My family is definitely thankful for good, dog friendly hotels. We do a lot of traveling for our sports, and sometimes for vacations. It’s important to have a good place to get some rest. These days there seem to be a lot more options for bring dogs along, from basic accommodations to super luxurious.
If you do travel a lot, and can stay at the same hotel chain, they often offer points which you can redeem down the road for a free room. Mom and I got a free night for our last stay in Moline. For our dog sports, we almost always stay at LaQuinta hotels. The events we attend are not usually in highly populated areas with fancy hotels, making LQ a good option.
We find most of them to be pretty decent, clean, and affordable. The staff is usually quite friendly too. In downtown Chicago last summer, the LQ my Mom and sisters stayed at was like a five star hotel! We have a couple where we are regulars.. For me, it is the Moline Airport LQ, and for my sisters, it is the LQ in Gurnee. At LQ, dogs are free, and the rooms are priced nicely.
When traveling on vacations, we really enjoy Drury Inns. The one in Chesterfield, MO is like a palace! They are super dog friendly, and have top of the chart rooms. I haven’t been to one in a while, but they used to even allow three dogs in a room, with no size or weight limit. They don’t charge for dogs, and the rooms are reasonably priced.
The Microtel we stayed at in Marion, IA really lived up to its name, Micro. Our room was so small, there wasn’t even a chair or desk. To use the laptop, we had to sit on the bed and hold it on our lap…I guess that is where the name laptop comes from. Mom put up our crates, and the room was full! Size aside, it was a super clean room, and a nice place to stay. We did think the price was slightly high for the room size, and they had a pet fee too.
Red Roof Inns are also dog friendly, and they are working hard to fix up their older hotels. Bailie had a tracking test in DeKalb, IL a couple years ago, and we stayed at one. The room was super nice, plenty of room for us, and it was clean. Red Roof normally doesn’t charge for dogs, and the rooms are moderately priced.
When we attend BlogPaws Conferences, we stay at dog friendly Sheraton Hotels, and they are top of the line. So far, the one in Lake Las Vegas was our very favorite. Most of the time when we travel, we are only at a hotel for a quick night of sleep, and then we are on the road again. We prefer less expensive accommodations for that reason, but Sheratons are great if you are staying for a few days or more!
Please remember, if you stay at a hotel with your dog, obey their rules. Always pick up after your dog, and if something gets broken or ruined, let the hotel know. Pet policies are getting so much better than they used to be, but if pet parents don’t follow the rules, dogs will loose their right to stay at hotels. Dog friendly hotels make a great place to train things like elevators, not barking when there is noise in the hall, being comfy in new places, and more.
Normally we don’t like to criticize places or products, but we feel the need to say we will never again stay at a Motel 6. We have tried a few over the past ten years, and they have all been horrible. After the Green Bay Motel 6 last fall, Mom said she will sleep in the car before she will ever go into a Motel 6 again. It was so dirty, and loud, just a scary place. We also will not stay at Super 8’s anymore after a couple of those were really bad.
Do you travel with your dog? What hotels do you like to stay at?
We are joining Brian’s Home Blog in the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!
It’s so nice to have good places where y’all are welcome and a good staff is always most helpful. Too bad Motel 6 didn’t leave the light on for you. Thanks for joining the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!
Every time we hear that Motel 6 ad, we shake our heads. It was part of the reason we gave them another try, but it was worse than ever!
we are glad too that it is possible to travel together… we had such a small room once too… where my dad hurt his finger badly in the door and where we had to place our stuff on the bed before we could enter or leave that room…or that broom cabinet ;O) the main thing is to land not in that motel of norman bates mama right?
Very true. We all need a bit of space.
Great post Emma. We stayed in Drury Inn hotels because of your recommendation! And we loved it! We haven’t done much hotel visiting lately but mom is glad to know what you’ve been experiencing! Have a great day Emma! your doodle friend Dash
We wish Drury Inns were all over because we do love them, but the LQ’s have been pretty good too lately.
I love that hotels are getting more dog friendly, it’s long overdue. Obviously we don’t stay in hotels, but it’s nice to know that if we ever needed to, there are pet friendly options.
It has really improved which is nice, especially if you travel frequently like we do.
We thank you for all this motel/hotel information. We have heard our Mom talking about trips and how she has not traveled for so many years, she is overwhelmed at it all….but we did hear one conversation that she was having with that thing she calls the phone about “pet fee” so we think we may be in for some adventures.
My mom isn’t much for traveling because she traveled most of her life and is tired of it, but we do enjoy traveling by car together, and a decent place to sleep is important.
Hari OM
Emma, this is good info… when I visited the States in 2016 for the Blogville Awesome Retreat, I shared a room with Oreo dog and his mum Diane and we stayed in a Red Roof Inn. It was fairly basic, but clean and welcoming and cost-effective… but I gather that as a frachise, one cannot necessarily judge the chain so much as who’s running them! I know that another of our blogpals uses La Quinta a lot and loves them. Here in the UK, it can stil be a bit tricky finding dog-friendly accoms, Hugs and wags, YAM-aunty xxx
In Germany, dogs were allowed almost everywhere, which was nice, but the US was not so friendly. We are happy it is changing. Bummer we didn’t make the 2016 BlogPaws so we could have met you.
Hari OM
No, not BlogPaws… Blogville Awesome Retreat… https://inimaynaelcammeno.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/YAMsBAR
One or two of my Blogville pals do attend the BlogPaws thing too… I know that Beth and her little Rosy will be going this year. https://llbinourbackyard.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/fun-news-friday.html
Cheers, Yxx
oops just saw that they commented themselves right below here !!!! silly aunty…
Oh yes, I remember that retreat too. We couldn’t make it to that, but it would have been fun! Mom will be going with my sisters this year.
LQ is definitely our favorite…and their reward program is pawsome!! We have been wanting to try Drury Inns, but never seem to be able to find one where we are staying. Thanks for the great reviews, Rosy is looking forward to her stay at the Sheraton next month!
xoxo,
Jakey, Arty & Rosy
My sisters are looking forward to meeting Rosy. Drury Inns are pretty location specific, but if we find one, we try to stay there. The LQ’s have certainly improved and we now enjoy them too.
I’m so glad you’ve found some nice places to stay for your travels; and it’s also good of you to let others know what places to avoid with their dogs.
Because we don’t travel, I didn’t realize that there were even motels that don’t charge the extra fee for dogs – that is so great, especially for your Mom when traveling with 2 or 3 of you.
It’s rare we pay a pet fee. Normally, we find another hotel if that is the case, but sometime, like in Iowa in the middle of nowhere, there are no other options.
My in-laws really like La Quinta, not for their animal policies but because it is clean and affordable. We don’t travel often with Dog Dad and Mom because often the places they are traveling to are not dog friendly. However, they did plan a vacation to ME that focused on dog friendly activities and were surprised at how many options were available.
The LQ’s have really gotten pretty nice overall and are reasonably priced. My mom only plans trips where we can go along these days, and it is a lot of fun traveling even if they are short trips. Hopefully you will get to travel more.
Absolutely agree! And because our only home is a boat, we really rely on good pet-friendly hotels when we have to travel away from the water.
We did, however, stay in a very nice Motel 6 in south Jersey when we had to go to a family funeral a while back. It had been newly renovated and was very clean. Sorry to hear your experience was so bad and I can certainly understand why you wouldn’t want to repeat it.
Mom has yet to ever stay at a nice Motel 6. I’m sure they are out there, but she has not found them. I’m sure hotels are important for you since your home is on water and you do need to be on land sometimes.
We have never stayed in a hotel. Lee would not do well!
My mom always figures when there is a will there is a way. The first night for us as little ones is always hard as we go nuts over every noise, but then we adapt pretty quickly. It might not be for every dog but we don’t mind hotels at all.
The boys have stayed at Sheraton, La Quinta and Motel 6. We agree with your assessment of them. It is shocking that even in the nicest hotels you find people not picking up after their dogs. It is disgusting.
It is really frustrating that some pet parents don’t see the value in taking care of things as they should. It is so important to make sure your dogs don’t cause trouble in order to keep hotels accepting pets, and many for no extra charge.
We stay at the same Super 8 everytime we go to a hunt test in Ohio. We like it because we can walk across the parking lot to the Bob Evans and at least get a carry out meal with vegetables instead of a burger, (we do not leave the dogs even for meals). They say they charge a pet fee, but they have never charged us. We also stayed in one in Iowa. Usually Super 8 will give us a room by a doorway which is great when you have to air dogs. I agree that some Super 8’s are lousy and Motel 6 is horrid. We stayed in a La Quinta once and they were great and very accommodating for our large dogs. It was Christmas and they allowed us to leave the dogs in the room while we had dinner with family (of course the hotel was mostly empty…lol). We left our cell so they could call us if there was an issue. Unfortunately they are usually not where we hunt test. When we went to Wisconsin a few years back, we stayed in one of those little side of the road places. It was great and very clean. Probably my favorite place. Tons of room to air dogs which is our most important criteria…lol. Thank goodness for google maps to view grounds.
Mom leaves us in the room often, and it has never been a problem. Most of the time we do leave the cell number just in case, but we have never had a problem. Dog events do tend to be in areas off the beaten path which limits hotel options.
We usually try to find a place on VRBO.com so that we can have a place with character and a little more freedom than a hotel. We’ve stayed in some really wonderful cottages we’ve found through there. If we’re just passing through for a night, though, we usually go with Red Roof Inn because they’ve always been comfortable, friendly, and clean. We’ll keep these others in mind, though, in case there’s not a Red Roof nearby!
My mom likes a good hotel room, no charm. I think it comes from all her years as a flight attendant. She says it feels more like a vacation or getaway at a hotel. Everyone has a preference.
Sam & I stayed at a Fairfield Inn in Wyoming and it was the nicest hotel on that trip. LQ always has nice rooms. Usually we just need a quiet place to sleep and shower; we’re not looking for anything fancy.
We just want something with a little space, clean, and not super noisy. I don’t think all Fairfields allow pets, but they are usually alright hotels as far as humans go.
We are always thankful for quiet hotels. We travel with silicon earplugs nonetheless!!!
We think your La Quinta hotel looks really nice.
My mom can’t stand earplugs, headphones, anything covering her ears, so we have to have a fairly quiet hotel. She sleeps through a lot of noise, but no room by the ice machine or elevator if we can avoid it.
I like LaQuinta’s too.
They used to be awful, but many of them are super nice now.
I am a hotel snob. I figure if I’m paying money to stay there, I want it to be nice. That said, I will NOT stay at a Motel 6, because of one we stayed at in Missouri, it smelled musty, and since we were there for our daughter’s graduation from basic training at Fort Leonard-Wood, there were no options for them to change our room, as they were booked full up.
When we’ve traveled with our dogs, we’ve always stayed at LaQuinta’s because they are a good value for the money. BUT last year I stayed at a LQ in Cocoa Beach and they were renovating, and they put our rooms right by the area of the jackhammer. They moved us, but again we were right by construction. They promised to comp our rooms, but then they only comped us one night. The pool was also undergoing renovations and we could not use it. There was a LQ down the road, that I would have chosen had I known about the renovations. That was the 2nd time that we stayed at a LQ that was under renovations that they did not warn us about. This means, that I am unlikely to choose them again.
I will definitely keep Red Roofs in mind, for future needs.
Mom loves a super nice hotel, but doesn’t want to spend the big bucks for a short night, so we do our budget nice hotels. We’ve had LQ trouble in the past, but have been on a good roll lately.