My Pups Stayed Free At The Red Roof Inn in Knoxville, TN – Review

This past weekend, we finally left for our 760 mile road trip I began preparing for last month and talked about in my post Summer Road Trip With Dogs – Our Ultimate Checklist. It took us from our Fayetteville, NC location to Memphis, TN with an overnight stop at pet-friendly Red Roof Inn, located at 1315 Kirby Road | Knoxville | TN | 37909 | 865-584-3911.

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored product review. I did not receive any kind of compensation for this review ~ neither in product-form nor in $$$-form! This is solely me expressing my personal opinion! Red Roof Inn is not responsible for the content of this blog post.

While my initial intent was not to stop anywhere for the night but make the trip in one go, I have to say that both the pups and myself were glad that I reconsidered and decided to spend the night in Knoxville, just about halfway. We were all glad to get out of the car, stretch our legs, and enjoy a comfortable, clean hotel room.

We stopped twice for 20 min potty breaks on our way through the Great Smokey Mountains and were bummed that we didn’t have the time to stop for hikes. We would have had a blast cooling off in the refreshing mountain water and exploring some of the trails in State Parks we kept seeing signs for. 

However, we did still get to enjoy the good mountain air since we were able to roll down our windows and not turn the AC on until the very last leg of our trip on Day 1, about an hour outside of Knoxville.

Truly Pet-Friendly Policy

The Red Roof Inns are truly pet-friendly hotels as they don’t just allow our furry friends – they don’t even charge for them! Their official pet policy allows one well-behaved pet per room per night:

• One well-behaved family pet is permitted unless prohibited by state law or ordinance

• Service animals are always welcome

• Pet must be declared during guest registration

• Please keep your animal on a leash when outside your room

• In consideration of all Red Roof guests, pets must never be left unattended in the guestroom

• When you walk your pet on property, please be considerate and clean up after your pet

Since I found out about the Red Roof Inn on Twitter, I tweeted at a representative and asked what their policy was for 2 dogs, since I’d be needing a hotel that would allow both Missy & Buzz. I was told to call the location I was interested in ahead of time to find out whether or not they’d accept 2 dogs, and sure enough, they did!

Jeff, the clerk I talked to on the phone at the Red Roof Inn location on Kirby Road in Knoxville, TN, was very polite & helpful. He gave me the tip to leave a note in the remark section of my online reservation, stating that I’d be staying with 2 dogs. He said this might help get a room on the first floor.

Well, that didn’t happen since we ended up on the 3rd floor, but it didn’t bother us too much, quite frankly. It meant that the pups got to experience riding in an elevator again, which they had so far only done at a friend’s apartment complex in Washington D.C. several years ago. 

Our Non-Smoking, Deluxe Room For $87.94

I decided on a non-smoking, deluxe room for a grand total of $87.94 ($75 per night + $12.94 tax) with 2 full size beds, one of which would be for the pups. It came equipped with a fridge, microwave, flatscreen/wall-mounted TV, desk, full bath, and laminate floors.

The latter were awesome for a potential pup-related accident clean-up (which didn’t happen), but were a bit slippery for the pups when they hopped up on their bed.

By the way, I brought a huge quilt my mom made specifically for her “grand-pups” and laid it out on their bed.

However, they were perfect for the pups’ raw meals I brought along in a cooler filled with ice. Some of the ice dripped on the laminate floor when taking the food out of the cooler, which couldn’t have been easier to clean up. I grabbed a small towel from the bathroom, wiped up the water, and placed it underneath the pups’ bowls (one small towel per bowl).

Side note: I initially wasn’t going to bring along fresh raw food for the pups, but changed my mind once I noticed that a) I still had enough room in the car for one cooler and b) saw that our room would be equipped with a fridge when researching our hotel online  (I moved the raw food from the cooler into the fridge as soon as we got to our room, and refilled the cooler with fresh ice from the ice machine before checking out the next morning, which was conveniently located a few steps from our room).

We hopped back into our Pup Mobile after having had some free, hot breakfast the next morning and made it to Memphis, TN about 6 hours later. Included in those 6 hours were 2 potty breaks at rest stops along I-40 and one badly needed coffee break for Mommy at a Starbucks in Jackson, TN (just about an hour and a half outside of Memphis).

Finding An Inn

If you’re contemplating spending a night with your pup(s) at a Red Roof Inn, you can search for one along your route using the search bar on their website.

Reading & Comparing Reviews

I’d recommend reading their reviews as well – I found a total of 3 Red Roof Inns in the Knoxville area priced between $45 and $62 for their Standard Rooms. The lowest priced one didn’t get the greatest reviews, which made it a no-brainer for me to eliminate it right away. #YouGetWhatYouPayFor

Bottom Line – Recommended

We recommend this Red Roof Inn Location because we were very happy with what we got for the price we paid:

• Hotel conveniently located right off of I-40
• A comfortable, clean room with 2 full beds, fridge, microwave, flat screen TV, AC, desk (btw, great water pressure in the shower!)
• Free hot breakfast and free wifi
• Huge parking lot
• Walking area for the pups on the hotel grounds as well as right across the street (we took them for a half hour morning walk through a neighboring residential area).