Spirit Celebration Grand Nationals runs December 5 and 6, 2026 at Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas, 650 S. Griffin Street, Dallas, Texas 75202. The venue lists the event in Exhibit Halls B and C plus C Ballroom. Its event-location line adds Ballroom C1-C4 and the C100 meeting rooms. Two competition days sit on that floor plan, and the housing calendar in front of them has already run.
Two Nights Cover Both Divisions
The organiser’s page splits the performance order by division. Prep, Novice and Rec teams compete Saturday only. Elite teams compete Saturday and Sunday.
That split fixes the nights. Friday December 4 is the arrival night for every team entered. Saturday December 5 is the second night for Elite teams and an optional night for Saturday-only entries. A Sunday December 6 checkout covers both groups and leaves Sunday morning clear for the Elite division.
Two nights, then: December 4 and December 5, checking out December 6. A Saturday-only team can take one night and leave after competition, which trades a saved night against a same-day exit.
The Wave Calendar Has Already Run
Varsity Spirit’s 2026-2027 housing launch page dates the November and December Housing Required cohort. The exemption form on the Team Travel Source site lists Spirit Celebration Grand Nationals on 12/5/26 among its events, which is the served record that this weekend carries a housing requirement. The varsity.com event page itself prints no housing designation.
The cohort calendar runs three dates. The email carrying each coach’s scheduled booking time went out Tuesday, September 8, 2026 at 2 p.m. EST. Team booking windows opened Thursday, September 10, 2026. The link became publicly available Monday, September 21, 2026 at 11 a.m. CST.
Waves are assigned by each programme’s Housing Booking Tier for the event. Only a programme registered within 48 hours of registration opening receives a wave. Every programme registered after that window waits for the public link.
All three dates have passed. The public link is the channel open to every family now, and the levers left are how fast a room gets held and how cheaply it can be released.
What Housing Required Changes at the Desk
Varsity’s Stay Smart programme defines the designation. Housing Required events carry hotel blocks with attrition terms, and those blocks underwrite the venue and the date.
Four rules matter to a family booking this weekend. Teams within 75 miles of the venue are marked local and may commute. Prep and Novice teams within 150 miles are not required to book. One coaches room is allotted per registered team. Stay Smart sets no minimum night stay, though individual hotels may.
Exemptions exist for a stay fully covered by loyalty points, for military and hotel-employee discounts, and for an owned home. The exemption route runs through Team Travel Source, and a rental or an Airbnb does not qualify.
Blocks are published at least four weeks before each two-day event. This weekend sits inside that window now.
What Remains Across the Two Nights
No source publishes a remaining-room count for this event. The organiser’s event page still reads “More information coming soon!” for its schedule and carries no hotel list. The booking link is the inventory.
Stay Smart describes what that link shows. Availability is live and moves as reservations cancel and group blocks release. Rooms held by teams that never use them return to the pool when a block releases. Varsity adds new properties to the link as they become available.
A waitlist can cover the whole stay or part of it. A sold-out note beside a date means the waitlist is full or closed for that property. Varsity encourages a back-up reservation beside a waitlisted one.
The workable sequence for a family arriving December 4: hold two nights at a property with a free cancellation window, check the link through early November, and release the second night once the division and the roster are fixed.
Which Night Carries the Risk
Friday December 4 cannot move. Saturday’s divisions compete that day, and a Saturday morning drive into 650 S. Griffin Street spends the margin a first routine needs.
Saturday December 5 carries a different risk. Elite teams compete Sunday, so a Saturday checkout puts families and luggage in the lobby during a competition day. That night is the one to hold for an Elite entry.
Who Answers the Block Question
Team Travel Source administers the blocks. Parents reach the desk by text or call at 502-354-9103 and by email at info@teamtravelsource.com. Coaches and team managers use the same number and cheerdancegym@teamtravelsource.com. Questions on exemptions and compliance go to staysmart@varsity.com.
The event staff list is published. Jenna Perez handles registration at jperez@varsity.com. Carlie-Ann Weber coordinates the event at cweber@varsity.com. Joshua Johnson covers customer experience at jjohnson@varsity.com. Matt Skorcz handles scoring at Mskorcz@varsity.com. The Spirit Celebration line is 866-397-3034, and the venue answers at (214) 939-2700.
The Rate Comes From the Link
No nightly rate for this block is published anywhere a reader can reach without travel dates. The price appears when the link opens against the stay. Budget the weekend as two nights at the quoted rate, and treat the cancellation window as part of the price.
Why the Weekend Fills
The event page lists two full paid bids and four at-large bids to The Cheerleading Worlds. The same page links the 2026-2027 Summit Championships bid guide, which covers The Summit, the D2 Summit, the Youth Summit, the Rec Summit and the Regional Summit. Those bids pull gyms into one building on one weekend, and the housing designation is the mechanism that keeps them in one place.
Hold Friday first. Add Saturday when the division justifies it.