I'm moving and will be driving 1100 miles with 3 pets, a dog (golden retriever) and 2 cats (a hefty calico and small short hair). It's my first time ever traveling with pets. I'm absolutely shocked at some of the "pet fees" that hotels require. Holiday Inn Express generally charges $10 per night PER PET! One Holiday said it would be $50! A Marriott (which I hate anyway) wants $75! Do those of you who travel with pets really pay these outlandish fees or do you just not tell the hotel you have pets? Geez, and I thought the oil companies were the experts at gouging!
For "responsible" pet owners, I agree that it sounds high, but from what I've personally seen with pet owners in apartments, motels, and RV parks, I really can't blame them for charging those prices. In fact, I would strongly suspect that they lose money at $10 a night per pet. It's a bit like the restrooms in the service stations my dad owned when I was a teenager. Unless you've seen it in person, it's hard to believe people can be as nasty as they are sometimes, and for those who didn't know it, the women trashed the restrooms worse than the men did.
I was charged 12.00 for a cockatiel at the Best Western American Inn in Van Horn Texas in August on my way to my mother's funeral. Guess where I will never stay again.
My wife and I will always remember Van Horn, TX, for having the worst restaurant we ever ate in on 2/18/90. We spent several days there in an RV park and had no complaints with the little town except for that one cafe, and as you might expect, I think it's gone out of business since then. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]
We have travelled many times and 1100 km trip. We almost always did it in one stretch (10-12 hours). on the occasion that we did stay overnight, the dogs just stayed in their crates in the back of the explorer. We would feed them and water them beside the car, take them for a nice walk, and when we went to bed--so did they--in their crates.
Walk them again in the morning, and off we go. the cats only travelled with us when we moved. We just let the cats freerange in the car at night with food water and a litter box on the floor of the car. We were too cheap to pay for them to spend the night in the room.
Travel cheap like we do, Motel 6 does not charge for the first pet. When we head south every winter and come back in the spring, that is where we stay, yet to be charged extra for the Golden Retriever.
I am getting ready to set out on a new "life" adventure as well on March 1st. I will be traveling with my 2 dogs and really don't know what to expect. They seem to do "fair" with short runs like the vets or groomers but we are headed from Ky. to Ok.
I don't know if the stop for a hotel will add to the confusion for them or if it will be better to just drive straight through. I have doggie valium if I need it !
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Last night I made reservations at a Days Inn in West Virginia where we will be going next month for my wife's family reunion. We had discussed whether we wanted to take our Chihuahua with us or board her with our vet. But then our youngest daughter and her husband are not going to be able to go to the reunion, so they'll keep our dog. But while making reservations online, I noticed that they welcome pets, but they charge $20 per pet per night. [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]
I have never traveled that far with my pets. The farthest I did was to go to South Florida to my mom's house with my cat. I agree with Dumbdog, I would check Motel 6 to see their rates first.
Years ago I moved from Pennsylvania to the Florida Keys with a Dalmation and a cat. We put the dog in the car that we were towing behind the moving truck and the biggest problem we had with him was that he refused to sit anywhere other than the driver's seat and he kept honking the horn. Swear to God - true story. We were halfway through the Carolinas before we realized nobody was actually honking at US.
Anyway, we didn't make reservations to stop anywhere in particular so as we were stopping for gas here and there we would pick up those free travel books you can get at large gas stations. We ended up staying at a hotel that didn't charge us for the dog and the cat to be in the room. If I ever traveled with an animal that far again I would just play it by ear and you'll likely find some roadside place that is used to people traveling with pets.
If all else fails, like miss_thenorth said, you can walk them extensively and then have them sleep in the vehicle for the night.
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