Hotel Stops When Driving

[DCSingle]

Will be driving to Disney from Washington, DC in May. Planning to stop in Brunswick, Georgia on way down and somewhere in North or South Carolina (Florence, Dillon, Lumberton) on way back. Looking for suggestions for inexpensive hotels convenient to I-95 in those areas. Prefer a relatively new chain hotel that is clean and safe with interior hallways. Any suggestions along with tips for getting the best rates are greatly appreciated! I'd also be interested to hear about any places that you've tried in these areas that I should be sure to avoid. Thanks!

 

[Tina]

I'd love to hear some suggestions as well. We're leaving on Friday night and we originally planned to drive straight through (from DC also), but now we're thinking of stopping along the way.

 

[Tina]

We just booked a night on the way down at the Hampton Inn in Santee, SC ( http://www.hamptoninn.com/en/hp/hot...5GOX31PCA4CSGBIU222QKIYFC3UUC?ctyhocn=SNTSCHX ) on the recommendation of a neighbor who stayed there a couple of weeks ago.

 

[StephMK]

We're driving down from DC in Oct., thanks for asking the question. Also try asking on the transportation board, you should get lots of ideas from there.

Tina - thanks for the tip on the Hampton! It looks like about the distance we plan to go & big bonus to have queen beds there.

 

[djm99]

I would go to http://www.freetrip.com/ to find hotels directly on your route. I used them last year and it helped a lot.

 

[LauraR]

We drove down on April 3rd (a Saturday) and ended up stopping at Exit 94 (outside of Savannah) after about 10 1/2 to 11 hours of driving. It was the week before Easter, so almost all the hotels were totally full. We checked at 8 different ones that had no vacancy, and the Microtel which had coupons for $39 was offering rooms for $99. So, we went a little further down the road to Exit 87 where there were another 6 or so hotels, and stayed at the Ramada Inn for $55. The one thing I can definitely tell you, is don't stay there!! It was the worst hotel I've stayed at in a long time. Very run down. We only stayed there because we were tired of looking and it was one of the only ones that had a pool open for our kids.
I'm sure it won't be so crowded when you go down, though, so Exit 94 might be a good bet for you. There are alot of options there (Best Western, Microtel, Fairfield Inn, Comfort Inn, Country Inn and Suites and many more). If you stop at a McDonalds once you get into South Carolina or Georgia they have Roomsaver.com coupon books (I think you'd probably find them at Visitor's Centers, also). They often have restrictions like 1-2 people, and Sun-Thurs, but sometimes can be useful (of course, not when WE went!)
On the way back we left at 6 am and drove until 5 pm and ended up at Exit 95 in North Carolina (Smithfield) at a Howard Johnson Express, also for $55. Not as bad as the Ramada Inn, but definitely wouldn't recommend it. There was a really nice Super 8 at that same exit (on the other side of the highway), though. I went into the lobby and it looked very clean and new and had an indoor pool and cute breakfast area (of course, when I asked they only had two kings left for $92 each!) They had a coupon for $59 Fri and Sat (I think $49 the rest of the time). But it was near a Bob Evans, Ruby Tuesday, and Texas Steakhouse, as well as a pretty good little mexican restaurant. So if you make it that far, that would be a good place to stop.

 

[crazyme5kids]

We stayed at a Fairfield Inn in Savannah. All I can say is EEEEWWWWW!!!!! Even my son (14 at the time) said it wasn't the cleanest of places.