If you don't already have a hotel room for Gillette, be prepared for sticker shock. I just called four of the cheaper hotels and here's the prices per night without tax for 17-20 July 08.
Super 8 - $149.00
Comfort Inn - $229.99
Motel 6 - Sold Out
Budget Inn - $175.95
I booked a room at the Best Value in August for $100/night under the MOA "special" rate. I'm sure it's a palace.
Been through them parts a number of times. With all due respect to the locals, Gillette is little more than a whistle stop. There aren't a lot of rooms so there will be no price competition. This one might be under the radar and is half way decent if still available. http://www.national9gillette.com/ Moorcroft is about 50 miles east and has a handful of motels within striking distance.
The Holiday Inn Express had only a few rooms left when I checked it out the day after the rally site was announced. Close to $200 a night but I don't mind when I know what to expect. Sold out now.
I always get a kick out of the folks buying $25K bikes and then worrying about an extra $200-300 over the course of 3-4 days. Probably putting no-name regular gas in it too. I'm sure you can find a number of $39.00 rooms on the way there and back to make up for the "sticker shock" in Gillette. Balanced against the National and all it has to offer it's an excellent value proposition in a wonderful part of country populated by very friendly folks who consider your coming a very big deal.
Bob Morrow
Purveyor of Fine Tarmac
Expresso Riders MOA#340
A good share of our rider are fixed income retires with bikes that cost no where near $25k. With tax, four days at the Comfort Inn in Gillette will cost close to $1000. Consider the fact this hotel goes for only $60 a night normally, the cost is actually close to $750 more than regular prices. Belittling anyone that is unwilling to pay these prices is offensive.Originally Posted by Tallyho
That comfort inn doesn't usually run $60/ night, at least not anymore. Last year after the WI rally I went through Gillette and the comfort inn wanted something like $170/night. I ended up paying something like $110/night to stay at the less posh Day's inn. Those prices, unfortunately, are not uncommon in tourist travel areas, and yes that includes Gillette. That's what I saw on much of the ride from PDX to WI.
It does look like they're charging an extra 50% during the rally.
scott conary - BMW... err...umm... bikes are dangerous
portland, oregon
www.scottconary.com | new paintings
I already booked a place at Camp Beers
-=Brad
It isn't what you ride, it is if you ride
You are correct. I just called the Comfort Inn in Gillette an there rate is currently $149. Outrageous! I stay often across from the Pentagon in Crystal City at the Hilton and Marriott for the same price the Comfort Inn is charging during the rally. I'm from South Dakota and regularly stay in Black Hills, the rates in Rapid City is half those numbers. Summer rates are around $100. This should have been a BIG DISCRIMINATOR when selecting a rally location. Again, we have a lot of fixed income members that simply can't afford these rates.That comfort inn doesn't usually run $60/ night, at least not anymore. Last year after the WI rally I went through Gillette and the comfort inn wanted something like $170/night. I ended up paying something like $110/night to stay at the less posh Day's inn. Those prices, unfortunately, are not uncommon in tourist travel areas, and yes that includes Gillette. That's what I saw on much of the ride from PDX to WI.
It does look like they're charging an extra 50% during the rally.
Ok folks...if you looking for $100 a night hotel rooms in Gillette, The Americas Best Value Inn in Gillette, WY still has a couple left. They won't last long.
Last year, Rapid City prices were the same as those that I found in Gillette.
The problem doesn't appear to be that the prices were unusually high from the start but that the hotels jacked the prices. This is a regular problem wherever the MOA goes and one of the reasons the board is reluctant to release the next year's location too soon. It's a simple case of supply and demand. Added into the mix is that there's been a boom in the energy business in the area - oil, coal, gas. The priciest place I stayed last year was a La Quinta in Rifle, an area where the gas fields have brought in huge numbers of essentially migrant workers working in an industry with big cash to burn -rim shot-. This boom and its impact on local hotel prices is not something the MOA could necessarily anticipate.
scott conary - BMW... err...umm... bikes are dangerous
portland, oregon
www.scottconary.com | new paintings
This guy is to funny
Go easy on him he is a newbie after all
RV Solution
Room Rate sticker shock, for sure.
Solution: Pool together and rent a dozen or so motorhomes for the week of the National. They can sleep eight comfortably and have all the hook-ups and amenities. It's something each major local club can origanize and delegate for their members attending.
All that's missing is a willing sherpa/driver.
Think about it.....
J.K.
P.S. You will be glad you did, if and when afternoon thunderstorms boil up.
Last year, I stayed in Beaver Dam (45 miles from the Rally) for $60 a night sharing a large room with two others. Each nights we stayed, there was a number of empty rooms. Folks looking for hotels could have gone to Milwaukee or countless other locations within 50 miles of West Bend.
In this case, Sheridan and Sturgis are both 100 miles away. Both are fairly small towns with tourist season rates. There are no big cities with large numbers of hotels.
So...hopefully, the 2009 location will be at a location like Loveland, Castle Rock, Estes Park, etc...that provides an alternative for lodging and great riding. ANYONE LISTENING? Again, the high cost of hotels is not an issue for me. For me, it simply boils down to is the rally worth the overall cost of the event or would I be better off riding with a small group of riders to another more scenic location for much less. However, for many of our members, they are low or fixed income and simple can't afford $200 a night hotels. Hotel availability and costs should be a big discriminator when determining future rally sites.
Being from South Dakota, I have NEVER paid over $100 for a hotel in the Black Hills. There are many locally owned hotels that provide good rates. I have also never paid over $100 for a hotel in Wyoming. I stayed a at a great hotel in Cody across from the Museum for $80 a couple years ago in the middle for tourist season. I've also stayed in Estes Park at the height of the tourist season for under $100 a night. I did pay $150 this year for hotel in Eagle Plains, Yukon. Since it was the only hotel for 450 miles between Dawson and Inuvik, NWT, I understood why. But Gillette, WY??? Any sane people gets back on the bike and contiues east or west. If you stay along interstates where supply and demand is a problem (exactly where the rally is located), you run into this problem. I do everything I can to avoid the interstates.
Last edited by kenk; 10-18-2007 at 02:48 PM.
Room Rate sticker shock, for sure.
Solution: Pool together and rent a dozen or so motorhomes for the week of the National. They can sleep eight comfortably and have all the hook-ups and amenities. It's something each major local club can origanize and delegate for their members attending.
All that's missing is a willing sherpa/driver.
Think about it.....
J.K.
P.S. You will be glad you did, if and when afternoon thunderstorms boil up.
That's what we're doing.
Dave Swider
Marin County, CA
Some bikes. Some with motors, some without.
Why don't you just try the locals! It's been don before. If the nationals High school rodeo Kids can, can't YOU? Out at Cam-Plex they have lots of spot for all these trailers and campers and motor homes that are parked all year. Except for hunting! What the rodeo kids do, (from all over the nation) is put in ads in the local newspaper and ask to rent a camper for that week that they are here. The locals take the campers out to Cam-Plex and set them up with/for you to rent. You just need to get with Cam-Plex and the local and just DO IT!!!!!!!! The local paper is the Gillette News-Record (307) 682-9306 web page www.gillettenewsrecord.com .No one on this MOA boad saw this coming.. So, If you need to stay somewhere els. Take a look at a map! Look at Moorcroft,WY only 30 miles to the East. Also look at Wright, WY 37 miles South has one motel. Look West 68 miles is Buffalo,WY at the base of the Big Horn Mt's. Lot of nice places s to stay! Just North of there is Story,WY. Also try Upton,Devils Tower,Sundance, and Newcastle,WY. I hope this helps!
04 R1150RT silver-Richard K7TNT DN74-well, hang in there! Goin' down that long lonesome highway! Gillette, it's more than a shave.
Rharrod, you are bringing the A game for sure.Why don't you just try the locals! It's been don before. If the nationals High school rodeo Kids can, can't YOU? Out at Cam-Plex they have lots of spot for all these trailers and campers and motor homes that are parked all year. Except for hunting! What the rodeo kids do, (from all over the nation) is put in ads in the local newspaper and ask to rent a camper for that week that they are here. The locals take the campers out to Cam-Plex and set them up with/for you to rent. You just need to get with Cam-Plex and the local and just DO IT!!!!!!!! The local paper is the Gillette News-Record (307) 682-9306 web page www.gillettenewsrecord.com .
Sig? What's a Sig?
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