An overflow of incoming freshmen at Boston University has again forced housing officials to employ local hotels to house more than 150 students.

The Hotel Commonwealth in Kenmore Square and the Holiday Inn Boston at Brookline will accommodate 164 students a significant reduction from the 470 students housed in the Hyatt Regency and Cambridge Radisson during the fall semester last year.

BU Office of Housing Director Marc Robillard said BU chose new hotels this year because the Cambridge hotels were too far from campus.

‘Both of those properties were good to the students and administration and we may do business with them again, but going over that river put the students at a disadvantage,’ Robillard said.

Due to slight shifts in male and female admittance, the Holiday Inn has only male students while the Hotel Commonwealth has both male and female students.

‘It’s hard to anticipate slight shifts in who is accepted into the university,’ Robillard said. ‘We try to anticipate as best we can for housing, but if we’re off by only 1 percent that can be as many as 100 people.’

Robillard said BU’s policy guaranteeing housing as long as undergraduates stay on campus caused the need for hotel housing.

‘Our commitment is that any undergraduate student who remains in good financial academic and judicial standing will have housing,’ he said. ‘Therefore we have difficulties making spots for everyone.’

Robillard also said he believes students will find the hotel rooms more than accommodating because they all have Ethernet, semiweekly maid service and air conditioning. Also, the men living at the Holiday Inn got free T passes to transport them from the St. Paul stop on the C Line.

College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Karesia Batan said she remembered the Radisson’s relaxed security more than the fully furnished rooms last fall.

‘Anyone could visit without having to show ID or signing in,’ Batan said. ‘The most security our hotel had was a night watch guy who stayed at the front desk. Having the freedom to come and go as we pleased was nice.’

Ariel Pizzitola, a CAS sophomore, echoed those sentiments and said moving onto campus was difficult.

‘The security issue is a trade off because we can’t have overnight guests whenever we want and at the Radisson it was never an issue, It’s very difficult to plan your day around a shuttle that only comes every half hour,’ he said, referring to the shuttles BU provided.

Robillard said these frustrations factored into this year’s hotel selections, which do not require the university to run shuttle buses.

‘The Hotel Commonwealth was in a perfect location being right in Kenmore Square, and the Holiday Inn is an eight-minute walk to campus and is right on the C Line,’ Robillard said.

The general manager of the Radisson refused to comment on last year’s students, and the Hyatt Regency’s general manager was unable to be reached for comment.

Robillard said students living in the hotels will move to on-campus residences at the end of the fall semester.

This story has been corrected since its original posting.