Etiquette for choosing hotel stay length

[ion_exchanger]

Please help settle an argument between two friends. One of my coworkers has an interview for graduate school that includes 3 full days of activities. The last day's activities conclude around 8pm. The school asked for him to request the amount of time he needs at the hotel. Is everyone expected to leave after, or can they request to stay until the next morning. I told him that if he doesn't, he will have to check out the last day and carry his suitcase around. He is hesitant to ask, in case no one else is requesting the next morning.

[Bearcat1]

If he is flying to/from, I would think it would be perfectly reasonable to stay that night. Otherwise he'd be getting into red eye flights, and I can't imagine that anyone would expect him to do that. Also, universities usually have really amazing deals worked out with hotels where they put you up, and it often doesn't cost them much. They put up visiting lecturers, interviewing students and professors, all kinds of people. So even at fancy hotels, they aren't paying what it seems.

If it's feasible for him to drive home at 8PM, then he can leave his luggage at the hotel bell desk and pick it up when he's ready to leave.

[ion_exchanger]

I appreciate your response and agree. He is not flying, he's commuting via train. His total commute is about 2 and a half hours.

[Eigen]

He can always split the difference- tell them that he'd like to stay the extra night, but he'll be glad to cover the cost if they can't. 

 

I did that for one visit when we wanted to stay around the city longer and get to know it a little bit- we told them how long we'd like to stay, and they told us what nights they'd cover. 

[vertices]

I agree with the other posters that it is not a big deal to ask for the extra night, especially since the school mentioned it specifically. I can't imagine no one else will need to stay. Even if it was just your friend, it's not unreasonable because everyone has different travel restrictions. Furthermore, it allows your friend more flexibility if things run late or there are unplanned after-visit opportunities (e.g. some current students invite him out for that last night).

 

If he wants to get back sooner (maybe he wants to take less vacation days) and he has time to get back to the hotel before hist train, he could check his luggage there for the last day. If it's a motel or a small hotel, he might want to call and verify they have that service.

[TakeruK]

I'd like to second the suggestion of leaving his bags at the hotel front desk and picking them up when he's ready to go. Not all hotels offer this (call ahead and ask) but most will (unless you are staying at a super budget motel). 

 

However, it's reasonable to ask about the extra night. Since they are asking him how much time he needs, it's completely reasonable (even if he's the only one) to ask to stay until the next morning if he doesn't feel like taking a late train home after a long eventful day. In addition, for those flying in from further away, if the events end at 8pm, and factoring in 2-3 hours for both travel to and getting to an airport before their flight leaves, that means some people will have to take 10pm or 11pm flights home. That might not be desirable for everyone, especially if you don't live near a hub city so you have to make a connecting flight (which means you arrive at hub city maybe at 3am and might have to wait until 6am for another flight or bus/train home). So it's unlikely that he will be the only one requesting to stay the last night.

 

In addition, there may be additional events happening after the end of official planned activities, perhaps scheduled by the grad students. Or, if he has time to stay the extra night, he can take a later flight home the next day and spend the next morning seeing the city on his own terms (instead of through whatever school events). I think you are allowed to negotiate the terms of your visit. For my MSc schools, I actually spent 1 full day visiting the school and 1.5 days seeing the city. For my PhD schools, there was some negotiation with all my visits. In one case, I stayed at a friend's place in exchange for additional travel support (international flight was slightly over their maximum support level) and in another, they agreed to let (and paid for) my wife to visit with me because we were able to stay at an even cheaper hotel due to her employee discounts. 

 

In reality, there is probably some maximum amount of money they are able to spend on visiting students. They don't usually tell you this right away though. Generally, they will probably accept all requests that keep them under that limit. When I wanted to visit with my wife, I asked them if it was okay and how much was the maximum support they would be willing to give and then we made our travel plans within that budget. 

[ion_exchanger]

Thanks for the responses, we really appreciate it. Hopefully this topic will help others in the future who have this issue. I can understand his hesitation though, we are all so nervous of upsetting the schools we want to attend before we even get to the interview!