Graduation 09…Are You Prepared?

Roughly 330 days, 47 weeks or to be simpler, two semesters, are all that stand in the way of now and graduation for the class of 2009.

Graduation 2008 was a mere month ago, so why mention next year? More relevant topics might be an internship, a job, or a planned vacation for the summer.

Shortly after graduation ended, supply and demand began anew for hotel rooms; not for orientation, fall move-in, or football games, but for graduation in 2009.

Blacksburg and Christiansburg have roughly 20 hotels combined and graduation, like any big event in the area, means hotel rooms are tough to come by. Graduation is one of the only events to command the pressure of starting a year in advance.

Some students have siblings or friends who attended Virginia Tech who pass along the knowledge of how much pressure it can be to book a room. Others may face a baptism by fire if no one can tell them to start looking after graduation for the next year.

Several local hotels have different dates when each will begin to accept reservations, when a deposit must be paid – typically three months before graduation – and cancellation policies.

Some hotels such as the Inn at Virginia Tech and the Comfort Inn began accepting reservations shortly after the 2007 graduation and then proceeded to form a wait-list.

Most hotels started over this past week. However, there are still some which have yet to start including Hawthorn Suites and the Holiday Inn, across from the Inn.

The Courtyard by Marriott is conducting a lottery to assign its rooms, which will be held on Aug. 4. The application to be a part of the lottery must be in by July 31.

The important understanding about graduation is to have the knowledge of when to start looking.

Securing hotel rooms for friends and family is only one step in the puzzle to having a less stressful graduation from Virginia Tech.