William & Mary weekends.
Four times a year the town fills up around the College. Here is when — and how to get a bed.
The College of William & Mary sits directly across Richmond Road from where the Hospitality House stood — and a handful of times each year, the College’s calendar is the single biggest thing driving Williamsburg lodging. If your trip overlaps one of these, book early; if it does not need to, plan around them.
The weekends that fill the town
- Move-in (August). New and returning students arrive — families in tow — over a few concentrated late-August days at the start of the fall semester.
- Family Weekend (autumn). A dedicated fall weekend built for visiting parents.
- Homecoming (autumn). Alumni return; add football and the town hums.
- Commencement (May). The single tightest weekend of the year for a bed anywhere near campus.
Exact dates move year to year — check the official William & Mary academic and events calendars — but the pattern is dependable, and so is its effect on hotels and rentals within a few miles of campus.
Getting a bed
For these weekends, the whole-home rentals near campus book out first and earliest, because families and alumni groups want to stay together. If you are looking, start months ahead; our where-to-stay guide covers the options. There is a neat footnote here, too: the old Hospitality House building itself is now W&M student housing — One Tribe Place — so a hotel that once hosted visiting families now houses the students they visit.