Choosing the best hotels for your road trip can be extremely challenging when you don’t have experience traveling to different locations around the country and are unaware of all the problems you may face while planning everything in advance.
Thankfully, a few things can help you make this process easier and allow you to find high-quality hotels that provide you with everything you need regarding security, price range, basic services, and much more.
What to Look for When Choosing a Hotel During a Road Trip
Before you choose a hotel for your road trip, you must take into account several factors that will influence your overall experience and determine what to look for when choosing a hotel during a road trip.
As a general rule, you should always cover at least 90% of all these factors when planning your trip and research each of them to avoid some of the common mistakes people make while traveling on the road.
Remember that neglecting one or multiple of these factors will make your road trip much more difficult and, in some cases, almost impossible to enjoy, especially if something unexpected occurs during your journey and messes up your entire schedule.
1. Budget
One of the most important factors to consider when choosing the best hotels is the total budget for the road trip, which includes all the costs for the accommodation, the restaurants where you want to eat, recreational activities, and other expenses that may come up while traveling.
The final budget for your trip will depend entirely on how much money you are willing to spend at the moment and the type of experience you want to enjoy, choosing between a cheap/affordable location with basic amenities or a five-star luxury spot.
If you are not sure how to come up with a budget for your road trip, you can try to use one of the many travel budget calculators available on the internet since they can allow you to get a rough estimate of the average cost of your trip with everything included.
2. Length of Trip
Another factor you should consider is the length of the trip since it can influence how much money you will spend and make you go over the budget the longer you stay in one place, especially if it has many amenities or premium services.
Sometimes, you may have to change your plans for the road trip, switch your accommodations, or sacrifice some of the entertainment you want to enjoy if you stay longer than expected.
In the worst-case scenario, you might have to cut your trip short and return home right away if you didn’t do a good job analyzing the length of the road trip before traveling to your destination and are left with insufficient funds to stay for a few more days.
To avoid any of these issues during your road trip, you should have an emergency fund that can help you pay for all the extra expenses along the way and cover a few more days just in case you need to stay longer.
3. Accommodation Preferences
Once you have come up with a budget for the road trip and have considered the length of the trip, you must decide where you want to stay based on your accommodation preferences and choose the best spot before traveling to your destination.
If you are short on cash, you can select a budget hotel that is affordable to almost everyone, providing the basic amenities you need for your trip and giving you access to other services you can use if you can pay for them.
However, if you have enough money and want a five-star experience, you can stay at a luxury hotel that provides all the best services to make your trip ten times more pleasant without any additional costs.
You also have other accommodations you can choose from, like boutique hotels, which provide:
- High-quality customer service
- Special amenities
- Unique custom-made rooms
- Beautiful environments
If boutique hotels are not your thing, you can select a chain hotel that focuses on standard services that appeal to everyone and offers different pricing plans that you can pick, allowing you to pick the best option for your budget.
4. Your Planned Route
The planned route for the road trip is the last factor you must take care of before driving to the final destination, registering at the hotel you selected, and having fun at different places during the rest of the journey.
To do this, you can manually map out all the roads that lead to your hotel by using Google Maps and mark the routes with the most gas stops, public bathrooms, and highways where you can safely drive without dealing with a ton of traffic during the day.
However, if you want to make things much easier, you can use a road trip planner app, which allows you automatically to find the best routes for your road trip in just a few clicks and save money by finding the least expensive roads towards your destination.
Prioritizing Safety and Security During Your Road Trip
During your road trip, you must always prioritize safety and security when choosing a hotel to avoid accidents or dangerous situations that could jeopardize everyone, especially if traveling to a destination with a higher crime rate than other places.
To get the best results during your road trip, you should only stay in hotels that comply with the hospitality industry’s basic safety protocols and best practices, including the following.
- On-site security personnel 24/7
- Security cameras inside and outside the premises
- Multiple locks on all the room doors
- Parking lot surveillance
- Secure internet connection
These are some of the essential security features your hotel needs to have to protect you and the people you are traveling with during your road trip.
If you want to have more security, you can also search for high-rise hotels since they have a better security layout, and most of them use a custom elevator key to access the higher floors, making it extremely difficult for anyone else to enter your room and steal your belongings.
Discovering the Right Amenities for Your Needs
When selecting a hotel for your road trip, you must ensure they have some of the best amenities necessary to enjoy your accommodation and have a pleasant time.
These amenities should cover everything you need, including the essential services you will use daily, plus other options that can provide you with entertainment, comfort, and quality of life.
What Essentials Do You Require?
When it comes to essential amenities, every hotel should provide its customers with a decent Wi-Fi connection that has high speed, plus good online security against hackers who want to steal your personal information and financial details.
Additionally, each hotel should include its own shower with clean towels, free parking with plenty of space available for your car, a mini-fridge with beverages/snacks, and a TV to watch the news or your favorite daily shows in your free time.
What are “Nice to Have” Amenities?
On top of the essential amenities hotels can provide to their customers, you should also look for places that offer other nice services during your road trip and could significantly improve your experience when using them.
Some of these nice-to-have amenities at these hotels may include the following options.
- Free breakfast in the morning
- Free parking spot
- Swimming pool & jacuzzi
- On-site restaurant & bar
- Free internet access and Wi-Fi
There are also other nice-to-have amenities you can access if you stay in luxury hotels, like a private gym to work out every day, a spa or sauna center where you can relax after you feel tired, and even a cocktail station inside your room.
What About Pet-Friendly Options?
If you have a cat or a dog, you might need to search for pet-friendly options when looking for a hotel for your road trip since most of the accommodations available to the public do not provide this service to their customers and prohibit the entrance of animals to their facilities.
The easiest way to solve this problem is to look for chain hotels with a pet-friendly policy towards their clients and have a suitable environment for many different types of pets, depending on how you travel.
However, you should always read all the information in the hotel policies, contact customer service to ask any questions about this topic, and see if there will be any issues bringing your pet during the road trip.
Evaluating Hotel Reviews and Ratings
Evaluating hotel reviews and ratings is an excellent way to find the best spots for your road trip, especially if you discover places with a good track record with other customers for many years, have five-star reviews, and are trustworthy when providing their services to the public.
To get better results, you should also consider the negative reviews to find all the deal breakers for your road trip and weed out the hotels that do not meet your standards regarding price, amenities, or customer service.
Additionally, when reading reviews, you need to pay attention to all the comments from previous clients from the last 6-12 months and prioritize all the posts that have the most upvotes amongst all the others.
It is highly recommended that you focus on reviews from their official website and other sites like Tripadvisor or their Google Business Profile since they provide accurate details about each hotel and give you a clear picture of the quality of their services during the year.
At the same time, you should ignore reviews/ratings from anonymous websites since they don’t provide accurate information about the services offered by hotels and tend to promote places that are unsafe or unsuitable for most people.
Considering Flexibility in Booking and Cancellation Policies
Looking for hotels with a high level of flexibility regarding bookings and cancelation policies can save you a lot of trouble during your road trip since it can help you make multiple reservations at different spots to secure your accommodations and select the best option after the fact.
You can then cancel the rest of your reservations without any issues or penalties, giving you plenty of room to change your plans during the road trip if something comes up and make new adjustments as you see fit.
Remember that many hotels charge additional fees for canceling your reservation and have strict policies when booking or rescheduling. This is why you should always ask hotels how they usually handle cancelations and bookings before you get a room.
Ask About Extra Costs
You need to be aware of some hotels’ extra costs after booking your accommodations since they can mess up your budget and potentially make your road trip a complete failure when you run out of cash.
Most of these extra costs will come from additional fees that hotels have on top of their original pricing, from adding more guests to your reservation or using specific amenities exclusive for premium clients and requiring much maintenance to work.
You might also have to pay other fees if you cancel your reservation without prior notice, covering a much higher cost depending on the hotel policies regarding sudden cancellations from their customers.
If you want to avoid overpaying for your accommodation during your road trip, you should always ask hotels about these extra costs before making your reservations and ensure that they don’t affect your budget or your plans while you stay with them.
Comparing Prices
Comparing prices between hotels is a good practice for everyone who wants to go on a road trip since it could save hundreds of dollars depending on the deals they have available and the various pricing plans you can choose on the web.
Even when comparing the same hotels across different websites, you can find lower prices that fit into your budget to get better accommodations for your road trip and improve your experience when traveling to other places.
Plus, you can call the hotels directly to ask about any current discounts and take advantage of the special deals available at Christmas or in the summer if you want to save even more money when booking a room.
Booking in Utah? Visit First Choice Inn at the Swell
Selecting the perfect hotel for your road trip can improve your travel experience. And if you’re planning a journey through the beautiful landscapes of Utah, there’s one standout option that checks all the boxes – First Choice Inn at The Swell.
First and foremost, this establishment prides itself on providing top-notch accommodations. Whether traveling solo, as a couple, or with a family, you’ll find comfortable and spacious rooms that ensure a restful night’s sleep after a long day on the road.
One of the standout features of First Choice Inn at The Swell is its expansive breakfast buffet. Starting your day with a hearty meal is essential when you’re gearing up for outdoor adventures or long hours of driving. This inn understands that and offers a wide array of options to cater to all tastes and preferences.
Additionally, the hotel offers fantastic amenities that will make your stay even more enjoyable. Stay connected with their Wi-Fi, catch up on your favorite shows with the in-room TV, or take a refreshing dip in their pool to unwind after your journey.
Location is key when choosing a hotel during a road trip, and First Choice Inn at The Swell has that covered as well. Conveniently situated off I-70, it’s the perfect stop for those heading to explore Utah’s “Mighty Five” national parks. Whether you’re planning to visit Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, or Zion, this inn’s location provides easy access to these natural wonders.
Interested in booking with us today? Visit https://firstchoiceinns.com/ to view our current rates and discount offers.