Motels In The US - Road trip

davychase

Im thinking of going on a road trip for a month with my girlfriend in September in North America (start in Chicago move onto Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, New York and Washington etc) Anyone done anything similar? Has anybody experience of US motels? What do they cost? Any advice relating to such a trip would be appreciated

BuffyBot

Have a look at motel6.com and super8.com for prices at two of the bigger motel chains

BurnsCarpenter

I did something similar last summer on the west coast. Bought a tent and camped around half the time, stayed in motels the rest. Prices can vary a good bit depending on the area you're in. A motel room per night is anywhere from $40 to $80.

Benedict XVI

I travelled Seattle to Boston a few years back (2000) and stayed in Motel 6 everywhere I stopped, the rooms are big, clean and cheap.

I usually stopped in small towns in places like Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota that had motels on the edge of town but still close enough to the centre.

From your itinerary you will be going to big cities, and motels are usually located on the edges of big cities isolated from public transport so I am not sure how a motel would suit you if you would like to go out at nights in the cities, you might be better off looking for good downtown deals in each city.

keefg

If you are planning on staying in any major city centres, just remember to budget for parking costs, quite a lot of hotels within the city limits charge for storing your car overnight.

pow wow

Econo Lodge, Knight's Inn and La Quinta are pretty good too. There'll be a lot of independent ones there too, quality can be a little dubious though you can usually tell it's a roach motel from the outside

davychase

Thanks for the replies. Very helpful. Il probably mix it up a bit. Stay on the outskirts when doing the touristy stuff and downtown when im on the beer. Has anyone noticed the huge fee they charge for dropping a rental car in a different city than the one you picked it up. It almost doubles the cost. Gonna have to start and finish in the same city i'd say

Andrewf20

I have done a few whopper road trips in the USA, staying in Motels all over the place. Usually they are fine, ive had no horror stories. One great thing to look out for is if you are going to Dennys or iHop for food during the day, watch out for free magazines in the porch as you go in. Often the have coupons at the back for motels and budget hotels. We made some real savings with them. Motels away from the big citys are usually cheaper.

We did a similar road trip last year (NY to Acadia national park in Maine, Montreal, Toronto, Niagara, Cleveland rock and roll hall of fame (brill), west virgina, Viriginia, Washington DC,NY).

Try to catch:

-Washington DC
-Mt Washington, New Hampshire. Whopper steep drive to summit, 6000ft up!
-Niagara
-CN tower Toronto,
-Whale watching in Atlantic
-If into roller coasters, see Cedar point 40miles west of Cleveland. Possibly worlds best coaster - Millenium Force.
-Monticello, Virginia
-Rock and roll hall of fame, Cleveland, if you are into that.

Savman

Haven't you people ever seen Psycho?!

sonners

Some websites do deals on the one way drop-off, definitely worth shopping around.

I rented from Las Vegas and dropped back to San Fran with free one-way drop off with usrentacar.co.uk last september. They had a fair few deals on at the time depending on the state(s) you're visiting and your drivers (number of drivers, driver age, etc).

If you cant find anything suitable on usrentacar.co.uk I would still recommend shopping around, some other sites did deals if you were travelling between two specific states. When I was looking the oneway fee was anywhere from $150 to $400, thats a fair difference!

davychase

Thanks again everyone. Very helpful

rossie1977

some of the motels chains mentioned here i wouldn't recommend to my worst enemy e.g. econolodge (most of these i have seen are in really really bad locations and look terrible)

motel 6 are usually hit or miss, you might get a decent one from time to time but most are really isolated and contain really small rooms (though usually very cheap)

days inn can also be hit and miss but are usually a good bargain http://www.daysinn.com/

choice hotels have a number of brands e.g. comfort inn, comfort suites, clarion, quality inn, rodeway and of course the dreaded econolodge :eek: i have stayed in them all, comfort suites and clarion are the best followed by quality inn, comfort inn, rodeway http://www.choicehotels.com

always read here before booking any accommodation, customer reviews of nearly every hotel or motel is here http://www.tripadvisor.com

AARRRGH

If you rent a big enough car you could easily sleep in it a lot of the nights. You'll save a fortune and sleeping in cars is fun

Andrewf20

I found that the price of the motel is usually reflective of its location and condition. You can always ask to view the rooms before booking when you arrive on site. We also tended to look for one off motels rather than the big chains like Motel 6 as they seemed to be usually slightly cheaper. Also try and stay in 1 or 2 B&Bs. We stayed in 2 last year, the B&Bs were approx 150 years old, full of character and a fresh change from the clinical motel 6 regime we subjected ourselves to most of the time.

We stayed here and it was brill: http://www.aubergedestowe.com/rooms.htm,

which is the town of Stowe in Vermont on our way from New Hampshire to Montreal. It was class. Ended up watching metorites while in an outdoor jacuzy, and also got a chance to swim in their pool out the back after dark at the end of their garden.