The Best La Quintas?
 

Several posters have noted that La Quintas are pet friendly hotels. Friends are planning a big "see the USA trip" with their pet (a friendly, funny French bulldog, which is a small breed). They plan to be gone for about four months (from mid May to early September), starting in central Florida and seeing as much of the continental U.S. as possible (without driving long hours every day). The couple are active early retirees, in their mid 50s, avid (amateur) photographers.
So Fodorites...which, in your opinions, are the best of the La Quintas? The nicest to stay in? The best locations? The newest? The most attractive settings?
They're not going to stay exclusively in La Quintas, they may even splash out for the occasional Four Seasons when they hit a big city and will be staying with friends and family in some places, but LQ is an option they want to keep in mind.
Thanks!

This is an odd request. Are your friends hoping to get a job working for the La Qunita chain?

No, why on earth would you ask that? They want to drive across country and stay only at pet friendly hotels since they'll have a dog with them. And on various pet related travel threads, more than one Fodorite suggested La Quintas and they are thinking of using LQs as their "default" hotel choice. But there are lots of La Quintas and some will no doubt be better than others. They'd rather know which are the so-so ones and make other arrangements in advance.

What are you suggesting? That this is a troll post or an advertisement? Just click on my name and you'll see this is NOT the case.

Now...do you have anything actually helpful to contribute to this thread?

I am unaware if the LaQuinta in San Antonio (near the Convention Center) is pet friendly, but it is brand new and one of the best LaQuinta's I have stayed in recently.

La Quintas I have stayed at recently that were just fine:
Del Rio, TX
Little Rock, AR (near medical center)
San Francisco airport, CA
San Antonio, TX (on I-35)
College Station, TX
Denton, TX

Come to think of it, I've never stayed at a LQ that was anything less than clean and comfortable...

I do a lot of work in Wisconsin and stay at the LaQuinta in New Berlin (a suburb of Milwaukee). It is only 2 or 3 yrs old and is very nice and clean. They have suites in addition to regular rooms and if you ask for one you usually receive it, if it is available. The location is great due to being right off of the highway. Have a safe trip!

If your friends are seeking pet friendly motels, they need not restrict themselves to La Quinta. AAA TourBooks identify a variety of motels that welcome pets.

I have only stayed at one La Quinta motel--the one in Ritzville, Washington. I had a sleepless night.

I wasn't traveling with a pet; however, of the four motels listed for Ritzville in the AAA TourBook, three welcome pets.

Wasn't it Scarlett who highly praised LaQunitas when traveling cross country with Pup? Seems like a logical request to me. I know that most Super 8's allow pets too, but that's not in the same class as LaQuinta's, which I think would generally be a safe bet.

Some hotels that "welcome" pets in AAA or other books are not quite so welcoming in reality, tacking such hefty fees and restrictions onto those "welcomes" that they might as well not accept pets in the first place. La Quintas have, on the other hand, developed a reputation for genuinely welcoming travelers with pets and for having hotels that are definitely a cut above the Super 8/Motel 6.

I'm puzzled, happytrails, where in my posts did I say our friends would be restricting themselves ONLY to LQ? I did say they would also be staying at the Four Seasons on some occasions. But as I explained above, they're looking to LQ at the "default" chain for their trip--that is, they'll check if there are any good LQs on their itinerary first and then look elsewhere if that chain isn't what they want for that particular destination. Which is why I asked for info about the BEST La Quintas in the first place.

Thanks to everyone else who provided helpful info, I'll pass it along. Their itinerary is still fluid at the moment, but they do want to explore the Southwest, CA, Pacific NW (they've already booked into the Harborside Inn in Port Townsend on our rec), Idaho/Montana/Wyoming, and New England. They haven't decided yet which parts of the mid-Atlantic. Southeast and Midwest they want to cover (living in Florida, they've done most of the Southeast already and they have friends and family scattered throughout the mid-Atlantic region who are happy to host them--most of those have already spent plenty of time as guests in our friends' Florida home). I'm nudging them to stay at the Sofitel Water Tower when they're in Chicago--it's plush and pet friendly.

Yes, NeoP, I remember Scarlett saying they had stayed in LQs on their move from Florida to Portland.

Gee whizz, I didn't mean to step on your toes. I was thrown by the juxtaposition of La Quinta ($89) and Four Seasons ($389). Excuse me for breathing.

Yep, it was La Quinta all the way for us with Pup on the road to Portland.
The best one was in Nebraksa, on I-80...You can see it from the highway, it is next door to a pretty golf course and right down the road from a great old fashioned Railroad diner.
Brand new when we were there last summer, Pup was free as usual at La Quinta and they upgraded us to a suite for no special reason :)
The worst La Quinta is in Tennessee...Chattanooga..a tired old motel type building, but with the best Mexican restaurant !
A nice LQ was in Columbia Mo..another upgrade to a suite and they had a nice laundry that was free..with pizza delivery, which at that point in the drive was reeeally appreciated.
Utah LQ was in sight of the Lake but cannot remember the name of the town/area. That one was ok but had a huge spa tub IN the bedroom which freaked pup out and I had fears I would fall into it if I got up and walked around in the dark.
The LQ on Butler Blvd in Jax Fl is great, we stayed there a couple of times, 3rd floor king suite, with a Crackerbarrel next door if that is anyones cuppa tea ( not ours)..
Hope this helps..

Del City, OK just outside Oklahoma City and San Diego, just outside Old Town were very nice as were the continental breakfasts.

If their trip includes Colorado, I would recommend the LQs in Colorado Springs (Garden of the Gods), Grand Junction, and Westminster (sorta between Denver and Boulder).