on finding a cheap hotel room on graduation weekend. Every time our kids have graduated we booked a room the fall before and often had to try several hotels. Not sure many rooms will be released to Priceline or Hotwire. But you can always try. We found good prices with AAA rates and paying ahead of time.
There will likely be less expensive hotels near the Marriott. Look for something with a breakfast buffet so you can afford to join the family for the expensive dinners.
Embassy Suites can be less spendy and they generally have a great breakfast buffet. But there are certainly less expensive hotels.
As to being outcasts from the family, as long as you choose a nearby hotel where you can join the family for lunch, dinner, gatherings in the bar, etc, it would be a strange family that would treat you like outcasts because you don't want to spend $1000 on 3 nights in a hotel.
But, yes, good luck getting a hotel at this point unless you're willing to pay big bucks, and even that isn't a guarantee. Last May we ended up an hour outside of our son's university. And, I did book in the fall.
Last edited by Miss Blue; 01-18-2015 at 08:28 AM..
Reason: off topic
Moderator cut: orphaned But, yes, good luck getting a hotel at this point unless you're willing to pay big bucks, and even that isn't a guarantee. Last May we ended up an hour outside of our son's university. And, I did book in the fall.
After we checked out the prices of hotels in her area for graduation weekend we ended up sleeping on our daughter's futon and putting the money that we saved to a payment of her student loans.
The OP can also check out staying with friends of the young graduate or at an AirBnB, but I doubt that would endear him towards his snobby relatives.
PS. My extended family has been pretty proud of our college graduates, graduates earning masters degrees and PhDs but no one other than the parents or siblings everhave attended their graduations.
Last edited by Miss Blue; 01-18-2015 at 08:29 AM..
Wow, that is an expensive Marriott. Are you sure their rooms cannot be had for less?
Another question: how much time will be spent at the hotel? If most of the festivities will be celebrated elsewhere, then it may not be that big of a deal if you stay at a different hotel. I think worrying about being perceived as an "outcast" sounds a little extreme. The guest of honor will be the focus of attention, and as long as you are at the celebrations I don't see why it would matter at all. But if the family plans on spending a lot of time at the hotel, staying at the Marriott makes more sense.
Also consider: will you need to rent a car? Will staying at the Marriott with family allow you to carpool, and not have to rent a car? That would justify staying at the Marriott possibly.
Personally if it would save me a significant amount of money, I would stay elsewhere.
Personally, I would try and find a cheaper hotel. I have never paid that much for a quality hotel, ever.
As a side note...would your family really make you feel like outcasts for staying at a different hotel? Or would you, yourself, feel that way because you chose to stay somewhere else?
By the way: "relatives from all over the country will be driving or flying in to attend his graduation ceremony and participate in a number of family events and expensive dinners."
This rarely happens in real life. It's unusual for family members outside the immediate family and/or grandparents to go to college graduations if it's out of state. Rounding off your story with "expensive dinners" only serves to remind is it's a fictional situation.
Last edited by PJSaturn; 01-18-2015 at 03:34 PM..
Reason: Off-topic.
A young relative is graduating from college in May and everyone in the family is very proud of him. He has a 3.9 GPA, a degree in Finance and a job offer. To show how proud we are of him relatives from all over the country will be driving or flying in to attend his graduation ceremony and participate in a number of family events and expensive dinners.
His parents, my brother, has decided to stay at the local Marriott in the college town where the celebrations will be held. Everyone else has decided that it would be easier for everyone to stay at the Marriott too. I thought it would be too, but not my wife. She said for the three nights spending $270 a night seems too expensive and wants to use Priceline or Hotwire to get a 2 star spot for about $60 a night.
This will be easier on the wallet but will make us outcasts in the family. Would you just stay at the very expensive Marriott with the rest of the family to not make waves, or save money by staying at the 2 Star motel?
$270 is LOT of money for a night anywhere. I won't pay that for anybody! However, $60 could mean setting yourselves up for a disappointment, because even Motel 6s are often higher than that.
You could consider this: Just go for ONE night only to attend the graduation, OR a day of events (whichever you think would be more important to them). It's a swoosh of a trip but you could always claim to have other commitments and you can have that one night to be in a nice hotel. $270 vs $180 for 3 nights (if you could find it for that rate)... sounds do-able to me.
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