Instead of renting a hotel room, Maddy Snyder's family will spend this weekend in her apartment at Second Avenue Centre.
Snyder, a 20-year-old elementary education junior, said her mom, Frances, and aunt Maribeth Rothell usually alternate between renting a hotel room and staying with her when they visit.
"They figured Homecoming would be hard to get a hotel," Snyder said.
Some Gainesville hotels are already sold-out for the Homecoming weekend.
"Even though [the Gators are] not on a winning streak, that hasn't changed anything," said Robert Knight, front-desk supervisor of the Holiday Inn at Southwest 13th Street and University Avenue.
The Holiday Inn is sold-out for all upcoming football games and usually sells out for home game weekends six to 12 months in advance, Knight said. The hotel, four blocks away from the stadium, charges $200 to $600 per night for a room on home game weekends. The average price for a room on a non-game day is about $169 per night, Knight said.
The Reitz Union Hotel, located on the fifth and sixth floors of the Reitz Union, has a lottery system to determine who stays in the hotel's 36 rooms during football game weekends, said Chris Kehn, the hotel general manager.
"We've been full for every football game for the past three or four years, and we are full this weekend," Kehn said.
The hotel rooms are paid for in advance at a rate of $225 to $325 per night, and reservation cancellations are rare.
For those still looking for hotel rooms, the Cabot Lodge at 3726 SW 40th Blvd. has rooms available for this weekend. It has had a number of cancellations for this weekend because the football team has lost recent games, said D.J. Tate, the hotel's sales manager.
The hotel has dropped its standard rates for football game weekends to $179 per night as a result, and Tate said he still expects rooms to sell out Saturday night.
"People don't want to come when the team is losing, so a lot of regulars won't make the trip," he said. "But people who don't come regularly are coming now because there's room available."
