Scarlett

The time has come for Pup to go South.
We will be driving and staying in at least one hotel on the way from NYC to Florida.
Does anyone have a site or guide to recommend for hotels that accept large dogs and are also acceptable to humans.
Also, we would love to hear any stories you might want to share about taking a pet on a long drive.
I don't know whether to be really excited about this or full of dread~
Thank you ((&))

GoTravel

Scarlett, what route are you taking?

Do a google search as there is a particular web site where you plug in a city and all pet friendly hotels pop up. I cannot remember the name of the site or I would pass it along.

I am finding that upscale hotels do a better job with dogs (think Four Seasons New York) than the motel 6 which is why I'm asking about your route.

Rest areas off the interstates always have people walking Fido.

Lastly, ask your vet. He/she may have some great resources.

Scarlett

Thank you dear ~
I found dogfriendly.com. A few hotels only allow dogs that weight 25 lbs, Pup is a big pup. We will be driving on #95 South the entire trip.
Right now it is sort of difficult because we are not sure of the time we will be actually on the road.
If only there were Four Seasons all along the way

GoTravel

Are you driving all the way to Miami? The reason I ask is because once you hit North Carolina, you will only see podunk little towns until Jacksonville, Florida with the exception of Charleston and Savannah.

Can you veer off course and go through Charlotte, NC on I-85? You would pick up I-85 just south of Richmond, Virginia and pick up I-95 just south west of Charleston, SC.

The reason I ask is because The Park Hotel in Charlotte, NC is a Relais & Chateau property and handles most of the celebrity clientele that blows through Charlotte and are better at handling out of the ordinary situations.

Charlotte also has quite a few nice hotels in South Park and Uptown.

You could stretch the drive to 14 hours or so and try for Charleston.

Savannah is a bit of a ways off the interstate but OliveOyl would know if the Hyatt accepts large dogs.

Fodorite018

Starwood properties are allowing dogs now...although some have size limits...but its worth a check anyway. We have used www.petswelcome.com during cross country moves with our Golden Retriever and never had a problem. Hope this helps a bit.

Patrick

All I know is two friends drove a circle from California to California, via Maine, Florida, and back with their BIGGGGGG DOG. They swear by Motel 6, the most dog friendly chain they found.

Scarlett

Thank you Thank you!!!
We are not driving as far as Miami.
We will be on a time frame, as there will be a Beeeg movers truck waiting for us if we delay. Pup is 65 lbs which is less than a Golden Retriever so that is good news! Patrick, thank you I will not be snooty about where we stay as long as it does not smell and the sheets are clean

OliveOyl

MissScahlett...Starwood suggestion is good. The allowable size is usually left to the GM to determine so what one property OKs, another might not. I was trying to think where you might run into a Westin on your route and can think only of the one in Hilton Head. That is a hike off the interstate, although at least its a fair distance west on the island so you don't get into all the congestion. Be prepared to pay a refundable deposit, unfortunately. I feel like I should apologize for these policies, knowing full well Pup is a dog in appearance only and he and his bunny would be at least as well behaved, if not more, than some of the two-legged species that have occupied the same rooms.

JennyL

If you happen to have AAA, you can do a search by pet friendly/allowed hotels, then look at each hotel individually for specific size requirements. Many times they don't enforce the 25 lb limit...a dog is a dog, especially if the person who checks you in likes dogs. With that said, we've had the most luck with our 75 lb dog at Comfort Inns and LaQuinta (stayed at nice one in Gainesville, FL), which are usually 2 or 3 AAA diamonds. Not luxury travel by any means. I think most of the Ritz Carltons take pets but at a $500/night deposit. You might also have luck in Charleston, Savannah areas with a dog-friendly B&B- we went this route in New Orleans (which I know is not on the way). I would also recommend Dog Lover's Companion to Florida (avail at Amazon), which gives lots of helpful information about parks, hotels, restaurants, etc. Our strategy on long drives has always been either to leave early in the morning while dog is still sleepy, planning a middle of the day romp in a dog park to let off some excess doggy energy. Good luck, and have a fun trip.

JeanG

Scarlett,

We drove from California to New York with two cats and used AAA "Traveling with your Pet". It's available in most bookstores. We stayed at 3 diamond properties, mostly La Quinta and Best Western. My impression was that they are not very picky about following the details of their policy. For example, at some places the rule was one pet only, but when I told them we had two, they said fine. Lots of people walking large dogs too. Usually we stayed in places without interior corridors so we parked right in front of our room. So unless Pup is a barker, he probably wouldn't even be noticed.

LN

Hi Scarlett

We found that Red Roof Inns (convenient all up and down I-95) have a friendly pup policy. In general we've found Red Roofs to be extremely clean and fairly reasonable. You might check with Red Roof's site as certain states may not allow pups in motels.

Enjoy your trip.

Austin

From what I've read, the best site is
www.petfriendlytravel.com

Others:
dogfriendly.com
petswelcome.com

mclaurie

Scarlett I have friends with 2 big dogs who do this trip every year. They leave at 3-4am, travel with the AAA guide & stop to sleep around 4 pm (with pit stops for walks along the way) wherever they happen to be. They manage to do the trip to West Palm with just 1 overnight stop.

mclaurie

Should add they phone for a res. from the car.

fluffnfold

Although there aren't many locations (and none midway to Florida), Loews Hotels has a pet program called "Loews Loves Pets" that offers pet room service, concierge to arrange dog walking, etc., and a welcome note for Fido or Fluffy. Pretty cute!

Gardyloo

Petswelcome.com has a cool route planner where you type in the start/end points and they willl show all the dog-friendly places within a certain distance of the main road. Most of them have clicable links to a screen that will tell you the limitations etc. imposed by the motel/hotel, including max. weight.

We take our wee dug on many trips and base our route partly on availability of dog-friendly accomodations and off-leash dog parks near the prospective routes. An hour or so daily running around an off-leash area and himself is good to snooze for much of the day. www.dogpark.com for listings. Wannagoforaride?

Scarlett

Oh thank you all so much! This is fun, wannagoforaride!! I can see it now, after the first day he will not be so thrilled to get in the car and go bye bye~ Yes, Olive, Pup and his bunny can go to the desk and try that famous Pup charm on the GM..lol, I can see it now~
mclaurie, that sounds great! just take the book and when we are exhausted, find a place. We have done this once a long time ago, but had no pup with us. I felt I had to have the reservations way ahead of time since we are bringing the big hairy boy with us.
I already have his Travel dish and water bowl and I am sure he will want to bring bunny.
This is so great, thanks again ((&))

highbay

Scarlett:
We have two Cairn terriers and traveled with them from Florida to Maine, then back to Florida in September. We used several resources, including petfriendly.com and AAA's Traveling with your Pet (which by the way was printed in 2000 and AAA no longer carries this book). We called all of the hotels that we thought we might stop at along our route, only to find that the majority of them stated that they had changed their pet policy and were no longer accepting any pets. (Got that info before telling them we had 2 dogs.) Some hotels that are pet friendly only have one or two rooms reserved for travelers with pets.
LaQuinta has become a pet friendly hotel chain, but you will be hard pressed to find one along your route. Because of the hurricane, we diverted our route through Stauton, VA and found a Sleep Inn (right off the Interstate)that was new & clean and allowed pets of all sizes without any security deposit.
My advice would be to find several hotels along your route and confirm pet friendly status, then call along the way when you have a better idea of where you'd like to stop.

JeanG

highbay, I have the 4th edition of Traveling with Your Pet. It was published in 2002.

highbay

Where did you get it. I tried to get an updated version (We are members of AAA) and they told us it was no longer being published!