I-95 Motels that accept cats?

[steve]

We will be traveling to Florida from NY in June. We need a place to stay with our two cats. We would like any experiences or suggestions. Can we leave them in our SUV with food and water, with proper ventilization? We are traveling on I-95.

[Samrai]

It depends on where in NY you are leaving from and how long you plan to drive. When I traveled with my cat last July, I was leaving from Long Island and pushed just past Florence, SC to a Comfort Inn in St. George, SC. It was older than most of the Comfort Inns I have stayed in in the past but it was clean and the bed was comfortable. Standard fast food fare at the exit and a supermarket in the shopping center just across the street down the road a bit. I went in for some snacks and some beer. Minor TV reception problem and they switched my room when I mentioned about it. I beleive a lot of the comfort inns in some spots of the carolinas were the first major chains to set up shop there. That might explain their age. At least that is my guess. I am pretty sure they accept pets but I just took the cat in the room. Most have some sort of pet fee...like ten dollars or something per nite but this was a drive up type hotel with outside access rooms right in front of your parking spot. (Guess that makes it a motel....not sure)....Anyway....there is a post somewhere in the threads for a website that lets you check for pet friendly establishments but my experience has been to just get a room and carry the cat in. I am a creature of habit and usually stay at the same places. I have been staying in Florence, SC on my past few trips (MINUS THE PETS) but Florence is a much better exit for food, and hotel choices if you can make it there. There is an excellent Sleep Inn I have stayed at two times recently. They do not accept pets. They are interior corridor rooms with hallway access to parking on the back and side of the building. You wouldnt have trouble trying to sneak a pet into a hotel or this one for that matter even if they feature interior corridor rooms because most have hallway access at far ends that you can card swipe to get into the stairwell. I know sneaking pets in is not right and there are some that frown on those that do this, especially with allergies and things and the chance that if caught, you may be asked to leave with no refund for voiding the policy. I know my cat(s) dont do anything so I dont worry about if the hotel accepts it or not. More places are becoming pet friendly now though.

One other question to ask yourself is if you have a preference to stay at a particular brand or chain of hotel. I usually stay with the choice hotels brands (Sleep inn, Comfort inn)...and I book online so when you put in a destination on their website (www.choicehotels.com), they list all the hotels closest to that town and also will tell what amenities they have. (ie. Pets allowed, Internet, etc) It really helps when planning a travel with a pet.

Whatever you do though, DO NOT leave them in the car overnight. With all the pet friendly places you can find, and those that you can stay at and just carry the carrier in like luggage, you have many choices. Hope this helps you.

[GM]

We just got back from FL traveling with our cat. First, I agree with last poster - don't leave them in the car overnight.

We travel about 500-550 miles per day with our Sunny (she's great in the car). I figured out a 100 mile range of where we'd drive (that leaves room for I-95 tie ups which are legendary) to, then go to Orbitz.com, type in the city and the dates, then click on the option to choose your amenities, click on Pets Allowed, then Find. That will give you a list of the hotels that allow pets. It worked perfect for us. Even though they all indicate there is a pet fee, we've never been charged one. I absolutely wouldn't try to sneak a pet in. After a long day on the road, you don't want to be asked to leave a motel. Also, try PetsWelcome.com, it's a very good resource and quite up to date. We almost always stay at the Choice Hotel chain, but they don't all allow pets, so you need to check.

What we do when we get to the motel is bring in the litter box, Sunny's food and water and put it in the bathroom. Then we bring her in to the bathroom, put her carrier in the bathtub, open the door to let her out, then we shut the bathroom door and leave her in there for 10-15 minutes. That way we can bring our stuff in, get settled, and it gives her a chance to settle down before we let her out. Good Luck! If you have any questions at all, please feel free to email me at GMarcan920@aol.com.