It’s Fitdog Friday and I’m howling about hotel accomodations because if you compete in dog sports, you most likely travel and need nice, pet friendly lodging. The flea bag inn is not a good spot to try and get a good snooze. Next time you travel for a dog show, agility, tracking, nose work, or other dog activities, you may want to book a room at Red Roof Inn. Today, I’m going to tell you about some recent experiences My GBGV Life has had with Red Roof Inn.
As you know, last spring we took some road trips for Bailie’s tracking tests. Now these tests are held in the middle of nowhere which means hotels are scarce, let alone pet friendly ones. When Mom and Bailie went to Iowa in March, it was a really bad hotel, so when we traveled to Illinois in April, we were a bit nervous about the lodging situation. We had three options and to be honest, Red Roof Inn was the last one we called. Mom was thinking Red Roof Inn would not be good, but they offered the best price, were the only hotel allowing two dogs, and pets were free, so we booked it and headed out onto the open road to DeKalb.
We arrived in DeKalb and pulled up to the Red Roof Inn. Mom was not happy as the exterior looked like an old motel, but we had no choice. She checked us in and was so impressed with the front desk staff! They were so nice and very accommodating! We were off to our room in no time, but we were still uneasy about how the room would be.
Upon walking into the room, we were in awe! It was beautiful, clean, modern, simply amazing! Mom didn’t take any hotel photos, so we would like to thank the Red Roof Inn DeKalb for letting us use two of their photos. The one of the room is exactly the room layout we had so it is perfect! We had a nice flat screen TV with all the channels we could want, free wi-fi, a shower with good water pressure, nice towels to dry off, and super comfy beds! Mom could not believe the quality of the room! Besides being healthy and well trained, a good night’s sleep before a competition is very important and we got one at the Red Roof Inn. Because of the early tracking test, we had to check out by 6am on Sunday morning well before the free breakfast starts. Mom really wanted something to eat, so she asked the front desk and she got to help herself to the cold buffet which wasn’t even properly set up yet. We were so pleased! We learned you really need to try something before you make up an opinion.
At BlogPaws in May, we came across a Red Roof Inn booth so we stopped to chat with them about our experience and how happy and surprised we were with their pet friendly lodging. They invited us to a lunch meeting the next day. I sent my PR Dog Bailie to attend with Mom, and she took some notes about the pet friendly details for our readers:
- One family pet (yes, even a cat) is permitted unless prohibited by state law or ordinance. If you are traveling with more than one pet as we were, check with the individual hotel to see if they allow multiple pets as it is up to each individual Red Roof Inn.
- You must disclose your pet when you check in.
- Pets are not to be left alone in your room.
- Dogs must be leashed and other pets contained when outside your room.
- Always clean up after your pet when on the hotel property! Actually, please, always clean up after your pet no matter where you are!
- Red Roof loves pets so much they have their own Facebook page just for pets!
I’m busy reading the 2015 Red Roof Inn Directory, dreaming of our next travel adventure. Sadly, they don’t have a lot of hotels in our area, but when we plan our next road trip for fun or dog sports, we definitely plan on staying at a Red Roof Inn if there is one along our route! If your family is like mine, your pet is like family! Pet-friendly accommodations are available at every Red Roof Inn. Book Now! If you happen to lose track of this post the next time you travel, I also have a badge in my sidebar you can click on to get right over to Red Roof Inn reservations!
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links which means if you click them and make a reservation for your own stay at Red Roof Inn, My GBGV Life (that’s me) may receive a small commission. You are not required to book your stay using the links in this post, but if you do, I may get a bit of that green stuff in my bank account to help me buy some nice treats or a fun new collar. Everyone benefits and it costs you nothing. The opinions in this post are the honest opinions of My GBGV Life from our own experiences. Red Roof Inn is not responsible for the contents of this post.
I’m co hosting the FitDog Friday Blog Hop with SlimDoggy, and To Dog With Love! Please join us on Fridays to share your fitness stories with others, find new ways to have fun, and new fitness ideas too! Tell your friends to stop by as well – fit dogs are healthier, happier dogs!
Oh Emma – you are a traveling dog! I would like to be a traveling dog, too, but my Mommie doesn’t get to travel much. She knows for sure I’ll be the best sniffing dog ever and she’s just hoping that all the competitions will be right in our home town or maybe just a few minutes away. She also said that she would probably drive into a tree because I’d bark the whole way and drive her crazy. I don’t know what her problem is. It doesn’t bother me a bit to bark in the car.
You just never can tell what a Mommie will do next.
We love to travel, but in the car we wear our seat belts, are not allowed to stand up, bark, or howl. We have to behave so Mom can drive safely.
Please do not tell my Mommie how you know not to bark in the car. – Bruin
Please tell me how to make Bruin stop barking in the car. – Bruin’s Mommie
From day one we learned to ride properly. It was easy just tap the brakes if we stand up so we lose balance, same for barking and we learn in about 5 mins. It has worked for all three of us. It is harmless, but we learn if we stand or bark, we fall over but we are wearing our seat belts so nothing can happen really.
That looks like a really nice hotel room! We ended up staying in a bunch of Motel 6 places when we moved back to Oregon, some were better than others but not that great. I’d love to stay in a place like that.
We were so surprised, it was a great room and it wasn’t even in their Plus collection which is even nicer for people and pets. We are definitely going to look for these when we travel and the Motel 6, well, Mom might prefer to sleep in the car.
Wowsers…I will have to let Mama know about Red Roof! We usually stay at LQ’s, but it is nce to have options!!
Smileys!
Dory
We have stayed at two of those over the years and were not happy campers. The Red Roof was really paw prints above most pet friendly hotels we have tried and we have tried quite a few in our travels.
We don’t have any Red Roof Inns around us, but if we travel, we will look for them.
There are not a lot around here either, but that is why they call it travel…you leave our area and hopefully we will all find some Red Roof Inns!
you really hit the jackpot with that howl-tel, honestly. I like that dogs are allowed and that they all are welcome(unless prohibited by state law of course) no matter what size or weight they have. It’s an annoying trend here to offer ” dogs allowed” and later they say it counts just for dogs up to 20 lbs… that’s completely crap, they should get a guest like my grandpawrents foxterrier who acted like the 6-pistols in howltels. I wish we had a Red Roof Inn here too, we probably will need a howltel next month… and I’m afraid that we will land in the crib of Norman Bates momma again :o)
That small dog rule is the dumbest. Small dogs tend to be more rowdy and loud, big dogs don’t have space to be crazy, but someone started that trend. It is also super hard to find lodging with more than one pet and all well over 20 lbs! If you swim the Atlantic you could come ashore in the US and stay at a Red Roof Inn?
… that sounds great… and I’m far away from that dog show in august hehehehe. It’s a bad thingy that we have to call the howltels first before we book, because of that rule, they mostly have expensive hotlines and I think it’s not really fair to make money while holding people in the waiting line for 87 hours :o(
Let’s just say, for a lot of reasons, Mom is glad we don’t live in Europe any more. We miss some things but in general, Europeans make everything so difficult.
… and therefore it will be always “the old” world, to make things rather difficult than better needs more time :o)
We always said Germans are the only ones standing in their own way. Germans are very difficult, well a large majority of them. We have lots of friends and know many nice easier going Germans, but as a whole, they are difficult.
Oh wow, how neat to read about your experience with the Red Roof Inn! It can definitely be challenging finding a pet-friendly hotel, especially when on a budget!
Not only if you are on a budget, but if you are in the middle of nowhere. Mom was a flight attendant for many years and stayed in super fancy hotels all the time, but now she finds it a waste of money as all we do is sleep and move on, so a nicely priced really nice hotel that allows pets is awesome!
Red Roof Inn looks like the purrfect Red Woof Inn!
You kitties can stay there too if you ever decide to take a road trip. I know my cat Bert always wants to go along with us, but we don’t let him.
Red Woof Inn sounds like a wonderful pet friendly place to stay! I wonder why their roof is blue? XOXO Sparkle the PBGV
Now that is a good question I will have to try and find that out.
Its always nice to hear about hotels that welcome us dogs! Love Dolly
And places that aren’t awful, dirty, and creepy!
Thanks Emma, good to know about the Red Roof Inn…although that roof looks blue to me.
Maybe they will paint it one day? I never thought much about it as we were so interested in the quality of the room.
A one pet rule wouldn’t work for us but I’ll keep Red Roof In in mind the next time I am searching for a road trip motel. My stand-by travel motel is Super 8. They usually have no limits and no extra fees.
We are rarely one pet too, but if you ask, many of the Red Roof Inns will allow more pets. The Super 8 is one place Mom will never go to again, she would get more rest and be happier sleeping in the car. Bad experiences there.
That’s how I am about Motel 6! Sometimes traveling too much is a bad thing… 🙂 I am looking forward to calling a few Red Roof Inns when planning my next road trip. Thanks for your review!
One bad experience can ruin it forever! We have no qualms about Red Roof Inn after our stay, Motel 6 is not on our list of favs either, it is in the basket with the Motel 8, not good.
Really helpful information, Emma! I was pleasantly surprised to find out about Red Roof’s pet friendliness, too, and meeting them at BlogPaws showed how people-friendly they are!
;-D
I was disappointed to find out they don’t have any hotels here in Colorado (yet), but will definitely have them at the top of the list to look for when we hit the road next.
There aren’t many within 6 hours or so of our house either, but they may expand and when we travel we can look for them.
That sounds like a really great place to stay. We’ll have to keep it in mind.
We had no idea and were so pleased!
Gorgeous hotel pictures. I love that more and more places are becoming pet friendly.
It is about time that nice hotels allow pets, and not just the flea bag inns. We were quite impressed!
So glad to hear that Red Roof Inn is actually pet friendly and not just pet tolerant. I go crazy to see hotels that charge high fees for pets in addition to a refundable deposit (the refundable deposit I understand; the extra fee? not so much) or have breed or weight limits.
Really, my quiet 50 pound golden retriever is a bigger problem than the 3 pound chihuahua who barks at every person visiting the ice machine?
I’ll definitely check them out when we travel off the boat.
We feel the same way about the size limit thing. Traveling often with three dogs, the smallest being 40 lbs it is a real challenge to find a room. We are all so used to travel, don’t bark or howl at noises, doing make messes in the room, it is really frustrating, but we were super happy with our stay at the Red Roof Inn!
Wow! That is not what I expected a Red Roof Inn to look like. For some reason I had a much different idea of what it would be like. Very nice indeed!
You have exactly the same mindset we had when Mom made the reservation. We were so caught off guard with how nice it was. That is why one always has to keep an open mind, and it sounds like with their Plus program, they are making even nicer rooms with no carpeting, fancier fixtures, etc and all pet friendly!
Last year your mom gave our mom the recommendation for the Drury Inn–which was an EXCELLENT recommendation. So mom says she is thrilled to hear another recommendation from you guys which she is sure will be equally as good. When on the road hotels need to be clean, safe and comfy and multiple pet friendly! Sounds like Red Roof gets a good score on that list. Great to know! Have a good day Emma, your doodle friend Dash
Very true and quite the memory. We love the Drury Inns too, but most chains are concentrated in just one part of the country, so it is good to have a couple options in waiting depending on where you are going. Glad you enjoyed the Drury Inn, we are thrilled with the Red Roof as well.
Love that more places are becoming pet-friendly for travelers. They realize good pets are good for business!
Surprisingly, Red Roof has been pet friendly since it started back in the 70’s, but they are trying hard to get the word out these days since pet travel is becoming more popular.
Haven’t seen or noticed and here in Canada but they look awesome! Thanks for sharing.
My guide only shows them in the USA, but some day you may wander into the US. They are highly concentrated in the eastern part of the US.
Pet friendly places are a must for us, too. We’re happy that more places seem to be becoming more this way. So many people in the world own pets; so if their pets could accompany them away, more people would stay! It’s great to read about your experience with a pet friendly place!
sumskersandearlskers13.blogspot.com
In Germany, it was real easy to find hotels that took pets, but here in the US it has been tough but it is getting better.
THAT is super good to know Emma and I’m glad you had such a wonderful experience. I’ve found that a lot of LaQuintas are also pet friendly. But again, they aren’t everywhere. I’m bookmarking the RRI in case we travel with the pups again.
We tried LQ twice and never again. There are three chains we will never do and would prefer to stay in the car! Red Roof was such a pleasant surprise and for you, there are quite a few in the eastern portion of the US.
Wow! Very impressive of Red Roof Inn! I wonder if there are breed restrictions? Might have to look into that. Thanks for sharing!
No breed restrictions. Pets are pets, just have to be leashed or contained if outside your room. The only restriction is number but often they allow multiple pets if you call and ask.
That’s awesome!
Sounds like a great place!!! We don’t travel much, but I would like to in the future!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Give the old Red Roof a try if there is one along your route!
We stated in a red roof inn too. Nice.
Lily & Edward
I think they are just getting better and better. Quite impressive!
Unfortunately we have found that many Red Roof Inns stick to the one pet rule and won’t allow more than that. We usually travel with at least two dogs and sometimes three. I don’t mind paying extra for more pets so I wish they would rethink their policies.
We almost always have 2-3 dogs too, but so far we have been lucky I guess.
I’m so glad you found a nice place to stay on that trip and hopefully you can find some Red Roof Inns in your future travels too. Wow, I’m impressed that they don’t even charge extra for dogs! I thought most places did. If we ever start traveling with the dogs I will definitely remember this.
We have a couple places that don’t charge for dogs and don’t have size requirements.
Red Roof is pretty good everywhere we’ve been. two thumbs up!
Good to know since we are just getting acquainted with them!
Hi Y’all!
Emma, you and Bailie should take some Pedialyte (you can get unflavored) to help keep you hydrated. It’s made a world of difference for me in the heat and especially when we travel, winter or summer.
Thanks for the heads up on Red Roof…We had a good experience with Sleep Inn when staying up in N.C. Only think my Humans weren’t happy about is having only inside hall entry rooms. I had to go through the lobby anytime I wanted to go for a walk. It was okay though, ’cause I’m very social.
Y’all come on by,
Hawk aka BrownDog
We will have to look into Pedialyte, it may be a good tip! We never do anything new on a competition day, so it won’t happen today, but there will be more hot days of competition, so we will check it out. Thank you!
Thanks for a great review!
We are real impressed with Red Roof.
We usually don’t have trouble finding a pet friendly place and Mr. N squeaks by all of the requirements. The problem is finding a place with reasonable pet fees!
We almost always have 2-3 dogs 40-80lbs, so it is not easy. Red Roof Inns are often flexible, there are no fees, and the rooms are really nice! With one small dog, I’m sure it is much easier.
Never tried the Red Roof Inn, so I appreciate your post here. I would definitely look one up should the time come when I need to, thanks Emma.
We never would have tried it voluntarily, but we were amazed and are now fans. Such a nice room we had and it was just a regular room, not their new fancier plus rooms.