Booking hotels on a long trip

Dustin

Dustin

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So I'm curious what you guys prefer to do regarding hotels for multi-day trips. Do you book way ahead of time? Do you just show up in town and grab the next available?

As some of you know, I'm going on a 35-day trip and am wondering what I should be doing for the hotels on the days we can't stay with family & friends.

I am bringing a netbook with us for internet access, free phone calls, photo storage, blogging, etc. Seeing that I'm doing this trip in July, is it 'enough' to just book a hotel on Expedia a day or two ahead of time?

Any advice is welcome
 
I have done it both methods (sometimes on the same trip). Unless it is a holiday long weekend during the trip, then always book well in advance. The internet is good for that, and doing research on the area hotels. I booked a hotel in Merritt months ago, and the trip isn't until June.
 
well, I can tell you not to use travelocity....A recent booking was hosed in OKC where nothing was mentioned about a smoking room, until after the receipt was sent stating that possibility.

Ended up going to a different hotel and losing the $$$
 
Road Trip

We took a trip from Kamloops British Columbia to Sturgis South Dakota-summer 2009.Make sure you have a copy of
your reservation.We had booked in January for August -a good price and they tried to charge us
high summer walk in rates. This was in Rapid City.
This was our only bad experience, All our other walk ins were reasonable.
 
We always book in advance. But, we're considering a trip with camping gear and only using a hotel if absolutely necessary. I think it will be a lot of fun. My quandary is carrying food and liquids.

It can be difficult to plan with advanced booking on a bike trip. You are basically bound to meeting distance deadlines between hotels which typically doesn't leave a lot of room for weather-related issues or breakdowns/maintenance. So long as your bike is in top form prior to leaving, you should be OK with appropriate gear. Always plan for the worst and hope for the best.
 
We always book in advance as well. We plan the route on Google maps and figure out how many miles we plan to ride in a day, pick a town, and find a suitable hotel to stay at.

Only risk is if we stay for lunch longer, hit weather, or something else unexpected comes up, it could end up being a long day (I've pulled into hotels at 8 or 9pm after being on the bike for 12 hours). But if you know how many miles in a day you are comfortable riding, use that as a gauge, and find a town near that limit to stay at.
 
slyter485 said:
We always book in advance as well. We plan the route on Google maps and figure out how many miles we plan to ride in a day, pick a town, and find a suitable hotel to stay at.

Only risk is if we stay for lunch longer, hit weather, or something else unexpected comes up, it could end up being a long day (I've pulled into hotels at 8 or 9pm after being on the bike for 12 hours). But if you know how many miles in a day you are comfortable riding, use that as a gauge, and find a town near that limit to stay at.
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Sound advice, good to have a planned day when doing hotels. Try to start early or you can end up chasing the clock all day.

A formula that works for me and a long distance friend is to be on the road by 8 (hey, it is a vacation!) then ride 100 miles for a late breakfast in the cafe between breakfast and lunch. Then we stop for a light snack mid day and in the motel by 7ish. Go grab dinner (after dinner rush) but be careful not to get in too late as some small towns fold up food after 8-9 pm.

Easy to do 4-500 mile days this way or less if you actually want to stop and do something.
 
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