Traveling With Dogs: Dog-Friendly Timonium, Maryland

Posted on by Raising Your Pets Naturally with Tonya Wilhelm
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Traveling With Dogs: Dog-Friendly Timonium, Maryland

Dog-Friendly Timonium, MD-Where we visited on this trip to Timonium, MD: Enterprise Car Rental, Red Roof PLUS+ Baltimore North-Timonium, World of Pets Expo, Dunkin Donuts, 7-Eleven and Panera Bread

Timonium, MD  Dexter The Dog and I headed to Timonium, Maryland for a pet expo. As a professional dog trainer, I am often asked to present dog training and behavior workshops around the US. This year I am hitting the pet expos. So this dog-friendly trip to Timonium, Maryland was pretty much business, and not our usual fun and dog-friendly adventures. But Dexter and I always have a good time when we travel.

Our dog-friendly travel weekend started with a trip to Enterprise Car Rental. I was lucky to get a great weekly rate from Andre. The day before our trip, I picked up my brand new Dodge Dart. It was so brand new, I was the first one to drive it minus the 14 miles from the airport to Enterprise.

The Dodge Dart was a nice drive. I’m 5’4″ and I did not have any issues with the fit and comfort. I would have liked to have bigger side mirrors, as I thought they were pretty darn small. Enterprise classified the Dodge Dart as an intermediate, but I felt it was on the smaller size. We will be renting a small SUV or similar on future trips to pack all of our pet expo displays.
The next morning, Dexter The Dog and I headed to Timonium, MD bright and early. We had a 7-plus hour road trip ahead of us. Since it was just Dexter and myself, we took a lot of pit stops along the way for stretching and rejuvenating.

We arrived in the Baltimore, MD area and the traffic was insane. I have driven in high-traffic areas before, like Toronto and DC, but I was shocked at how unfriendly other drivers seemed, and how often I heard cars honking their horns at people. Exhausted and a bit flustered, we finally reached our hotel, Red Roof PLUS+ Baltimore North-Timonium.

I was a bit surprised that the outside of the Red Roof PLUS+ Baltimore North-Timonium seemed run down. The photos on their website made it look like a very nice and homey hotel.  The ‘PLUS+’ and photos of the room gave me the impression that this Red Roof was above the standard. But for about $60 a night without an additional pet fee, and knowing I wouldn’t be spending a lot of time at the hotel, I didn’t think much more about it.

I unpacked my four days of stuff, including all the gear I was going to take to the pet expo. I was so tired and just wanted to crash, but I soon realized I needed to run to the store to pick up a few items I forgot and pick up some grocery store dinner. Dexter, too, just wanted to crash.

After dinner, I started to get into bed. That is when the total disgust happened. I looked at the comforter and saw there was a red stain on the top.  I quickly removed the comforter only to find what looked like a pee stain on the second blanket. Then there were the pillows. They were a disgusting yellow color. I thought it was just the pillow cases, so I removed them only to find the pillows were yellow too!

 

I called the front desk to explain the situation. She advised me that the housekeeper would be up to replace the atrocious bedding. Fifteen minutes later, I called again since no one had come. Finally, the housekeeper came with sheets.  She did not speak English, so I do not think she understood a word I was saying.  I needed new pillows and new blankets. She said “no” and handed me the sheets and towels. She did not make the bed, she did not take, or would not take the bedding I was trying to give her.

In complete shock over the lack of common courtesy and customer support, I called the front desk again. She was not very helpful, so I told her I needed to change rooms. I had to pack all four days backup and move to another room. And yes, my first room was on the third level and now I was going to the second, so that was quite an ordeal.

I looked over the new room and the room was satisfactory. I did not see any stains, but the bedding was dingy. I thought that the extended stay rooms would have the typical accommodations like an iron, refrigerator, coffee maker and microwave, but I was wrong. The room did not have any of these items.  At this point, I just wanted to crash. On day 3 of my 4-day stay, my key cards did not work, so after a 12 hour day at the pet expo, I had to wait 15 minutes to have new key cards made.

 

When I ended my trip, I wrote to Red Roof’s corporate office about my experience. They were less than understanding with an obvious “sorry” form letter, which I have posted below. Red Roof PLUS+ Baltimore North-Timonium was completely a mess. I would never recommend this hotel to anyone.

Friday morning, I picked up a bagel and cream cheese to go at Dunkin Donuts at 2001 York Road.

After returning to the hotel room with my food from Dunkin Donuts, I could see it was not very impressive. The bagel was most certainly burnt.  What a disappointment.

Now on to the pet expo. Friday, Dexter and I were ready to have a great day at World of Pets Expo in Timonium, MD. We were there to promote our cookbook What’s For Dinner, Dexter? and our puppy book, Proactive Puppy Care.  I also put on a few dog training workshops that weekend: Puppy Workshop and Treating Separation Anxiety Workshop.

Dexter The Dog and I also met up with some Facebook friends and fans. It was so much fun to be able to put faces together with names. One of our friends, Deb, even gave us these amazing chocolate crabs, a Maryland tradition. They were incredibly tasty and truly hit the spot after a long day. Thank you, Deb!

After the pet expo, I grabbed some gas station snacks at the 7-Eleven at 1538 York Road. I did not prepare too well for my own food during this weekend trip. But the service was great, and the snack selection was pretty darn good: fresh and tasty. No complaints here.

The following morning, I figured I would try another place for breakfast. So I hit Panera Bread at 2131 York Road.  The customer service was great and they were very helpful.  I ended up getting a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast and picked up a Sierra Turkey Sandwich for lunch. Both were very tasty and fresh.

After 3 days at the World of Pets Expo in Timonium, MD Dexter and I were

ready for home. We had a great time together, but it was very tiring. On our way home we drove with a bit of an ice/rain event, so our 7-hour drive took 10.  But we are ready for the next pet expo in a couple of weeks and hope to see you in Hampton, VA soon!


What would you do in my situation?  Tell me in the comments.

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10 thoughts on “Traveling With Dogs: Dog-Friendly Timonium, Maryland”

  1. What a horrible room experience and even worse customer service. They obviously don’t care about their customers. I probably would have left and asked for a refund.

  2. It stinks that it seems like you got just a generic “sorry” letter from the company. Some places will jump through hoops to ensure that you want to come back and have a better stay next time. Hopefully your next experience is better!

  3. Wow – you would think especially since you are a blogger they would have put a little effort into that letter rather than just regurgitate something. Not very sound business practices for sure.

  5. Oh gawd! Just thinking about those dirty stained sheets I’m getting itchy! That is gross and totally unacceptable! Their reply to your email is lame as well. Did you try reaching them on their Facebook page? I won’t even stay there!

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