Bikes in hotel rooms

There is a couple posting a blog about their bike ride from Key West to
up North somewhere: http://faithandpeter.blogs.com­/utterfolly/
They keep referring to hotels that will not allow them to bring their
bikes into the room. I have never run into this anywhere, including
South Florida where they are now.

Has anyone else ever been told they couldn't bring their bike into
their room?

[censored] Durbin

Olebiker expressed precisely :

Quoted message said:

There is a couple posting a blog about their bike ride from Key West to
up North somewhere: http://faithandpeter.blogs.com­/utterfolly/
They keep referring to hotels that will not allow them to bring their
bikes into the room. I have never run into this anywhere, including
South Florida where they are now.

Has anyone else ever been told they couldn't bring their bike into
their room?

[censored] Durbin

Yep,

happened to me in a hotel on Mallorca (Spain);

after some days of succesfull hauling the desk guy saw me with the bike
and told me there was a special bike garage in the cellar, which was
true...

Olebiker said:

There is a couple posting a blog about their bike ride from Key West to
up North somewhere: http://faithandpeter.blogs.com­/utterfolly/
They keep referring to hotels that will not allow them to bring their
bikes into the room. I have never run into this anywhere, including
South Florida where they are now.

Has anyone else ever been told they couldn't bring their bike into
their room?

Only rarely. A few hotels in Las Vegas were the main exception. They
deliberately have the lobbies arranged so that you need to walk through
quite a crowded area with slot machines before reaching the elevators to
the hotel rooms, so I could understand their concerns about wheeling the
bike back and forth through that area. But they did provide a secure
storage room adjacent to the front desk and I was always able to get the
bike back without any delay when I needed it.

There was also one hotel in downtown London where a bellhop initially
objected, but he didn't insist when I kept walking to the elevator bank
while telling him that I preferred to keep the bike in the room.

I do try to avoid any crowded areas of hotels when going in or out with
my bike.

Quoted message said:

They keep referring to hotels that will not allow them to bring their
bikes into the room. I have never run into this anywhere, including
South Florida where they are now.

Has anyone else ever been told they couldn't bring their bike into
their room?

This happens about 5% of the time for me in the USA. A vast majority
of motels are very good about this. I didn't encounter this when I
cycled through South Florida. I try to be obvious that I'm bringing
bike into the room and very careful to avoid any scuff marks or other
signs a bike was ever in the room.

If I am staying at a B&B it is less common to have bikes in rooms but
typically people are good about having an alternate place to safely
keep the bike.

So the exceptions really are exceptions and some have an acceptable
alternate place to put a bike. On recent trip along Ohio River, I
encountered two motels that wouldn't allow bikes in rooms, one with an
apologetic clerk who blamed her boss. In both cases I politely
explained that I had everything I needed on the bike and simply cycled
further to the next motel that would allow it. In one case it was
within a mile, in the other case it was 34 miles.

When cycling in India, I found this correlated with price of the room.
On very inexpensive rooms this was allowed. In very fancy hotels they
looked at me strangely but were happy to allow this eccentricity. In
the mid-range most allowed it but it was a lot more common for them to
say "we have security to watch those...".

In Australia/New Zealand/Canada it was as common as USA to allow bikes
in the rooms. In the Netherlands it was more rare but there would be
other places to lock the bike.

--mev, Mike Vermeulen

Olebiker said:

.... They keep referring to hotels that will not allow them to bring their
bikes into the room. I have never run into this anywhere, including
South Florida where they are now.

Has anyone else ever been told they couldn't bring their bike into
their room?

When heading across Nebraska I kept being scoffed at when asking if I
could bring my bike into my room. "Why would you want to do that?" I
learned to explain that it was not a *motor*cycle.

(After one motel manager reluctantly agreed, but requested that I put
something under it so no oil would leak onto the carpet, I began to
catch on.)

"... you mean you're riding a *bi*cycle that far? Are you crazy or what?"

Other than that obstacle, I can only remember one motel that wouldn't
allow bicycles in rooms, and that was on the west coast - Florence
Oregon. Everywhere else I've been in the US it was no problem. Some
motel managers take a moment to think about it, perhaps require a little
gentle persuasion, but then decide it's okay.

In Europe (Italy & Austria), hotels, B&B's, and hostels had a secure
storage area for bicycles. I never brought my bike into my room, and I
never felt the need to.

--
*****************************
Chuck Anderson • Boulder, CO
http://www.CycleTourist.com
Integrity is obvious.
The lack of it is common.
*****************************

Olebiker said:

There is a couple posting a blog about their bike ride from Key West

to

Quoted message said:

up North somewhere: http://faithandpeter.blogs.com­/utterfolly/
They keep referring to hotels that will not allow them to bring their
bikes into the room. I have never run into this anywhere, including
South Florida where they are now.

Has anyone else ever been told they couldn't bring their bike into
their room?

[censored] Durbin

In San Luis Obispo, Ca, a hotel owner told me that. We went there for
brevets and had already stayed in that hotel several times. The day
before one brevet my wife and I went out for a short ride and when we
returned to our room (after cycling thru the parking lot) the phone
rang. The owner told us that they don't allow bicycles in the rooms
and we would have to lock them up outside. I had a short answer for
her, "No".

Tom

As a general rule, I have had no problems with keeping the bikes in the
rooms of places I have stayed in the US. In western Europe, bikes are
not allowed in the rooms for the most part *BUT* the hotels have secure
storage for them - something that is rare in the US. For example, on
our trip to the Dolomites and Alps last year our bikes were housed
overnight in:

- Hallway of the small family owned inn
- In a gated and locked alleyway behind the hotel (staff bikes there,
too).
- In an underground garage with limited access
- In a small motorcycle garage next to the hotel
- In a barn
- In a gated and locked wine grotto (cave)
- In a storage room across the alley from the hotel
- Locked to the railing of an upperstory balcony
- In our room (lakeside, informal style resort)
- Locked in the hotel manager's office

- rick

Quoted message said:

Has anyone else ever been told they couldn't bring their bike into
their room?

Just once, in Fredericksburg, Virginia. We were told we couldn't take
the bikes into the
room because they might ruin the furnishings (like they might get off
their leashes and start
chewing on the chair legs). In all fairness the room was really nice and
it had been pouring
down rain all day. They had no place to store the bikes but they let us
keep them in the small
hallway outside the room.

On the west coast one place gave us old sheets to put under the bikes on
a dry day, but most of the places
didn't care at all--even when it was raining and we were dripping
grease. Several times we had to ask for
garbage bags to park our bikes on so we wouldn't make a mess.

I suspect that the small privately-owned motels are more likely to have
a problem than the big chains.

-bob

Happened to me a few times. On Cape Cod. In Calif, a few other places.

As long as there is a secure storage area; on Cape there was a garage that
had a lock.

I must admit I have washed and cleaned my bike in a motel room. Make a hell
of a mess. In fact, the room was really crappy after. I cleaned up enough
to make a clean getaway.

One question; with all the high security since 9/11 ... do small hotels ask
for id if you pay cash?

I dont' remember showing any id when I was cycling out west. That was 93,
94, 95.

"Olebiker" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
There is a couple posting a blog about their bike ride from Key West to
up North somewhere: http://faithandpeter.blogs.com­/utterfolly/
They keep referring to hotels that will not allow them to bring their
bikes into the room. I have never run into this anywhere, including
South Florida where they are now.

Has anyone else ever been told they couldn't bring their bike into
their room?

[censored] Durbin

TomCAt said:

I must admit I have washed and cleaned my bike in a motel room. Make a hell
of a mess. In fact, the room was really crappy after. I cleaned up enough
to make a clean getaway.

I hope you're kidding, but I don't see a smiley. Please don't do this;
it makes it much tougher on careful folks who don't damage motel
property to take bikes in the next time. Don't give cyclists a bad name!

Emily

Olebiker said:

Has anyone else ever been told they couldn't bring their bike into
their room?

Not quite the same thing, but my brother was prohibited from taking his
bike into student housing at college. He was told it was a fire hazard.
There was a completely exposed, unguarded bike rack out by the cars in the
parking lot, and if you wanted to keep your apartment, you locked up
there, winter, spring, summer, fall.
Needless to say, there were some rusty, beat-up bikes out there.

Bill

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Olebiker said:

Has anyone else ever been told they couldn't bring their bike into
their room?

Only once, in Milwaukee, WI, several years ago. This happened at
several motels in the area. They explained they had some bad
experience with motorcycles.

Last year, in the Michigan Upper Peninsula
http://lakemichigan.crazyguyonabike.com/ most motels had a generous
overhang outside the room. This was great, I didn't need to stumble
around the bike in the room, yet had access to everything right outside
the door!

--
Bob Kastigar
Home: http://www.neiu.edu/~rkastiga Work: http://www.wgntv.com
School: http://www.neiu.edu Play: http://www.neiu.edu/~stagectr
Union: http://www.ibew1220.org (Chicago, IL USA)

"Sweet Old Bob" (or just the initials)