Touring - Motel tour, bike inside motel room?

Have people gotten resistance to bringing their bike inside? I suppose it may vary with a multi-story hotel versus a 1 or 2 story motel, but in general:

Do you ask when reserving a room?
Do you ask at the front desk?
Do you just assume the right, and wheel that sucker in?

First, I don't travel in luxury. Super 8s are about as luxurious as I go when it comes to motels. So, no, I don't ask when reserving the room, and I usually don't ask at the front desk ... I usually slip the bicycle in a back door.

Second, I rarely use motels, but when I take a motel, it's usually at the start/finish area of a 1200K and 3/4 of the people in the motel are also cyclists hauling their bicycles in and out. In those cases, the motel is well aware of what's going on and usually just requests that we clean our bicycles outside, and don't use the towels.

When it comes to hostels, however, I usually ask when I reserve the room if they have a bicycle storage area.

I inform the reservations clerk that I have a bike and that I carry a light weight ground sheet which I will use to wrap the bike to protect their walls and carpets. I've never been turned down.

I've taken my bike inside motel rooms without a problem.

The only issue is when a motel owner or employee doesn't understand that a serious cyclist will generally have a bike that's cleaner than their rooms and that bikes don't drip oil.

I've never had a problem - and I've never asked.

Formulae 1 hotels in France allow this and will even recommend it. I have had my bike and trailer in my room and recommend this chain for those travelling in France.
The hotels can be found on industrial estates attached to large towns and cities.

I have only stayed in a few hotels with my bike, but never had a problem. Once I did get a "You should have told us you were on bikes" and I got a bit concerned. It turns out they would have put us on the first floor, so it would be easier to wheel the bikes in.

It varies by country.

In the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, I've been able to take the bike into the room >95% of the time. Many of these roadside motels have independent doors on the outside, e.g. Motel 6 style. Some will have the doorways on the inside hallway.

When I come to the desk, I don't explicitly ask to bring the bike into the room. However, I also don't disguise that I am bicycling and sometimes come to that desk with gloves/shorts or other signs of cycling. If it is a motel with an inside hallway, they will see me wheel the bike in anyways. On the very occasional instances where I did ask, the answer was also affirmative. I take care with the bike in the room, particularly if it has been raining or muddy.

On some rare occasions (I can recall at least four, but I've done a lot of touring), I've been explicitly told "the manager doesn't want people to take bikes into the room". I'll make one appeal "it is an expensive bike is there any way I can bring it into the room if I am careful...or another place I can put the bike" If that doesn't work, I'll bicycle to the next motel. I've had to ride up to 25 more miles, but I'm typically looking for places early.

In other countries, taking bikes into rooms is less frequent. For example, this past summer I bicycled across Russia. At least 80% of the time, I was told I couldn't bring the bike into the room and it should be outside. I would appeal and pretty much all the time we would find some other place for the bike (e.g. luggage room, garage, ...). I had similar experiences cycling through Ukraine and slightly less frequently in Western Europe.

In India, I had the most difficulty with "mid-priced" hotels. The expensive ones would often take a "customer is right even if they are eccentric" perspective. The dirt cheap ones would have no alternative. The mid-priced ones would want to reassure you their security could watch things.

I ride my bike up and down the hotel hallways:eek: (with permission;)) I have never had an issue with bikes in motel rooms. I always put down a ground sheet to protect the carpets, I won't take a super wet muddy/dirty bike into a motel room either, clean and dry it first. I spend on average 250 days a year in hotels, usually the same ones so they are used to me rolling in with a bike. The one I am at currently allows me to lock my bike in the stairwell so I don't have to drag it up to the room...however that is my beater bike.

Aaron:)

Touring by bike is fun, touring by tandems is fun twofold, touring with multiple tandems is too much fun.

When I tour with the family with a couple of tandems and a single or perhaps 3 singles and the one tandem that I really dont want the bikes in the room if I can avoid it. I am totally amazed that if you ask the staff will arange to have the bike put into a storage room, conferance room, there always seems somewhere for the bikes. One of the benifits is we often score free stuff like water or snack type foods especially in the better places. Motels will always give you old towels to clean your bike or aid in packing at the end of the trip if you ask.

If touring with only 1 to 3 bikes we have never had a problem, and usually do not ask, but I do suggest treat places with respect, it might make some other riders life a little easier.

One thing I have found is that the better the motel the more they will be willing to accomodate your wishes, the crazy thing is that better is often cheaper. It is the real fleabag places that seem to be the hardest to deal with, and often they are just as or more expensive than the nicer ones. My experiance is mostly limited to Canada and the USA.

I prefer to be up front. If calling ahead to book a room, I always say that I am travelling by bike. Sometimes I ask at that time whether they have secure storage for a bike. It's never been a problem. I don't think I have ever been turned away.

When checking in, I ask whether I can bring my bicycle into the room, promising to be careful. It's usually not a problem. Sometimes the check-in person asks me whether a locked garage or a ground-floor storage room would be OK, and if it seems safe, I accept the proposal.

I've had good luck with being up front with hotel/motels as well. I have no problem if a place doesn't want to have me parking the bike in room....if they can come up with a safe, easy storage place. I've also gotten old towels and degreaser to clean my bike, barrowed a big adjustable wrench, all kinds of directions form hotel staff just for being nice and answering questions. More often than not, the staff have a real positive view of bikes.

There's only been a couple times when I couldn't come to some kind of reasonable agreement, and strangely enough, both those places were total dumps!

I do think it's important to be a good guest when on tour--- I like to give cyclotourists a good name.

Seems like in the back country of the US, if motels are familiar with bicyclists going thru at all, they know to give you a lower floor room, especially if you get there early.

Here in Europe, every motel or hotel I've ever stayed in has had a special shed for bicycles, or a garage where guests can park there cars or bikes. No need to take it into a room.

In Europe, my bike has never slept outside. It always goes to the room or to a secure storage area provided by the lodging host. In Cologne, the owner had us lock our bikes to the table where we would be having breakfast the next morning. It was his suggestion. In Lyon, the manager of the Formule One suggested we put them in his office where he could watch over them. In Burgos, the owner had us take them to the second floor and lock them up in the TV break room. In Frankfurt (Hochst), the berths were too small, so the bikes went into the cloak room by the bar. The attitude is this - your person has a higher probability of sleeping outdoors on a park bench than your bicycle sitting outside. If you have panniers on your bike, it is the same as a suitcase on wheels, only the wheels are bigger.

And believe it or not, in the United States, Rozinante (my bike), has never slept outside either. Management has always encouraged the bike in the room and if there is an issue, they provide an alternate manger for the steed. Roll on.

I pretty much stay at Hampton Inns and have not had any problems. I just wheel it in; I never alert them to the bike, but I don't hide it, either. I do lock it up inside the room to something metal, like around door hinges or a metal frame bed, even if I go out for a short time.

I usually just ask if there's somewhere I can put the bike. Sometimes they suggest putting it in the room, others give you a garage, shed, back room or communal area (if it's a communal area I lock it to itself). A few places just tell you to lock it up outside, in which case I try to keep it within view of the room window, but don't worry about it too much. (I don't tend to stay in cities so there's less to worry about) When touring with my partner, who rides a recumbent trike, taking the bikes to the room was often the less desirable option if the room was above ground level!

I've always taken my bike in the room without problems. At one hotel, when it was pouring rain, they asked that we put newspaper down on the floor for the bikes to be on, but I would have done that anyways.

Never had a problem. The doorman at the Hotel Bethlehem (Pennsylvania) was so good as to bring The Historian's bike up to our room so he could get to a bookstore that was goign to close in ten minutes. I stayed at a B&B in New Hope that not only said to bring the bike inside (they suggested I leave it in the hallway), but they asked if i needed anythign to clean the bike off with; they sacrificed an old towel for me.

In general at inexpensive motels, I don't ask. wipe the bike down before bringing it in, and if you make a mess, leave a nice tip for the chambermaid.

In the US, I've never had a problem. I've taken my bike into flea bags as well as nice Double Tree and Sheraton hotels right through the lobby and up the elevator. I don't ask about it.

I've found locally owned motels have more of a problem with a bike in the room but my experience has been they are more than willing to accomodate locking it in their garage, etc.

A couple of years ago I was traveling to Wash DC every week and staying in the same Hilton Garden Inn. When spring came and I decided to ship my bike out and they had no issue with me keeping it in the room during the week while I was there. When I would leave for the weekend I took it down to the desk and they kept it in a store room until I got back on Monday checked in and retrieved my "roomie". Having a bike to explore and ride in the evenings made all the travel much more tollerable.

I've taken my bike inside motel rooms without a problem.

The only issue is when a motel owner or employee doesn't understand that a serious cyclist will generally have a bike that's cleaner than their rooms and that bikes don't drip oil.

Wow, those Australian hotel rooms must be awfully filthy.:D

I stayed at a very nice hotel in Chicago a few years ago, and called ahead about keeping a bike in my room and they said it isn't a problem at all.

In the US, from Super 8s to Hiltons, I've never been questioned about bringing my bike. I don't ask up front, to me that just invites a "No." I have not tried in Europe; the only time I toured in Europe I camped in campgrounds.