Inexpensive hotels and motels

Alert Cronovirus (COVID-19)

     FINALLY, in most places shops and restaurants are mostly back to normal, and the same is true for motels and hotels. So probably no further need to call ahead unless your travelling to a "hot spot"...
   If you do decide to stay in a motel soon, see our ideas on how you might lessen your exposure.

Booking

  If you can plan your trip in advance, it's hard to beat the travel sites on price. But it's also pretty hard to evaluate the general condition of the property, neighborhood it's in, parking availability and safety, noise levels, or the odor, location and general cleanliness of the room you booked.

  So if we are traveling by car to a city that's not hosting an event or generally overbooked, we like to reserve a room phone in the car near the location, then drive by and look at the location. If that's OK, the we look at the room before forking over our cash.

  Depending on the poorly paid staff at inexpensive motels, sometimes they refuse to hold the room for the 30 min it takes for us to arrive, but first of all, that's a bad sign, and second, we've never had a place book up between the call and our arrival.

Contacting the inn

  If you set your gps mapping device (smart phone, standalone, or in dash) to searchfor lodgint "along my route" it will bring up the location and phone number of the units generally within a mile of your route. The better units will let you search by motel name, like "8" for super 8 or "6" for motel 6 and remember the last few choices you made. Or you can let it display all the motels along your route, sorted by nearest to your current location.

  The number displayed on the better units is usually the local number, not the corporate headquarters, which is definately what you want. But it's always best to ask first if your talking to the same hotel chain and location displayed, as the motels change franchises on a regular basis. No problem if they changed franchises as long as you know to look for the new name.

Negotiating the price

  Asking the price at the checkin counter is almost always more expensive than asking over the phone. The difference is your already there, and they know it. Common discounts you can ask about, if you quaify, in the general order of effectiveness include:

• Government Rate
• Trucker's discount
• AAA
• AARP
• Senior's discount

Location Considerations

Room rates near the Northeast and Southern California coasts are considerably higher than the rest of the country, and occupancy rates are high, so keep that in mind if you decide to book at the last minute. A few calls the day before just to check availability in those areas is a good idea, and you can also get a good idea of the prevailing prices.