Hotel Destination Poll

[Olle]

Planning a road trip Orlando to NYC this morning I tried to book a hotel halfway. I noticed that destination charging density has not improved meaningfully since around 2015.
There are hotels at Superchargers, but that's not quite the answer if you arrive at bedtime and take off when you wake up. Unless you enjoy getting up in the night to move your car or waiting 40 minutes in the morning.

So even though there are very few choices I refuse to book a hotel without destination charging.
If I owned a hotel I would install destination chargers in every parking spot and just rake in the cash from all the extra customers and higher rates. That's not what most hotels are doing. How can that be? Especially at hotels along major highways you'd think that a lot of people on roadtrips would stay the night, no?
Or am I the only one who cares about charging when I stay somewhere? Curious to see what others think about this.

Side note: Here is a picture of Tesla chargers along I 95 halfway between FL and NY. Most of these are restaurants and some of the few hotels only have one or two plugs. You need at least 4 to have a reasonable chance of getting one, in my experience. Plugshare.com has a few more hotels which is where I found the hotel I ultimately booked this time (Holiday Inn Lumberton)

 

[RTPEV]

Sometimes you just don't have a choice. For example, I am staying at the one and only hotel in town for a wedding next month, and they don't have a charging station. If I'm lucky I can use a 120V outlet, but based on past experience, I don't count on that (there are only two outlets at either end of the hotel and if you don't get the right spot, you're out of luck).

At other times we have been traveling to an area that may have properties that do have relatively easy access to charging, but it's not just the distance, but also the cost that factors in.

And then other times sometimes you are traveling with friends who have a strong preference for a certain property (maybe it is location, or loyalty programs, or whatever).

But yes, generally when I travel I have a STRONG preference for a property that has charging available, especially when on a trip like the one you describe where you are more of a transient guest and want to make sure you wake up with 100% charge and no extra stops at a Supercharger. I'm the same way and I will certainly go out of my way to find an appropriate hotel.

And by the way, thank you for reminding me to call the other hotel we are staying at on this trip--it's a new hotel and so I don't see any indication on Plugshare, but the front desk did say they had a charging station when I booked the room (this is the hotel all the wedding guests are staying at, so again, that aspect of it does take precedence over my desire for a charging station). Given that front desk people are not always the most knowledgeable (maybe they thought I was talking about a phone charger or something), I thought I would call again and ask a more pointed question (is it a Tesla or some other brand?). As I said, front desk people are not always going to have first hand knowledge of this, but she did offer to go outside and check the brand for me, and she said it said ChargePoint (which made me feel much better given that she wouldn't have known that name anyway, although the station doesn't show up on ChargePoint's website, which does have me a bit worried). I also confirmed with her that it's located in an area not likely to be taken by other guests. I will also call them in the morning before I arrive and ask them if they can place a cone in the parking spot as many properties will do. This is very important! Until there are charging stations in a multitude of spots, always at least ask for them to do this for you--many are used to this request.

I have no hesitation of choosing a property that only has one or two J1772's, although my preference would be towards one that had excellent reviews on Plugshare regarding not being ICEd and the station actually being functional. I have had excellent experience at a Marriott TownPlace Suites in Frederick, MD that had two EVSEs in a somewhat out of the way area in the back of the hotel. Granted, I haven't been there in years because my son now lives in that area, but that's just one example of a hotel that actually gets it. Hilton branded hotels are definitely moving in the right direction, but they are not necessarily going down the destination charger path, so don't limit yourself to using the Tesla FindUs map--be willing to look on Plugshare (which should also have destination chargers listed and offers a trip planner with amenity and Plugscore filters to help you find candidate properties).

 

[Earl]

Unfortunately, even having destination charging is no-longer a huge deal since the chance of it being in use or ICEd is fairly high these days so you may not be able to use it even if there is one.

 

[Olle]

Unfortunately, even having destination charging is no-longer a huge deal since the chance of it being in use or ICEd is fairly high these days so you may not be able to use it even if there is one.

Sometimes you just don't have a choice. For example, I am staying at the one and only hotel in town for a wedding next month, and they don't have a charging station. If I'm lucky I can use a 120V outlet, but based on past experience, I don't count on that (there are only two outlets at either end of the hotel and if you don't get the right spot, you're out of luck).

At other times we have been traveling to an area that may have properties that do have relatively easy access to charging, but it's not just the distance, but also the cost that factors in.

And then other times sometimes you are traveling with friends who have a strong preference for a certain property (maybe it is location, or loyalty programs, or whatever).

But yes, generally when I travel I have a STRONG preference for a property that has charging available, especially when on a trip like the one you describe where you are more of a transient guest and want to make sure you wake up with 100% charge and no extra stops at a Supercharger. I'm the same way and I will certainly go out of my way to find an appropriate hotel.

And by the way, thank you for reminding me to call the other hotel we are staying at on this trip--it's a new hotel and so I don't see any indication on Plugshare, but the front desk did say they had a charging station when I booked the room (this is the hotel all the wedding guests are staying at, so again, that aspect of it does take precedence over my desire for a charging station). Given that front desk people are not always the most knowledgeable (maybe they thought I was talking about a phone charger or something), I thought I would call again and ask a more pointed question (is it a Tesla or some other brand?). As I said, front desk people are not always going to have first hand knowledge of this, but she did offer to go outside and check the brand for me, and she said it said ChargePoint (which made me feel much better given that she wouldn't have known that name anyway, although the station doesn't show up on ChargePoint's website, which does have me a bit worried). I also confirmed with her that it's located in an area not likely to be taken by other guests. I will also call them in the morning before I arrive and ask them if they can place a cone in the parking spot as many properties will do. This is very important! Until there are charging stations in a multitude of spots, always at least ask for them to do this for you--many are used to this request.

I have no hesitation of choosing a property that only has one or two J1772's, although my preference would be towards one that had excellent reviews on Plugshare regarding not being ICEd and the station actually being functional. I have had excellent experience at a Marriott TownPlace Suites in Frederick, MD that had two EVSEs in a somewhat out of the way area in the back of the hotel. Granted, I haven't been there in years because my son now lives in that area, but that's just one example of a hotel that actually gets it. Hilton branded hotels are definitely moving in the right direction, but they are not necessarily going down the destination charger path, so don't limit yourself to using the Tesla FindUs map--be willing to look on Plugshare (which should also have destination chargers listed and offers a trip planner with amenity and Plugscore filters to help you find candidate properties).

Excellent tip about calling them to put out a cone, thanks.

 

[Earl]

Excellent tip about calling them to put out a cone, thanks.

Cones help with ICEing but not other legitimate EVs.
Eventually, a reservation system for charging spots, just like rooms, will be needed. But that's in the future.

 

[HelloItsMe]

When I took a road trip around Illinois in Oct 2020 in my Tesla M3, I looked up locations on Plugshare and only booked hotels that offered charging. Two places had Tesla Wall Chargers, another had off-brand J1772 chargers. There was one which had NEMA 14-50 outlets on the light poles in the parking lot. All of these worked fine, and the charging was free. I had no problem getting a available spot to charge at that time (fewer people were traveling then).

I made sure to thank the hotel front desk staff at each hotel and let them know that I chose their property because they offered charging.

If I am driving my car and staying at a hotel overnight, I am definitely going to pick one that offers charging.

 

[aNullValue]

I voted yes. I have in the past, and I'm sure I will again in the future. But my reality is more nuanced than poll choices permit:

1. if no hotels in the immediate area have destination charging, then i don't have much of a choice.
2. if there is supercharging nearby, then that deprioritizes my want for destination charging. but if those superchargers are known to be hyper-busy round-the-clock, maybe not. i've just never encountered that.
3. if i'm going to be doing something during the day at a place that has charging that i find acceptable (be that supercharging or destination charging), i really don't care about destination charging at the hotel.

All else being equal: I'd prefer that every hotel had a huge block of chargers (I don't care at all whether they're Tesla or J1772). But I'm definitely not going to pay (much of) a premium for it *unless* there's no plausible alternative.

 

[RTPEV]

I made sure to thank the hotel front desk staff at each hotel and let them know that I chose their property because they offered charging.

Good point. I always make it a point to ask hotel staff if they have EV charging (even when I know they don't) so they at least hear the request often enough to speak to management about it.

 

[theothertom]

There are hotels at Superchargers, but that's not quite the answer if you arrive at bedtime and take off when you wake up. Unless you enjoy getting up in the night to move your car or waiting 40 minutes in the morning.

Usually, those hotels offer breakfast. I get up, move my car and plug in, and eat breakfast. After I finish eating, I move my car, go to the room and get ready to leave.

We try to stay at a hotel with a level 2 charger AND a nearby supercharger. That way, if the charger is in use, or not working, or ICEd, we have another option for charging. We have stopped at a hotel with, say, 50% charge and left without charging the next day. After the morning coffee has worked through our system, we're ready to stop anyway and we use that time to charge.

 

[RayK]

Voted "Yes" but want to fully explain.

Yes, I would prefer to stay at a hotel/motel that has destination charging but last week when I was in Ashland, OR we did not have it. Before the trip I scoped out the area and found that there was a motel in town that has destination charging but they could not accommodate us for the days we were planning to be there (along with a puppy that my daughter was bringing). The other two destination chargers seemed to be at B-n-Bs.

I found that there were several free L2 charging stations in town, some located directly across the street on the SOU campus from my wife's favorite place to stay, which is where we booked. There was also a CHAdeMO station a couple of miles away (I have the adapter). So, I figured no issues for us. Used the WCEH CHAdeMO station twice while I was there, which turned out to be free. Closest Supercharger was in Medford (~12 miles one way) which I used for a few minutes while waiting to meet up with my daughter who was driving in from Brookings with said puppy and boyfriend.

Earlier this year I drove to Brookings, OR and stayed at a motel next to the RV park my daughter is currently at. They had a marine-type outlet (CS8269) for EV charging which did me no good since I didn't have an adapter for it (I do now). The RV park wouldn't allow me to plug into their 30A or 50A outlets overnight (and yes, I did offer to pay one night's rent for a space). But again, no problem since there was a CHAdeMO station in town, also free, that I used several times I was there. The southern west coast of Oregon, along highway 101, is fairly devoid of public Superchargers. The first one after crossing the CA-OR border is in Bandon which is about 85 miles so the closest one to Brookings is in Crescent City, CA, 25 miles away. There are a couple of destination chargers but as usual, they are to be used by customers (re: paying guests) only.

A trip several years ago to Glendale, CA we stayed at a motel which did not have any EV charging but there was the mall right across the street which had Superchargers. Filled up a couple of times there (which for some reason also was free since the transactions never showed up on my account).

The only other place we have traveled to and stayed at that didn't have any means of charging on site was at Yosemite in Sept. 2019. Charged in Groveland and planned to use the destination charger next to the Ahwahnee Hotel which fortunately worked out as nobody was using it both times I pulled up. We always stay just outside the park at the Yosemite View Lodge, which did not have EV charging but will have Superchargers on site supposedly sometime late this year (it's been a moving target; was first listed as Q4 2021, it is now slated to open Q4 2022).

 

[Earl]

stay at a hotel with a level 2 charger AND a nearby supercharger

Yep, without reservations (and I don't know of anyplace one can get a reservation), that's probably the best plan today.

 

[animorph]

My preference is for a hotel with a supercharger. I charge to 90% while we are moving into the room, then park in a regular spot for the night. Before breakfast I start charging again with a 100% charge limit. It gets pretty close by the time we're ready to leave.

If that is not possible I just pick a hotel along the route and charge a little extra at the last supercharger before the hotel to allow for the nightly drain. No hotel/charging time overlap and no 100% charge, but the drive timing is very close to no hotel stop at all.

The two times I have counted on hotel destination charging it was a little tricky waiting for an open charger. OK if you just needed to charge sometime during the night or day. I wouldn't want to depend on it, but it would be compatible with my second choice, allowing a top-up charge to 100% without an extra wait.

 

[bradtem]

You should value charging at a hotel as equal to at least the cost of the supercharger (which has gone up quite a bit and now is as much as $25 for 50kwh) plus some cost for your time $10 to $20. So call it $40 if you are empty. So if there is a hotel with a charger and it's less than $40 more than an equivalent hotel, you probably should take it. It's nicer on your battery too.

For the hotel, the 50kwh may only cost them $5 to $8 at night, so it's a good deal, they give you $40 of value at a cost of $5.

However, to have this value you need to be able to guarantee the charger, which almost not hotel has a mechanism to do, though many get such light usage that it's not a problem. I have never had a problem.

One way they could guarantee would be to say, "If you reserve and ask for charging, and it's full, you get $30 off" but an actual reservation system would be good. Ideally they should put two parking spaces at each charger, and support having the hotel staff come move the plugs when the first car is full. Easy with J1772, Teslas don't yet support that (they should) and you would have to give them you card to let them unplug you. In which case the card could let them valet your car in (no need for 2 spaces per charger.)

Tesla could add a feature where you say "at this location, allow anybody to unplug when I am full / after N hours." They could even have a database of hotels where that is the policy and allow this by default at those chargers (offices and hotels.)

 

[avs007]

Honestly, I don't even bother with looking at destination charging. I'll just stay at a hotel that's affiliated with my rewards, since I travel quite a bit for work, so I might as well take advantage of the rewards I've accumulated... As far as costs go, I noticed the hotel I stay at in Vancouver BC all the time, actually has L2 charging, but when I looked at the per hour rate, it was actually more expensive then going to the supercharger that is 1/2 mile away....

When I road trip and stay in a hotel, I'll just look for an affiliated hotel that is nearby a SC or nearby an EA station..

 

[Olle]

You should value charging at a hotel as equal to at least the cost of the supercharger (which has gone up quite a bit and now is as much as $25 for 50kwh) plus some cost for your time $10 to $20. So call it $40 if you are empty. So if there is a hotel with a charger and it's less than $40 more than an equivalent hotel, you probably should take it. It's nicer on your battery too.

For the hotel, the 50kwh may only cost them $5 to $8 at night, so it's a good deal, they give you $40 of value at a cost of $5.

However, to have this value you need to be able to guarantee the charger, which almost not hotel has a mechanism to do, though many get such light usage that it's not a problem. I have never had a problem.

One way they could guarantee would be to say, "If you reserve and ask for charging, and it's full, you get $30 off" but an actual reservation system would be good. Ideally they should put two parking spaces at each charger, and support having the hotel staff come move the plugs when the first car is full. Easy with J1772, Teslas don't yet support that (they should) and you would have to give them you card to let them unplug you. In which case the card could let them valet your car in (no need for 2 spaces per charger.)

Tesla could add a feature where you say "at this location, allow anybody to unplug when I am full / after N hours." They could even have a database of hotels where that is the policy and allow this by default at those chargers (offices and hotels.)

This! $40 premium based on SC price makes a lot of sense actually. I was ready to pay around $100 extra as I browsed hotels on my latest trip, because of SC cost and as you said, easier on the battery. As someone who doesn't eat breakfast (intermittent fasting) moving the car to SC in the morning would be a loss of time.

 

[Olle]

Just came back from my trip up North. Managed to get hotels with destination charging both ways. As many of you recommended, I called ahead and asked them to reserve the spot, so thanks for that tip . They weren't able to reserve, but they also said the chargers were almost never full. Sure enough, I was the only one charging when I arrived at midnight, both times.
Both hotels had 6 kW charging. For our Model Y, that was not quite enough. Arrived with both times with about 4% and had only 85% in the morning. Hadn't really though about this before, but next time I will look for well over 6 kW if there is a choice.

 

[Olle]

reading through the comments above I recognize that the answer depends on what kind of trip one is doing. If let’s say it’s a trip well within the range of the car, it seems ok with re-parking at an SC as you check in or are having breakfast, or maybe arrive with a 50% charge or so and not need to charge at all.

If on the other hand you are pushing the limits of the car and your sleep schedule, then every minute counts. The drive NYC to Orlando with only one night stop was a perfect example IMHO. We drove my Y this time and as comfortable of road trip car as it is, it’s also brushing up against its absolute max range on the 80-85 mph highway stretches. Had to do multiple SC stops. Luckily there were plenty of V3 chargers so each time we came out of bathroom or eating, the car was charged enough. Approaching midnight we encountered the usual choice between lowering the speed or making another SC stop. Lowered the speed a little and targeted arriving with 5% and went starlight to bed. Realized that moving the car to and from an SC would not have felt compelling at that time. Same in the morning since we prefer to skip breakfast. Conclusion is, if I do this trip again I would absolutely prioritize destination charger hotel more than I had thought before.