Travel for College Students
Spring break, parents’ weekend, study abroad, and the long weekend home. We pick partners that work for the way college students actually travel — splitting houses, hunting flight deals, and stacking rewards across the semester.
Spring Break
Splitting a beach house six ways usually beats six hotel rooms. Vrbo wins on group economics; Travelocity wins when you're flying somewhere with no airport options.
Vrbo
Whole-place rentals — best for groups
Beach houses, mountain cabins, and city apartments — book the whole place, not a hotel room. The right call when you're splitting a trip with friends or family and want a kitchen and shared space.
Travelocity
Flights, hotels & packages
One-stop search across flights, hotels, cars, and bundled packages. Strong for last-minute weekends home and shoulder-season fare deals.
Parents' Weekend
Hotels near campus book up months out. Hotels.com is the deepest inventory; Vrbo works if your parents want a whole house for the family.
Hotels.com
Hotels with stay-rewards stacking
Best-known for the Hotels.com Rewards stamp program — collect 10 nights, get one free. Useful when you book the same chain repeatedly across the semester.
Vrbo
Whole-place rentals — best for groups
Beach houses, mountain cabins, and city apartments — book the whole place, not a hotel room. The right call when you're splitting a trip with friends or family and want a kitchen and shared space.
Study Abroad
Long stays, international cities, and the occasional weekend trip. Hotels.com Rewards stack quickly when you anchor to one chain. Vrbo for whole apartments in cities where hotels are tiny.
Hotels.com
Hotels with stay-rewards stacking
Best-known for the Hotels.com Rewards stamp program — collect 10 nights, get one free. Useful when you book the same chain repeatedly across the semester.
Vrbo
Whole-place rentals — best for groups
Beach houses, mountain cabins, and city apartments — book the whole place, not a hotel room. The right call when you're splitting a trip with friends or family and want a kitchen and shared space.
Weekends Home
Last-minute fare hunting and same-day hotels. Travelocity's package search beats either alone when the flight + hotel combo is cheaper than booking them separately.
Travelocity
Flights, hotels & packages
One-stop search across flights, hotels, cars, and bundled packages. Strong for last-minute weekends home and shoulder-season fare deals.
Hotels.com
Hotels with stay-rewards stacking
Best-known for the Hotels.com Rewards stamp program — collect 10 nights, get one free. Useful when you book the same chain repeatedly across the semester.
Our travel partners
All three programs are CJ Affiliate. Cookie windows and commission rates are partner-set; we list them so you know how the economics work.
Frequently asked questions
What's the cheapest way to travel as a college student?
Three things move the needle: (1) split lodging — a Vrbo house among six people usually costs less per head than a hotel and gets you a kitchen so you're not eating out three meals a day. (2) Book midweek-to-midweek — Tuesday/Wednesday departures and returns are reliably cheaper than weekend bookends. (3) Use the rewards stack — Hotels.com gives one free night per ten, Travelocity bundles flight + hotel at a discount versus buying separately. None of these need a student ID.
Are there student discounts on flights?
A few. United has a 5% discount for ages 18–23 booked through the United app on MileagePlus accounts. StudentUniverse and StudentBeans negotiate carrier-by-carrier student fares, mostly on international routes. For domestic US flights, the bigger savings come from being flexible — a Tuesday flight is usually cheaper than a Friday flight on the same route, regardless of whether you have a student ID.
When should I book spring break travel?
Eight to twelve weeks out is the sweet spot for popular destinations like Cancun, Miami, and Destin — long enough that group rentals haven't been picked over, close enough that flight prices have stabilized. Booking inside three weeks usually means you pay 30–60% more for the same property and your group ends up split across two rentals.
Is Vrbo or Hotels.com better for parents' weekend?
Hotels.com if your parents are flying in for two nights and want hotel service — pool, breakfast, no cleaning. Vrbo if it's three or more people, a longer stay, or campus is in a small town where the only hotels are a 30-minute drive out. Whichever you pick, book early — most college towns have under 1,000 hotel rooms and parents' weekend fills them.
How does eSchoolDeals make money on travel?
When you click a partner card on this page and complete a booking, the partner pays us a small commission. It doesn't change your price — the commission comes out of the partner's marketing budget, not yours. We only feature partners we'd use ourselves, and we disclose the relationship clearly. Partner terms (commission rates, cookie duration) are listed on each card.