Increases in motel/hotel/B&B costs over the years (page 2) - CycleBlaze

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Increases in motel/hotel/B&B costs over the years (page 2)

John EganTo Jeff Lee

And I worry all the time about the motels you select.
Hope you are well and raring to go this spring.

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1 year ago
John PickettTo Jeff Lee

I was surprised at how much lodging cost in 2022. Definitely more than in 2019, my previous tour. I'd say the increase was on the order of 25% overall. 

That didn't bother me so much as the decline in quality. I have had great luck with Super 8 motels in the past but I stayed at two that were awful in 2022. The one in Florence CO had a laughably bad continental breakfast: granola bars and coffee with nothing but powdered creamer. 

The Super 8 in Corvallis charged us over $200. The pool was not functional. The place was a mess.  The price probably reflected the fact that the World Track and Field Games were being held in Eugene and every other hotel and motel was already booked.

In Pueblo I tried a Baymont motel. It had a working washing machine but, surpise!, the dryer was kaput. When the manager wouldn't let me use the dryer that hotel cleaning staff was using I had to bike my wet laundry to a laundromat. 

We paid through the nose for a hotel in Redmond OR but at least, with three lodgers, we could make up some of the cost at the breakfast bar. 

By the end of the trip I was finally warming up to camping. I just bought a new sleeping bag and pad for my 2023 tour and look forward to avoiding hotels as much as possible.

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1 year ago
Jeff LeeTo John Egan

Hey John!

I was raring to go - I even did a 125-mile ride at the end of January - and then got Covid, which has knocked me down. Still, I have high hopes for another of my random tours this spring, possibly knocking out three states I haven't ridden in: Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Arizona. I bet I can find some really nice sub-$60 motels in Arkansas and Oklahoma ;)

Jeff

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1 year ago
Jeff LeeTo John Pickett

Hi John,

My strategy for avoiding expensive lodging my last two tours has been to travel through areas that almost nobody else, with the exception of working men on road and construction crews, visits.

Florence, Corvallis, and maybe even Pueblo are way too popular and touristy by my standards these days. I'm really into obscure small towns in the middle of nowhere now, and not just because of the cheaper accommodations. I strive to avoid "touristy" experiences whenever possible.

Also, like you, I'm trying to get to point where I can enjoy camping. But sleeping on the ground has never been easy for me.

Jeff

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1 year ago
John EganTo Jeff Lee

Back in 1987, on my first X-USA ride I stayed at the Sacajawea Hotel in Casper, Wyoming. (It was a few years before I moved out West.) The cost? $5.00.
I put my tent tarp over the bed and my sleeping bag on top of that. There were drunken fights in the hall all night. And I said to myself, 
"You paid your $5. You got your $5 worth."

I hope your standards are slightly above the Sacajawea.

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1 year ago
Jeff LeeTo John Egan

There were drunken fights in the hall all night. 

The one or two times I've been genuinely unnerved while bicycle touring was been when I encountered angry, unpredictable drunk people.  I have a very strong aversion to that sort of thing, based on some family history of alcoholism, which is the reason for my lifelong teetotalism.

My standards are pretty low, but staying anywhere drunken rowdiness was occurring would be a no-go for sure. I'd have to flee that kind of scene and set up my tent in a field somewhere ;)

Although, come to think of it, when the one truly scary incident like that happened on my second tour, in 2008, I put a headlight on the bike and just rode away in the very early morning hours, not having slept at all. That was in a hostel where I couldn't lock the door. Now that's the kind of place I wouldn't stay again.

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1 year ago
Ron SuchanekTo Jeff Lee

I went back and eyeballed our expenses from our 2018 tour on the Lewis & Clark and Transam routes. In about 85 days, we stayed in hotels approx 24 nights. This was more than we planned, but there were tornadoes, thunderstorms, heat waves and Jen's unpleasant (and pretty serious) respiratory infection that forced the issue. Our hotel spend was about $2300, so a little less than $100 per night average. The cheapest was $49 somewhere in the Dakotas, and the highest was Eugene, Oregon, as we were winding up the tour. 

My suspicion is that rates are probably higher now, but no telling how many small town hotels have survived the past few years. If you keep your standards low and are willing to camp, that certainly helps as you know. 

One interesting note, I didn't include camping fees in the comment but we paid $89 (!) at a KOA in Great Falls. It was a tent camping spot, complete with picnic table and dog sh*t all over the grass. We complained but they just giggled and apologized. 

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1 year ago