shipwreck

This is an eleventh hour question, as I leave tomorrow morning. I will be able to read this without responding much to save battery life.

Like many threads, this is not a life or death situation, just wanting some experienced feedback.
I will be staying for five days at a hotel, and plan on getting in some early morning rides on the bike trails around St Louis while I am there. But that's early morning, and housekeeping will have to deal with my bike and panniers every day while I am out partying. I will probably hang some clothes up in the closet, and most of my stuff will just stay in the bags. But I want to be as polite as possible to the person cleaning the room(when I travel for business I keep everything military neat, bathroom tidy, and am a tipper).

Just occurred to me as I was working on things today. One of my terrors is bringing bed bugs home, so I don't really want to lay things along the wall... In a fleabag I try to be careful, and while this is certainly not a fleabag, bedbugs happen anywhere

Just wondering what some of you might do when this happens to you(waiting for visas, getting over cholera, whatever). Like I say, this is not super important, just curious.

Machka 

I'm not quite sure I understand the question.

When we stay in a hotel or B&B or other indoor accommodation (which we have done frequently), Rowan's stuff is piled in one part of the room, mine is piled in another part of the room.

As for housekeeping, we decline their services. Here in Australia, most of the places we stay don't have housekeeping ... we tend to stay in caravan park cabins where you are responsible for cleaning the place yourself. I have to say, when we spent 6 weeks travelling through the US recently, it was rather disturbing to have someone knock on your door at 9 am asking to be let in to clean the room.

Solare

Skipper,

Where are you staying at???? I travel for work more than I would like to, and have way more points that I would care to have. I have seen the reports for bedbugs but luckily have never had an issue with them outside of the military (chiggers). If you do get them use fingernail polish. This will kill them ( assuming they are on/in you). Otherwise I have not come home with extra critters from a hotel while motorcycle camping.

Good luck and keep MaryAnn close.

djb

I was just about to write a joke when I got this...I'll write it anyway, as it does still fit.

But what if he is a Ginger sort of guy?

Rowan

As Machka said, just decline their service by putting a Do Not Disturb sign on the door, and look after yourself with keeping the place tidy. The alternative is to let them in -- they will work around your stuff if you have in it in a pile. It's no biggie for them and shouldn't be for you.

spinnaker

That is why all hotels/ motels / B&Bs etc should have tile or wood floors. I just don't understand why American hotels insist on using carpet. You simply can't keep it clean and sanitary. In the better places at least they try, can't imagine what must be in the carpet of some of the places where I stay.

Machka 

+1

That was one of my two main complaints about the American hotels we stayed in. It just seems to me it would be so much easier to go with hard surface flooring ... and it would smell so much better.

My second complaint was the bedding. The places where we've stayed in Europe, here in Australia, and certain parts of Asia used white (or light-coloured) doonas (duvets). They were always fresh and clean. Compared with the American insistence on using horrible "woolly" blankets that collect hair and smells, and horrible, uncomfortable patterned bedspreads that also collect hair and smells.

shipwreck

Well, I'm about out the door for a pre dawn start.

The hotel I am staying at is a Double Tree, not the Ritz, but generaly better than most. Experience has taught me that they start to get antsy if you decline room service two days running.
I learned long ago that a cheap motel is false economy, you get what you pay for. Though Ironically the best place I have ever stayed was a motel six, with faux hardwood floors and sort of a Ikea/Japanese décor. Super minimal and nice.
Even at a nicer place, the first thing I do is strip the duvet and put it in a chair. A good staff will fold them and leave them there.
Like most tourist, I have spent a few nights in a motel, but usually leave the bags on and leave in the morning.

Its interesting, once a poster gets well beyond the "what about my gearing, will these tires work, and can I tour on my madone" questions, there are still virtually pointless questions to ask. This is just pre trip jitters, I get them all the time. You should see me on a boat trip, I'm a wreck.

Machka 

We stayed in 2 Motel 6s like that during our travels across the US last Oct/Nov/Dec. They were good ... and reminded us very much of the Ibis Hotels where we stayed in Europe.


Leave the bags on ... what?

indyfabz

I don't trust Ginger guys.

Little known fact: While Dawn Wells wore those short shorts, she was not allowed to show her navel on TV during that ERA so her shorts were specially tailored to cover up her belly button. I actually saw her at an indoor boat show back in the 90s. She was hawking her Gilligan's Island Cook Book that was published in '93.

Ekdog

Where and how do you apply this?

Boudicca

If I'm staying somewhere for a few days, I actually unpack my bags and put the stuff in drawers and closets. It makes me feel more at home. Then I pile the bags up in a corner, or in the bottom of the closet. I leave the bike in a corner of the room.

Tripadvisor is your friend on the bed bug front. If there are any, you can bet that the reviews will say so.

In fact Tripadvisor is your friend on any hotel front. I foolishly did not look at it before booking an airport hotel online last month. It was the most dismal hotel I have ever not stayed in. We checked in, it was miserable, and filthy and depressing. And on our afternoon bike ride we found a far nicer place (at almost the same price). I negotiated a nice discount, and we rode back to the first hotel, packed, checked out and rode back to the new place, where we had a wonderful, comfortable night with a beautiful view of the ocean.

We had already checked in and paid, of course, so we did not even try to get our money back. But not staying in the super-dismal Super 8 was the best $100 I have ever thrown away.

bbbean 

Enjoy biking in St. Louis!

Machka 

The basis of the hub-and-spoke tours we like to do is that we find a spot to stay for several days or a week, and then cycle out in different directions. Here in Australia, the cabins in caravan parks are the perfect choice because we can bring the bicycles inside, and they've got kitchenettes so we can cook our own meals if we want.

So we pretty much move in and get comfy.


[HR][/HR]

TripAdvisor is good, and there are a few other similar sites I've used as we've travelled too. You can get some good information about accommodations online these days ... although occasionally you have to take what you read with a grain of salt.

For example, certain caravan parks in Europe had lowish ratings, and I might have passed on them until I pieced together what the ratings and comments meant. They would have high ratings for everything but entertainment. The entertainment rating would be quite low, bringing the overall rating down. And then the comments would say things like, "Campground was fine but there was no pub on site". Perfect!! Even though it had a low rating, we would choose those campgrounds because they were quiet.

zebede

If your concerned about bed bugs from cheap hotels (and you should be) Just wash EVERYTHING at a commercial laundry mat before you step foot back in your house. If you can't wash everything at least run it through the dryers on hot. Things that can't be washed can be treated with bed bug sprays available form Lowes/Home Depot etc... My son and his Reggae Band brought bed bugs from a cheap hotel. We ended up removing all carpet and replacing with tile, igniting bug bombs and other chemical weaponry, new mattress and removing and treating every cloth, you don't want blood sucking bed bugs.

I would MUCH rather camp in the woods than sleep in some hotels.

As far as where do you put your things. I think some people call it pack explosion.

3speed

I agree with just hanging the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door. No biggie. I've never noticed a problem with that even staying a week, but even if they did have a problem with it, too bad. You're the one staying there and paying good money to do so.

Ekdog

From what I've read, posh hotels can also be infested. It's not just the cheap ones.

sstorkel

On his bicycle. It sounds like the OP is planning to keep his bicycle in his room for five days, which many U.S. hotels frown upon.

If I'm going to stay at a hotel for more than one night, I deal with this situation by calling anonymously and asking them what their policy is with respect to keeping my bike in the room. Most places tell me that as long as I don't get anything dirty, they don't care what I keep in the room. More expensive places often tell me that they have a "secure" storage location that I'm required to use. If that's the case, I usually ask more questions about who has access and when, whether they'll cover the cost of my bicycle if it's stolen or damaged, etc. I'm usually wary about staying at hotels that require me to store the bike in a closet which guests are able to access with minimal supervision.

Solare

Apply to the bite site. This will smother the bedbugs.