Quote:
Originally Posted by Too40gawlf
Here's a little nugget of wisdom. In remote areas, many times motels have tons of rooms just sitting there - so that means a lot of places are open to a little bargaining. If you hit them up at the right time, $69.95 a night turns in $45. The couple runing the Red Roof in off the highway in Cisco TX, would rather knock off a few bucks on the rate to fill a room than not get anything at all.
As a sidenote, check out advrider.com before you take off. That site is all about trips like you are planning. Dont underestimate the capacity of the motorcycle community to go out of their way to help a fellow rider, even one they have never met before.
Finally, if you are passing through or staying in the D.C. area and need anything, feel free to hit me up.
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I tried this in Junction, TX back in 2008 and couldn't get a certain jackass to budge from $60 (normally $70) even though every other place I stayed during the trip was under $50. It was a few days before Christmas, which is a busy travel period, but an unsold room is an unsold room. It was 11PM (check-in time) and it was too late to sell the room to anyone else and I made that clear to him but he didn't listen. He thought I wouldn't find someplace else, refused to even acknowledge that there were more places further down, etc, but I had my new iPhone 3G and was easily able to look up the next hotel/motel from the parking lot. After calling them and getting the price ($45), I walked back in and gave the first guy the opportunity to price-match. He still tried to get $55 or something stupid so I told him that I was serious and was only willing to stay for the same price as his competitor. "I can't afford that" is an out-right lie because $45 is infinitely more than $0. I had to gear back up and ride off in the freezing cold so that he'll learn how to barter better in the future.