Dorms become hotel during summer?

BostonUrbEx

BostonUrbEx

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Is there any particular reason why college dorms are utilized as hotels during summer months? ie: the months where no students are staying in dorms and when tourists are flocking to the city and hotels are booked solid? Sounds like a win-win all around. Cash for the universities, more places to stay for tourists. And of course, more tourists means more business. Doesn't sound terribly hard to work out.
 
You mean "aren't"?

They are sometimes rented out. For example, I stayed in the BU dorms back in 1999 for a couple nights. I don't know about the particular arrangements at each school, but I've heard of it happening elsewhere.

Oddly enough, this came up in a discussion with someone a couple days ago.
 
They are. The new MassArt tower was designed in anticipation of being rented out during the summer months.
 
When was the last time you saw the furniture in a college dorm?

And the smell of stale beer never goes away entirely.
 
Northeastern holds summer classes and the dorms are normally occupied the entire summer.
 
The former Lowell Hilton (later Doubletree) is used mostly as a UMass-Lowell dorm, but summers as a hotel.

The Inn at Harvard will be converted to undergraduate residence for several years, as it will serve as 'swing space' while various Harvard Houses are renovated.
 
How exactly do they advertise their rooms, then? I can't say I've ever heard of this (hence why I made the thread). I'm guessing they're pretty cheap rates?
 
BostonUrbEx said:
How exactly do they advertise their rooms, then? I can't say I've ever heard of this (hence why I made the thread). I'm guessing they're pretty cheap rates?
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For years, Northeastern has used its dorms over the summer months to host large groups coming to town for conferences or cross-country college visits. I know Summer Discovery leases out a dorm every summer, and their tour groups lease out dorm space as well. Then during summer orientations, the university offers parents the opportunity to pay to spend a couple nights in West Village if they're unable to stay at one of the hotels in the city. Then there's also the 300 to 500+ Asian study abroad students that call NU home for a couple months every summer via some special program--they too pay to use the dorms much like a long-stay hotel.

So as far as NU is concerned, their residence halls are pretty much used year-round to generate as much revenue as possible. You don't see advertisements for this to the public because, as I pointed out, the spaces are tailored to a particular niche of large groups.
 
From what I know (suburban Boston-area university), many of the dorms are used for various summer programs and classes, but the summer is also used as a time to go through and do inspections, renovations, cleaning, and maintenance that can't be performed during the school year. They are able to keep staffing levels low because they have four months to do the work.

Many of them have communal bathrooms and are not suitable for hotel use.
 
I know BC uses the dorms for reunion/events as well as dorms for the various athletic and non-athletic camps throughout the summer. Also, there are multiple orientations scheduled so those use a bunch of the dorms as well.
 
From my knowledge. I think most schools are utilizing them for something already. I remember HoJo of BU is used as a Hostel sometimes. The other dorms are used to host all kinds of one or two week long programs and dorm space for summer classes. Also MIT dorms given for the the entire year. A student does not have to leave unless the student go to a new room.
 
I've often thought about spending a summer in NYC and using a college dorm as my hotel room. You have to be enrolled as a student, of course, which makes it expensive.

NYU offers a six week summer program that would cost you a minimum of $5,156 for one, four-credit course. Housing in an air-conditioned, single-occupancy apartment-style room (with no required meal plan) would cost $368/week, or $2,208.

So, a total of $7,364 for six weeks (plus food), or $1,227 per week.

Cheaper than a hotel (~$250 per night, plus tax) but not as nice, no clean sheets, and probably no way to have overnight guests on a regular basis.
 
The HoJo at BU becomes a Hosteleling International for the summer. Offers great value, if you don't mind staying in a bunk bed.

Keep this trick in mind next time you travel to London. A double room in a newly renovated dorm at LSE, as centrally located as geographically possible, will cost for a week what a shitty hotel would cost for a night.
 
Now that Hosteling International has their new permanent hostel in the Theatre District, are they still going to do a summer one at BU?
 
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