when you go on a long road trip do you plan every hotel stop on your way there?

[gator75]

So when you go on a long road trip do you plan everystop you make for the night on your way there? or do you wing it and just stop whenever your tired of driving? We are going on a long road trip this summer and will just be stopping when we are done driving for the day. We don't know where we will be stopping therefore wwe are just going to wing it and hope for the best.

 

[MIGrandma]

We usually just stop around 5:00 or so on long road trips, and stay in a hotel in whatever city we may happen to be in around that time. We have favorite chains that we look for, however, and if we're ready to stop but know that one of our favorites is "just up the road" another hour or so, we'll keep driving. We don't make hotel reservations though, because we never know when we'll want to stop and see something along the way.

 

[MamaLema]

We wing it.

It's so easy to say that you'll be at a certain hotel at a certain time, but there are many factors that come into play such as delays due to traffic, stopping more times than you'd like for bathroom breaks, etc.

And sometimes it's the opposite...you get to the hotel way ahead of schedule and you could have driven a few more hours.

 

[tlbwriter]

We've been burned before by assuming we could stop when we got tired and discovering that there was an event in town and not a single hotel room available, so now we either plan ahead to stop at a certain point, or make a reservation while we're on the road, when we feel like we know when we'll want to stop.

 

[java]

We've been burned before by assuming we could stop when we got tired and discovering that there was an event in town and not a single hotel room available, so now we either plan ahead to stop at a certain point, or make a reservation while we're on the road, when we feel like we know when we'll want to stop.

Us too. It only takes one time of not finding a room that you realize better safe than sorry. So we always have a room. If we are making better time I try to find a hotel further along the route and cancel the room we had booked by whatever time they require me to.

 

[BillSears]

I did a 6 week cross-country drive putting 10,062 miles on my car. I had every single room reservation made before I left my house.

But I do admit I'm an unusual case. I'm a wheelchair user and I had to make sure that all of my reservations guarenteed an accessible room.

 

[tlbwriter]

Us too. It only takes one time of not finding a room that you realize better safe than sorry.

Well, that's because I'm "living in fear!"

(from another thread)

 

[ilovemk76]

We just stop when we are ready. If an event is in town it will only occupy an exit or two or rooms. We just head a few exits farther then stop.

 

[java]

Well, that's because I'm "living in fear!"

(from another thread)

yes I am living in fear on that one as well.

 

[FireDancer]

I've never made more then one over-night stop on any trip and it is about 50/50 whether I plan the stop ahead or just stop when I am tired.

 

[Bilberry]

We've done both, planned and winged it. I guess it depends on if we know of a hotel that we enjoyed staying at in the past.

 

[tlbwriter]

We just stop when we are ready. If an event is in town it will only occupy an exit or two or rooms. We just head a few exits farther then stop.

That depends on where you're traveling. When it happened to us, the next town was over an hour away. If were traveling in parts of the country that were more developed, and the next town was just a few miles down the road, I'd be more likely to take my chances.

 

[smitch425]

If we know we are going to be stopping in a state with few options (like PA), we will book a room for where we think we will get to, but we will also write down the name and number of a couple of hotels that are located an hour away (hour less and hour further). We also always book a room that has a 6pm same day cancellation because we can generally tell how much driving we have left in us before then.

I guess you would call our plan half planned/half wingin' it. Or wingin' it with options.

 

[fortwildernessishome]

I did a 6 week cross-country drive putting 10,062 miles on my car. I had every single room reservation made before I left my house.

But I do admit I'm an unusual case. I'm a wheelchair user and I had to make sure that all of my reservations guarenteed an accessible room.

We have taken two long road trips out west. One of them we covered over 6,000 miles. The two trips were a total of about six weeks. I, like Bill, reserved every room from home before we left except for one. We were VERY happy that we had done that, because the majority of the hotels that we stayed at were completely booked up as were others in the areas. We kept a very busy schedule and it was so comforting to know that after a full day of traveling/touring we could just drive to our hotel with no worries about trying to find one. It probably depends on where you are traveling. We visited numerous National Parks and the majority of places that were located outside of the parks were 100% booked. For us it was the way to go and I would do it again.

 

[Froggyswife]

We just wing it.

 

[mjantz]

I'm a planner & DH is a winger. We usually compromise by reserving rooms for places we're going to be at for more than an overnight and wing the travel days. Works for us.

 

[java]

Here's our story.We were on our way back up I95 in January. It was snowing in Georgia- odd and then also in South Carolina- it was only flurries. They shut down I95! They had no way of sanding I guess. Then the power went out. Every hotel in South Carolina was closed. So you got to North Carolina- first few exits every hotel booked. Then finally 5 hours after we wanted to stop, a hotel took pity on us and let us sleep in a "unfinished" room.

After that we always have a reservation. Even if we are making it from the car as we drive.

 

[LindaG4458]

Us too. It only takes one time of not finding a room that you realize better safe than sorry. So we always have a room. If we are making better time I try to find a hotel further along the route and cancel the room we had booked by whatever time they require me to.

We do the same. After having to stay in a couple of "unsavory" places by not planning in advance we always make reservations. Usually we do it weeks in advance because some of the dates we travel have heavy occupancy. We travel with a Pomeranian, too, so hotel selection is limited.

We do survey hotels while on the road for future reference.

 

[3boymthr]

We've gotten burned a couple of times. One time we had to drive all the way home before we had someplace to stop. After that it was considered lesson learned. So I always plan in advance. I am so grateful we plan in advance especially when I think about the time we wanted to go visit MIL and realized it was a NASCAR race weekend which since we don't follow NASCAR was not something we realized until I tried to book a room a month out - saw that rooms if we could find them were priced double if not triple normal prices and decided it was best to reschedule our visit.

 

[BillSears]

For those who wing it...

Are you able to get discounts when you just walk up to the desk and ask for a room? I almost always have a AAA, Government Rate or other discount when I book a hotel room. Do you guys get these discounts or do you pay the full rack rate?