On-Site Accommodations at St. John's University
Please read through everything on this page. Registration links are at the very bottom.
Where and What
Accommodations are available at St. John's in Century Hall, beginning the night of Wednesday, June 15th through the night of Tuesday, June 21st. This housing is in basic student suites (bed, dresser, desk) in a secure, air-conditioned, elevator building on the campus a short walk from the main convention sites and right across the way from the dining hall.
The suites include a large common area with table and chairs, couch, refrigerator and microwave. On each side are two bedrooms (with two beds each) and a bathroom. (Note: there are some triple rooms, but they include bunk beds.) Linens are included: pillow, blanket, flat sheet, fitted sheet, pillow case, 1 towel, 1 washcloth. Complimentary laundry facilities are available on each floor. There is free wi-fi throughout the campus.
You have the option of sharing your room with others or staying in a bedroom by yourself. Details are in the "Costs" section below. However, it is important to note that, in either case, you will need to share a bathroom since you cannot reserve an entire suite or the entire side of a suite.
Accommodations include three meals at the Montgoris Dining Hall from Friday dinner through Monday lunch. No meals are available at Montgoris on any other days. The three meals are: dinner on each night of your stay and breakfast and lunch for the next day. For example, if you are staying Friday night, dinner on Friday and breakfast and lunch on Saturday are included. Therefore, you do not need to purchase meals on your registration form unless you want dinner on the day you are leaving. In that case, you do have to purchase it separately on the registration form. In addition to the cost of the meal, you would also have to pay a $10 charge for a meal card.
Free parking is available. When you collect your welcome packet at housing registration, you will be able to get a parking pass that is required only for overnight guests.
Access Card
If you are staying at St. John's, you will be required to carry a photo i.d. card (known as a "Storm Card") at all times. It will be included in the welcome packet that you will pick up at housing registration. This card will get you into the dorm, will be encoded with access to your suite, and will also be your meal card to get you into the Montgoris Dining Hall.
When you register for accommodations, you will be required to fill out a St. John's form and upload a photo for your Storm Card. St. John's has very specific and detailed requirements for the format of the photo. In summary:
- JPG and JPEG files only
- shoulder to head shots only
- no headwear (hats, hoods, bandannas, etc. except for religious purposes)
- no prescription glasses
- no sunglasses
- no scanned passport photos
- no black and white photos
- solid background (preferably blue)
Costs
You have the option of sharing your room with others or staying in a bedroom by yourself. St. John's charges us by bed, not by person. Therefore, if you want to stay alone in a bedroom, you must pay for the unused bed. The costs for the different housing options are as follows:
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Friday, Saturday, Sunday (with meals included):
- $105 per night if sharing.
- $175 per night if you want one bedroom for yourself.
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Other nights: Wednesday, Thursday, Monday, Tuesday (no meals available):
- $70 per night if sharing.
- $140 per night if you want one bedroom for yourself.
In addition to the above, there is a one-time $30 registration fee for housing. if you register by May 20. If you register between May 21 and June 1, the fee is $45; after June 1, the fee is $60. The fee covers St. John's costs for linens, access cards, and other services.
Each person must pay for his or her own meals and registration costs. This means that if two people are staying together in one room, each person must register separately. You cannot register one person for a room and indicate that someone is your roommate. The "bedroom for yourself" category is for people who are staying alone in that room, and the cost has been calculated so that you do not pay for meals or fees for the empty bed.
If you do not have enough people for a complete suite, we will match you with others. All OrigamiUSA matching is done by gender. Note that if you reserve three beds in a mixed-sex side of a suite (e.g. a couple and a child), and ask us to find a fourth person, we will attempt to find a single person willing to share in a mixed sex suite. If we are unable to find a fourth person, you will be responsible for the cost of the fourth bed. We encourage you, therefore, to find a fourth person yourself.
St. John's Rules and Regulations
Anyone under 18 years of age staying in the dorms at St. Johns must have a parent or legal guardian staying with him or her. Further, a consent form must be signed by the parent or legal guardian when checking in to housing, even though he or she is staying there with the minor.
Only those staying at the dorms will be permitted to enter them. You will not be able to sign in guests.
St. John's University has a very strict no-alcohol, no-drugs policy for all housing areas. Please respect their rules.
Timely Registration and Refund Policy
St. John's University is not certain they will be able to expand our contracted room commitment. Therefore it is especially essential this year that all St. John's University housing forms are sent in as early as possible. We will not be able to guarantee housing for forms received after June 1. If you cancel your St. John's University housing after June 1, we will refund your money only if we can re-rent your room. We make a sizable financial commitment to St. John's University to secure housing, and late forms substantially increase our costs and volunteer effort requirement. We have therefore added a charge for forms received after May 20 — please see the housing form for details.
Checking In and Late Registration
Here is an annotated (partial) campus map that identifies the locations and the driving and walking paths described in this section.
When you arrive at St. John's to register for housing, you will first pick up your registration packet at Ozanam ("Oz") Lounge in St. Vincent's. St Vincent's is right across University Road from the dorms. The entrance to Oz is tucked into a corner where two wings of the building (St. Vincent's) meet. It has a bright red awning. The sign over the door actually says, "International Students and Scholar Services."
If you are driving, you must enter through the main gate (G1) on Utopia Parkway and Kildare Road. Just tell the guard at the gate that you are checking in for the OrigamiUSA convention. Then you would drive along University Road to St. Vincent's, which will be on your right just before you get to the barrier. There is limited temporary parking in a small driveway off University Road just outside the entrance to Oz Lounge that can be used while you are collecting your registration packet and unloading your luggage. To turn into the driveway, you would bear right just before the barrier on University Road. Please be mindful of the other attendees and do not leave your vehicle for a prolonged period.
If you are planning to park overnight while staying in the dorm, you will have to request an overnight parking pass to place on the dashboard of your car at check-in.
Once you have registered, it is a short walk from Oz Lounge to Century House, our dorm. St. John's will provide luggage carts for those who would like to use them. Note: you will need to leave your driver's license or other id to take a cart.
For those who would find it too difficult to walk from Oz to the dorm, we will have one of the 5-seater golf carts (described on the Travel page under the heading "Getting Around St. John's) available to bring you closer to the entrance.
Once done, if you are parking on campus, you can drive to the main parking garage — continuing along University Road, turning left towards Gate 6 (G6) and then turning right into the parking area before you reach the gate (do not exit).
On subsequent entries by car, you must use Gate 6, the same as the day visitors -- as described in the section on parking.
Check-in is available from 9:00am – 6:00pm. For late registration, after 6:00pm, pick up your materials at O'Connor House, the dorm next to Century, in Room 101.
Checking Out
Checkout is at 11:00am. On Sunday and Monday we will have an area for luggage storage so that you can attend classes and the Monday night dinner. Hours for the luggage storage room are 7:00am – 11:00am and 5:00pm – 11:00pm.If you are checking out from the dorms by car and you are parked in the garage, you must exit the campus and re-enter through Gate 1 (the main gate), the same as you did when you checked in.
Contact Information
St. John's University Housing is being handled by Martha Winslow-Cole. If you have any questions about accommodations, write to her at 5222 Duck Springs Road, Attalla, AL 35954, or call her at (256) 538-9727. She can also be reached via email at convention-housing [at] origamiusa.org.
Local Area Hotels
If you prefer to stay at a hotel, here are some suggested by St. John's University.
You can also check travel websites for suggestions. Be aware that there are no hotels within walking distance of St. John's. Be sure to check website ratings and reviews carefully. We have no personal recommendations or suggestions for hotels.
Registration Links
Registration for Convention Housing is now closed.