More than 100 fathers will be spending the weekend in Fenzel House on South Green for Dads Weekend.
Even though dads have put their college years behind them, some will have the opportunity to relive the dorm experience at Ohio University this upcoming weekend.
Fathers who are visiting students for Dads Weekend were able to rent a room in Fenzel House, Pete Trentacoste, executive director of Housing and Residence Life, said in an email.
All the spaces have been reserved by 89 dads online, and the cost to reserve a one-person bedroom for two nights was $151.42, Trentacoste said in an email. Trentacoste said Housing and Residence Life worked with the Dean of Students to offer spaces via the university's family weekends site, adding that the spaces filled up quickly.
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“For the future, I think (renting rooms) is a good idea,” Taylor Coughlin, a freshman studying biology and pre-medicine, said. “It would be cool if they offered it more towards incoming freshman.”
Coughlin said her father is visiting for Dads Weekend and said having students' dads stay in the dorms is a good idea.
“Personally, my dad didn’t know in advance to get a hotel so he doesn’t really have anywhere to stay,” Coughlin said, adding that her dad is going to stay in her dorm. “Having (the dorms in Fenzel) as another option would be better because he is older and sleeping on the ground isn’t the most comfortable thing.”
Coughlin said she plans on having her dad sleep on her bed while she sleeps on the floor during the weekend.
A lot of the rooms in Fenzel House are singles, Trentacoste said in an email. According to the housing plans for the dorm, 68 singles are in Fenzel, and 21 doubles, but all rooms were rented as singles, he said.
Several hotels are sold out this weekend. The Athens Holiday Inn, 555 E. State St., charges $199 for a standard room this upcoming weekend and $209 for a two-queen suite.
“A lot of the parents book 50 weeks in advance," Erica Michael, a worker at Holiday Inn, said. "Even before we find out the event weekend date, they’ll book every weekend in the month and then cancel the ones they don’t need,"
The Athens Fairfield Inn, 924 E. State St., charges anywhere from $199 to $329 for rooms during Dads Weekend, a hotel representative said.
Fenzel, which has 89 rooms, is empty this academic year, Trentacoste said in an email.
“Through our efforts to consolidate all vacancies in a building during the academic school year, we were successful with doing so in Fenzel this year,” Trentacoste said in an email.
OU student Mackenzie Powell’s father is also coming to Athens for Dads Weekend, but he is staying in a hotel. Powell, an undecided freshman, likes the option for dads to stay in Fenzel.
“Dads can get the experience that their children get in the dorms,” Powell said. “I think it would be fun for some dads (to stay in the dorms).”
Housing in the dorms for parents was offered for Parents Weekend in September, Trentacoste said in an email.
“We had about half as many booked during that period,” Trentacoste said in an email.
Last year, Housing and Residence Life did not have a completely open residence hall so the university didn't offer housing for special weekends, Trentacoste said in an email. However, he said this year there is more room to do so because of the opening of the new dorms on South Green as part of Phase I of the university’s Housing Development Plan.
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