Driving from Buffalo to Orlando, do I need to make hotel ressies?

[Neelloc]

We are driving down in 3 days!!!! Our plan is to leave Buffalo at around 5am Wedneday morning and keep driving until we feel like stopping for the day, but to at least get to Charlotte, NC.

Should I pick a few hotels and make ressies, or wing it and find a hotel on the fly? Does anyone have any experiences of one over the other? We will have a laptop with a wireless internet connection to check out rates and availability along the way.

Will I find sold out hotels? What about our returning trip on Friday April 17th?

Our kids are 6 and 4, and I cannot fathom driving straight through....I don't think DH or I could take it.

Thanks!!!

 

[dioxide45]

On some of our trips (not to Orlando) we called ahead to hotels or a central reservation line to make a reservation while we were about 4 hours out. If you wait until late, after 9pm or so you might have trouble getting a room. Though with fewer people traveling these days you may not have problems. We ended up having to drive until midnight once on a trip to Virginia Beach before we found a Fairfield in to stay at in Richmond. You will find a lot of the budget places fuller than those that are priced higher. For road trips with quick overnight stops people will gravitate to the budget hotels.

 

[johnnow]

On some of our trips (not to Orlando) we called ahead to hotels or a central reservation line to make a reservation while we were about 4 hours out. If you wait until late, after 9pm or so you might have trouble getting a room. Though with fewer people traveling these days you may not have problems. We ended up having to drive until midnight once on a trip to Virginia Beach before we found a Fairfield in to stay at in Richmond. You will find a lot of the budget places fuller than those that are priced higher. For road trips with quick overnight stops people will gravitate to the budget hotels.

We had reservations at our hotel of choice last night in Santee, SC. When my DW was checking in, there were people being turned away. After 13.5 hours in the car, I would not have been happy trying to find a place to stay.

 

[OntFamily]

I drove from Toronto to Orlando a few weeks ago. Before we left home, I picked some hotels where we may want spend the night, depending on how far we drove. Once we got to late afternoon, and were able to better predict where we'd be at night, we called to make a reservation.

Echoing the other response, we saw many people turned away at the best hotels (good, clean hotels @ reasonable pricing, close to the highway).

 

[dioxide45]

If you have a reservation and arriving late (after 8:00) call the hotel at some point and confirm that you are arriving. One time when we were traveling to a hotel we called ahead because we ran in to construction. They said they would have released our reservation and room at 9:00 p.m. since they would have assumed a no show.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I drove from Toronto to Orlando a few weeks ago. Before we left home, I picked some hotels where we may want spend the night, depending on how far we drove. Once we got to late afternoon, and were able to better predict where we'd be at night, we called to make a reservation.

Echoing the other response, we saw many people turned away at the best hotels (good, clean hotels @ reasonable pricing, close to the highway).

When my family and I drive from Toronto - Orlando, we also make reservations and various Hampton Inn locations months in advance along Interstate 75. Although we knew for a while where we wanted to stay and we also have seen people get turned away in the evenings because the location we were at was sold out. We also heard the Hampton Inn employee telling the same thing when others were calling them from the Interstate trying to get reservations.

 

[Dizholic]

We drove from Buffalo to Orlando, the last two years in February. I had reservations at Hampton Inn's in Hillsville, VA, and Statesville, NC. You have till 6pm the day of arrival to cancel. The first year we had terrible weather, and only made it to Hillsville. This past year we made it to Statesville. My point is, you can make several reservations, and cancel before 6 pm.

 

[swedie]

As a previous post said - if you don't stop before 9, you may have trouble getting rooms. Not sure if you're taking the I-95 route. With this route, as soon as you pass the major traffic areas, just south of Washington, you should have an idea as to how much longer you care to drive. You have your internet, figure out how much further you can get in X number of hours, and book a place, or perhaps book a place sooner, you can get a nicer meal, kids can swim a bit in hotel pool, and everyone will be refreshed in the am for the rest of the drive. We've done this a # of times traveling from NY. Also, when you stop for gas, pick up the Interstate hotel/motel catalogs, which will show you which cities/towns seem to have more choices, along with greater food choices. These catalogs also will give some discount coupons. (You can also hold onto them to help plan for your return trip)
Safe trip & enjoy your vacation!

 

[ironz]

I would have a couple of reservations, as other posters have suggested. I learned the hard way on this:
I was to drive from Washington, DC to New Orleans one weekend. I figured I would wing it. Sure enough, when I was ready to pull over and go find a hotel room, I was an hour outside of Bristol, TN (or NC--wherever it is). All of the hotel signs said "Welcome Race Fans." hmmm....Turns out there was a huge NASCAR event in Bristol that weekend. I was an hour north of there, heading south. Could have either gone back towards DC or continue. I got a Coke and snacks and kept driving until I was an hour south of Bristol. Still nothing. another Coke and kept going. (this is nearing midnight now). Got to the Dollywood area. Nothing.
Got to Chattanooga, TN. Basketball tournament going on. No rooms. I finally had the motel clerk find me a room at another of the motels in the same chain, in Alabama! Got there at about 3 am.

Will NEVER go through that again!

mind you, this is in the days pre-cell phone, so I couldn't be scouting things out as I drove. Also, I was a young woman, travelling alone, in a rag-top convertible, so there was no way I could just pull over at a rest area to sleep.

 

[SUNFLOWER93]

Hi, I'm leaving Wed. also. Will leave Albany around 4AM, and usually drive to St. Augustine. I've never made a reservation before but I'm pretty flexible and just need a place to rest for a couple of hours, then I'll leave early for Orlando. The only thing I think you have to keep in mind is that it's close to Easter so there will be alot of travelers. Good Luck and have fun!

 

[ntsammy5]

We always fly to Orlando - I'd rather poke myself in my eye with a sharp stick than drive to Fla ----- BUT we drive to Charlotte several times a year to visit the grandchildren. We always make reservations because we know exactly how far we're going to drive. We normally start about 5PM after work and stop just south of Morgantown on I79 - little place called Fairmont. Nice place to stop. We're in our 60s now and don't like 12 hour drives, nonstop. Not anymore anyhow.

 

[Neelloc]

Thanks everyone for you help! I'll be making a few ressies and cancelling the ones we don't need. With leaving at 4am, we plan to be off the road for the day by 6pm.

Happy and safe trips to everyone!