Mamma needs a vacation, badly. We've tried a few staycation day trip ideas, but several of those involved outdoor activities that have been rained on, so we ended up not going. We even ended up missing the first Renaissance Faire of the season, which bummed me out. (Even more so after our local yearly Murder Mystery/Pirate weekend was a bust)
I keep trying to plan camping trips, only to have the weather not co-operate. I wouldn't mind a rainy camping trip if it was just DH and I, but when you add a bored 3 year old and two wet dogs to the mix, it's not exactly my idea of a relaxing vacation. ;) So the other night I decided to play tourist. I went to the Washington State tourism list, and started clicking around. We've done a lot of sightseeing here in the Kitsap area, but that's pretty much it - so that leaves, oh, about 95% of the state left to explore, right?
I quickly got frustrated because it wasn't easy to find things to do. The website wasn't as user friendly as I would have liked. I'd love to click on a map of the state, and have that section automatically pull up things to do. I don't know most of the county names around here - or towns outside of this area - so my head was spinning. Then I though, well, since this seems to be a rainy summer, maybe I should start looking at hotels and go from there. Sounds a lot easier, right? Wrong, wrong, wroooong! I started off with the coastline, and there aren't a lot of chain hotels in the areas I was looking at. This didn't really bother me - after all, I love supporting family owned small businesses - but most of the hotels didn't even have their own website. In this day and age, it's super easy to at least get a free blogsite to share your business with the world. (Marketing fail!) (Wait, I wonder if I could offer up my services and make some side cash? LOL) Then came the headache of trying to find which ones were pet friendly, and what the costs where.
Scary sums it up. One hotel even said they had a per pet free, plus a non refundable deposit, AND they expected the room to be cleaned up by you before you leave. If they had to do any cleaning - and if there was pet hair on the bed - you'd be charged extra on top of that. They also said you would be responsible for any costs related to other folks staying there who were unhappy with your dog(s) being there. (Say what?! So if someone says they are allergic to dogs, and they want to check out, I'm responsible?!) I don't mind paying extra fees, and I realize there are some really inconsiderate people out there who would allow their dogs to trash a room, but it was an entire page of what felt like ranting from someone who was trying to say they had a dog when they were a kid and it's really a pet friendly place to visit. (No, you don't sounds like you like dogs at all) I was starting to wonder if they would be charging me if they found a stray Cheerio from my daughter that I missed on the floor.
I finally threw in the towel in disgust. No wonder folks buy RVs to travel in! So right now I am waiting on DH to attempt to give me a final schedule for the month - he swears it's someone else's turn to be the "plug" for the vacation schedules for the summer - and then I am going back to the idea of throwing the tent and other camping gear into the truck, and planning a midweek camping trip. I'd rather deal with the smell of eau du wet dog, and pack extra junk to keep the kiddo (and my DH, lol) happy inside a tent, than keep tearing my hair out trying to find a hotel that works in our price range.
Why can't things be easier? I can't be the only traveler that finds these things annoying?
This rant brought to you by folks in reputation management, something I am sure some of these hotels could use. Just sayin'.
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3 comments:
If you are a member of AAA perhaps they might direct you to a pet friendly hotel and have discounts for you?
Someone mentioned also Sundays are the best time for overnights since most hotels sees more vacancies then and wish to grab more business.
Wishing you and your little family a lovely time no matter where and how you spend it!
God bless,
Sorry, but I can't say I'm sympathetic. I can certainly understand your wanting to take your dogs, and I know you love them. But, I'm not a dog owner. In fact, I don't like them all at all. When I rent a motel/hotel room, I really, really want it to be clean. When you live with dogs, I know you don't think of them as dirty, but I'd be really put off by having to use a room that dogs had been in. There's enough of a creepiness factor to using motels these days as it is, without the added health issues of multiple dogs having been there. Best to leave the dogs in a kennel and enjoy a relaxing trip without them. I don't approve of dogs in motels at all. At least I give the one motel owner some credit for trying to keep the rooms looking clean for the other guests.
Anon: Honestly, I've always felt that the easiest thing to do is to designate certain rooms to be used for people traveling with pets. When they are filled up, they are filled up. I don't expect all hotels to allow dogs - far from it - but at least have your website have the policies (and fees) stated.
Can I ask you what you would do if you were traveling cross country to move if you had pets like I did several years ago? Simply try to drive through, possibly causing an accident because you are too tired? Some areas of the country you can't just camp in.
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