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Firearm friendly hotel chain?

carlsbad

Lions don't lose sleep over the opinions of sheep.
I have used Hilton Hotels for my travel for the past few years--the Homewood suites and similar work fine for taking my son to golf tournaments---buffet breakfast and plenty of room for 2 to sleep. And then I can use them for business travel too in whatever city I'm in.

Now I'm traveling less for golf and more for shooting and I'm told Hilton has a no-firearms policy.

So is there a chain that is firearm friendly? Marriott? Best western? Other?

thanks.
 
Can't say I have any info - other than to say I book a motel single story - not a hotel - back the truck up to a corner unit.
dozens of times. load guns in, clean em , even tumble brass... leave it clean, open a window. respectfully. of course, I clean guns in the field usually. no need to brjng in.

Take the patches out to the garbage ASAP , so it is good to go. year after year...same place.
I can't imagine there is ANY chain that advocates bringing firearms into a room, on the record; upon your declaration.

a gray area. glad to hear what you learn...
 
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I have used Hilton Hotels for my travel for the past few years--the Homewood suites and similar work fine for taking my son to golf tournaments---buffet breakfast and plenty of room for 2 to sleep. And then I can use them for business travel too in whatever city I'm in.

Now I'm traveling less for golf and more for shooting and I'm told Hilton has a no-firearms policy.

So is there a chain that is firearm friendly? Marriott? Best western? Other?

thanks.
Don't know for sure but like 10ring said get a motel. I've taken guns into hotels but at the hour I went in it wasn't that busy. I hunt out of town and where I hunt it's mostly motels. I'm pretty sure Marriott is not firearm friendly. In a motel you can generally pull up to where your rom is and go straight in.
 
Little off topic but want to share this. Son started college this fall at a small college and the campus police department will store guns for kids!!!!:D Friend of son has been going squirrel hunting so he stops at campus police department to get his shotgun, goes squirrel hunting, stops back and they lock it up. So I knew this was coming when son ask if he could take shotgun back with him next time he was home :)
 
Only chain I know of that is anti-gun across the board, has reported guests to the police no less, are Trump properties. Really.

Most hotel chains are really vague about it because they don't want to get in the middle of all this. I mostly do Marriott because of loyalty programs (used to travel near 100% of the time), and have never seen a no-gun sign, or heard anything else about it. Nor, however, do I ask or tell. Never had a problem, even when carrying pretty gun-shaped cases, or cardboard boxes that say Mossberg on the side.

Lots of folks carry all sorts off stuff for work. Rolling in with a gun case means nothing to anyone at a hotel. Could be anything. Pelican cases especially are just cases. No one cares. No one will notice.

Do not let people see you. Unless absolutely required (some big city ones) do not use the main entrance, but a side door. Front desk staff pay attention to you for providing good service; a nosy one could conceivably wonder what all you are carrying in. Never seen it, but I can imagine. Also, always further to go. Park near a side entrance, use that. Avoid elevators if you can as well.

Motels? Seriously? Maybe way back when they were common, but now motels are leftovers. Cheap, junky, poorly maintained, poorly managed. You can break into them by looking at them hard, no amenities, etc. And parking spots are not assigned per room; very often you cannot park right in front of your room even if you get a ground floor spot, so cannot have proximity anyway.
 
If you also have a dog, I have had zero issues with the Wyndham hotel chain and Motel 6. Declared guns up front, zero flack. This is traveling from Washington to Wisconsin and back.
 
Not sure but I stay at the Days Inn when I'm in Ohio shooting ground hogs and the owner is all good with me shooting ground hogs in his field 10 yards from his front desk (Same property his motel sits on). I use my 17 hmr as a courtesy. He loves to watch'em flop. Next time I think I'll let him pull the trigger. I think that's what I'd call a "Gun Friendly" motel.
 
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I would add that I may be location dependent. Staying in a chain hotel in New Jersey is far different than staying in the same chain in Texas.
I spent months in a chain hotel in southern Texas. Each weekend I left before dawn with my bags returning at lunch. I used hard cases cause that is what I flew in with, but my kryptek highlander backpack surely gave it away. Put my cleaning patches in a plastic bag in the trash. Never heard a peep from anyone.
 
I've stayed in a few Homewood sweets in various states in the West and the one in Medford OR multiple times when traveling for matches. Usually stay 4-7 nights, set up reloading stuff in the room and transport lots of gear to and from the range each day. Never once had an issue.

I would guess the enforcement of a "no firearms" policy might be location dependent based on the overall political/2nd A beliefs of the town/city the hotel is in.

When I travel to Prescott AZ to attend work related firearms training and stay in the Residence Inn the manager will give me a 50% discount because I'm there to attend training at the Gunsite Academy.

Rich
 
I've stayed at the Hampton Inn (a Hilton Property) in Anthem for the last 8 years during the SWN's' They have a Ben Avery discount and have always been welcoming to shooters. I've also stayed at many other Hilton owned properties and have never received any flack about having firearms. Goes for Best Westerns, Choice chains and even a dive or two in Raton.
 
I stay at mariott if i can. If the person behind the counter appears to be a snowflake i usually dont say anything but if they look reasonable i will tell them ill be coming in with some guns in non descrete cases just incase somebody gets nervous and reports me.
 
So is there a chain that is firearm friendly? Marriott? Best western? Other?

I understand the necessity of finding a chain where firearms are not a point of contention. Most chains in Arizona offer discounts when there is a shooting event in town at Ben Avery. I personally have never run into a problem when attending a match anywhere in the U.S. from Washington State to south Georgia, as long as I was discreet.

Although not a chain by any means, The Sunset Motel, Watersmeet, MI. has been my choice of residency for deer hunting and musky fishing for more years than I care to remember. They have places to hang your deer, freezer space for the meat and grilling is not only allowed but encouraged as is the evening gathering to recount the stories from the day's adventures. There is no better way to celebrate hunting season than when 15-20 men and women gather around a fire pit to share their adventures!

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Both Red Roof Inn and LaQuinta inns and suites offer discounts to USA Shooting members as a membership benefit.
The Hilton chain offered this in the past also but currently is not listed.
I have averaged 40+ nites a year in hotels related to rifle matches for the last 5-6 years, nearly exclusively in Hampton inns without difficulty.
There are a few things that I do to keep a low profile.
I book the stay as a business trip. When I am asked the purpose of my visit, my standard answer is "work".
I never drag my equipment in with me when I register, just check in, get your room key and bring in/move equipment later. The front desk folks will ask about your pile of stuff while they have you engaged in conversation during check in but will rarely ask questions or even notice much after that. As stated above, use the side/back entrance to move equipment in/out once checked in if possible.
I also use the Do not Disturb tag on the door so that the Housekeeping staff does not come in.
This works for me, YMMV.
 
All the Comfort Inn hotels and those owned by the parent company are gun friendly. When we have our Louisiana State Match every year we stay at the Comfort. This may however just be a Louisiana thing. Check em out. Good shooting!
 
That`s exactly what I`ve been thinking. These days you don`t know what the staff does on their off duty hours. Or what part of society they hangout with. Less said is always better.

Discreet carry cases (e.g. golf club bag, audio / video equip cases etc) with "misleading" stickers on them. If anyone asks, tell them your scoped rifle is precision optical equipment. It ain't a lie. And its not their business anyway.

All my match rifles are in folding chassis for this very reason... discreet transport.
 

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