Home Trip Planner State Parks Hotel Tips
Calendars: 2007 2008 2009 2010 Florida
Home Trip Planner State Parks Hotel Tips Calendars: 2007 2008 2009 2010 Florida Planning your Road Trip |
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Hotel TipsHotels are the biggest part of the cost of a road trip. If you are young and don't mind being uncomfortable, just sleep in your car at the rest areas on the road. For most of us, this isn't even an option.Do your homework online before you go on your trip. I don't really recommend booking hotels through the big discount sites. Look on them to help find hotels in out of the way places, but go to the hotel's site to book. It might look like you are getting a good deal through the big sites, but there are traps you need to watch out for. For instance, last year I was going to meet a couple of friends in another state for a weekend. I booked my room through the hotel's home site. They booked through a discount site. They paid about $5.00 less than I did. At the last minute we had to reschedule for the next weekend. I called the hotel, no problem, no charge. They got charged one night. Same hotel, different rules. Be smart at the discount sites, read the fine print. If you are 50 years old, or your spouse is 50, get an aarp card. Even if you are 25 and your spouse is 50, you are included in their card... and can get the discounts. Most hotels give an aarp discount on rooms. Likewise, if you are a veteran, or retired military, use your id card when you book a room. Government discount can be as much as half price. Triple A members can also get a good discount. Search different hotels, don't get attached to one chain and always look only for them. Prices vary greatly from hotel to hotel. If you are staying several days at one hotel, it's worth it to find one that has a pool, a microwave and refrigerator in the room, and is convenient to places you want to visit. If you are just looking for a place along the road to sleep and move on, don't worry about the amenities so much, find a Super 8. If you are staying near a big city, don't go for the cheapest hotel, it will probably be filthy and in a less than desirable area. It's always better to stay in small towns along the way than to stay near a big city while driving. A bad night in a hotel can ruin your mood for several days. If you walk in the room and it's not what you reserved, complain. If you wanted non-smoking and the room reeks of smoke, complain. If you see a bug, complain. If things don't look clean, complain. And don't wait until check-out to complain.... do it the minute you find something wrong. Many hotels will either give you a better room or a free night. If you wait until you are checking out, you are likely to get nothing. Most hotels have free breakfast. Take advantage of it, you can grab extra fruit, tea bags, cookies, etc. and take them along for snacks in the car. I will mention a few hotels that I have found to be usually filthy or otherwise nasty places to stay: Master's Inn (generally in the South) Days Inn Motel 6 Red Roof Inn Of couse not every hotel in the chains mentioned about is bad, but from experience, the one's I have stayed in were rather disgusting. Lower priced chain hotels that are pretty consistant in cleanliness and quality: Comfort Inn Quality Inn Super 8 Extended Stay (yes, you can stay one night) Holiday Inn Express Best Western, altho some are not so good Amerihost Inn I'm sure there are many others, these are just ones I've experienced. Of course if your budget allows for over $100 a night for a room, you will usually not have any problems. Get organized, plan ahead, and you'll have a great road trip without breaking your budget. contact info: johubbard @ gmail.com Site design and all photographs Copyright 1998 - 2007 Site Map |