Coastal Carolina is one of the easiest clusters on this site to house. Conway, the river town twelve miles inland, has a Fairfield Inn & Suites on Highway 501 that a CCU page calls "the closest hotel to the university campus", 98 rooms per the Northstar directory, with a Comfort Suites and a Home2 Suites on the same road. Twenty-one minutes east is Myrtle Beach, one of the largest hotel markets on the East Coast. More than 2,060 graduates were eligible to walk in Spring 2026. The constraint is the calendar, not the rooms: the dated round is Saturday 12 December 2026, two sittings at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. in the HTC Center, and Spring 2027 is not published; CCU says only that ceremonies are held each May and December. For December the beach is in its off-season and cheap. For May it is not, and that is the reason to book Conway first.
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The university names the closest hotel
Most universities on this site decline to name a hotel. Coastal Carolina, on one of its visitor pages, does: “The closest hotel to the university campus is the Fairfield by Marriott Conway.”
Fairfield Inn & Suites Coastal Carolina Conway, 2061 East Highway 501. A few minutes from the HTC Center. 98 rooms per the Northstar directory.
Comfort Suites Conway, 2480 US Highway 501 East, further along the same road toward the beach. No room count confirmed; none stated.
Home2 Suites by Hilton Conway, 820 Bill Dean Drive. No count stated.
More than 2,060 graduates were eligible to walk in Spring 2026, per CCU’s news release, its largest class. No matched-window availability series has been run for Conway, so this page publishes no count of what remains.
Twelve miles from one of the biggest hotel markets on the coast
This is the part that makes Coastal Carolina different from nearly every other cluster here. Myrtle Beach is 21 minutes east on US 501, and the Grand Strand’s hotel stock is measured in tens of thousands of rooms. North Myrtle Beach is 36 minutes. The airport is in Myrtle Beach.
The catch is seasonal. A December ceremony lands in the beach’s off-season, when the Strand is emptiest and cheapest. A May ceremony lands at the start of the season, when it is neither. That is why Conway’s three hotels are worth booking first for a spring round, and why the beach is the sensible answer for December.
Florence, 76 minutes northwest on I-95, has interstate chains and no beach premium. Lumberton, North Carolina, was in the research and is dropped at 106 minutes.
The dated round is December
Saturday 12 December 2026, two sittings at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. in the HTC Center, per CCU’s fall commencement page. The Friday night. Which colleges sit when was not published at this check.
Spring 2027 is not published. CCU’s commencement page says only that “Commencement Ceremonies are held each May and December.” This page does not infer a 2027 date from 2026’s, and it will not until CCU posts one. The ceremony weekend logistics page carries the ticket and bag-check rules.
Not claimed here
No availability count, because none was measured. No Spring 2027 date, because CCU has not published one. No room counts for the Comfort Suites or Home2, because none was confirmed in an English-language directory. The Home2 has no map pin; its address did not geocode and the pin is omitted rather than guessed.
Verified hotel rules
| Hotel | Min. stay | Prepayment | Cancellation / forfeit | Typical rate | How to book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfield Inn & Suites Coastal Carolina Conwaysourcecheck rates | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Online, hotel’s own site |
| Comfort Suites Conwaysourcecheck rates | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Online, hotel’s own site |
| Home2 Suites by Hilton Conwaysource | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Online, hotel’s own site |
- Fairfield Inn & Suites Coastal Carolina Conway: 2061 East Highway 501, a few minutes from the HTC Center. 98 rooms per the Northstar Meetings Group directory. A Coastal Carolina page describes it as "the closest hotel to the university campus." No commencement-specific minimum stay, prepayment or cancellation policy was found, and none is claimed.
- Comfort Suites Conway: 2480 US Highway 501 East, a few minutes further along the highway toward the beach. A room count was not confirmed in an English-language directory, so none is stated. No commencement-specific policy was found.
- Home2 Suites by Hilton Conway: 820 Bill Dean Drive, Conway. Room count not confirmed; none stated. No commencement-specific policy was found. No map anchor: the address did not geocode in-house, and the pin is omitted rather than guessed.
Opens live availability around campus via our partner Stay22. Several of the properties above take graduation bookings only by phone, mail-in form, or lottery, so treat this as a price check against the rules in the table, not a replacement for them. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
The ring
| Town | Drive time | Typical availability | Rate vs. epicenter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Myrtle Beach, SCCheck rooms in Myrtle Beach, SC → | 21 min | Not measured for this cluster. One of the largest resort hotel markets on the East Coast, twelve miles from campus. | Not measured. Beach pricing; off-season in December, rising in May. |
| North Myrtle Beach, SCCheck rooms in North Myrtle Beach, SC → | 36 min | Not measured for this cluster. The northern half of the Grand Strand, resort and chain hotels. | Not measured. Beach pricing. |
| Florence, SCCheck rooms in Florence, SC → | 76 min | Not measured for this cluster. An I-95 regional city with deep chain lodging. | Not measured. Interstate pricing, no beach premium. |
Drive times are off-peak road routes to the HTC Center computed with OSRM on 2026-09-14, not measured journeys. No matched-window availability series has been run. Lumberton, North Carolina, was in the research and is dropped here at 106 minutes; the ring for this cluster is the beach.
“Check rooms” are partner links (Stay22), and we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Live availability near campus
Map and booking links are provided by our partner Stay22. We may earn a commission on bookings made through this map at no extra cost to you.
Frequently asked questions
Which hotel is closest to campus?
The Fairfield Inn & Suites Coastal Carolina Conway at 2061 East Highway 501. A CCU page states "The closest hotel to the university campus is the Fairfield by Marriott Conway." 98 rooms per the Northstar directory. The Comfort Suites at 2480 Highway 501 and the Home2 Suites on Bill Dean Drive are minutes further.
Will Conway sell out?
No matched-window availability series has been run for Conway or the Grand Strand, so this page publishes no count. Three chain hotels in Conway against more than 2,060 eligible graduates would be tight anywhere else; here, Myrtle Beach's tens of thousands of rooms are twenty minutes away.
Which night do we need?
For Saturday 12 December 2026, the Friday night. The 9 a.m. sitting makes it unavoidable; the 1 p.m. sitting could in theory be driven to from Florence, but a Conway or beach room is not hard to find in December.
Where is the overflow?
Myrtle Beach, 21 minutes east on US 501, and North Myrtle Beach at 36, resort and chain hotels in quantity plus the airport. Florence, 76 minutes northwest on I-95, has interstate chains without a beach premium and is only relevant if the whole coast is priced out.
Does CCU publish a hotel list?
No commencement lodging list was found. The "closest hotel" statement is on a CCU academic centre's visitor page. Conway's hotels are on the Northstar directory's Conway listing.
Do we need tickets?
For Spring 2026 CCU issued college ticket allotments, most colleges up to six per graduate, and requires bag check for all attendees. The December 2026 rules were not published at this check; expect the same shape.
When is Spring 2027?
Not published. CCU's commencement page says ceremonies are held each May and December and gives no 2027 date. This page does not turn the Spring 2026 date into a 2027 one. When it posts, the review will add it.
How we verified this
Last verified:
- Coastal Carolina University, Fall Commencement ("Saturday, Dec. 12, at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. in the HTC Center")
- Coastal Carolina University, Commencement ("Commencement Ceremonies are held each May and December"; no Spring 2027 date at this check)
- Coastal Carolina University news, CCU celebrates the Class of 2026 ("More than 2,060 graduates were eligible to cross the stage"; May 7-9, 2026)
- Coastal Carolina University, a university page naming the closest hotel ("The closest hotel to the university campus is the Fairfield by Marriott Conway.")
- Northstar Meetings Group, Fairfield Inn & Suites Coastal Carolina Conway ("Total Number of Rooms 98")
- Coastal Carolina University, spring tickets ("Can claim up to 6 tickets"; 2026 rule)
This page is verified in two stages. Every fact is checked against the primary sources listed above, then the page is reviewed and signed off by our editor, A. Hassan. Corrections and enquiries: hello@graduationstay.com