Help for booking a (family) US Road Trip.

Murphy_The_Cat

ferf1223 wrote: »

they have cookies!!!

Also, we had a Lincoln Town Car once...in Dallas...I had not booked it but got a free upgrade and was too excited about 'free upgrade' to actually think about how large of a car it was and whether I should really be driving it...I swear that that thing had the turning radius of an air craft carrier and I couldn't get out of a parking space without 2 people guiding me...but we had 6 adults and luggage in it at one point, no problem..and it was sooo comfy.

ahhhhhhhhh cookies :rotfl::D.

The Lincoln Town Car does a few things very well. Carrying passengers & large amounts of luggage across Interstates and wafting around towns & cities are amongst those things. But I don't think the words nimble, compact or agile will ever be used in describing one of them .

Last year we had a Cadillac CTS as a rental. Much more modern, much better built and in some ways, a lot more refined -- but it couldn't hold a candle to the Town Car in terms of load lugging and mile eating.

Philippa36

We were in San Francisco last year in a hotel with free cookies and coffee - the kids were in heaven!

We're planning a roadtrip round New England next year and I can't wait. I shall be taking in to account all your comments but fortunately, we won't have any children with us They're off to Uni/Army.

Murphy_The_Cat

gem75 wrote: »

Remember cars in the US are much bigger than any where else so if it describes the car as medium, it will probably be what we would describe as large. We booked a small car and were given the smallest car they had which was a Chrysler Neon which was more than adequate for two of us and all our luggage.

Be careful if you rely on that theory if you want/need/require a larger car. Along Autopilot drive at Dulles airport (where all the rental are located) there were plenty of Ford Fiesta sized cars for rental use. Several years ago, I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly, but the good people are up in arms over the high price of 'gas' ( we paid between $3.45 & $3.99 per US gal) and therental companies now feature a much deeper range of smaller cars.

Murphy_The_Cat

Vikki_74 wrote: »

Soil do you happen to know anywhere in paricular to find the fleet details for each rental company? I found a great list on Flyertalk for Avis last year but for our next trip we'll likely be using someone else and I can't find the same kind of info anywhere. We're trying to make our minds up between the full size / premium / luxury options and it would be helpful to have an idea of what each company tends to give out in each.

Hello Vikki

US Rentacar offer this very broad advice
Alamo - Chrysler, Budget - Ford, Dollar - Dodge. But from what we could see, each rental company had a real mixture of brands on offer and Japanese/Korean branded vehicles were areally common sight.

In some cases, the full size/premium car will be the same model, but one will be towards the bottom of the range, whilst the other will be higher up the range. If you can identify the depot that you will be hiring from, drop them a line - they'll be very happy to help you.

duchy

Ferf's correct Priceline say 2 person occupancy -and although you *can* get two double beds or a suite there's no guarantee. Certainly wouldn't have worked for Murph with his two room preference. Hotwire however does sometimes offer the suite option -maybe that's what soil was thinking of-similar principle-you don't bid it's a set price (generally about 60% of normal price) but don't get told the hotel til after you've paid but DO know the room type . Guidence for identifying the hotel before forking out on betterbidding.com.

Another vote for Residence Inn here -owned by Marriott and offer one and two bedroom suites-I've found them to be a better standard than Homewood overall-same deal with free breakfast and evening reception with hot food. We fitted six comfortably into a 2 bedroom -the second bathroom was a godsend though.

soil_2

duchy wrote: »

Ferf's correct Priceline say 2 person occupancy -and although you *can* get two double beds or a suite there's no guarantee. Certainly wouldn't have worked for Murph with his two room preference.

That depends - if you can identify the hotel and if it's an all-suite job, then it will work just fine.

Also most US hotels have the option of king or 2 queen, so Priceline generally works fine as you can request 2 queen beds after booking.

Murphy_The_Cat

duchy wrote: »

Another vote for Residence Inn here -owned by Marriott and offer one and two bedroom suites-I've found them to be a better standard than Homewood overall-same deal with free breakfast and evening reception with hot food. We fitted six comfortably into a 2 bedroom -the second bathroom was a godsend though.

The Residence Inn setup looks great (according to their website ) & certainly looks very modern, but their 1 bed in the bedroom & 1 sofabed
in the lounge wouldn't suit our purpose, & to get the 2 bedroom option (if available) it goes into another pricing area -- saying that, its nice to know that the option is available to me, if I can't find a suitable Homewood/Embassy with availability.

duchy

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

The Residence Inn setup looks great (according to their website ) & certainly looks very modern, but their 1 bed in the bedroom & 1 sofabed
in the lounge wouldn't suit our purpose, & to get the 2 bedroom option (if available) it goes into another pricing area -- saying that, its nice to know that the option is available to me, if I can't find a suitable Homewood/Embassy with availability.

The living space is HUGE too and the kitchen was fitted out with absolutely everything -even decent knives , garlic press etc. We met several people who were there for weeks working . Always worth a go through the Marriott codes on flyertalk -I've never paid the quoted price at any Marriott owned hotel I've just posted my latest Marriott saving on the Vegas thread -the same deal works with Residence Inn if you can find a price difference to match. In November Marriott did a sale with 20% off Residence Inn our plans weren't quite locked in then but I booked anyway knowing I could cancel-and we paid less for the 2 bedroom than our friends booking a week later for the same dates paid for the one bedroom

Vikki_74

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Hello Vikki

US Rentacar offer this very broad advice
Alamo - Chrysler, Budget - Ford, Dollar - Dodge. But from what we could see, each rental company had a real mixture of brands on offer and Japanese/Korean branded vehicles were areally common sight.

In some cases, the full size/premium car will be the same model, but one will be towards the bottom of the range, whilst the other will be higher up the range. If you can identify the depot that you will be hiring from, drop them a line - they'll be very happy to help you.

Good idea MTC, I'll give that a try.

We went for a luxury last year from SFO and got a lovely, pretty high spec, Cadillac CTS which we'd be more than happy with again but trying to decide if it's worth the extra splurge again. I think the difference in price is about £80 for a 14 day rental from a full size to a luxury so not a huge amount, and we'd probably pay it for a CTS or something similar, but really don't fancy getting a Lincoln Town Car - can see why it suits some but with only the two of us we don't need all that space and they're just so BIG!!

Good thread by the way - lots of useful tips, especially for those travelling with kids.

duchy

soil wrote: »

That depends - if you can identify the hotel and if it's an all-suite job, then it will work just fine.

Also most US hotels have the option of king or 2 queen, so Priceline generally works fine as you can request 2 queen beds after booking.

IF you can identify it-yes -big if though. I know plenty of people who've got burned with an over-confident PL guess !

Yes you *can* request it -although certain places like Manhattan can be tricky I hear (although whenever I've used PL in Manhattan I've always got 2 queens but I think if you drop down to 3 star that's where the problem is.) Not sure I'd want to run the risk of a king plus rollaway (if room) when travelling with kids personally. Some things aren't worth saving a few dollars for MSE isn't about getting the lowest price but the best VALUE after all !