Affordable Accommodation On Trips?

[ShokWaveRider]

We are no on our way back from our Caribbean trip and want to do a cross country trip in the southern states till summer comes and then go up to Canada for the summer.

My only concern is finding affordable hotels/guest houses so we do not end up spending $70 - $100 per month for 60 days.

Does anyone have any experience with bettre ways to find accomodation. Like the old extended stay inns that you could get for $150 - $250 per week?

Thanks

SWR

www.impconcepts.com/cruisingthecaribbean.htm

PS. On a different note, The Best I can find in St. Maarten, N.A. in the Caribbean is $65 US per couple.

 

[brewer12345]

SWR, how long are you planning on staying in one place? If you are staying weeks at a time, you might find some rental housing that would work depending on the location. Some of the longer term rentals at www.vrbo.com seem inexpensive. If we are talking a day here, a day there, how about camping? State/national parks are usually inexpensive and have decent facilities (and usually beautiful settings).

 

[MJ]

SWR,

What about renting a comfortable RV?
Would the rental plus fuel consumption be much cheaper than $70 a day?

MJ

 

[BigMoneyJim]

not end up spending $70 - $100 per month for 60 days

I'm going to interpret that as $70 - $100 per night for 2 months.

In the past I've just driven until I'm tired and then looked for a Motel 6. For the price ($25 - $60 depending on location) they seem reasonably clean to me, but certainly many disagree with me. Also, I'm becoming a little pickier as I get older and my last Motel 6 in Memphis didn't seem as "nice".

There have been a couple of times I found a great deal at an local non-chain motel, but most of the time those places turn out really unclean.

It may help to note that when I travel the hotel/motel is just a place to sleep and keep some stuff. Some people seem to enjoy the hotel accomodations as a significant part of a vacation.

 

[P.S.]

State highway rest stops have brochures full of coupons for local hotels, like $40/night Comfort in in the middle of any-state. Have seen even coupons for $60/night Radisson on a trip in Dec. in the NE.

 

[Mountain_Mike]

Years ago, we stayed at KOA campgrounds. Some of them now have cabins; last time I checked they were in the $20 per night range.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

All:

What I am looking for is to spend about 2 weeks to a month in each place. $250 a week would be good. I need to get some numbers or emails/web pages of extended stay hotels. They are a little hard to find. Pleaces like In Town Suites is the type of thing I was thinking off.

SWR

 

[thebacchus]

This may be a bit higher than what you are looking for, but we have stayed long term (1 to 2 weeks, LT for a hotel) at www.extendedstayamerica.com several times in many places across the country and have been happy.

Many of them are nearly brand new so they are very clean. They are basically the size of a regular hotel room, but each is more like a studio appartment with a small kitchen including a fridge, micro & stove top. (With dishes, pots & plates, etc.)

Many of the ones we have stayed at averaged $30-$50 per night depending if we wanted to be in more desireable spots, or on the edge of town and how long we stayed The small kitchette saves us a fortune on take out food.

Hope this helps.

-TB

 

[Beachbumz]

Hi SWR,
We are currently in Reno, NV on our cross country trip! We got rooms for $39 a night for the weekend at a great hotel. We will be going to Lake Tahoe tomorrow for $31 for the night. We are trying to average $50 a night, but we are not staying anywhere more than 2 nights. We have used travelocity, expedia and www.travelworm.com so far, you just have to check 'em all. Some rooms have even had free wireless internet and the free breakfasts at most help too.

I think you will find renting an RV for that long is very expensive.

If you are looking for monthly rentals in Florida, check with the local property management companies. It is 'off season' there and the weather is great. You can get a monthly rental for $1000 or so.

If you have a timeshare or have a friend with one. RCI.com has some great deals in some places on weekly "extra vacations". The last minute ones, within 45 days, are $99 for a studio and $149 for a one bedroom.

I have stayed in an 'extended stay' hotel before and didn't like it. It was full of construction workers and some pretty low life people (drug dealers!).

Beachbumz 8)

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Re: Affordable Accommodations

Hey Beachbumz, when you get to tahoe you'll be right up the hill from me and Jarhead.

Staying in North Lake or South Lake? South lake tends to be cheaper, has the casinos and all that. North lake (at tahoe city) is the 'classier' side. If you're down in south lake, check out "Emerald Bay". Pretty little cove with a walk down path to "vikingsholm", a really old mansion thats being restored. Nice beach. Might still be quite a bit of snow up there, they just got walloped last weekend. Should be great skiing.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Hi SWR,
We are currently in Reno, NV on our cross country trip! We got rooms for $39 a night for the weekend at a great hotel. We will be going to Lake Tahoe tomorrow for $31 for the night. We are trying to average $50 a night, but we are not staying anywhere more than 2 nights. We have used travelocity, expedia and www.travelworm.com so far, you just have to check 'em all. Some rooms have even had free wireless internet and the free breakfasts at most help too.


Beachbumz 8)

I just did a search on them all and found nothing less than FROM $37 in Tahoe.

SWR

 

[Mr._johngalt]

When I was working I traveled a lot. I would not stay in
a Motel 6, figuring if it was that cheap I ran the risk of
being eaten by vermin in my sleep. Since I retired
I gave them a try with very good results. Oh, once in a while I take a look at one and say "No thanks".
There is one right on the freeway where I always stop
on my way to Texas. With the AARP it's $26.00!
There are many locally owned/run motels right around here that don't go that low. First, I find 'em and then I try to squeeze a better deal. And, it doesn't matter how good the rate is, I always try to make it a little better. Never
hurts to ask. You would be amazed what people
will agree to if you have the nerve to ask them.

JG

 

[Beachbumz]

Re: Affordable Accommodations

Hey Beachbumz, when you get to tahoe you'll be right up the hill from me and Jarhead.

Staying in North Lake or South Lake?  South lake tends to be cheaper, has the casinos and all that.  North lake (at tahoe city) is the 'classier' side.  If you're down in south lake, check out "Emerald Bay".  Pretty little cove with a walk down path to "vikingsholm", a really old mansion thats being restored.  Nice beach.  Might still be quite a bit of snow up there, they just got walloped last weekend.  Should be great skiing.

Hi TH!
We are headed there this morning! We are staying in South Lake Tahoe for $26 bucks (we're on a budget you know hehe). We'll look into Emerald Bay, that sounds interesting. My wife has never skied and it's been 20 yrs for me, but who know we might give it a try, if not maybe we can find some snowmobiling, and then there's the casinos

Beachbumz 8)

 

[Beachbumz]

I just did a search on them all and found nothing less than FROM $37 in Tahoe.

SWR

Hi SWR!
Travelworm sucked for Tahoe, but we got a room at the EconoLodge for $26 ($30.83 with tax) for tonight through expedia (I don't know why it didn't come up for you). It's basic, but all we need is a bed and it's queen size which will work.

Except for our first night, where we waaaayyyy over spent in Tunica, MS (we drove 800 miles and were exhausted, stayed near the casinos on a Saturday night), we are averaging under $50 including tax, for 9 nights.

Beachbumz 8)

Beachbumz 8)

 

[johnblake]

We visited Lake Tahoe for some skiing back in February. Stayed in a variety of accomodations from highish end to dirt cheap. The Motel-6 rocked, it was $35.night for two, clean and quite. The River Lodge was fancy and not worth the $100+/night. During the week it was easy to find a place to stay but everything filled up on the weekend. Another nice thing about M-6 is that you can make a reservation for the weekend and cancel w/o a penalty (other places charge for a night). Generally, I prefer smaller mom and pop run businesses.

We really enjoyed both North Lake Tahoe and South Lake Tahoe (as long as we stayed away from the casinos). We found an excellent moderately prices restaurant in the South lake called Freshies. Check it out if you have a chance. If you ski go to the ski/snowboard shops and buy your lift tx there for a sig. discount. Our favorite resorts were Alpine Meadows ($39) and Kirkwood (more $). There's also a place called Homewood that's very inexpensive, but it's lower in elevation and it was kinda wam when we were there.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Re: Affordable Accommodations

Hi TH!
We are headed there this morning! We are staying in South Lake Tahoe for $26 bucks (we're on a budget you know hehe). We'll look into Emerald Bay, that sounds interesting. My wife has never skied and it's been 20 yrs for me, but who know we might give it a try, if not maybe we can find some snowmobiling, and then there's the casinos

Beachbumz 8)

Theres a whole string of $20-something motels in south lake. My recollection is not a lot of great eating places, although maybe I just didnt find anything good.

Heavenly Ski resort is right there smack in the middle of south lake. I think non-skiing folks can pay for a gondola ride up to the top. Food is better than lousy up at the lodge there and the views of the entire lake from over 10,000 feet is nice. Very expensive to ski there though. Kirkwood is about 20-25 minutes south of there, better skiing and cheaper.

Emerald bay is probably more interesting in the summer than winter. But its still an hour or two of walking to give you a workout...its a winding paved path down and easy...a bit tougher on the return trip. At least its not uphill both ways

If you continue into california down route 50, keep an eye out as you drive for all the people who built homes on the top of a ridge of unconsolidated soil that subseqently took a ride down the slope after a heavy rain. There are a handful of them. They look almost ok at first glance until you notice they're a little crumpled up and not particularly square anymore. About 6-7 years ago a wave of muck completely covered that highway to about 15' deep and dammed the river along side it for a couple of days. Fortunately nobody was driving on that part at the time. A ranger was just downhill from it and said it was completely silent. One minute there was a road there, the next minute, 2000 cubic yards of mud.

 

[Beachbumz]

Re: Affordable Accommodations

Theres a whole string of $20-something motels in south lake.  My recollection is not a lot of great eating places, although maybe I just didnt find anything good.

Heavenly Ski resort is right there smack in the middle of south lake.  I think non-skiing folks can pay for a gondola ride up to the top.  Food is better than lousy up at the lodge there and the views of the entire lake from over 10,000 feet is nice.  Very expensive to ski there though.  Kirkwood is about 20-25 minutes south of there, better skiing and cheaper.

Emerald bay is probably more interesting in the summer than winter.  But its still an hour or two of walking to give you a workout...its a winding paved path down and easy...a bit tougher on the return trip.  At least its not uphill both ways

If you continue into california down route 50, keep an eye out as you drive for all the people who built homes on the top of a ridge of unconsolidated soil that subseqently took a ride down the slope after a heavy rain.  There are a handful of them.  They look almost ok at first glance until you notice they're a little crumpled up and not particularly square anymore.  About 6-7 years ago a wave of muck completely covered that highway to about 15' deep and dammed the river along side it for a couple of days.  Fortunately nobody was driving on that part at the time.  A ranger was just downhill from it and said it was completely silent.  One minute there was a road there, the next minute, 2000 cubic yards of mud.

The Econolodge was clean and the bed was ok, not exactly what we are used to but... I think it was a little busier and more expensive because of the Easter holiday.

We actually drove in to North Lake Tahoe and circled the lake. What great scenery, lots of snow. We grabbed burgers at the 'Char-Pit' in Kings Beach and drove down to the lake to eat them. They were great and the views awesome. I couldn't believe the wave action in the lake, but it was real windy.

We actually went through/by Emerald Bay, but it looked closed due to the snow.

We were going to take the gondola up to the top at Heavenly, but it was closed due to high winds, so we ended up eating dinner at Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo restaurant in Harvey's casino , it was very good but overpriced.

Then the snow storm hit! I guess about 6-8 inches overnight and still going this morning. AND we were headed to Yosemite National Park, so we had to change our route (not even sure how we went and probably would not have seen the fallen houses even if we passed them because of the heavy snow, too bad that would have been a sight! ). Thank goodness we had 4 wheel drive! Yosemite was awesome.

On our way to Sequoia National Park tomorrow before heading over to the coast...

Beachbumz 8)

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Should have mentioned you were heading to Yosemite...I've got a friend down there thats a park ranger...you could have had the deluxe tour!

 

[Beachbumz]

Should have mentioned you were heading to Yosemite...I've got a friend down there thats a park ranger...you could have had the deluxe tour!

Man, that would have been great! It was pretty darn awesome by ourselves, especially with all the snow. Anyway, DW and I want to go back one summer and spend a few days in the area, so we'll keep that in mind.

Beachbumz

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Personally I think this is a very important subject. People have been indicating that there are $31 & $20 something prices hotels about in places they have visited. But no one ever gives any more info as if it is a big secret.

I would like to make a request to the administrators of this board. I think we should start a database of certain items. This could be one of them. (Affordable Lodging, domestic and another for Overseas) Other ideas would be Low cost Financial services although Vanguard appears to be the king here. Also high interest investment CDs (I know Bankrate does a good job here, but a while back a local in the east coast indicated that his local CU has a 3% 11 month CD, at the time that was an exceptional rate.)

In the case of Lodging, what is very important is if the poster have actually stayed there, as opposed just looked it up on Expedia, which could still be OK. but if they had stayed there it would warrant a personal opinion.

I am not sure how this could be done but I think Lodging info is pretty static and could be set up.

Example:

Name: Intown Suites
WWW: www.intownsuites.com

In this case phone and location is not applicable because the web site is great and they have multiple locations. But in the case of perhaps a mom and pop guest house the phone number would be invaluable. And of course the address.


Any Ideas?

SWR

 

[unclemick]

Hmmm

Things change with time and season. Perhaps starting a thread as early as possible stating intented destination is maybe the best one can do.

Like 'the perfect retirement spot' the eye of the beholder rules.

 

[Beachbumz]

Personally I think this is a very important subject. People have been indicating that there are $31 & $20 something prices hotels about in places they have visited. But no one ever gives any more info as if it is a big secret.

I would like to make a request to the administrators of this board. I think we should start a database of certain items. This could be one of them. (Affordable Lodging, domestic and another for Overseas) Other ideas would be Low cost Financial services although Vanguard appears to be the king here. Also high interest investment CDs (I know Bankrate does a good job here, but a while back a local in the east coast indicated that his local CU has a 3% 11 month CD, at the time that was an exceptional rate.)

In the case of Lodging, what is very important is if the poster have actually stayed there, as opposed just looked it up on Expedia, which could still be OK. but if they had stayed there it would warrant a personal opinion.

I am not sure how this could be done but I think Lodging info is pretty static and could be set up.

Example:

Name: Intown Suites
WWW: www.intownsuites.com

In this case phone and location is not applicable because the web site is great and they have multiple locations. But in the case of perhaps a mom and pop guest house the phone number would be invaluable. And of course the address.


Any Ideas?

SWR

I don't know how to go about setting it up, but it sounds like a great idea.

Beachbumz

 

[tozz]

Use www.priceline.com in conjunction with www.biddingfortravel.com .

Scour biddingfortravel.com first. Try to stay clear of the owner who has a personality that could curdle milk. Then you will know what $$ amount to bid on Priceline.

It's all supply and demand, but I have spent many nights at the Park Hyatt (Hyatt's premium product) in San Francisco for $25-$40/night. That is unusual (rack rates for the Park Hyatt's are usually $400 upward/night), but it is rare that I don't save 50% or so off the lowests Travelocity/Expedia/Orbitz/whatever rate.

Priceline/Biddingfortravel normally works better in urban or resort areas with lots of inventory. If you are staying in a rural area you will have to resort to your own personal wiles.

 

[gwix98]

Use www.priceline.com in conjunction with www.biddingfortravel.com .
Scour biddingfortravel.com first. Try to stay clear of the owner who has a personality that could curdle milk. Then you will know what $$ amount to bid on Priceline.

I have to second Tozz's recommendation of these two sites used together. After you have had success with this strategy its unlikely you will ever pay full price again for lodging unless its an area not served well by priceline.com
We just returned from our third year of travel to the southwest, staying in $150-$250 hotels, and never paying
more than $75 a night. You can figure on paying about 1/3
of the lowest advertised rate. In our case the range was
$55-$75 a night, for very decent places.
But, like with frequent flier miles, you have to be a little flexible about when you travel, and deal with some
uncertainty about where you might stay within a geographic region. If you have ever used priceline, you will know what I mean.
Often for a few dollars more than the "motel 6", you can
upgrade to Hyatts and Omni hotels.

gwix

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I guess what I would really like to see is a list of Suite type hotels in the same class as InTown Suites. They do not change other than Winter and Summer rate fluctuation. They are weekly or monthly but not nightly. There has to be more than the one in this catagory, (below $250 per week)

SWR