Fraternity Vacation was not a major success at the box office, earning just over $3 million. Critical reception for the film was also predominantly unfavorable.[3]Roger Ebert gave the film one star out of four:
Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against dumb sex comedies. All I object to is the fact that "Fraternity Vacation" is playing with half a deck—the male half. The men are the characters and the women are the objects.[4]
Gene Siskel gave the film zero stars, calling it "yet another dimwitted college sex comedy, a film that doesn't have a single redeeming facet."[5]Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote, "The material is more smirky than funny, and the cast isn't particularly likable."[6]Variety wrote, "Neither wildly gross nor unbearably funny, pic nevertheless maintains a cheerful attitude throughout as the single minded teenage characters pursue the opposite sex with all the subtlety of dogs checking each other out."[7] Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times thought that the film did have a "bright cast" and "skillfully brisk direction," but was defeated by a script "devoid of surprises and ideas—and often characters."[8] A review in The Tech (MIT) said that the film was a poor example of its genre, and "not worth seeing unless you're really in the mood for this type of movie".[9]