Short question:
Can I wheel my bike through the lobby and into a room in a nice hotel?

By nice, I mean something like a Raddison or Marriott in a downtown city setting.

Long version:
I'm going to see a concert in Cleveland (Roger Waters-The Wall, if you care) in two weeks. I live outside of Pittsburgh. I'm a no-car person, so my options are to rent a car (which I hate doing, it's like cheating) or take a really annoying local-bus/Greyhound ride that involves more waiting around in a bus station than actual time riding, or screw it and have a bike adventure.

I'd like to screw it and have a bike adventure.

I've camped and stayed in Motel 6 and whatnot while touring before. However, I'm getting out of an arena concert at 11PM ish and I'm going to have to stay in a nearby hotel. I'm NOT riding at night through a strange city to the Motel 6 20 miles out of town.

So, there's a Raddison across the street from the arena. And other options nearby.

But how is this going to work? I'm envisioning me wheeling a pannier-laden bike in the front door of the lobby and up to the front desk (I am NOT going to leave it outside in downtown Cleveland, certainly not for very long) as I attempt to register for my room. I don't see that going over well.

Lock it outside, peel off the panniers, carry them into the lobby, and hope my bike is still around when I figure out how to sneak it into my room?

Or am I worrying too much?

Hmmm?

Advice needed, please.

Call the hotel in advance, ask to talk to the concierge or front desk, tell them that you want to put your bike in your room when you check in.

If you can't get them agree to this, get a different hotel reservation.

When you check in, do all the obvious stuff -- make sure you have something to put the bike on in the room, don't damage anything or get grease anywhere, etc.

We've never ever taken our bikes with us into hotel rooms.
for one: hotel rooms tend to be not the roomiest of places and having two bikes PLUS the gear in there tends to limit the space available for moving
for two: bikes can be dirty, wet, etc. I wouldn't feel comfortable bringing them inside.
for three: I can't see us taking bikes up stairs etc. unless ABSOLUTELY necessary, IF we are staying in hotels they are of the family-run type mostly, i.e. small, no elevator etc.
for four: if you ask nicely most hotels have a place where one can park his/her bike, e.g. behind the hotel in a close off area.

We just ask if there is an safe(ish) outside space available, and most if not all have been VERY accommodating.
just lock the bike and 'forget' about it.

But, whatever you do: ask, don't just push your bike though the lobby like you own the place.

Please note the OP's issue -- he's staying at a downtown business hotel. There is almost no chance that there would be a good place to leave the bike outside overnight. I don't even think I'd lock my bike in their parking garage. Also, the hotel almost certainly has elevators (probably a service elevator as well, if it's a big enough hotel).

If I'm paying several hundred dollars a night to stay there I'll wheel my bike right in. I don't think they will say anything if you just be confident that you aren't doing anything wrong.

OP: Just call the hotel and talk to the manager if you're concerned. I can't imagine that it's a problem. I lived in a Hilton for 2 months one time and had my racing bike with me. No one ever complained or hassled me.
American hotels have quite a bit different amenities, especially ones marketed towards business travel. Compared to many European hotels, the rooms are large, there will be an elevator large enough to easily accommodate a bike, and there is very likely no safe place to store a bike outside. Even if the hotel said there was, I wouldn't believe them until I verified it in person. Even then, I would be concerned about who had access and unless there was some very unique situation, I would probably prefer to keep my bike in the room.

Usually I camp, stay with hosts, or stay in a less expensive hotel/motel, but have stayed in nicer places a few times.

I stayed in a very nice hotel (Radisson) one night on the TA. We asked about the bikes, and they said, "No problem, would you like some rags and/or old towels sent to the room to clean up the bikes?" They also asked if we wanted help getting them on and off the elevator (we declined).

The times I have stayed in nice places I have never had a problem, always taking the bike to the room using the elevator if necessary. I always mention up front that I am traveling by bicycle and have thus far found the places I have stayed pretty accommodating. I was surprised to find the nicest places to be more rather than less accommodating.

FWIW, I think my favorite room on tour was the El Rey Inn in Santa Fe NM. The room was super nice, the grounds and facilities were beautiful, they gave me a discount without my asking, and they were just generally very nice.

I think this may primarily be a cultural thing; It appears that you're from the Netherlands. In my trips to the Netherlands/Denmark/UK/etc, I've found that the rooms, especially in business hotels, tend to be *extremely* small compared to even economy rooms in the U.S. We've put four bikes in our room when my family and I have gone on bike tours, and there's always been plenty of space for us and our bikes.

I agree with Ryan... Just walk in and on to the elevator...also there may be a "side" or "back door" to do this

We did it at my friends time share with our bikes and the first time the front desk looked at us funny but never had a problem... we made sure the wheels were clean and the bikes weren't wet...

Good Luck
Mike

I have stayed in places where they didn't want bikes in the rooms, but they always provided an alternative (some locked closet or shed). And this would happen only for non-chain mom-and-pop places. For hotel chains, just make certain that the bike is passably clean and that you don't leave a mess or clean the chain with hotel towels, and they're perfectly fine with it.

always. you are the paying guest. it is your personal property.

I have taken bikes thru some mighty nice hotel lobbies.

My experience at the nicer hotels is that the staff actually will indulge a cyclist more.
I have no qualms asking concierges to help me search for where i can purchase local guidebooks, maps, etc.

i have used alternate locking sites at times, in hostels and etc so i would likely not raise too much of a stink at a mom and pop hotel if they had a safe place to store it, but at a place i am paying good money to stay in i take in bikes no questions taken.

A disclaimer, US tours only. I suspect if you are paying to stay at a premium hotel overseas you can expect the same gracious 'you are the guest' treatment.

Checking into a Radisson in the rust belt, i would probably get the valets to 'park' - ie, watch - your bike while you initially check in, then tip them a fiver when you retrieve it. you should be fine. Heck, unload your panniers on a luggage cart and have the valets bring them up FOR you.

we still live in civilized times thank goodness.

When checking in, I simply state I have an expensive bicycle and need a place to put it. In just about every case, the staff told me I can take it to my room. One historic upscale hotel offered to keep it in a locked lobby storage room accessible only to the staff, since my bargain priced room was quite small.

Oddly enough, the only hotel I've ever had to object to my bike in the room was on the cheap, small side with rooms that opened directly to the parking lot.

That's funny, my friends and I stayed there when we did the Santa Fe Century. 5 gals & 5 bikes in one big suite. They were super nice.

OP, I've stayed at fancy hotels with my tour bike before. Just plan on it being OK, and if it isn't they should have a secure store room they can put it in.

+1 for El Rey in Santa Fe.

To answer the OP, "Sometimes". I've had one nice place in Corpus Christi, TX, and one rathole in Santa Fe, NM (not the El Rey) say"No" to my ride. The place in Corpus did so even after my teammate had called ahead and made sure bikes were okay. We found other accommodations.

The other 30-50 hotels were no problem at all.

I came to like Hostels on my Bike tours, they are about travelers ..
will have Bike shed to park your bike , many offer Private rooms to Couples
A world apart from Hotels too, there I have someone to talk to.

https://www.hihostels.com/

None in Cleveland? Or PGH.. how about a nice B&B? A Mom and Pop Business.

Don't know why, but that really made my day.

I've taken my bike into quite a few business-class hotels without any trouble and just wheeled it into the elevator and up to my room. The exception has been in Las Vegas where many of the hotel lobbies are deliberately laid out such that you have to walk past crowded rows of slot machines and gaming tables to get to the elevators. Wheeling the bike through those lobbies would be an issue, but those hotels had safe and convenient storage rooms near the front desk and were always quick and courteous about retrieving my bike for me when I wanted to go out.

I've brought my bike inside many hotels with no problem. In fact I do not think any hotel has objected, and that includes hotels in Europe. Of course the prudent thing to do is as others have said, is give the hotel a call. And of course when in the hotel, please make sure you do not allow your chain to touch anything at all. I believe it's tires are no more dirty than the bottoms of my shoes.
I would never allow my bike to set locked up outside over the night in back of a hotel. Why, because I've done it before and had my bike stolen from a major hotel in Anchorage, once burned, I've lost my trust. They said sorry but our security camera was inop at the time. Now if they offer a storage room inside the hotel as some do, I'd be just fine with that.
Just give them a call, I'm sure they'll be happy to have both you and your bike.

I'd second checking with the hotel in advance.

Hotels will usually accommodate you. In most cases, they will store the somewhere (a storage room, kitchen). If the hotel is ridiculously fancy, they'll have staff there which will figure something out.

I wouldn't just wheel a bike through a lobby, particularly a "nice" one, to my room without having first checked with the hotel.

The only time I've ever biked to a "nice" hotel (Georgetown/Washington DC, about a 40-mile trip from my house) it was to share a suite with a bunch of friends, so I knew there wouldn't be room for the bike. For cars, the place had only valet garage parking. I pulled up on my bike (just rear panniers on) and told the bell guy I was checking in, and was there someplace I could lock my bike? He walked me around the back of the hotel to the garage, we looked around but couldn't find anything to which I could lock the bike. He offered the hotel's "housekeeping" closet (actually a small room, inside the garage) to which only the bell captains had keys. I unhooked the panniers, put the bike in the closet, and checked in.

When I was checking out, I told the bell manager on duty (who was some other guy I hadn't seen before) about my bike. He seemed confused, but said he would go check. I was standing in the lobby with my panniers, assuming he would come back to get me once he'd opened the housekeeping closet. Instead, he came back, via a back door from the garage, wheeling my bike through the lobby! Everyone was very gracious about my bike, and as I was standing on the sidewalk out front attaching the panniers, I attracted a small group of interested guests and employees.

When I stayed at a smaller/cheaper motel-type place, with a room that opened right to the parking lot, I didn't ask -- I just took the bike in the room with me. They knew when I checked in that I had a bike -- they were amazed at my 80-mile trip to get there! -- and didn't say or ask anything about where I was putting the bike.

Nice that they checked it for you and that everything worked out all right, but how did they know it was your bike when you retrieved it? I know it's a longshot that anyone would pull such a stunt, but it's for reasons like that that I prefer to put the bike in my room.

Being upfront about having a bike has worked well for me. On a couple of occasions the desk clerk offered to switch me to a different room that would better accomodate my bicycle. BTW I usually request a ground floor room to avoid having to maneuver my bike in and out of elevators.

I've had better success whan I showed them my numerous, read I can stay somewhere else, motel cards. You know like the Hilton Rewards ones. Get the card then book it on the phone. I just tell the operator I'm bringing my bike to the room. They look at your card and BANG, "Yes, we will be happy to accomodate your bike" happens.
Most hotel operators want the money bad enough that they are happy to let you put your trusty steed in a room.

I haven't thought about telling them if they only had bike instead of paved parking they would have a large area to make hotel rooms,

John

Best, John

In motels I usually take the bike into my room after cleaning the tyres and putting a bag over the crank and chain.
In expensive hotels I carry my bike into the lobby so it doesn't dirty the floor. I ask if it's ok to take it up to my room.
It's 50/50 that I get a yes. If it's a no then I ask if I can lock it up in storage room - that usually works just fine.

Roads,
I always stay in motels/hotels when touring. I take my bike into every motel/hotel without asking. Most nice hotels are situated in such a way that I have to roll the bike right past the desk so I take their silence as permission. Never have had a problem, but I do take care not to leave any dirt/grease/damage behind me when I check out.
If a desk clerk were to object to my bringing my bike with me I would:
1. find a different motel/hotel if one was close
2. ask where I could lock the bike inside the hotel (storage room, etc.)
I would not leave my bike outside, locked or otherwise.