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While East Lansing isn't the size of some other metropolitan Big Ten schools, there's still plenty of places to stay in East Lansing and the surrounding areas. Not much has changed about the hotel situation in and around the MSU area in the past few years, so once again I'll largely be cribbing from my past entry on this, along with a couple of helpful reviews from commenters in the past days.
A couple notes -- first, you might be able to find a house to stay in by looking on Airbnb. You might be able to get a cheaper stay this way, but when I did a few searches there were few places within walking distance of campus, so be prepared to either rent a car, take taxis, or use public transportation. If you're particularly adventurous, you can see what places are available on Couchsurfing.
Most likely though, you'll want a clean bedroom and bathroom of your own for your home base. While it won't be hard to find a hotel moderately close to campus, there are very few hotels within walking distance. Here, you'll find reviews of the places closest to campus. Commenter The Ghost of John Hannah did a good job summarizing places to stay a few years ago, so I'll let him take the reigns from here:
If you're an alumni coming into town for a weekend for the game, chances are you're going to need a hotel. Unfortunately, hotel selection is a little difficult if you want to be within walking distance of the stadium and campus, but here's what's nearby:Right at the center of downtown East Lansing, the hotel is likely to be pricey and difficult to book for a football weekend, but is likely to provide your best experience. It's in one ofthe tallest buildings in East Lansing, and is right on Albert Street. Food, shopping, and bars are all right outside its doors. The other bonus is that this is also the location of theMichigan Flyer stop for East Lansing. If you've flown into Michigan from DTW and opted for the Flyer instead of renting a car, you'll be dropped off and picked up right outside your hotel door.2) Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center - Harrison and Kalamazoo, across from BrodyAnother pricey hotel choice is the Kellogg Hotel. This puts you down the street from theBreslin Center and an easy walk to the stadium, tailgating, and downtown. It is, however, gorgeous inside, and is also the site of the Hospitality Business program at MSU.It's a pretty typical HoJo, about the equivalent of a Best Western. It's cheap and a place to stay. It is small, however, and like the other hotels, may be difficult in reserving a room if you're coming in for a football game.- From commenter PittsfieldIndex: Ridiculously cheap and close to the stadium. I’ve stayed there (the HoJo) my last two visits to East Lansing and it’s a decent place to sleep.These are the only three hotels I know anything about. Google tells me there is a Quality Inn on Saginaw, and a Towne Suites off of Hagadorn, but I don't know anything about them. There used to be another hotel right at Grand River and Harrison, but it has since closed. Looking into Lansing, Okemos, Holt, and Haslett will also get your options, but bear in mind transportation concerns.
1) The Marriott in EL is the best of the bunch, close to campus and bars/restaurants. Also the most expensive and sometimes has a 3 night minimum on game weekends.2) Kellogg Center – perfectly located for football, nice accommodations. It’s also where the team stays the night before the game, so if you hang out in the hotel lobby on gameday, you can greet the team as they start their walk to the stadium
3) Motel 6 on Grand River – it’s a dump, but fairly close to campus. I wouldn’t recommend this place
4) Holiday Inn Express in Okemos. Typical suburban hotel – nice rooms, clean, good breakfast. About 15 minutes from campus (with no traffic). With pre and post-game traffic it’s more like 90 minutes.
As far as places to stay, the Kellogg Center is what I always reccomend to out of towners looking to stay at MSU. Yes the Mariott is also on campus but the Kellogg is student run by a great hospitality school and a short 15 minute walk from the stadium, it is where my parents always stay when they come up.
Should probably be noted that the Marriott and Kellogg are among the only hotels in the EL vicinity that have their own restaurants/bars inside. Kellogg has the State Room and KC’s Lounge and Marriott has Bistro 43. Both are on the higher end for pricing.
Another hotel option is the Courtyard by Marriott, which is immediately off the Lake Lansing Road exit on US-127. It’s a couple miles north of campus, but it’s right by the Hall of Fame Cafe (a great stop for any visit) and Eastwood Towne Center (lots of shopping and eating options – and you know it’s nice because there’s "e" on the end of "Town").
There’s also the Radisson in downtown Lansing, which is only 3 miles west of campus and is right next to the Capitol. It also has dining onsite in the Capital City Grille. If you end up here, Lansing has a service called the ""http://www.catatrolley.org/" target="new">Entertainment Express" on Friday and Saturday nights, which is a trolley that runs between downtown EL and downtown Lansing for only $1.25 per ride.
At either place, though, it would be a short cab ride to and from campus. From my experience going to other Big 10 cities, it’s rare that you can get a place to stay that is within walking distance to the stadium or tailgating (at least at the prices my friends and I were willing to pay in our mid-20s).
That about sums up our discussion of hotels in the area, but I'm almost certain I'm leaving out a couple. If you have any comments/reviews to add, throw them in the comments section.