Dog friendly hotels on I-81 and I-95
 

We are planning our drive to the Villages from up north and are looking for help from fellow travelers with dogs. Our last few trips we have encountered horrible luck with pet friendly hotels. There must be some pet friendly hotels that are not total dumps? Best Western, Red Roof, Days Inn, and La Quinta have all been terrible. We take 81 south from Scranton, PA and cut across to I-95 in Fredricksburg, VA toward Florida. Any suggestions for some decent hotel options would be most appreciated. Thanks : )

How much do you want to spend? Loews has beautiful rooms and caters to pets under their "Loews Loves Pets" program. They were one of the first chains to accept pets. https://www.loewshotels.com/loews-loves-pets

Don't know where they are located. We stayed at the one across from Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Vanderbilt was right across the street, with massive grounds. They were on break, and I took the dog for a great run on campus.

Also some Hiltons accept pets.

There are some Drury Inns on the way south that accept pets and so far have been fairly nice. But not on a par with Loews.

The farther south you get, the rattier the less expensive chains accepting pets seem to be.

The Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel is a first rate dog friendly hotel. Great suggestion.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Mrs Barefoot told us about La Quinta and we were happy each time. Maybe you just got a room that was a dud. Good Luck.

Thanks for the response, but none of the suggestions are on the rout we take south. Both Loews and Drury tend to be in major metropolitan areas and are not on our travel rout. I tried a search on Hilton and only came up with an affiliate, Hampton Inns, which is on our rout but will only take service dogs. We don't mind paying extra for our dog, but any decent hotels don't seem to want dogs?

It Might Be Worth Joining AAA
 

Have you tried the “Bring Fido” app. We’ve stayed at a couple 5 paw rated hotels that were pretty nice. We stop at one each way on our drive. Also we take 84 to 81 which bypasses 95 most of the way and avoids the tappan zee and George washington bridges. No tolls all the way down and a $1.25 toll coming back in NY. We stay at the comfort inn and suites in Stateville no Carolina on the way down and sleep inn in Staunton Virginia on the way back. Both are rated 5 star on the Fido app.

Good information, I will get the app and check it out. I will also check out AAA as mentioned in another post. Sounds like we take a similar route south but our trip is about 1,400 miles, which is too far for us to drive in two days. We typically spend night one in the Winchester, VA area and night two in the Manning/Santee, SC area.

We gave noticed recently that many of the chain motels are now pet friendly along I-95 at least south of I-26. Not necessarily advertised that way but call a few and ask, you might be surprised.

Arf Arf Hotels
 

I have made the trip numerous times from the New Jersey Shore to TV. The best place for me and my two maltese to stay is Comfort Suites, Lumberton, NC on Wintergreen Drive. It is clean, safe, has a small dog park, right off I-95, drive in and take out restaurants right on the street. Easy on and off I-95. Safe to walk the dogs at night. I've tried others and this is my #1 pick. It is also about half way from NJ to TV and just at my 8-9 hour mark.

Ours is about 1,330 miles. We try to do between 750 and 800 miles the first day which makes the second day a lot easier.

La Quinta, numerous times always great

LaQuinta has always been pretty good for us though we have stayed at one that was horrible as well as one that was like a 5 star hotel. Most fall into the totally decent and acceptable range. You may have just got that one bad one. Check out the reviews on each hotel you might stay at along your route and then go from there.

Most Embassy Suites will accept dogs if you wan to pay an extra $100. I go to La Quinta,

Try Staybridge or Holiday Inn Express. They work well for us. Here a search site with a lot of info:

Dog, Cat & Other Pet Friendly Hotels at Petswelcome.com

All Residence Inn by Marriott hotels are dog friendly and very nice. Because they charge a pet fee, they tend to only have a few dogs staying at one time.

If you use Booking.com, you can specify pet friendly. At the bottom of the page it will say pets accepted but there may be a charge. Then I go to the hotel website to check it's policies. Residence Inn, Staybridge, Home 2, Townplace Suites allow pets but the fees are higher than I am willing to pay, so we usually end up at La Quinta, which by the way has a 15% Military discount. Recently we stayed at a Staybridge (in Mexico) for $80, and they wanted $100 extra for the cat! She got to sleep in the car that night.....

Red Roof Inn

Battleboro, NC Hotels & Motels - See All Discounts

We get off this exit and the motels are all pet friendly at a decent price. It's at the halfway point for us from Albany, NY

.
Red Roof Inn
Dogs stay Free
Owner must Pay ������

Comfort Inn & Suites in Lady Lakes is pet friendly. Beautifully appointed

According to OP, on their particular route south, " Best Western, Red Roof, Days Inn, and La Quinta have all been terrible." I think s/he is looking for something more upscale. I'm sorry I can't recommend anything on their route, but perhaps altering the route to have the day's travel end in a good-size metropolitan area might bring them more choices.

I agree. The only upscale chain I can recommend is Hilton, but they will charge a dog fee.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

I know the Marriott has at least one and it is in either Savanna or Jacksonville FL...can't remember which.

Thanks for all the good information. Based on recommendations and reasearch we are booked at the La Quinta in Winchester, VA and the Sure Stay Best Western in Manning, SC, which both have favorable reviews. Will never again stay at a Red Roof, last trip was not good at two different hotels.

Like you we were not happy with LaQuinta.... but try Bringfido.com
It gives reviews of the hotels and you can book from that website too. I’ll try to find the name of the place we stayed whichhad doggie treats and tennis balls
for our golden. We had a good nights sleep and snack. Safe travels!

We have also had bad experiences at Red Roof so we don't stay there any more.
We find LaQuinta Inns are generally reliable with a few exceptions.
I agree, we all should read hotel reviews before booking. Please let us know how you like your hotels.

All La Quinta Inn's are pet friendly nation wide! No extra charge!

Some of the hotels are not worthy of our pets. Many are pet-friendly and don't advertise it.

Our kids just drove here from N.J. yesterday with two of the biggest most beautiful German Sheppards and because they have designer everything and Gucci Woochi this and that they drove straight through to save a yard. I don't even say a word anymore. Not my monkey, not my circus. Thankfully they made it safely.

Whose yard were they saving!

Best Western is pet friendly, but you must reserve because they only have so many rooms that are designated as such.

We had a wonderful experience at The Aloft Hotel in Jacksonville. Modern, clean, nice location.

We always stayed at the Aloft Hotel in Winchester, VA and enjoyed it, but it just changed ownership. It is now a La Quinta and we will be staying there for the first time on our upcoming drive to the Villages. It's still pet friendly with no upcharge and has been updated, so we expect a good experience.

I've had great experiences with Hilton hotels. Home to Suites and Homewood Suites off I 95 coming down from New York. Very clean and spacious. Hope this helps.

We always have stayed at the Aloft in Winchester, VA also. It was our favorite stop because it was totally pet friendly, a very nice/clean/modern hotel, and we could play ball with the dog in a very big field a short walking distance from the hotel on the grounds of the Shenandoah University. Then the University build a huge football stadium and put in parking lots, so thats gone. Then the Aloft changed to a La Quinta Inn. Oh well, we still stayed there on our last trip south because it remained pet friendly and it's in a good location for our first day stop. It's not as good as it used to be, but it's still as good a pet friendly option as we can find.