There are a limited number of hotel/motel rooms in all of Hillsdale County Michigan. At last count, there were fewer than 150 rooms in the entire county. With fewer than 10 annual events that draw large numbers of people for an overnight stay, there is little need to increase that lodging capacity. This forces many people to go 30 miles or more from here to have a place to stay on special event weekends.
Each year, Hillsdale College has held their commencement on Mothers Day weekend in May. There are typically around 300 graduating students. That produces lodging needs for many parents, siblings, and grandparents. We can accommodate 7 parents, and my fellow hoteliers can accommodate about 140 more. That means that more than half of the families that have a graduating student will need to be in and out in a day, or seek lodging that may not be very convenient.
We’ve been running the Munro House B&B in Jonesville since 1999. We are just 7 1/2 minutes from campus. It became necessary to establish a method to handle the multi
tude of reservation requests we get for special event weekends. Families who stay with us for other Hillsdale College events like Parents Weekend, concerts, sporting events, and conferences get dibs on a room for the next annual event, plus they earn frequency points towards graduation weekend. When graduation comes around for their student, the parents who patronize us the most get first dibs on a room. Our regular guests appreciate their priority status when they do not have to scramble to find a place to stay on their final weekend at the school.
tude of reservation requests we get for special event weekends. Families who stay with us for other Hillsdale College events like Parents Weekend, concerts, sporting events, and conferences get dibs on a room for the next annual event, plus they earn frequency points towards graduation weekend. When graduation comes around for their student, the parents who patronize us the most get first dibs on a room. Our regular guests appreciate their priority status when they do not have to scramble to find a place to stay on their final weekend at the school.It has worked out quite well for us. Many of our parents have been with us for 4 years or more. It is nice to see familiar faces in the house. Occassionally, we have a small number of regular parents with graduating students in a particular year, and we have to open our house up to first timers. That’s O.K., too. We try to treat new guests and old friends the same.
Many lodging facilities in the area have similar frequent guest privileges. It is always best to plan ahead and find a place to stay when your student is a freshman. That way there will always be an opportunity to have a room when they are in the highest demand.
We are comfortable, close, and convenient to Hillsdale College and we enjoy our guests who also happen to be parents of students there.
Mike Venturini – Innkeeper
“Life is good in Jonesville”
“Life is good in Jonesville”