Many of my friends are in the midst of visiting potential colleges for their children. Their weekends are spent checking out different campuses and college towns, often too far to go for a day without an overnight stay. Needless to say, visiting colleges can be quite expensive when you add up all of the your travel expenses. Therefore, I have compiled a few tips that I have gleaned from my college touring friends that may help to offset the cost a little bit.
Use A Free Night Award If You Have One
Hotel brand credit cards, specifically ones offered through Chase, offer free night awards. Some offer the free nights automatically upon your cardmember anniversary, while others offer reward nights upon meeting certain spend thresholds. The free night awards are offered for lower category hotels. You can read about all of these cards here.
I can attest that using these free night awards before their expiration date, can, at times, be difficult. I refuse to lose them so I always figure out a plan. Recall, my sister and her friends used one in Princeton, NJ and you can read here about some of the other ways I have used them.
However, using them for college visits should be easy. Many of the hotels in college towns are likely lower category properties and are therefore a good option to take advantage of your free night offered through your card. For example, with the Chase Marriott card, your free night award is for a Category 1-5 property, with the Chase Hyatt card, you receive a free night in a Category 1-4 property, and with the Chase IHG card you receive a free night at ANY CATEGORY property. Heads up, there are Intercontinental Hotels (IHG’s top brand) in cities such as Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, LA, Miami, New Orleans, and D.C. I have used my free IHG night for the last 2 years at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston.
Redeem A Small Amount Of Points For Your Stays
Since many college town hotels are likely in a lower category, the amount of points needed to redeem a free night will be less. For example, you need only 7,500 Marriott points for a free night at a Category 1 property and 10,000 points at a Category 2 hotel. A standard room at a Hyatt property will run you 5,000 World Of Hyatt points for Category 1 and 8,000 points for a Category 2. Lower category Hilton properties start as low as 5,000 Hilton Honors points per night.
Get 50% Off Your Amtrak Ticket
Amtrak offers a buy one, get one 50% off Campus Visit Discount on train tickets. To take advantage of this offer, you must first register at the Campus Visit website before you book your trip. After you register, follow the instructions on the “Tips” page.
I will be starting the process of visiting schools in about a year (really?). Please share with me how you have saved money on your college visits. I also will take any other tips and advice about the college seeking process in general….ahhhhh! 🙂
