Idaho State's December 2026 commencement is in Reed Gym on campus in Pocatello, a city of about 57,000 in southeast Idaho, in two sittings by college. The university's International Programs travel page describes the Days Inn at 835 South 5th Avenue as "Across the street from ISU campus"; the newer chain hotels are at I-15 exit 69 on Vista Drive, five minutes away, where the Hampton Inn has 89 rooms and the Fairfield Inn & Suites 47 per the HotelGuides directory. Both rounds are on ISU's registrar planning calendar: Winter Commencement on Saturday 19 December 2026 and the Spring Pocatello Commencement on Saturday 8 May 2027. The 10 May entry on the same calendar is the Meridian campus, not Pocatello. The Friday night. Pocatello's hotel base is modest, Chubbuck next door is the same market, and the only overflow with depth is Idaho Falls, 55 minutes north.
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Across the street, by the university’s own description
ISU’s International Programs travel page lists hotels for arriving students with their distance from campus, and for one of them the distance is a sentence: “Across the street from ISU campus.”
Days Inn Pocatello University Area, 835 South 5th Avenue. About a mile and three minutes from the centre of campus; Reed Gym, December’s venue, is on campus. A budget motel; no room count confirmed in an English-language directory, so none stated.
Hampton Inn Pocatello, 151 Vista Drive, I-15 exit 69. About a mile and a half and five minutes from campus. 89 rooms per the HotelGuides directory.
Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Pocatello, 205 Via Venitio, exit 69. Five minutes. 47 rooms, so it fills first. No map pin: its coordinate returned 404 on the map provider’s endpoint on four tries, and the pin is omitted rather than moved.
Exit 69 also has a Holiday Inn Express, a Home2 Suites and a TownePlace Suites on the same directory. No matched-window availability series has been run for Pocatello, so this page publishes no count of what remains, and the size of the graduating class was not verified.
Two Saturdays, and a Monday that is a different city
ISU’s registrar planning calendar: “Winter Commencement | Dec 19” and “Spring Pocatello Commencement | May 8.” 19 December 2026 and 8 May 2027 are both Saturdays. The commencement page schedules December in Reed Gym: 10:30 a.m. for the College of Nursing and Rehabilitative Sciences, the L.S. Skaggs College of Pharmacy and Allied Health and the College of Technology; 2 p.m. for the College of Business, CHESS and the College of Science and Engineering.
The same calendar row lists “Spring Meridian Commencement | May 10.” That is ISU’s Treasure Valley campus, three and a half hours west, on a Monday. A family that books Pocatello for the 10th has the wrong city.
The Friday night for either round. The spring time and venue were not published at this check.
Chubbuck, then a long gap
Chubbuck, nine minutes north, is Pocatello’s adjoining suburb with lodging on Yellowstone Avenue; for booking purposes it is the same town. Blackfoot, 29 minutes up I-15, is small. Then nothing until Idaho Falls at 55 minutes and Ammon at 59, which together are eastern Idaho’s hotel market.
Drive times are off-peak road routes to campus computed on 14 September 2026, not measured journeys.
Not claimed here
No availability count and no graduate count. No room count for the Days Inn. No commencement rate; ISU’s travel page is a student page. No spring venue, because ISU has not published one; the ceremony weekend logistics page tracks it.
Verified hotel rules
| Hotel | Min. stay | Prepayment | Cancellation / forfeit | Typical rate | How to book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Days Inn Pocatello University Areasourcecheck rates | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Online, hotel’s own site |
| Hampton Inn Pocatellosourcecheck rates | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Online, hotel’s own site |
| Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Pocatellosource | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Online, hotel’s own site |
- Days Inn Pocatello University Area: 835 South 5th Avenue, which ISU's International Programs travel page describes as "Across the street from ISU campus"; about a mile and three minutes from the centre of campus. A room count was not confirmed in an English-language directory, so none is stated. No commencement-specific minimum stay, prepayment or cancellation policy was found, and none is claimed.
- Hampton Inn Pocatello: 151 Vista Drive at I-15 exit 69, about a mile and a half and five minutes from campus. 89 rooms per the HotelGuides directory listing. No commencement-specific policy was found.
- Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Pocatello: 205 Via Venitio at I-15 exit 69, about a mile and a half and five minutes from campus. 47 rooms per the HotelGuides directory listing, so it fills first. No commencement-specific policy was found. No map anchor: its coordinate returned 404 on Stay22's embed endpoint on four tries; the pin is omitted rather than moved.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chubbuck, IDCheck rooms in Chubbuck, ID → | 9 min | Not measured for this cluster. The adjoining suburb, with lodging on the Yellowstone Avenue corridor. | Not measured. Same market. |
| Blackfoot, IDCheck rooms in Blackfoot, ID → | 29 min | Not measured for this cluster. A small I-15 town with a few hotels. | Not measured. |
| Idaho Falls, IDCheck rooms in Idaho Falls, ID → | 55 min | Not measured for this cluster. The regional hotel market of eastern Idaho. | Not measured. Regional-city pricing. |
| Ammon, IDCheck rooms in Ammon, ID → | 59 min | Not measured for this cluster. The east side of the Idaho Falls market. | Not measured. |
Drive times are off-peak road routes to the ISU campus computed with OSRM on 2026-09-14, not measured journeys. No matched-window availability series has been run for any town in this ring. Between Blackfoot and Idaho Falls there is nothing.
“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 Days Inn Pocatello University Area at 835 South 5th Avenue, which ISU's own travel page describes as across the street from campus, about a mile and three minutes from its centre. The Hampton Inn at 151 Vista Drive and the Fairfield Inn & Suites at 205 Via Venitio, both at I-15 exit 69, are five minutes.
Will Pocatello sell out?
No matched-window availability series has been run for Pocatello, so this page publishes no count. The two exit-69 hotels with confirmed counts hold 136 rooms between them; the class size was not verified. A small city with an hour to the next real market argues for booking now.
Which night do we need?
The Friday. Both rounds are Saturdays. December 19 is 10:30 a.m. for Nursing and Rehabilitative Sciences, Pharmacy and Allied Health, and Technology, and 2 p.m. for Business, CHESS, and Science and Engineering, in Reed Gym. The 8 May 2027 time was not published.
Where is the overflow?
Chubbuck, nine minutes north, is effectively Pocatello. Blackfoot, 29 minutes up I-15, is small. Idaho Falls at 55 minutes and Ammon at 59 hold the region's hotel depth. Between Blackfoot and Idaho Falls there is nothing.
Does ISU publish a hotel list?
A student travel page names the Days Inn, La Quinta, Best Western and Red Lion with distances from campus. It is not a commencement list, and no commencement rate is claimed.
Do we need tickets?
No guest ticket rule was stated on ISU's commencement page at this check; graduates must RSVP by 9 November for December. Re-read the page nearer the round.
What about December?
Saturday 19 December 2026 in Reed Gym, 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. by college, per the commencement page. Same hotels, the Friday night, the week before Christmas.
How we verified this
Last verified:
- Idaho State University Registrar, planning calendar ("Winter Commencement | Dec 19"; "Spring Pocatello Commencement | May 8"; "Spring Meridian Commencement | May 10")
- Idaho State University, Commencement ("Saturday, December 19"; "Reed Gym"; "10:30am" and "2pm"; sittings by college; RSVP by November 9)
- Idaho State University International Programs Office, travel details (Days Inn, 835 S. 5th Avenue: "Across the street from ISU campus")
- HotelGuides, Hampton Inn Pocatello ("89 rooms")
- HotelGuides, Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Pocatello ("47 rooms")
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