Searching for hotels with cycle parking?

[mjr]

Is it any easier yet? What do you do?

I'm looking mainly for help with neighbouring countries because at least the UK has two chains that nearly always accept bikes (Travelodge and Premier Inn main brand) and the CUK "Cyclists Welcome" list. France has accueil vélo and Germany has Bett+bike, but is there anything like that list for NL, or BE?

Internationally, it's possible to search Booking's reviews for Bike easily but that's only by clicking into each property so it's tedious to do. Cycle.travel has some starred "Bike-friendly" hotels and hostels on its map but it seems quite cautious.

[roubaixtuesday]

Is it any easier yet? What do you do?

I'm looking mainly for help with neighbouring countries because at least the UK has two chains that nearly always accept bikes (Travelodge and Premier Inn main brand) and the CUK "Cyclists Welcome" list. France has accueil vélo and Germany has Bett+bike, but is there anything like that list for NL, or BE?

Internationally, it's possible to search Booking's reviews for Bike easily but that's only by clicking into each property so it's tedious to do. Cycle.travel has some starred "Bike-friendly" hotels and hostels on its map but it seems quite cautious.

I've always just turned up, and generally found they'll manage something, most places being extremely helpful, even if there's more than one.

Worst experience recently was having to chain up the bike on railings in front of reception on a main road in Lyon once last year, but that felt pretty safe as it was extremely public.

I guess it would be much harder if you're a big group.

[mjr]

Yes, I don't know about a big group, but there's likely to be more than four of us, which is more than some luggage rooms behind receptions will accept. Maybe taking a CTC bag or velosock is more likely to get the bikes allowed into rooms.

[mxg01]

My usual approach is check the hotel website and/or phone them and/or look at reviews. You can usually find out that they'll have a secure place.

I've tried the 'search the Booking.com reviews' method and it works but you don't know if they have space and nobody has mentioned it on a review. I've emailed Booking.com to get them to add a 'secure bike parking' option to the search but never heard anything back.

Hotels are usually fine if you just turn up. Most seem very happy to help. I haven't stayed in many hotels in NL with a bike but the ones I did had parking, often in the underground garage.

[MrsHJ]

I look for places that clearly have outdoors space eg in the countryside, have a garden in the photos, also cyclists reviews, on booking look at the questions that have previously been asked about the property. If no info I usually email/message to ask. I have refundable bookings so I can switch on the odd occasion it’s a no. I did mess up this year - once in 3 weeks and it was a pain- there was a solution but it wasn’t great so it is worth checking with the hotel.

As a rule of thumb I find the vast majority are fine but different countries have different approaches- in Italy they assume it’s fine for your steed to be parked up in their open access car park on a bike racks, in the USA they usually assume you’ll have it in your room.

[horizon]

I don't know the answer to this (I've mainly cycle-camped abroad) but I think it was in the back of my mind on my recent trip in the UK. I decided to take my folder. It's a brilliant little bike and I can get four panniers (two front and two back) plus a bar bag on it and something more on the rack. It's got lots of gears (2 x 9), all the lighting I need and so forth. So all in all, fit for the job. But nevertheless not what I would have chosen a few years ago.

What changed my mind were images of Travelodge lifts, GWR bike compartments and relatives' guest rooms. Suddenly it was my passport to social respectability and acceptability. The giant piece of engineering that is the full size bike, dwarfing the ten-carriage IET trains and the 70-room Travelodges, became a modest piece of hand luggage, welcome wherever I went. It fulfilled everyone's prejudices about bikes being better when folded, neat and seemingly inconsequential.

The irony of course is that even folded bikes have the same wet, oily chains and gears, the same muddy tyres and many of the same bits sticking out and catching people's legs. But somehow, small is beautiful.

So I would recommend folding bikes for your trip .

[millimole]

I don't take a bike with me any more, but I try to ask about cycle parking when I remember.

Two reasons - I try to put the answer in my review as an aid to people like the OP, and secondly to raise the awareness of the need among hotel operators.

My guesstimate is that 9/10 hotels will readily oblige with somewhere secure, the other 1/10 have never even thought of it as a question.

I suggest that we all try to ask the question whether cycling or not.

[bohrsatom]

I don't think it's any easier, I've just got better at it.

From looking at a listing you can get a hunch about whether a hotel will be bike friendly. Bigger hotels with meeting rooms and underground parking will likely find you space somewhere; smaller ones on the main square of a large city with reception on the first floor probably won't, but of course there are exceptions.
A quick search of the booking.com reviews can help, but often there's no info. If the hotel has an official website I'll check that out too as they often have more detail than booking.com. And if there's no info and I'm still at home planning my trip then I'll fire off a few emails.

The ADFC Bett+Bike is a quick way to be certain you'll have no issues, but on my trip last year I found the room rates tended to be higher than the average for the area, so as ever there's a trade off between convenience and cost. I also think that to be bett+bike affiliated you have offer extra services like a repair kit so many hotels with a garage but no other special interest in cyclists wouldn't be able to apply (yet I'd be perfectly happy to stay there myself).

In NL I've found secure bike parking at hotels to be less common than other countries. I figure it must have something to do with there being so many cyclists but I'm not totally sure why. Many towns/cities have free guarded bike storage provided by the municipality, where a key fob and barcode stuck to the bike prove ownership and you can't leave without getting both scanned by the guard.

Generally speaking though, just turning up works out fine. Over the years we've spent countless nights in hotels and almost everywhere we've been has found us space, from leaving the bikes with the concierge at a 4* hotel in Portugal to nestled under the stairs at a small b&b in the centre of Bonn

[simonhill]

The photos on Booking or Google review can be helpful, but still need to trawl through them.

I've rarely had a problem with one bike. Four is starting to make it more difficult.

[st599_uk]

I have a bit of Tyvek that's multi-purpose on tours, one use is using it as a mat to keep the floor clean - helps convince receptionsists I'm not goint to ruin the floor.

Only place I had problems with was in Köln - luckily I hade another 30mins of free cancellation. Cancelled, got a cheap deal in the 4* next door.

Best chain I've used was Niu - had a locked cycle park. Needed reception to activate your keycard, and inside was a load of bike stands and a repair station.

[tomsumner49]

On a trip to the Netherlands last summer everywhere we stayed had some space for bikes

The best was a Van Der Valk Hotel (in Hoorn) which had a large storage room accessible with room key card (it was where they stored their rental bikes too). It looks like quite a few of this chains hotels provide secure bike parking, but I can't find a comprehensive list anywhere on their website.

I have not used it, but this website says there is a "Fietsers Welkom!" scheme in the Netherlands with locations shown on their route planner.
https://www.hollandcyclingroutes.com/pr ... nd-lodging

[mjr]

Thanks for the feedback so far. Here's a combined answer, which I hope is OK.

Thanks for the info on Fietsers Welkom. It looks very limited for accommodation and mainly hostels and campsites, but it's a start and I hope it improves. As with the Accueil Vélo and Bett+Bike schemes, I'd probably be willing to pay a bit more to save some time contacting hotels to check. I'd take a punt and just turn up more often if it was just me or two of us, but I think many more might overload unprepared hotels.

Thanks to millimole for still asking even when not taking a bike. Above and beyond!

I have a folding bike but the more upright riding position and lack of hand positions means touring on it would reduce my daily mileage even further. I'd also have to do something to fit a little more luggage, which might compromise the fold. So I prefer to use a diamond frame, which I don't mind lifting if I must and there's space: fortunately, I've never seen anything as bad as the Hitachi train cupboards abroad, and Flirts, Electrostars and Aventras can take me to the ports.

I'm less worried about stays out in the countryside, where there's few passing thieves and you can often see on the photos if there's a garage or similar to lock to, but if I'm staying a few days somewhere, I like a choice of visitor attractions and food places, which usually means at least a town if not a city.

[Lovecycle]

I normally book my accommodation via Booking.com and always ensure I have free cancellation when booking any rooms.
When making the reservation you have an option to contact the hotel/accommodation which I always do explaining I'm travelling by bicycle and I would like a safe storage area for bike(s).
I always get a response and pretty much 100% of the time they will have a safe place to store your bike.
If you were to get a negative reply regarding a safe place to store your bike you can cancel your booking without any cost and then try another accommodation.
I've only had to do this once when a hotel in St Malo, France wanted to charge for bicycle storage!
In fact I rarely need to lock my bike up when on tour on mainland Europe.
Happy touring!

[Navrig]

I cycled Santander to Athens and just turned up at hostels, hotels and rooms. Everywhere was accommodating and only once was I, initially, worried. The hostel in Montpelier was undergoing a fit out and had no storage at ground level. The basement was difficult to get to. However the Spanish guy on reception of the French hostel speaking perfect English to me!! walked me round to the train station where there was a free, locked, high security fence, CCTV monitored compound. I chained my bike to a bike support and left it for 2 or 3 nights without any worry.

In a couple of studio apartments (Pau & Aix-en-Provence) I had to carry everything up 3 floors.

In one guesthouse on a Croatian island my bike was stored in a large cupboard along with the local ATM.

[Mtb tourer]

We are in Portugal on tour, dirt tracks and GRs and the bikes are filthy due to the water from last few weeks. The have had so much that one big dam is at capacity and running off the excess . France Spain Portugal most hotels don't bother or care if your bike is dirty. Not like the UK where turning up at a hotel with a bike is a nuisance to them. Look for the Garage in the reviews, lots have storage rooms and if not you can keep it in the room. Airbnb can be a problem, lots of of times they are up flights of stairs. Today our bike are in a conference room, nice 4 star hotel as it's the only one in town.