Red Roof sponsored this post, but all opinions expressed are my own.
The best part of a road trip is the freedom it provides. If there’s a scenic overlook, an interesting roadside attraction or just the need for a comfort stop, no problem. Stopping, going… it’s all your call.
The flexibility inherent in a road trip takes a lot of the stress out of traveling, so unless a destination is on the opposite coast, I’ll often choose to drive there rather than fly, and I very rarely book my hotels in advance along the route because I never know exactly where I’ll stop. In the winter, I’ll quit driving around dusk, but in the summer, I take advantage of the extra hours of light and push a bit further.
Usually, that means I pull into a hotel off the highway and check for vacancies. When I traveled with my family as a child, hotel signs flashed “vacancy” or “no vacancy,” so it was easier to find a room on the fly, but those days are over, and so when I wing it these days, sometimes I luck out, and sometimes I don’t.
I remember a family road trip where we’d driven all day and were absolutely exhausted when we stopped to check for a hotel, but none of the hotels in the area had any vacancies because of a “Mule Days” festival. Who knew? We stopped at exit after exit and couldn’t find a single room. We ended up having to drive three more hours and finally found a place to stay at about 3 a.m. It was awful!
Fortunately, some hotel chains make road trip stays less complicated. For instance, RedRoof.com has a new “Along-a-Route” feature that can recognize your precise location and direction of travel. It serves up properties right on your route, not miles off your route because there’s nothing more annoying than taking an exit only to discover you still have to travel 7 miles to get to your getting-to-point.
I still have several road trips planned for this summer and fall, including a big one to New York State with my daughter. I’ll already be in Virginia on another road trip, so I need to fly her to meet me “somewhere yet to be determined” along my route to New York State. Once I pick her up, we’ll head to our final destination for a week before driving back home. Believe me, I’m going to be relying on the simplicity of RedRoof.com to book and secure the best rate while traveling.
The personalized content, deals, suite of media tools, including videos, photos, slideshows, and cinemographs along with full display of TripAdvisor reviews (whew) on RedRoof.com help travelers make informed decisions and find the properties and rooms that best fit their needs. And it can all be booked with a simple “Tap! Tap! Go!”
Find hotels along your route, and book your reservations now at RedRoof.com!
Comments & Reviews
You can never go wrong with a well known chain! They offer multiple locations and great prices, so grabbing one in a pinch is usually pretty easy.
Red Roof Inn is awesome! We stay there all the time when we road trip. They’re really nice places.
My parents do this all the time. They travel but never make a reservation. They decide how far they want to go in when they get tired they find a hotel close to that place. I think more hotel should have an app like the Red Roof Inn one.
I have not heard of the Along the Route feature but think this sounds really smart … and great for road trips! I will have to use this on my next trip.
This is always good to know. We are huge planners so Andrew usually knows ahead of time but this is good to keep in mind
This is awesome and would have been very handy when we were traveling from California to TN! Thanks for sharing this! 🙂
How fabulous is this. I have never found myself in this situation, but good to know there is the perfect solution!
I use Google Maps and my hotel app. I zoom in to find cities along my route and then use the app to find places to stay.
Oh, this is really convenient. Nothing is worse than trying to find your hotel and it being super far from your route.
This is awesome, thanks for sharing. Now I wanna go on a trip. You’ve inspired me.
What a great idea. I love Red Roof Inn motel!
Now that is genius! I want to be the fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants traveler, but that’s harder when you’ve got kids in tough. Knowing I can find a hotel quickly is such a relief.
Good tips! I am always freaked I am gonna stop at the roach motel or some horror movie place. I guess I might be watching too many scary movies!?
We are planning a few road trips this summer. I will have to check out RedRoof.com and the new Along-a-Route feature.
That’s pretty cool it can pinpoint your location and directed you to a vacant room quickly. This sounds like an amazing service!
I booked a hotel while driving to Florida. Thank God for technology!
This skill is invaluable. So many times I have had to do this on the road.
RedRoof.com sounds like an awesome resource when travelling. I’m more spontaneous than I should be sometimes about finding a hotel when I travel. This sounds safer. 😉
This is is so cool. I actually had a friend road trip across country and I was asking her how she chose hotels!
This sounds so helpful! My husband and I did a lot of travel when we were younger, and I remember sleeping in the car sometimes when we got stuck on an empty stretch of road late at night with no nearby hotels. We will have to try this on our next roadtrip.
Thank you so much for letting me know about Redroof.com. Summertime is mostly road trips for my family and I cannot even imagine the nightmare of not being able to find a vacant hotel room! We’ll keep this in mind and I am bookmarking the website on my phone right now.
Your trip to New York with your daughter is going to be so much fun! I’m totally bookmarking these tips for our next excursion!
I haven’t stayed in a Red Roof Inn in a long time! I need to be more spontaneous about traveling with my family!
It is such a great resource to be able to find accommodations on the fly. It is perfect to know about this now that summer driving season is here.
I bookmarked their site. Told my daughter and my sons about it too. I don’t want any one in my family to be in a situation of not being able to find a vacant hotel room when they are out on a road trip. Thanks for letting me know about Redroof.
I wish we had Red Roof here in Canada. When we moved from Ontario to New Brunswick a while back I didn’t book a hotel for our stay halfway to our destination and there was a conference going on. We ended up in a crappy room that smelled of stale smoke, you could see partially underneath the tub in the bathroom and it had an old ratty AC unit in the window.
I don’t travel often but when I do it gets hard to figure out hotels and such. So this is great to consider! Red Roof sounds interesting, I will check it out!
These are some great tips to know. Finding a hotel en route can totally change your mood.
I love it, it’s perfect for me and my husband whenever we go on road trips! I sure would love to give this one a try the next time. It sounds convenient.
I just recently heard about Redroof.com. It definitely sounds like a great resource for finding a place to stay. Looks like you had a great trip!
This app is GENIUS! I love that it finds hotels for you on your route and then you can pick which one sounds good to you. I hate when you discover that the hotel that you “thought” was on your route really is miles off course. I am totally downloading this app for future road trips.
We usually don’t have a problem. In fact my husband used to plan it out, get some expensive place without a pool. Finally I told him not to do that. The boys love having the indoor pool. I love the breakfasts. Sometimes you have to go out of the popular spot to get what you need. If you’re in a small town then hotels can be hard to come by.