College graduation season: 3 tips for parents to dodge expensive hotel rates

If you think getting tickets to a Taylor Swift concert or the World Series is tough, try booking a hotel room in an American college town for Graduation Day.

Toni Milbourne faced this before her daughter's graduation from West Virginia University in May. Hotel room rates in Morgantown doubled before the local event. In a nearby town, prices more than tripled to $350 a night.

"It absolutely feels like price gouging," said Milbourne, managing editor for a West Virginia newspaper. "People...