CHASER-FRIENDLY HOTELS: Discounts and recommendations

[Guy Crittenden]

I got a good nights rest, bed was soft and comfy, didn't notice any bed bugs, sheets were all clean...

This post got me thinking about bed bugs, with chasers having to seek out affordable accommodations wherever they might end up at the end of the day. Have folks here found bed bugs to be a common problem in the hotels and motels of Tornado Alley? Just curious, and also interested in anything one might do to protect oneself. (I already know about not opening one's suitcase on the bed…)

I'm planning also to bring my small high-tech tent and a few basic camping supplies. Are there a decent number of KOA-type campgrounds in that part of the world? Do other people resort to this sometimes when motels are full or the weather is nice?

 

[Timothy Finn]

A tip that has worked well for me.....I keep the hotels.com app on my smartphone. It keys off your GPS location, then sorts out by daily deals, or whatever you want it to do. Pretty user friendly, easy to book with from the phone, and nine times out of ten gets me a nicer room than I could actually pay for normally, LOL.

Tim

P.S. My hard and fast rule is to avoid Motel6 like the plague. I've had everything from filthy rooms to non working air conditioners to rooms with no furniture to Girls Gone Wild taping a porno shoot next door. If you like adventure in your hotel stay, go to Motel6.

 

[Patrick Martin]

Most places drop the price after 10pm also just to get a full hotel. If there's not an outbreak and you know the place won't be full, you can time your arrival to later time and save a bit. I look at it that I can drive another hour towards my next day's target, I can sleep in one more hour the next morning if need be.

This for sure! Two seasons ago my chase partner and I were in eastern NM chasing well into the evening, and called a Holiday Inn Express on the SW side of Lubbock after 11pm, told them it would be about 1am arrival. The super friendly guy quoted me $70 and said he'd be there overnight. No reservation, no CC hold, just an "okay we'll be there in about 90 minutes. We stopped into another Holiday Inn Express about halfway there, it's after midnight, I walk in, the lady quotes me $130. I tell her the $70 story, says she can't match it, I politely say "okay, no thanks", and we leave as she looks at me like I have 3 heads. We roll into Lubbock after 1am, the front desk guy remembers us, we get it for $70 no questions asked, and it turns out to be a brand spankin new Holiday Inn Express!

We did learn the hard way though on the same trip that this principle does not apply to North Platte on a Saturday night after rolling into town at 10pm, and finally finding a room at the 9th hotel we stopped at. That place is apparently the center of the universe on the plains on a weekend.

 

[Dan Robinson]

It's definitely a different game these days with the oil and gas boom. In Oklahoma and Kansas, you have to get a reservation phoned in (or via online) as soon as possible. The times I waited last year, I had to drive a couple of extra hours (some past midnight) to get somewhere that had a room. The Rozel day, I ended up in Hillsboro. On the 29th, I ended my chase near Elk City and had to go to OKC to find a room.

 

[Shane Adams]

It's weird, but we've never phoned in a reservation. We just roll into the next decent-sized town, and hit the main "hotel row". Bridget runs into a few places, and we take the best deal they have to offer, with a ceiling of around $80 (depending on the quality).Iif everything is ridiculously high, we just roll into town and find an independent. Never had a bed bug issue or anything too severe, with the lone exception being a compete dive in Colorado. That was 2009, and Vortex 2 was eating up all the rooms every chase that year and the next. After exhausting about half a dozen options in town proper, we finally drove to the edge of town and found a complete sh*thole, with a 10:30am checkout time for good measure. The next morning after showering, the bathroom door fell off the hinges as I walked out.

However, my target did verify on a "no risk of severe" day at 13Z that morning.

 

[James Gustina]

I've noticed Woodward is turning into an oasis hotel-wise. When I was up that way in October, they were building a Hampton Inn and a Holiday Inn Express or something of the like to add to what's already there.

I rarely stay in hotels after a chase anymore, considering I usually have class or something the next day, but if you can't find a Woodward-sized city or a chain, the mom and pop hotels are usually a good bet and rarely have I had a terrible experience with them (excluding one in Hays, the bed felt like it was gonna collapse). Like others have said, Motel 6 is the only to avoid like the plague unless you want a full-on assault from the lowest common denominator of humanity.

 

[David Biggar]

Like others have said, Motel 6 is the only to avoid like the plague unless you want a full-on assault from the lowest common denominator of humanity.

Or a full on assault from mother nature...thanks to a leak in my room I woke up with about half an inch of water in my room after a good overnight rain. Fortunately I had put my bag and all my equipment on the desk before going to sleep.

I find hotels like Timothy, using an IHG (Holiday Inn Express, etc) app to find a hotel off my location.

 

[Mike Smith]

Best Western in Greensburg. New and very nice. They are working (not ready to announce yet) on a chaser discount.

 

[Tony Gilbert]

Hope this in the right place for places to avoid?
After White Deer tornado 2001 I had the misfortune to stay at the TX Borger Budget Inn. Both myself and partner suffered severe bed bug bites which left scars for 6 months afterwards; Fact !
Admittedly a while ago but google maps image shows just the same place (no change?) Weird or what? They are welcome to sue me for the comment but the fact still stands and I could maybe have sued them; Avoid it like the plague even after a big tornado and big chaser fatigue at 11pm!!

PS. Might make pulling your car seat down and pulling a rug over yourself on a back road not so bad after all!

 

[Kevin Rimcoski]

That's pretty disgusting ^ they can't come after you anyway for making a comment against them. If you received bad service you have every right to express it...especially in this case with unsanitary hotels the expect you to sleep in

My plan is to almost always just sleep in the car for that reason plus to save a few bucks

 

[joel ewing]

I know this thread is probably not being read much anymore, but I thought I'd weigh in anyway with something that I have found important when making reservations for motels during chase season.
My chase partner / 1st. cousin Doren Berge and I have pretty much decided that if possible, we like staying in what we call "HIX'es".....our term for Holiday Inn Expresses. And since we primarily chase in late May thru most of June, we have to compete for motel rooms with the rest of America that is now on the road taking their vacations, due to school being out for their kids. Because of this, and especially on days where there has or IS ongoing severe weather in an area we want to stay in (because travelers hunker down and quit driving the freeways when svr. wx. is happening).....we telephone ahead and make reservations when possible. My main point I want to make is that unfortunately, when calling the "HIX" reservation lines.....it connects us with Pakistan or India or other similar country that handles their reservations. Now please, lest anybody think me being anti-foreigner, allow me to set things straight....I applaud and respect ANYBODY from any foreign country that is trying or has mastered the English language. The problem is....all too often these foreign employees don't speak sufficient-enough English for me to understand what they are saying. I know I'm very much not alone in this. Secondly, when you make reservations using foreign personnel....these folks do not have it within their power to give a person a break on a room rate. Yes, they'll give you a few bucks off for having AAA for example, but normally IT IS MUCH BETTER TO CALL YOUR DESIRED HOTEL DIRECTLY....using their LOCAL American phone number. When you talk to the hotel where you wish to make reservations directly...these desk workers often have it within their power to customize a rate / discount for you. I have found that telling the front desk that you're a stormchaser....this can and often will get you a discount. Lastly, I ALWAYS grab the hotel manager's business card when I check out the next morning. And if you've found their hotel clean and acceptable in every way....TELL that hotel mgr. that you ARE a stormchaser and tend to stay at many hotels during the season....and COMPLIMENT him or her! This works magic in many ways. First off....put yourself in the hotel mgr.'s shoes.....these managers usually only hear from their customers when SOMETHING IS WRONG. They work long and hard hours usually, and generally without ever hearing a compliment. You'll make their day if you do like I suggest...plus, it's the right thing to do. Now, the day will come when at 1am after a grueling long-mileage chase you can't find anyplace that isn't booked full. I don't know how many times we've had this happen to us, and I swear.....when I've pulled out the business card of the manager I shook hands with and complimented him on his beautiful hotel a few weeks prior and called their number, even if the front desk tells you their full....they usually have one or two rooms vacant that they hold back. Tell the front desk "kid" that you were there a few weeks ago and met with Mr. "manager"...and that "he told me that if I ever get in a jam and need a room when there isn't one available to call him directlly". Guaranteed, that manager isn't on duty and 1 or 2 am....but the front desk worker will feel comfortable about releasing one of the "special" rooms that get held back each shift. And you'll get that room. I have done it time and time again. Don't be afraid to play this card....you'll be amazed sometimes. But remember that it all begins weeks before when you seek out and genuinely compliment the hotels general manager and grab his or her business card.

 

[Tony Gilbert]

Nice advice, Joel.
In addition to the detail above. Book your room online even if you are parked outside the motel;

Good example , last year late evening after a chase I could see a really good price for the next town Hillsboro TX at around $36.00 for a room via the internet. Now me being really tired and wanting to get my head on that pillow walked straight in and asked for that discount. The hotel manager was in the lobby at the time and said no way was this price available for this hotel??? ....Maybe what he was really saying is that I screwed up my chances of getting this online discount by walking in the door!
In fact I ended up paying around $110.00 for my room that night. So there you go; My advice, book online even if you are in the car park of the motel and pop off up the road for a coffee whilst the online agent transfers the booking over. This usually takes about an hour!

PS. Joel, re that extra room availability. I once drew the short straw for sharing a room with a co chaser with a snore as big as a supercell hail roar. 4am I begged for a room and yes I got one 'supposedly' within a full motel! Though sadly still had to pay for my upgrade!