Many people visiting St. Lawrence University have difficulty finding a hotel room in Canton, N.Y. during the busier times of the year. Hotels fill quickly during graduation, parents’ weekend and accepted students’ days, causing many people to become desperate. Even people who try to book their hotel arrangements months before their stay are often forced to settle for hotel arrangements far from campus because of how few hotels there are near the university.
Nick Eurto, who works at the Best Western University Inn in Canton, is very busy during the days when reservations for big events become available.
“I’ve had days where you can get six or seven calls right in a row and have to write a list to go back and confirm with people later,” said Eurto. Eurto believes that the hotel will always have no problem filling all of its rooms during the university’s busiest times of the year, even with the addition of a third hotel in town coming soon.
Sarah Potter ’19 said her parents had trouble finding a hotel near the school. “My parents, even though they started looking at hotels months ago, couldn’t find a Hilton closer than Watertown,” said Potter.
Potter went on to explain that her parents like to stay at Hiltons, but unfortunately, having a preference of hotel made it challenging to find a place near campus for graduation.
Similar to the experience of Potter’s parents, Michael Churchill tried to book a hotel for the night of an accepted students’ day but found out that the hotels in Canton were full when he called, which forced him to get a hotel in Ogdensburg.
“It was inconvenient compared to being in town, it’s certainly much easier being in Canton,” said Churchill. Churchill called more than a month before he needed the hotel room and was very surprised that the hotels were already full for an event such as an accepted students’ day.
Contrary to Churchill’s experience of getting a hotel for accepted students’ day, Kathryn Jepson ’22 and her family were able to book a room at a bed and breakfast in Canton, which enhanced their stay. “I got to see Canton and experience eating at a restaurant there, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I had not stayed in Canton,” said Jepson. Due to the fact that Jepson was lucky enough to stay in Canton, it was not only convenient for Jepson to access Saint Lawrence University’s campus, but also allowed her to experience the town.
In order to help with the hotel shortage in Canton, Saint Lawrence University’s residence life department offers housing in the dorms as an alternative to staying in hotels.
“Several hundred people end up coming up and staying on campus each year. It’s an option that we offer to friends and family of graduating seniors and many of them do take us up on that offer,” said Assistant Dean of Student Life and Director of Residence Life Christopher Marquart.
Marquart believes many people choose to stay on campus because of the convenience and guarantee that they will be given a place to stay despite the hotel scarcity in the area.