iahphx

So I happen to be planning a night in Ithaca, NY this summer. Yikes -- the town has serious hotel sticker shock. The Country Inns is $349/night. Amazing. What's so special about Ithaca in the summer?

Fortunately, I have a couple of leftover "free night vouchers" that I got from the Daily Getaways promo a few years ago (they were only $45/each -- sadly, they haven't offered this deal since then). Given the room rates, I thought they might come up with some sort of blackout rule, but they say they'll take the certificate. Good thing, since otherwise I'd consider camping -- or sleeping in my car.

FindAWay

Having spent a few years living in Ithaca (with folks visiting me and staying in hotels) and having returned (and stayed in hotels a few times), I can vouch for the yo-yo hotel room rates.

If there is an event or a holiday weekend (or, sometimes, just a summer weekend), it can be absurdly pricey. Other times, the prices are more reasonable.

You say "summer" - any more specific dates might help folks help you identify any specific events.

PS - if you have extra time and enjoy the outdoors (and haven't yet visited), I recommend a visit to either (or both):

Taughannock Falls State Park (tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi - close to Ithaca...really only the one waterfall)

Watkins Glen State Park (farther from Ithaca, but, more to see along the hike)

MSPeconomist

It could be a special event, conference, or sporting event, graduation/parents' weekend/orientation/etc. at Cornell (or Ithaca College).

iahphx

Thanks for the feedback and travel tips.

My stay is in July and -- curious whether I was arriving for a "special event" -- I checked a couple of other July dates and they were all absurdly expensive. I did plug in a fall date and that was sub-$200, though.

Other college towns I've stayed in tend to be less expensive during summer for obvious reasons (no students).

Makes me want to open a hotel in Ithaca.

craz

I usually stay out of town and drive there for the day. Besides being at the bottom of a Finger Lake, there are 3 State Parks Robert Taubman is a great hike and interesting, Buttermilk Falls a nice trail to hike up and Taughannock the hike is nothing special,flat thru trees, best viewed by bypassing the main entrance signs (if heading North) and follow the signs to the Overlook

The gouge that leads up to Cornell is a nice hike but last yr most of the best parts were closed due to the destruction of everythiing caused by the very heavy snow fall and melt. Ithaca Falls is alot more powerful then the other falls but its just not too high, but you can get pretty close up to it and sit there by the shore and simply relax

Non-NonRev

The Country Inn in San Carlos, CA (between San Francisco and San Jose) has very high rates ($350 and up) whenever there is some kind of event (product announcement, conference etc). in nearby Silicon Valley.

iahphx

There's also an expensive Country Inns in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Perhaps we can give a booby prize to the person who pays the most to stay at one of their hotels. Of course, flyertalkers specialize in NOT paying exorbitant prices for travel (at least on their own dime).

littlemookie

At that price range I'm hoping its one of the better 5 star country inn and suites in the U.S. You can expect low speed complimentary wifi, daily room refresh, and a full service nourishing breakfast to start your day off right.

iahphx

Very true. I'm sure the fanciest b&b in upstate NY charges less than $349/night -- even for "special events".

GUWonder

Ithaca is a great town to own residential properties and rent them out.

July is a pretty high tourist demand period from my experience staying there in the summers. Not as peak as certain particular dates, but for a month or week as a whole, the demand tends to be strong.

tom_MN

This is one of the few hotels I have run across that charges for 4 adults in a 2 queen bed room. $40 more if paying cash, $30 more if staying on points.

guv1976

Although this thread is more than four years old, I'll just mention that Ithaca's newish Holiday Inn Express charges 25,000 IHG Rewards points per night (when award nights are available). IHG periodically runs 100% points-bonus sales during which 25,000 points would cost just $125.

I just checked rates at the Ithaca HIX for some random weekend nights in July, 2020. Rates are $285 plus tax, but award nights are available for 25,000 points/night and no tax. This is one of the best lodging deals in Ithaca when cash rates are high -- assuming that award nights are available, and one buys IHG points during a 100%-bonus sale..

iahphx

Yup, that would be an excellent redemption under the circumstances. I wonder how much longer IHG will resist variable award pricing, which is where the industry seems to be moving. I also wonder how many people will pay $285, plus tax, to stay at a small city HIX. Apparently enough to fill the place. As someone mentioned above, maybe we should all invest in airbnb rental property in Ithaca.

sdsearch

A lot of people (especially ones who aren't on FlyerTalk) aren't sophisticated about their hotel reward redemptions. They use their points when they have them and want to travel, and then when they need to an expensive stay they don't have the points any more, so they're forced to pay real money. They don't even realize that they could have gotten better value had they waited to see if they could use their points when they needed an expensive stay, rather than just using them up on the first stay after earning them.

Meanwhile, IHG has long had their own soft of variable pricing: PointsBreaks.

And while many hotel programs are moving to some sort of variable pricing, it's still very different at each hotel program. Hilton is the only one who clearly tracks redemption rates somewhat to cash rates, but even there not 100% (because most hotels have some sort of a "cap"). Marriott has low and peak rates, but that's still based around rates that appear to be set based on points redemption frequency at that hotel rather than cash prices (ie, redemptions at hotels in parts of the world where redemptions are comparatively rare tend to be much lower, even with high cash prices, while redemptions in places which are very popular for redemptions are sky high even when cash prices are low!).