Parents, Regatta attendees cram up hotels

With parents in town and the 46th Head of the Charles Regatta attracting thousands, area hotels saw a huge influx of visitors last week, making it difficult for some Boston University moms and dads to find a place to stay for Parents Weekend.

Over the weekend, Boston University, along with several other universities including Emerson College, Northeastern University and Simmons College, hosted their annual Parents’ Weekends.

Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology both held theirs the previous weekend.

The many weekend events affected many hotels from Kenmore Square to the Government Center area.

Many experienced full occupancy, which in turn increased already heightened customer rates, some to astronomical levels, said hotel staff and parents.

The Boston Marriott Long Wharf on 296 State St. was one hotel that benefited from this influx of people.

October is the hotel’s busiest month, said Assistant Front Office Manager David Hodge.

“We sold out Saturday night, all 412 rooms,” Hodge said. “Our rate is $399 per night, which will significantly lower to $179 by November.”

The Radisson Hotel Boston on 200 Stuart St. was also sold out since Oct. 19. Many of their customers were college parents, said Front Office Manager Crystal Sullivan.

“We’ve been playing the same game with supply and demand,” Sullivan said. “Many of the customers were people here for the Regatta and parents from BU, Emerson and Boston College, and we will continue to be sold out until next weekend.”

The W Boston, located on 100 Stuart St., has only been open for a year, but has been sold out since the summer.

According to Welcome Desk Agent Alex Fisher, the hotel has been catering in particular to Emerson and its parents’ weekend.

“Since Emerson is right down the street, we worked out a special rate with only that college for families visiting for the weekend,” Fisher said. “We have been sold out 22 days of October since we are mostly impacted by the colleges and the Head of the Charles, and our rates have gone up since beginning of September. The W’s occupancy will start slowing down when it gets closer to the winter.”

Hotel Commonwealth, located right next to BU’s campus on 500 Commonwealth Ave., was a prime destination for Terrier parents.

It is traditionally one of their best weekends of the year, said General Manager Adam Sperling.

“Two-thirds of the hotel was occupied by Boston University families,” Sperling said. “It generates great demand since it is owned by the university, but the parents do not receive any special rates.”

The Boston Hotel Buckminster, another hotel located near the campus on 645 Beacon St., was completely booked because of the same events, as well as a major concert at the House of Blues and a Japanese-Korean fair, said Guest Services Agent Joel Zayac.

“We’ve been so booked that we try to work people in whenever we get cancellations,” Zayac said. “We had to refer a lot of people to different hotels that still had availability, including Newton Center. Our rates were only $20 more than average.”

With hotel rates skyrocketing, BU parents searched for the best rates while still trying to remain close to the campus. This was particularly challenging for families with children at more than one university in Boston.

One freshman’s parents attended parents’ weekend at both BU and Northeastern.

“My parents stayed at the Boston Marriott Copley Place so they could be near both my sister and me,” said Molly Koweek, a College of Communication freshman. “They tried to find a hotel that was not ridiculously expensive because rates were unbelievably high this weekend.”

Another freshman’s parents decided to stay in a hotel outside the city because of the high rates.

“They stayed at the Element Hotel in Lexington because there were no affordable prices in Boston,” said Trevor Etheridge, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences. “They also wanted to be in-between BU and Bentley [College] since my sister also had her parent’s weekend.”