Where to stay when checking out colleges?

Since this is the season of college shopping, I'm going to devote this blog post on where to stay for those college visits. I believe in order to really experience the culture of the campus, you need to stay on the campus or very close by. Also when you start to look for a hotel, think about taxi costs to and from the campus, breakfast and the airport shuttle. Sometimes once you add those costs in, it may make more sense to pay a bit more and be on the campus. 

We visited several colleges in the past week. At 2 of them, we stayed at hotels on the campus. At 1, we used IHG point breaks. I'll explain that one further down the post. And at one, we stayed with family. Always the best deal. 

1. We stayed at the independent hotel on campus because they gave us free parking and an awesome location next to the student union. No breakfast, but the student union offered a variety of options including Starbucks. I charged the hotel to my new Starwood American Express Business card to help me reach the minimum spend. 

2. At the second college, we also stayed on campus. The school has a Sheraton located right in the middle of campus. The hotel offers a free airport shuttle and free parking if you bring a car. I paid for this hotel with my Starwood American Express Business card to help with minimum spend, earn Starwood points (sometimes if you book through the app you can earn a bonus) and have access to the Club. The business card comes with Club access at the hotels if available. This hotel didn't have any rooms available on the Club level, but I'm really after access to the Club for free breakfast. So they just gave us access to the Club.

3. At the third college, I was able to book an IHG point break hotel for 5,000 points. Each quarter, IHG releases a list of hotels that drop their points to 5,000. They are usually located in out of the way places or countries no one wants to visit, but if you can find one that works for you, it's a great deal. I had earned some IHG points from random hotel stays and from a dining program linked to one of my credit cards. 

4. Now at the last college visit, we stayed with family which is always the best deal in my book. Lots of love, meals and we even got to do a load of laundry.