Booking Motel rooms on a road trip?

[GH85Carrera]

OK, in the very near future I will be on a two week road trip. The second week is mostly at one place and that room is booked. For 7 days driving up into New England we will be staying in a different city each night. Two days on the road coming home. We don't want to plan things too rigidly and be forced to make a long drive to get to a booked room if we really like a location or national park. We will know several hours ahead about where we will feel like stopping. With a cell phone and a GPS to boot we can find a place to stay, but we will not know if it is a hole in the all or the Ritz.

We many well be staying in a major megalopolis like Mechanicville, NY or some other smaller city. We want to avoid the major cities when reasonable.

If I look at the hotel's own web site the prices are way higher than some of the discount sites. It would be nice to use a iPhone App buy we can always just use Safari.

Simple question, In YOUR opinion, which of the many hotel booking sites is the best one to use?

[LakeCleElum]

I do this a lot on motorcycle trips.......Been on the road 24 days in the past 5 weeks on 5 different trips that varied from 2 days to 10 days. Throw in a Snowmobile trip and car trip to Colorado, I've been away from home 39 nights since early March.
(Good to be home for a bit).

To answer your question: Priceline or booking.com, BUT:

I usually book at least one day out, especially in the busy summer season. I usually stay at a Best Western and they claim best price is on their website. I will search Best Western over a large area and find the price can vary quite a bit between 3 or 4 BW's. Depends on how close to major city, national park or major freeway. I saved $40 once in Kansas by coming from the south on nice 2 lane state highways and staying about 30 miles off the interstate. Example: stay in Wall, SD rather than Rapid City and cut the price in half.

I usually have internet when I book and use my search engine starting with something like: "hotels in Twin Falls, ID".....This will give you a map, phone number and basic price. If calling, I say: I qualify for Gov't rate, Aarp, and AAA, what is your price?"

[scottmandue]

+1 on if you just want middle of the road 'okay' go with Best Western.
I have never booked with my phone so don't know about apps but wouldn't be supersized if there were such a thing.

I usually book with Hotels.com and trip adviser has hotel reviews.

Will you be taking a laptop with you?

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

To answer your question: Priceline or booking.com, BUT:

I usually book at least one day out, especially in the busy summer season.

There it is. If I can avoid it I try and not play hotel wack-a-mole in certain seasons. This habit has saved me great anguish, especially in the West in the summer.

I travel a lot on business and generally stay in the Marriott selection of hotels, which vary greatly in price. They also accept cancellations until late on the day of check in which I like.

Failing an available Marriott, I stay with the chain offerings if possible since most take military discount, AAA, etc. All I do is bring up Google Maps on my phone and search for "hotels in Bum F Georgia" and they all pop right up.

The days of me rolling the dice with Happy Endings Motel and Resort are over.

[vash]

no clue.

but my wife does some ninja stuff with her phone. she books all kinds of stuff while i drive.

last year she booked an entire week in tokyo while i was napping in taipei. it was unbelievable.

[GH85Carrera]

We will have a laptop with us. It is an old XP pro laptop but it is fast and works great.

I can just see us getting stuck in one area and not wanting to push too much further. I understand booking ahead as far as possible is smart. We have been real happy with Hampton Inn as they have a "free" breakfast that is at least edible and easy. Same with Holiday Inn Express.

Like anyone I want a good rate and I have seen the same room at the same hotel vary in price over $100 depending on how it is booked.

[RANDY P]

kayak. or stick to daysinn.com or other major chains.

PS i have NEVER been checked for AAA membership, or gubmit employees checks, etc. etc.

[LakeCleElum]

Lesson learned the hard way in 1999: Middle of summer, middle of nowhere, I ride into Arco, Idaho w/o reservations..(Had come from Vail, Co that day)....Town is booked with local festival. I asked how far to the next town. Answer: There is no next town....Motel owner rented me a cot in the room where they kept their cleaning supplies for $13.

10 years before. Slept on a park bench after riding 900 miles to Cody, Wy that day.......No "next town" there either.

[KevinTodd]

Booking.com (pay upon checkout)

Hotels Tonight


great results on both--I use Booking several times monthly and by far the best I've used--

[craigster59]

Carrying a tent and a couple sleeping bags helps when the pickings are slim.

[1990C4S]

I have had good luck with hotels.com all around the world.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by craigster59

Carrying a tent and a couple sleeping bags helps when the pickings are slim.

The 911 is PACKED in every possible space with the luggage for two people for two weeks. We don't have room for extra shirts, much less a tent.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

Lesson learned the hard way in 1999: Middle of summer, middle of nowhere, I ride into Arco, Idaho w/o reservations..(Had come from Vail, Co that day)....Town is booked with local festival. I asked how far to the next town. Answer: There is no next town....Motel owner rented me a cot in the room where they kept their cleaning supplies for $13.

10 years before. Slept on a park bench after riding 900 miles to Cody, Wy that day.......No "next town" there either.

We will be in the New England area. There is always another town just down the road. Heck in some of those states you can drive all the way to the other side of the state in an hour or less. There are long stretches in the west where is in many hours to the next town.

We drove U.S. Route 50 in Nevada on past trips and that is remote and lonely.

[group911@aol.co]

Go to Google maps. In the search bar in the map, type the town or an intersection preceded by "hotels" and it will show all the hotels and prices.
Here are your results for Mechanicville, NY
https://www.google.com/maps/search/Mechanicville,+NY+hotels/@42.9073972,-74.053693,84445m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by KevinTodd

Booking.com (pay upon checkout)



Hotels Tonight





great results on both--I use Booking several times monthly and by far the best I've used--

I installed Booking.com on on iPhone and set up an account on my computer. It seems pretty good easy to figure out and has s a good selection of hotels.

[Reddy Kilowatt]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

The 911 is PACKED in every possible space with the luggage for two people for two weeks. We don't have room for extra shirts, much less a tent.

Maybe pack less clothing and plan on doing laundry a time or two?

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

The 911 is PACKED in every possible space with the luggage for two people for two weeks. We don't have room for extra shirts, much less a tent.

These days the first thing I pack is a tent. I hate arriving in some place and there is nowhere to stay. A few times when this has happened I've stayed in Hotel Toyota, so for me a tent is always an excellent plan B.

[widgeon13]

I don't think you will have any problem finding rooms as the schools are still in session in the NE and travel should be light until late June.

What is your route of travel in NE, mostly Vt and NH or upstate NY as well. Lots of motels as well as B&B's all over the place.

[GH85Carrera]

We have a lot of driving to do.

Our first night is LONG and boring and will be horrible. The same trip I did in 2008, OKC to Maryville, TN. Next day to Gatlinberg, and then Ashville, NC. Then Blowing Rock along the Blue Ridge. To Roanoke. Next day to Ft. Mc Henery and on into southern MD. The over up and around and through every state in NE to Maine. Then after a week, to Jay Peak.

[berettafan]

I like the kayak app.

haven't been able to beat prices on it elsewhere and I THINK it pulls from other sites.

Hampton has always been my go to place as well.