Hotel Phone Numbers (and other lodging too)

One of the unique things about AllStays.com is that we publish the direct phone numbers for hotels. You won't find a real hotel phone number on other travel websites like Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, TripAdvisor, Priceline, Hotwire...well we could go on and on listing every website that doesn't provide real contact information. Why? Well they want you to book with them so they make a commission or fee. No one makes any money if you call the hotel direct. And we don't either. But sometimes it's better for you. You eliminate the middle man and possibly save money. You know your reservation is at the hotel front desk and not stuck in cyberspace. You may get a better room. (We've booked deep discount rates ourselves and then have been treated like a contagious disease at the front desk. And then your view is of a concrete wall. We know it happens and it may look bad for the hotel as well but that is business today.)

Why list hotel phone numbers? Because it's useful information. Many of the things we do cost us money but give you better and more useful information. You may get better information calling the front desk of a hotel in Chicago than an operator in New Delhi, India. Say you forgot to print and take your confirmation email from that corporate website. Now you don't have the phone number for the hotel to get directions, find out where to park or tell them you are arriving late. We have the phone number in easy to find, fast loading text pages for each city.

All that being said, we are amazed at how hard some hotels, B&Bs, and campgrounds make it to find the phone number or address on their own site. It should be somewhere in plain text on every page of a website. But it's very often not on the main page at all. You have to find a "contact" page to get a phone number. Once in a while, we can't find it anywhere on a website at all! That is like a business with it's doors locked all the time and then they wonder why no one comes inside. The city, state and/or country should always be included with the phone number on all pages as well. There are many towns and hotels with the same name in the world. Some bed and breakfasts don't want their address known. Then you look over their website and you can't even find what state they are located in. A graphic with palm trees doesn't narrow it down much. Multimedia sites are always poorly designed and hard to use, so the number is buried when you are in a hurry to find it. And the travelers with cell phones or pda devices may not be able to get to it at all.

The other major issue is websites that only publish a toll free number. The do not list a local area code long distance number at all. Apparently they do not want any visitors from outside of their own country. Toll free numbers are hard to use, if they can be used at all in many parts of the world. And for a USA example, today's falling dollar leads to bargains for international travelers. But they will go to the hotel that makes it easy for them to contact and make a reservation. We work hard to find and publish the direct phone number, not the toll free numbers, for this reason.

We once had a bed and breakfast tell us that they didn't want their address or phone number listed. We asked why and "there are some nuts out there" was the reply.

Lodging places need to realize that not everyone in the world knows where they are and what their phone number is. Owners and employees may have it memorized but know one else does.

National Parks Camping 2008

We have re-built our National Parks Camping Guide from the ground up. We include all camping in National Parks, National Monuments, National Shores, and National Recreation Areas. Every bit of information was re-gathered from the official sources. Satellite views were inspected for correct GPS coordinates. We even have back country locations in the Everglades mapped.

All National Park Campground listings have the latest rates, site information and updates.

If you park hopping on your travels, this is the source for you. The listings then link to the official websites for each camping area so you can get further details, maps, reservations or anything else that is available from the National Park Service.

Overnight RV Parking

We keep expanding our sections on Overnight RV Parking locations so it is time for a roundup. Many times we want to get from Point A to Point B without much relaxing on the trip. We may only need to stop for some sleep and then get back on the road. Some us are frugal and don't like paying $25-$70 just to park and sleep. We may not need a pool and all the luxury items that many resorts and KOA parks have. Those are great when we need them but sometimes we just want a break and to fill up on supplies.

Over the last few years, we've created guides to the locations for places you may want to find on the road. As you are traveling down the road, you may not know the zip code of some odd town coming up. Just fire up our guides with Google maps and you can see how they all layout on your route. But keep in mind that not all locations allow overnight parking. Many do not. You really should always call or ask ahead of time. Stores policies are one thing, but local ordinances are another.

Please keep in mind that this is parking and NOT camping. Abuse ruins it for everyone. There is a growing trend against banning this privilege so lets try to keep it as long as we can. Don't put your slides out. Don't use your awnings, grills or jacks. Don't leave garbage behind or drain tanks on the blacktop. Don't even leave your steps out. Many stores use this as the definition of allowing it. It should appear like you just ran into the store for something like any other shopper.

Why list all locations and not just some like other sites and guides do?
The reason that we list all the locations, and not just the ones that allow parking, is that polices change and you should check anyway if you need it. And, sometimes you don't want to park overnight but you need these places to fill up on supplies. So it's just easier to have it all together in one place.

Wal-Mart Stores
Kmart Stores
Target Stores
Sam's Club Stores
Costco Stores
Meijer Stores
Camping Worlds
Cracker Barrels
Lowes Stores
Menards Stores
Flying J Truck Stops
Loves Travel Stops
Pacific Pride Fuel Stops
Petro Truck Stops
Pilot Travel Centers
TA Travel Centers
All Truck Stops on one map
Rest Areas
Weigh Scales

You can also test drive our new free guide to gas food and lodging. See what is at the exits around the country. You can even search and book a hotel room if needed as a last resort.
Interstate Exits Guide

and for those like our staff who are picky about the food they eat, we map out organic food stores along with Whole Foods, Wild Oats and Trader Joes locations.
Eat right on the road: Our Health Food Store Guide

We do hotels AllStays but our passion is camping and RVing. Send us updates on any overnight parking locations and we'll send you a $10 coupon off a hotel booking.

Rest Areas Locations

We created a separate map page with interstate rest areas on it. We have rest areas marked across the country so you can take a brief glance and see where or how many are on your route. This information is already incorporated in our more detailed interstate exit guide. But if you just want rest stops, this is it. And if you need the nearest hotel, each has a link for this kind of search as well. We hope to eventually do this search with campgrounds as well but the data is just not there yet.

Some states let you park overnight in rest areas and some do not. Of course, you NEVER camp at rest areas. Don't set up tents, put down jacks or use your slide outs. Rest areas are meant to be parked at as if you were sleeping in a car seat. Some places it is allowed by a certain number of hours. So you may be able to stay for eight hours in a rest stop, and if you time it right, that may be enough for you. Some rest areas only let you stay less than that, maybe only a couple hours.

Always stay alert and use caution at rest areas. That sounds like a contradiction but it is true. Only relax when you are locked safely in your vehicle. The easy on and offs make it the perfect place for criminals to make their getaway.

San Diego Doesn't Want Your RV in Their City

San Diego is pushing to get rid of RVs on streets. Or at least make it more difficult and costly to park your RV, boat or trailer on the streets. Currently, you can park for up to 72 hours and then you must move it at least 1/10th of a mile. Residents complain about RVs parking on residential streets, causing safety/sight problems and of course they aren't pretty. This includes boats on trailers.

So a new proposal has been made to change this. This proposal is probably made by people who don't have a boat, an RV or any family and friends. People will need to pay and get a permit to park for up to 72 hours with any recreational vehicle including ATVs and dune buggies. This also includes vehicles more than 22 feet long and 7 feet tall and they also need to be within 150 feet of their residence.

Otherwise, RVs and the like can't be on city streets from 10pm to 6am. And they can't be within 50 feet of any intersection at any time. I guess if you live on a corner, you are out of luck no matter what.

This eliminates many homeless people who live in their trailers and that's probably a main goal here. And it also eliminates people from having their own RV of family nearby. It falls under the old idea of everyone wants stuff away from them and not in their backyard, unless they want it themselves. There are RV Parks in the San Diego are but they generally run a ridiculous thousand or more dollars a month.

Your best bet is just to say goodbye to friends and family and find another city to go to and leave San Diego alone. Spend your money elsewhere where it is wanted.

Wal-Mart Directions

We're trying to make our guide to Wal-mart overnight parking even easier to use. We have just added connections to individual store details and store directions. Having individual links to each store and their current information helps in finding your way to the proper one. You can enter your current address or city and it'll tell you how to get right to that store.

Pulling this data direct makes the information a bit more reliable than having a third party do it. If the directions are wrong, it's because Wal-mart doesn't know where they are. There are other sites and files out there on the internet but most of them are wrong or incomplete. A couple are actually years old in their information. Wal-mart has recently been opening or relocating hundreds of stores per year. Eight openings already in the first two weeks of this year, 2008. We have to stay on it every week just to be current for you. You can see how websites, downloads, GPS files and guide-books can become inaccurate real fast.

Winnebago Replacement Parts

I ordered a replacement sky dome for our Winnebago RV on January 11th. This the Dometic Midi-Heki model skylight that cracked when I kept the sunshade closed in the heat. As the documentation states, you are not supposed to keep sunshades closed in the sunlight. So it is my fault for being silly.

I ordered the replacement glazed dome part from Lichtsinn Motors in Iowa, near the Winnebago factory. They promptly took our order and I just received our part, directly from Winnebago Industries, about 90 minutes ago here on the 16th. So all the service was great until I opened the box. As usual the FedEx Ground driver was already back in the truck as got the box. The box came with two black straps. One tight and one loose. I slipped it off one end and as there was no tape on it, the box end opened easily. And I immediately saw the crack. The Fedex truck was gone and I stopped from touching the box any further. I called Lichtsinn Motors, who in turn talked with Winnebago Industries. They are shipping another one out to me. Lichtsinn Motors said they told Winnebago to make a note and package it better. If they ship it like this again, it won't make it, so my confidence is rather low.

But I have to wonder out loud here. Watch the video below and let us know, would you ship a delicate $371 item in this manner? The box touches the fragile edges on all sides. There is no packing other than misfitting styrofoam on the corners of this very fragile item. I wouldn't drive with it this way in my own car let alone ship it.

We'll keep you updated on the results of our quest to get the item here safe and sound. If I were a gambler, I'd bet we get another cracked one. What do you think?

UPDATE: We received a second skydome replacement unit from Winnebago. This one was cracked worse than the first. It came in three pieces instead of just being cracked in certain places.

UPDATE #2: The third try was a charm (nearly three weeks and one canceled trip later). Lichtsinn Motors got involved further so we wound up getting the Winnebago shipping manager to pack the item himself and ship it out in -20 F degree weather. It arrived safely and was packed the way I would expect it to be packed. Double boxed and with protection around all sides. So now we have three damaged skydomes and one good one in our possession. Anyone want to start a discount broken skydome store? We have some really cheap inventory here.

Hotel Desk Chairs Are Office Store Rejects

Hotels catering to business travelers may have many things. They have coffee, ironing boards, bags for laundry, desks and lamps. So why can't they have a decent desk chair? In all my travels and countless nights in hotels working on a laptop, I can only think of a couple of times where the desk chair was even remotely close to being usable. There are several kinds of chairs that you'll find at your hotel desk when you check in.

A comfortable chair. Great. I'll fall asleep before I can sit up straight and actually work. The hotel that has this chair at your desk probably also has massage therapy. You will need to pay for that for your back the next day.

The Willy Wonka chair. A desk chair that sits lower than those in the children's section at the library. If I'm not careful, I'll bump my chin on my laptop.

The straight back hard Thanksgiving dinner chair. This chair should be at Gramma's house, not at your desk. It is not the correct height for any desk made on planet Earth since 1940.

The desk chair with adjustable levers. We are getting into the 1980s now, maybe even the 1990s. Except these levers are for looks. They are only there to get your hopes up and make you feel like you should turn the chair upside down to figure it out. See above about the back massage services available in the hotel.

The adjustable throne of hope. This ones actually goes up and down. But in the end you are still sitting two inches shorter than you should be.

The bed. This may be the most comfortable if you don't burn your lap or have easily flammable bedding. But the comfort also depends on pillows, the firmness of the bed, and lighting. If you spend too much time in the wrong positions in bed, you may need those aforementioned spa services again.

Advice to hotels: Get a real desk with a real office chair. Business travelers will come and come back again. Also put a power strip so I don't have to climb under and over things to plug devices in. And stop using clear glass desk tops over everything. Optical mice do not work on them. I'm sure they are easier to clean but figure something else out.

Accurate Hotel Reviews and Index Rating

The ABC News program 20/20's Jan 4th edition has a feature on hotel website ratings systems. The online article is here. They mention how reviews are gamed by hotels and their guests. Hotel owners may write positive reviews on their own property and negative ones about competitors. They may also give incentives to guests for them to write more positive comments.

AllStays.com uses TripAdvisor for it's reviews. We have had the option to use reviews from other major sites like Travelocity but found the reviews aren't as plentiful or as good of quality. The general travel websites are easier to "game" when it comes to reviews. We simply want to provide the best option available to our travelers.

We assume that reviews are going to be false by a certain percentage. And if you ever read the reviews, you'll see that people can be a bit crazy as well. They may criticize a Motel 6 for not being like a Four Seasons. Most of the time, you get pretty close to what you pay for. Other times, the hotel is deceitful with their own promotional items, like their website.

With the assumption that quantity and time tends to bring the truth to the top, we implemented a color code for our "Reviews" on each hotel. We believe this system makes it a bit easier on research to weed through the massive number of hotels out there. We recommend reading the reviews yourself but we want to help you find the better places and avoid the bad apples. If it is green, the property has an overwhelming number of positive reviews. If it is red, you need to use caution and there are many negative reviews from past guests. If it is plain or grey in color, we haven't found enough reviews to say it's a safe positively or negatively rated hotel. This neutral rated hotel may be absolutely great or it may be terrible. Or maybe it just opened recently. We just don't have enough information on them yet.

Do you think this helps you in your research? Let us know here or privately.

United Airlines Cancels More Flights

United Airlines is still recovering from weekend storms that buried them Chicago. They had to cancel dozens more flights Thursday as another storm is predicted to lay a blanket of 20 inches of snow on Colorado. This is the second major storm since Christmas.

United, the largest airline at Denver International Airport, is canceling dozens of flights to divert planes from passing through Denver and then being stuck there.

Green Hotels Growth Continues

Our green hotel guide continues to expand as we near the end of the year. We have over 3,000 places rated and many hundreds more to come. We have recently been adding the rating icon and information to each regular listing as well. So even someone who isn't looking for a green hotel will see it in the city pages and maybe it will spark some thought and consideration.

We are currently getting more and more information on RV Parks that are interested in this as well. We just haven't quite set something up yet for them. Do we include them and just make it an overall green lodging of any kind guide? Or do we keep them separate? One could argue that camping in general is more green. But then you factor in the types of RV Parks out there and the gas guzzlers using them, and it's not so green. But we're not rating guests, just the establishments.

And should we give hotels negative ratings for extreme carelessness? This would probably be made up of golf resorts and casinos at the start.

Let us know what you think.

American Airlines Flight Reschedules

American Airlines is allowing passengers to re-schedule their flights at no charge right now. They hope to alleviate some of the hassles at airports during this December snow storm, now hitting the northeast. Kudos to them for doing something decent ahead of time.

Our travel resource contact page has information for all airlines, rental cars and trains.

Walmart Pushing Green Trucks

Wal-mart, with the second largest truck fleet on the road, is pushing semi manufacturers to build a hybrid truck. They hope to be testing the first models in 2008.

We only mention this because of our green view point and the fact that we have our overnight parking guides which includes Wal-mart.

Green Hotel Rating System

AllStays has had a green hotel guide since early 2005. We were the first travel website to do so when it wasn't getting much respect or attention. But now it is getting more and more popular as we add and expand it on a weekly basis. Now we are taking it to another level.

We are currently rolling out our Green Hotel Rating System. It is now being added to our Green Hotel section, which includes motels, bed and breakfasts and retreats. The system breaks down lodging with 24 green aspects and then rates the hotel based on how many of those a property is integrating and running. An icon is added for easy reference, along with the list of the aspects at that hotel. Easy to read and spot what that property is doing to make a difference.

Our green rating system will be expanded and added to all normal section listings over the near future as well. Over three thousand lodging places have been rated so far.

Hotel Website Design: Don't Change Domain Names

This post is about another thing that drives us crazy while it hurts the businesses themselves. As the only travel website that connects direct to real lodging websites of all kinds, we probably view more of them than anyone else in the world. We link directly to over 140,000 lodging websites and have to check them constantly. Websites move, open and close every day. In many cases, those are bad moves. Never change your domain name, your internet address, unless it's absolutely necessary and there is no other option.

As we check our listings, for example, we find a bed and breakfast website that doesn't work. Sometimes they redirect properly and other times, the website just doesn't work. A customer would think, "did my favorite B&B close down? I guess they did. I'll have to go somewhere else." At AllStays, we eventually find the bad website link and do a search to find a new website for that same bed and breakfast and update our information. Before we found the change, customers are lost. All the links built over the years on other websites that point to this B&B are lost. Maybe it's a business directory, or the chamber of commerce. Maybe it's lodging sites like ours or maybe it's leading search engines like Google. Links are important on the internet. Some say they are most important thing. No matter what you believe about links and search engines, they do point others to your site. And that is a plus. You wouldn't go around handing out business cards and buying advertising and then move and change your phone number, would you? That is what you are doing when you move your domain name.

There was a time many years ago when you could put up a new website and be found right away. Those days are gone. A new website may take months to be found, if it is found at all. There are fairly good indicators that the age of a domain name is relevant on the internet. Like brick and mortar businesses, do you go to the business you know is good and that has been in town for 20 years or the one that just opened recently? You may eventually check the new one out but you trust the older one more.

Don't just change web addresses because you found a better one. Think long and hard about it if you are already established. And if you do feel that you have to change websites, at least find all the websites that are linking to you already and let them know of the change. Keep the traffic coming. Keep the old website and use it to advertise the new one. Don't let it die or even worse, be bought by someone else who takes your business traffic and name away from you.

We also know that there may be a reason why a website is lost. Web hosts go down or perhaps the owner wasn't really the owner. A domain name company may be crooked and not let the lodging owner keep the name or move it to another host or provider. Maybe the site was setup on some old free hosting site like Yahoo, Geocities or AOL. Those addresses don't look as professional in todays world. But again, keep that old site and point it to the new one. Don't make customers and your partners have to search for you. Most won't go out of their way to find you again.

Corporations change their site structure all the time. We constantly are updating and changing links for a thousand hotels under some big brand name. It's annoying and stupid but they are a corporation and that is what corporations do. They do stupid things. Some of them do this stupid thing every few months. A new marketing firm, a new manager or a new tech has to make an imprint on things so they change it. They don't realize that if they kept the same structure for years, they would benefit from more traffic and in turn reservations.

Arizona Green Hotels

We just added 4 green and environmentally friendly hotels today in Arizona.

Under Sedona green hotels, we now have the Bell Rock Inn, Junipine Creekside Resort, Los Abrigados Resort, the Southwest Inn at Sedona and the Wildflower Inn.

As always, when you make your reservation, please let them know you are making your decisions based on their environmental practices. When you are making a reservation at other hotels, ask them what they do to minimize their impact on the environment. Do they use florescent lights or even better, LED lights? During holiday season, do they use LED lights that use a fraction of the power of normal holiday lighting? Do they let you re-use your towel or sheets? Do they use recyclable products? There are many more things that can impact the environment but these are just a few.

Halloween Haunted Hotels

It's Halloween again and tis the day to check out our Haunted hotels section. We have recently added over 30 places and their stories and will continue adding more as we do the research. What better way to celebrate fall and Halloween than to spend the night in a real haunted place.

From California to Florida, we have some haunted lodging coast to coast so there is bound to be one within reasonable driving distance of where you are located.

Make Your Hotel More Green

How often do you change your sheets at home? How many towels do you use each day at home? Not three? So why let your hotel change every thing out every day you are staying there? We can help make normal hotels more of a green hotel while we are there. Keep your towels and sheets for your three night stay and you save 66% of the hotel's laundry emissions.

Hotel guests use double the utilities at hotels than they do at home. I admit to have taken longer showers and baths, lingering in the luxury at hotels. But the costs to the world are the same. You may be on vacation, celebrating something special, on the company dime or feel what you are paying in the nightly rate justifies using everything...but the impact on the environment comes out the same. And you can impact it.

Use the suggestion box and help make hotels more green:

Allow you to keep your linens for the stay.
Use eco friendly cleaning products.
Use recycled products wherever possible.
Use refillable toiletry dispensers.
Turn down AC and heat in empty rooms.
Use compact fluorescent light bulbs and upgrade exit signs to LED models.
Recycle
Use daylight as much as possible in public areas. Install skylights!
Offer discounted rates to environmental/outdoors related groups for meetings and events.
Don't print the bill when it can be emailed. Give us the option.

Flying Green

There really is no such thing as flying green. Flying is a huge waste of resources and pollution to our planet. But when you think you have to fly, there are a few things to think about.

Fly direct whenever possible. Landing and takeoffs consume the most fuel. Takeoffs can use 25% of the fuel for short flights. Try to avoid flights of 600 miles or less.

Can you take a train instead? It is the best way to go if you can spend the time and enjoy the countryside. Or even a car? The share of pollution for one person on a cross country flight is equivalent to driving a SUV for a full day and night.

Fly during daylight hours. Some studies suggest that contrails, the white water vapor lines in the sky trailing after a jet, trap heat and encourage the formation of high-altitude cirrus clouds which in turn holds more heat in the atmosphere.

Fly newer jets. They are more fuel efficient and if more people made this distinction, it could increase demand for newer planes.

One planet, one home, one future for humanity.

Southwest Airlines Dress Code

For the second time in recent months, Southwest Airlines has to apologize for enforcing a dress code they say doesn't exist.

Infringing on his right to free speech in America, an employee told him he had to change his T-shirt, turn it inside out, or get off the plane. He was wearing a fictional fishing shop T-shirt featuring the words, "Master Baiter."

He did change his shirt so he could get home without being delayed.

Southwest Airlines has already apologized recently to a college student who was wearing a denim miniskirt and a sweater over a tank top. She was told to change her outfit or get off a flight leaving San Diego.

So they say they don't have a dress code for passengers but they seem to be enforcing one anyway.

California Green Hotels

We added about 18 green and eco friendly hotels today in California and a couple in Arizona. We have another dozen to add in other states over the next day or two. The movement keeps moving forward as more and more places take action to minimize their impact on the planet.

When you make reservations, please let them know you are making your decisions based on their environmental practices. When you are making a reservation at other hotels, ask them what they do to minimize their impact on the environment. Do they use florescent lights? Do they allow you to re-use your towel or sheets during your stay? You probably don't wash your bedding every single day at home so why do it at a hotel?

Solar Powered Hotel

Did you know that the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Palo Alto is solar powered? It is the only solar powered hotel in California at this time. With all the roof space out there, we hope that more places will do this as well.

The installation of rooftop solar panels keeps the business activity environmentally friendly. This solar technology uses the sun's energy and illumination to provide electricity for heat, light and hot water, which means less consumption of fossil fuels as well as reduction of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Interstate Exit Guide

We've spent the last 13 months creating a guide to interstate exits for you. It is a rather crazy project in scope but it's well worth it for us. Recently, we were traveling I-8 in 116 degree weather. We were wondering about gas fill ups between Yuma, AZ and the San Diego metro area. Using our interstate exit guide, we could check exits and see what had what. We learned there is a decent gap in services between El Centro, CA and San Diego, CA. Only a few places to fuel up between there and the long hot climb over the mountains.

We made it easy to find hotels closest to a particular exit. We also added gas stations, restaurants, repair shops, common chain stores and any other place we could find in the phone books that is close to that exit. We tried to indicate the direction from the exit that the business was located as well. But always go by the signs on the exit ramps first, in case our GPS data was wrong.

How do you access the internet as you travel to use this information? There are many options. You can research in advance, the night before, from wireless access at restaurants and truck stops or from cellular internet connections as you drive. It is getting easier and easier to find the web on the road.

Another benefit is in this scenario. You find the hotels at the upcoming exit. You can then use AllStays to find the hotels, call direct and see if they have rooms. You can try getting a rate direct by phone, you can walk-in or book online. If you are not chain specific, you may look at all the hotels by the exit and get an idea of the price ranges before contacting them. Many times the rates will be different for each booking option. I've gotten much better rates sitting in the parking lot of a chain motel than walking through the door when they think you are desperate and not likely to drive down the road.

We will keep adding data to this interstate guide to make it more useful, such as links to the official locations so you can have the phone number and addresses of the various places.

Airport Hotels and Locations

Our guide to just about every airport is now online. You can find over 2,000 airports and airstrips all over the United States. Many are small airstrips that you may not want to know about unless you are a pilot. From there, you can click a link that will search for hotels closest to that airport. Whether they are inside the airport or 50 miles away in the countryside, we'll find it for you. Sometimes, you go into a smaller airport and are not as familiar with the small towns surrounding it. This will make it easier to get your bearings for that business meeting or family event.

River Rapids Lodging Search and Maps

Whether you go rafting, kayaking, boating or just like the sound of rushing water, AllStays.com created a new guide that may be of interest to you. Our new guide for river rapids across the United States includes the exact location on map and satellite views. We then make it easy to search for the nearest hotels from those rapids.

Camping is usually closer connect to river rapids than hotels but we also know you may want a nice bed before or after your trip. More importantly, you may want to drop family off at a hotel while you feel the rush of the water. You don't have to stay dry forever just because you have family that can't do what you want to do. There are many reasons we created this river rapids guide but mostly just because we wanted it ourselves. We hope you like it too.

Feel free spread the word to your group members. You can also send a quick email to rewards@allstays.com to get a $10 cash discount off your room rate for yourself and your group.

Hotels Near Baseball Parks

We have created a new way of finding your way to and around your favorite MLB teams home games. The season is getting late but our guide will remain for this year and beyond. Our guide to Major League Baseball stadiums and nearby hotels is online now. You can select by team name or by location on a map. The balloon that pops up on the map when select a team lets you get more information about the park. The map you can see has it's real GPS plotted location. Zoom in and see it on the satellite or map views. If you zoom in all the way, you can find parking lots and the way the roads look around the city.

From another link there you can find the closest available hotels with distances from that baseball park. And yet another link will put the baseball field and ALL hotels and motels on the map. This includes small independent motels and their phone numbers as well as the chains that are bookable anywhere.

For cross referencing, we also add this info to city pages. For example, if you look at our map of Chicago hotels, you'll see all the sporting venues highlighted on the map and the sidebar on the right side of the map.

Military Campgrounds & RV Parks

We have enhanced and relaunched our guide to Military Campgrounds and RV Parks. These are also referred to as FamCamps. Each campground has a different set of who qualifies to use it but the general idea behind it is provide lower cost camping options for military, veterans and their families.

We took as many as we could find (around 200 of them) and placed them on a United States map. (We zoomed it out more than usual so we don't forget the Alaska and Hawaii locations.) From there you can click on either the icon or the proper name of the facility on the right hand scroll bar to bring up more information. We link to websites when they exist, provide fee ranges, number of sites and seasons of operation.

If you already use or can take advantage of FamCamps, we highly recommend you take advantage of this guide whenever you can to help you find these alternatives to high cost rv parks.

Pacific Pride Locations

We created a new guide to finding Pacific Pride fueling locations. This new guide places over a thousand fill up stops on a interactive map so you can plan your routes.

You can find their official website here to see if you qualify. Pacific Pride commercial fueling sites are intended for commercial use. To be eligible to receive a Pacific Pride card to use at the pumps, customers are required to use a total of 2,400 gallons of fuel per year. Once you are approved, the Pacific Pride Card can be used at all Pacific Pride, PrideNet, and AmeriNet sites.

This guide ads to our comprehensive collection of mappings of other useful travel and truck type stops such as Flying J, Pilot, Petro, TA Travel Centers, Loves Travel Stops

Camping World Store Locations

Our guide to Camping World store locations is online and up to date. You can use this along with our other store guides to find what you need on the road. Our website is generally faster and less cluttered than large shopping brand websites. They are more interested in selling you something while we just want you to get your information and hit the road. Or be able to get the information timely while on a slow over the road connection.

Many of these locations will allow you to park overnight as well. Just make sure to ask first and do some shopping while there. They are not always the cheapest at regular price but the sales are very good. And the quality of items is better than equivalent items sold at Wal-Mart and other discount stores. For an example of this, we recently bought a cheap hose at Wal-Mart to replace a shorter Camping World hose. The new one from Wal-Mart is a piece of junk. It kinks up on the slightest bend or movement. So now we go back to the shorter hose or buy another one from Camping World.

NFL Game Hotels Easier to Find

We have created a new way of finding your way to and around your favorite NFL Teams game this season. Our guide to NFL stadiums and nearby hotels is online now. You can select by team name or by location on a map. The information balloon that pops up on the map then lets you get more stadium information. If you're like us, you sometimes get annoyed by the NFL team websites and their fancy slow loading designs. Sometimes you just need information in a hurry. From these links you can get directions, parking, and seating maps. And on the map you can see it's real GPS plotted location. Zoom in and see it on the satellite or map views. If you zoom in all the way, you can find parking lots and the way the roads look around the area.

Another link lets you find the closest available hotels with distances from that stadium. Yet another link will put the stadium and ALL hotels and motels on the map. This will include small independent motels and their phone numbers as well as the chains that are bookable with us as well as other major travel websites.

In the near future, we will have this feature set up for all other sports teams and events as well.

New Electronic Air Travel Security

New rules are being developed by the Department of Homeland Security which allow for passengers flying to the US to only have to register every year or two. Not before every flight as some feared. Washington is developing the new electronic travel authorization (ETA) system to improve security and not interfere with business travelers flying on short notice.

Hotel Internet Safety Tips

In this day and age of internet being a TV alternative, access should be
just as available as color television in your room. Some guests that are
asked to pay fees may look for dangerous free alternatives.

The more often you travel on business related trips, you may wonder why
many hotels are still charging for internet access. One website is now
putting this information up front for travelers.

We are hearing more and more complaints about this so we decided to try
to help. We were one of the first travel websites to list if a hotel had
high speed internet or not. It's still been difficult to know what the
policy is until you are on the premises.

It is not like a color TV in a room. Everyone assumes that one. Many
hotels will advertise internet access but not say if it's for free or
how much it may cost. A traveler may see internet access as an amenity,
listed amongst other common ones such as a pool, coffee or cable tv. So
a guest will book it, check in and then find a fee card in the room.

We recently had a case where a chain advertised free hotel high-speed
internet access with their brand name in magazine, tv and web ads. So we
made this change on the site accordingly. Then we are contacted by an
individual location saying that they charge $10 per 24 hour period. What
is a customer to do when the chains can't be straight with themselves?

Some people will say that business travelers should avoid these hotels
but it is difficult if one is already there when they find out about the
fee or have a meeting at that particular hotel. Convention center hotels
are often the worst offenders. The room rates are generally higher and
then they charge for every extra they can find. These hotels have
business travelers where they want them and charge accordingly. A hotel
with all the free amenities with a room rate at one third the price may
be just a couple miles away. Then one has to factor in extra travel
time, traffic and cost of a taxi, car rental or parking. Many luxury
hotels tend not to mention a fee up front because if a guest is staying
there at a high price, it is assumed they can afford paying extra for
internet, parking, newspapers and general resort fees.

Complain and complain loudly. Let them know on comment cards and at the
front desk that you won't be back. That no one in your business will be
back. That you will mention this on the convention survey so the whole
event could possibly relocate to another hotel,. Hotels are lowering
rates to be competitive on internet websites like ours and then charging
little fees for everything else, including things that should be free.

Even if travelers know the cost of internet access, is it working when
they get there? The network may be down or it is being upgraded in the
hotel. The frustrated guest may be out of luck without apologies. The
complaint is not on the same level as saying there is no electricity. It
may be critical for the business travelers visit but it's not yet an
important utility to the hotels.

A hotel charging a fee can actually be more dangerous as well. Upon
arrival, the guest may look up to see what wireless networks are
available. Instead of choosing the costly hotel option, they see other
nearby networks listed. Those networks may or may not be secure. As part
of a growing trend, these networks could just be someone spoofing a
network to get access to another computer and any information that is
sent through their fake network. This can in turn compromise the guests
data and even lead to identity theft.

It is very easy to set up a network or share ones internet connection
with others. Most people just see the list and try them until something
works. We've seen it many times in hotels and public places. Someone
will open a network and call it something deceptive. Maybe they will
imitate a big companies name or play on the cities name or nearby
location such as a convention center, coffee shop, monorail or airport.

If travelers are looking for alternatives, they can get a cellular data
card for their laptop with unlimited access. Depending on the phone and
plan they may also be able to connect the cell phone to a laptop and use
the internet. But sometimes reception is poor in hotel buildings. A
hotel guest won't know if it works until they've checked in.

Think about how often you travel and pay that $10 fee in a hotel. How
much time do you spend in airports and waiting rooms that could be spent
working? If you are in a business with traveling staff, you may come out
ahead buying a card for several people to share on various trips out of
the office. You are also generally more secure on a cell connection than
on a regular wireless connection as well. You can turn your wireless
card off so you are not visible to others and are not sending your data
through another nearby computer.