Five Tips for Successful Last-Minute Hotel Booking

by Paul Brady on

One of the best things about a road trip are the last-minute detours, whether that’s stumbling across an antique car club meeting in Western Massachusetts or deciding to speed to Boston to see a million people cheer for a hockey team. Even along my planned route, I don’t even have a place to stay for the night when I pull into a city, hotel or otherwise. Sound crazy? With new internet tools and some winning strategies, a last-minute hotel stay is not only possible-it can be an unexpected money saver.

Here are my five tips to successfully booking at the last minute, to keep your plans flexible and keep your travel budget in check.

Load your smartphone: Web-booking tools are great for last-minute shopping, but you can never be sure you’ll find wifi when you crack open your laptop. Instead, download booking apps that are always on. I’ve been using Hotels.com for its broad selection of properties and its buy 10 nights, get one free loyalty program, but others are available. HotelTonight is an interesting option that announces deep discounts on three hotels per city per night. In only a few cities so far, it’s one to watch.

Shop smart: Local boutiques and quirky properties are fantastic, but when I’m booking at the last minute, I prefer to shop by chain. Brands like La Quinta and Quality Inn may be inexpensive, but they have a consistency guaranteed by the flag flown out front, meaning I’m sure I’ll find free internet, free parking and free breakfast when I arrive. You can’t always say the same for one-off hotels that may otherwise be perfectly nice.

Look for deals: Because a hotel can’t sell a room for yesterday, they’ll often offer a discount if they still have a vacancy for the evening. On Hotels.com, I’ve seen offers of 15, 20 and even 25 percent for the night-of. Don’t be shy about taking advantage of the hotel’s predicament! Hard bargainers can even try calling the hotel directly to negotiate, but remember that properties still have bills to pay and have a limit to how low they’ll go.

Check the reviews: Of course a booking site or app will tell you a property is a winner: They’re selling you the room. Even at the last minute, I like to pull up a few second opinions. Hotel reviews are Tripadvisor’s bread and butter, but other sites, like Yelp, have marginally more intelligent comments. Google’s “place pages” for hotels-the info that pops up on your smartphone when you search for a specific property-aggregate web commentary, making for easy comparison shopping. One thing to remember: photos, unlike anonymous commenters, usually tell the truth. I didn’t book the Holiday Inn Express in Cleveland, pictured above, until I’d seen some convincing photos.

Be patient: Even with from-your-phone booking, it can take time for a reservation to arrive at a hotel. In Providence, Rhode Island, I walked into the Biltmore hotel just five minutes after booking a room. When I learned my reservation had yet to appear, I said “No problem” and got some work done in the lobby. A few minutes later, my room was ready-and a front desk employee had upgraded me to a suite for understanding. All the more reason to keep booking last-minute.

Naming My Traveling the American Road Ride

by Paul Brady on

After more than 1,000 wonderful suggestions, I’m finally ready to take the major step of naming my car. After all, I’ve already logged more than 2,500 miles on the beast after starting this epic road trip. If not now, when?

There were a number of strong entries. Marylin Thomas had a good suggestion: “If I had a Ford Explorer I probably would name him after one of the famous explorers but it would have to be an American one.” It’s a great, thoughtful idea, but a little short on specifics: An American explorer like Meriwether Lewis or someone who explored America like Columbus?

It remains an open question…

Maxine had a sci-fi inspired name, going with TARDIS, a name from Dr. Who, translated to my road trip: Traveling the American Road, Driving in Style. But that might be a little lengthy for a nickname-not to mention way too nerdy for mass consumption.

A different Marilyn suggested I take a cue from my tag numbers, saying “I have named my cars using their license plate letters. HZL368 was named Hazel. WZZ3508 has been named Dorothy, after the Wizard of Oz.” The downside is that my plates don’t create an inspired name, as I only have one letter among a sea of numbers.

At least one commenter went with a pun: “Since this is the Traveling the American Road car, how about Jack Car-ouac.” I like it, but it’s not quite there.

I’m going with Andy‘s idea, which comes with a similar literary reference: “I think you should name it ‘Charley,’ after the 1960 memoir ‘Travels with Charley,’ by John Steinbeck, who traveled America with his French poodle Charley.” For coming up with the winner, Andy wins a free HP VEER PHONE (valued at $99.99), as promised in our original announcement of the naming contest. Nicely done, Andy!

It’s more than just the poetry of the entry I like. A friend of mine bought me a copy of the book before I left to start this trip-and he picked up his own copy too. When I finally get home, still a long while from now, we’ll talk about the book we both plan to read while I’m traveling. But for now, it’s a connection to home I’m carrying with me, a reminder that no matter which floor I’m sleeping on, this trip, like all trips, will eventually come to an end.

Why Plymouth Rock Is New England’s Biggest Tourist Trap

by Paul Brady on


Have you ever been to a tourist trap? A scam of a site, something over-hyped and talked about until it can’t possibly be worth it? The sort of thing you walk up to, snap a photo of and curse as you walk back to your car?

I saw one just the other day. It was Plymouth Rock, the lump of granite that supposedly marks the spot where a ragged band of English religious refugees washed up on Massachusetts’ shores.

It was such an awful disappointment, and here’s why.

There’s just nothing to it. You know why they call it Plymouth Rock? Because that’s all it is. A rock, covered by a little pavilion, guarded by a small rail. The day I visited, a historian was standing nearby, not doing much of anything.

Tourists, including me, would walk up, take a look, take a photo… and then shrug. There it is, I thought, if that’s actually the rock. Questions of authenticity were not assuaged, at least for me, by the fact that 1620 has been stamped into the stone and the sandy footing on which it rests has been manicured like a Japanese rock garden.

It reminded me of other totems to which we travel, only to tick them off our list. Old Faithful is one, the Statue of Liberty is another. You’ve heard so much about them, had them drilled into your head as an essential piece of American lore, heard grandiose promises about the meaning they hold. And yet nobody seems to actually enjoy them. When you visit, you visit to click the camera shutter and to say, “Oh yeah, I went there on vacation and saw it. Great time!” when you’re at a backyard barbecue with those neighbors you don’t really like. That’ll show ’em.

Was it totally the worst thing ever to go see Plymouth Rock? Of course not. I’m sort of humble-bragging about it with this post! But there was so little happening aside from the rock itself-a few ice cream shops, a couple of t-shirt stands-there seemed little reason to visit Plymouth but to see the disappointing rock.

I could be wrong about that last bit. But I didn’t leave time to explore Plymouth. I was just there to see its Rock.

A Day of Rebuilding at New York’s Ground Zero

by Paul Brady on
While in New York, I was thrilled to check out the High Line, a newly expanded elevated park that’s captivated city-dwellers. But there’s bigger and more meaningful construction happening downtown, at the site of the former World Trade Center-and the soon-to-be home of the new World Trade Center.

With my videographer, Stephen Greenwood, I booked a 17th-floor room at the Millenium Hilton hotel, directly across from and facing the site. With a couple of cameras, we set out to capture a day’s worth of work at the newly rising office complex and the memorial to the attacks of September 11, 2001, the latter of which is scheduled to open by the 10th anniversary of that day.

Here’s what we saw.

Traveling the American Road – A Day at Ground Zero


On the Supremacy of the Bed and Breakfast

by Paul Brady on

I’ve been staying in a lot of hotels. Some nice ones, some not so nice, most owned or at least operated by a corporate parent. There’s a anonymous familiarity about them all, which is comforting or unsettling, depending on my mood.

I’ve also crashed with some friends on this road trip, sleeping on a recliner in a living room in Detroit and an air mattress in an extra bedroom on Staten Island. That’s fine-and a fine way to save some scratch.

But it took about three minutes at the Whistlewood Farm in Rhinebeck, New York for me to finally realize that the bed and breakfast is the world’s greatest form of lodging. Please hold your arguments until I lay out mine!

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The size: There are just seven rooms at Whistlewood, which means my host, Maggie, knew who I was the moment I set foot in her home. We’d already spoken on the phone and arrival was like meeting a new friend in person for the first time: a little awkward, but with hope for a fine future.

The freebies: I will not be nickel-and-dimed and I know it. The blueberry crumble pie? Free. The lemon-poppy seed cake? Free. Wireless internet? Free. Tea, coffee, pretty much whatever else? Free. “Make yourself at home” is the request? Oh, thanks, I will!

The farm: There are horses here, roaming their paddocks, playfully inquisitive about visitors. There are chickens running around. A woman in a big straw hat is pruning rose bushes. There are exactly zero “porters,” “valets” or “customer service representatives.”

The countryside: So this one doesn’t go for every B&B but the birds here make a racket. It is hard to stress over an email thread from the office when there are birds chirping and flitting around the back yard, picking up caterpillars to feed their chicks.

The breakfast: Obviously the ultimate consideration. At Whistlewood, the spread is enormous. Eggs from the farm’s own chickens, bacon, sausage, French toast, pancakes, fresh fruits salad, yogurt, English muffins, quick breads and muffins, juice and enough coffee to sate an Italian village. Would you like seconds? Go on, just help yourself.

In sum: The best service, everything’s included and it’s insanely relaxing: Sounds like the world’s best lodging to me. Don’t you think?

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