Booking roadtrip hotel ahead?

[texasroni75]

We are driving to WDW in September from Texas. We've done this roadtrip before on our last trip there and will share driving duties. So, we know we will be staying overnight somewhere about 3/4 of the way there. That will put us just over the border into northern Florida.

DH really wants to book a hotel room ahead of time to save $$ using Priceline or Hotwire. A quick look at the sites shows it will potentially save us $40 off the room for the night.

My problem with this is that it puts a LOT of pressure on us to get to that particular hotel. This means that if we run into delays or issues (flat tire, traffic, we decide we are both too tired to drive any further for the day, etc.), OR if we get to the hotel and we HATE the place (bad area, dirty hotel, whatever), we lose the cost of that room, and still have to pay to stay in another hotel wherever we end up.

I don't think the savings is so wonderful that I'm willing to book it ahead. DH thinks it's worth it. What do you think!?

 

[descovy]

We are embarking on a 5000mi loop road trip through the western states. Yes, we prebook our rooms.

However, we plan to stop overnight after 8hrs of drivetime. (about 400 miles) which gives us plenty of wiggle room.

Last year we did Houston to Mobile AL one night, and Mobile to Orlando the next night. This gave plenty of time for stops, lunch, and even bad weather and traffic.

 

[Brer Shay]

When traveling with our kids, we always prebook. DH and I can work around the inconvenience of a poor hotel experience better than with our kids. The chorus of "Don't touch that!" "Get off the floor!" "Pick that up!" is just too much effort. For Disney, we plan to get 550 miles of driving in before stopping. Even on the trips we've hit traffic snarls, we still made it to our hotel by 9 pm, even though we had hoped for 6 pm. Also, with a family of five (and I see you are six), I want to make sure I can get a suite so that we all have adequate bedding. All travel goes better when we're all well-rested.

If you want to use Priceline, check betterbiddding.com or a similar site first and you will get an idea of which hotels use Priceline in the area you're looking at. If you're willing to accept them, go ahead and try.

 

[MSSANDRA]

We had done a few things and the best thing we found was booking about an hour out from the time we want to arrive and choosing only chains we know and trust. We have eaten the cost of a room before when we arrived and I refused to stay there (looked fine one line), and we have arrived at a pre-book hotel and are still fine to go further, and we have also pooped out a few hours before we get to the hotel! We find we get a better rate booking ahead, even an hour or so, and we can push on an hour after we decide we need to stop. We mostly will book a Hampton. Not too expensive yet clean, comfortable beds and breakfast in the am!!

 

[bartleby1]

I always prebook a room so that I can research it ahead of time on tripadvisor to make sure the reviews are decent. However, I make sure to find one that I can cancel the day of travel (usually up until 6:00pm). This way if something delays us or if we feel we can go further we can always change our minds. I also research hotels within an hour or two in both directions so I have a second choice. Anything can happen that could cause a delay. No way would I book a nonrefundable hotel, which I believe Priceline is. Car trouble, flat tire, hit a deer (been there, done that!), traffic, road construction, etc. too many variables when traveling to deal with a nonrefundable room.

 

[texasroni75]

Our oldest DD is not coming on this trip so we are technically a group of 5 this time. We actually DID have a flat tire our last roadtrip, causing a 3 hour delay and made me glad we didn't pre-book a hotel, since we didn't get anywhere near where we thought we would be that first night. Also, we pre-booked a week at a hotel up in NJ last summer to visit family, and HATED the place, but it was non-refundable so we stayed anyway. So, I guess you could say those two experiences really put me off booking before seeing it in-person. DH is more optimistic and the thought of 40 extra dollars in his pocket wins out over any misgivings I may have.

I don't think Priceline or Hotwire let you cancel same-day and get a refund. What booking sites allow that? I'm thinking if we book using another site to be able to refund, we lose most of the $40 savings, and therefore it cancels out the need to pre-book anyway? Blah!

 

[StephMK]

I always prebook a room so that I can research it ahead of time on tripadvisor to make sure the reviews are decent. However, I make sure to find one that I can cancel the day of travel (usually up until 6:00pm). This way if something delays us or if we feel we can go further we can always change our minds. I also research hotels within an hour or two in both directions so I have a second choice. Anything can happen that could cause a delay. No way would I book a nonrefundable hotel, which I believe Priceline is. Car trouble, flat tire, hit a deer (been there, done that!), traffic, road construction, etc. too many variables when traveling to deal with a nonrefundable room.

This is exactly what I do as well. While I'd love to save the money by pre-booking a non-refundable room, I don't want to take that risk. By 6pm that day, I have a pretty good idea if we're going to make it to the hotel.

 

[bartleby1]

Our oldest DD is not coming on this trip so we are technically a group of 5 this time. We actually DID have a flat tire our last roadtrip, causing a 3 hour delay and made me glad we didn't pre-book a hotel, since we didn't get anywhere near where we thought we would be that first night. Also, we pre-booked a week at a hotel up in NJ last summer to visit family, and HATED the place, but it was non-refundable so we stayed anyway. So, I guess you could say those two experiences really put me off booking before seeing it in-person. DH is more optimistic and the thought of 40 extra dollars in his pocket wins out over any misgivings I may have.

I don't think Priceline or Hotwire let you cancel same-day and get a refund. What booking sites allow that? I'm thinking if we book using another site to be able to refund, we lose most of the $40 savings, and therefore it cancels out the need to pre-book anyway? Blah!

We book directly thru the hotel websites. Many choice hotels (comfort inn, quality inn, sleep inn, etc) have same day cancellation and also offer a free breakfast (big savings for a family of 5!) Like I said, it isn't as much a savings issue, but it gives me a chance to check reviews on tripadvisor. Unfortunately, there are way too many scummy hotels up and down I-95. Also, sometimes there may be a hotel just a little bit further or closer than the exit you may have just pulled off while looking for a hotel on the road that has a cheaper hotel and is equally nice. I like to be able to do this research before we leave rather than when we are tired and just want to stop.

 

[njmom47]

Are you a member of AAA?
When I drive my dmom back from Florida, about an hour before we are ready to stop for the day, we call AAA, tell them where we are, and let them know we would like to book a room within a certain area (dmom has her TripTik and map out so she knows whereabouts that would be and how much longer we would need to drive). So far they've been really awesome.

I do second checking the cancellation policy though if you book ahead!
That works for us, but it's just me and mom...not 4 kids!

 

[nugov2]

Book a hotel ahead of time that has a same day cancellation option. The day you are driving down, when you get close to that hotel(and know you will make it there), go online and see if they have a cheaper deal through hotels or priceline. If they do book it and cancel the prebooked hotel. This way you have a for sure hotel you know is good at a refundable rate if nothing is available the same day. If you book through a discount site to get the cheapest rate you have to pick nonrefundable and to me it isn't worth saving 30-40 if you don't get there. We have done this for my daughter's soccer tournament and have been able to get a $40 savings cancelling and rebooking same day through the hotels/priceline sites.

 

[Pixieflip]

The cancellation policy (as well as the unknowns like brand or location) is why we haven't used priceline. It's just not worth the inflexibility for $40 to us.

AAA with a cancel by 6pm policy, still get a decent price, on a brand I know and trust ahead of time, in a location/town I know and trust ahead of time. Worth every penny.

As previously stated, we know by 6pm if we'll make it or not and that works great for us.

Good luck, whatever you decide!

 

[clh2]

Priceline will only guarantee 1 bed in the room. You may get more than that, but again, no guarantee about that.

SO - with that piece of info - I will do priceline if I am travelling solo, or with just DH. If we have our DD with us - then priceline is a "no-go" for us.

So - with you traveling with a total of 5- there is "no way" I would do priceline.

On the other hand - I am the one who would get crabby in the car - (about 6 hours is my limit per day) - so I do "need" to know where we are staying if we go on a road trip. I "need" to know approximately what time we will be there. I "need" to know that my time in the car will be ending for the day at a approximately a specific time.

And - in our family - all people get a real bed, I do not expect people to camp on the floor. Well rested travelers are much happier!

 

[DisneyWorldFam5]

We drove from one coast to the other last summer and prebooked all of our hotel rooms. We made it to each one with no issues (8 hotels). I don't know if it was luck or extensive planning, but we did it.

 

[Tinkmom]

I always prebook a room so that I can research it ahead of time on tripadvisor to make sure the reviews are decent. However, I make sure to find one that I can cancel the day of travel (usually up until 6:00pm). This way if something delays us or if we feel we can go further we can always change our minds. I also research hotels within an hour or two in both directions so I have a second choice. Anything can happen that could cause a delay. No way would I book a nonrefundable hotel, which I believe Priceline is. Car trouble, flat tire, hit a deer (been there, done that!), traffic, road construction, etc. too many variables when traveling to deal with a nonrefundable room.

This is what we do. I feel like it gives us a solid reservation at a reasonable price, but the late cancellation option gives flexibility. I also take a few minues to scope out possibilities if we need to stop a bit sooner.

 

[Kies99]

I seem to be on the other side than the previous posters. If I'm driving to a vacation (we do Destin FL at least 1x a year) and need to stop along the way, I never pre-book a room. We just keep driving until we can't go any further. We've never had to pay more than $75 for a decent room. Since we are only using it for a few hours, it's worth it to us. We'd rather drive as far as possible before stopping.

For example, we just drove back to Pittsburgh from Destin Florida this past Saturday (16.5 hours). Normally we would find a place to stop to split up the driving. This time we all felt great and got an early start and drove straight through. If I had pre-booked a room I'd have had to either stop to use it and gotten home on Sunday or I would have had to eat a fee.

 

[Pembo]

We never pre-book a road trip hotel. We just pick up a Roomsavers magazine at a McDonalds or rest stop earlier in the day, figure out when and where we want to stop and get a room at a great price. Typically they are new hotels and the prices are awesome.

We stayed at a hotel in SC that had been open for 2 weeks for $49, a Country Inn I think. Another time we stayed in St Augustine for $99...rack rate was over $200.

 

[purpledisneyprncess]

We never pre-book a road trip hotel. We just pick up a Roomsavers magazine at a McDonalds or rest stop earlier in the day, figure out when and where we want to stop and get a room at a great price. Typically they are new hotels and the prices are awesome.

We stayed at a hotel in SC that had been open for 2 weeks for $49, a Country Inn I think. Another time we stayed in St Augustine for $99...rack rate was over $200.

That's a great idea to pick up a roomsaver mag at one of the rest stops to get a coupon. Another thing, if you don't find any coupons along the way, you could call up some of the local hotels that you are near when you want to stop and ask for their best room rate for that night. THat's what we did the 1st time we stayed in DTD on a whim and they even gave me the Disney view. It was amazing.

 

[bartleby1]

We never pre-book a road trip hotel. We just pick up a Roomsavers magazine at a McDonalds or rest stop earlier in the day, figure out when and where we want to stop and get a room at a great price. Typically they are new hotels and the prices are awesome.

We stayed at a hotel in SC that had been open for 2 weeks for $49, a Country Inn I think. Another time we stayed in St Augustine for $99...rack rate was over $200.

We tried using the roomsaver magazine many years ago but found that most deals at the time were only for "dual occupancy" and then they wanted to charge us extra for our kids (we have 3 kids). Do you happen to know if this is still the case? I've been tempted to try again although I do still like to be able to check tripadvisor reviews ahead of time. But the roomsaver rates are tempting!

 

[Nana2Callie]

We use the Room Saver mag or whatever else is available - usually watch for them when making gas stops. We found a great coupon last year for one in Ocala. I tried to book the same hotel online (in advance) and it was about $20 higher than the coupon. So, we're taking our chances. We just switch drivers and husband drives while I go through offers - calling until we get our reservation.

 

[mrsklamc]

We are embarking on a 5000mi loop road trip through the western states. Yes, we prebook our rooms.

However, we plan to stop overnight after 8hrs of drivetime. (about 400 miles) which gives us plenty of wiggle room.

Last year we did Houston to Mobile AL one night, and Mobile to Orlando the next night. This gave plenty of time for stops, lunch, and even bad weather and traffic.

Ok don't want to hijack the thread but do you have a thread with your itinerary on it?