The Penn State Nittany Lions take the field Saturday for the team’s first-ever playoff home game, and hotel prices are surging in the State College area.
The Nittany Lions will play the Southern Methodist University Mustangs, a team that’s used to playing under sunny weather in Texas. Weather forecasts for Saturday at Beaver Stadium call for temperatures in the mid-20s.
Rivaling the prices of typical Penn State graduation weekends, hotel rooms are available for prices starting between $299 and $1,370 per night — meaning a two-night stay could be at least $600 to over $2,700.
This fall semester’s graduation also takes place on Sunday.
The Econo Lodge in Bellefonte was the closest, cheapest option that could be found on Google Travel, starting just under $300. It’s about 15 minutes away from Beaver Stadium.
The most expensive option was the Graduate by Hilton State College, a 8-minute drive or 38-minute walk to the stadium — starting at $1,370 per night.
Other notable options include:
- Hyatt Place State College hotel on Beaver Avenue starting at $1,309 per night
- The Nittany Lion Inn starting at $799 per night
- The Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center starting at $999 per night
- Courtyard State College starting at $902 per night
- Carnegie House starting at $852 per night
- Country Inn & Suites by Radisson startingat $714 per night
- Hampton Inn State College starting at $656 per night
- Comfort Suites starting at $557 per night
- SpringHill Suites starting at $550 per night
- Wyndham Garden State College starting at $537 per night
- Days Inn by Wyndham Penn State starting at $473 per night
- Best Western Plus University Park Inn & Suites starting at $458 per night
- Toftrees Golf Resort starting at $438
- Sleep Inn starting at $432 per night
- Holiday Inn Express State College at Williamsburg Square starting at $409 per night
- Super 8 by Wyndham State College starting at $377 per night
- Apple Pony Inn starting at $350 per night
A post by WTAJ, a news outlet in Central Pennsylvania, has garnered numerous reactions on Facebook from Penn Staters discussing the prices and potential solutions.
“It’s also important to understand that it was also a fairly high demand period of time anyway because of graduation, winter graduation at Penn State,” Happy Valley Adventure Bureau CEO Fritz Smith told WTAJ.
Some people suggested staying in hotels that are outside of the State College — like Altoona, which is around 45 minutes away from Beaver Stadium, or DuBois, which is a little farther.
“If you’re willing to travel that far, there’s still some pretty attractive rates in those communities,” Smith said.
Hotels in the Altoona area range between and $61 and $383 per night, according to Google Travel, and in DuBois, they range from $59 and $189 per night.
Others are opting to stay in an Airbnb, which range from $210 up to $6,424 per night depending on size of rental and how many people, according to the listings. There are still over 90 listings still available in the immediate State College area.