He was getting a little tired of the subject on a popular motorcycle forum. “What,” he wanted to know a little petulantly, “is a Motorcycle Friendly Hotel?” You can always tell when people are getting annoyed because they start capitalizing words.
“Reasonable price, halfway level parking, park outside the room, cleaning rags available, owner or manager who’s knowledgeable about the roads and points of interest in the area,” replied another rider.
Yet another didn’t feel that that meant anything. “Without fail, every motel/hotel I’ve stayed in for the past 10 years has had either outside-the-room parking or allowed me the park my bike in the covered Check In entranceway. And they’ve all had cleaning rags available. Some even offered me the use of their water hose if I wanted to wash the bike,” he wrote.
Tools, washing facility and cleaning stand for helmets are all basic equipment.
Okay, time to break into this recitation. We’ll come back to it. As you may have worked out, the above comments are from a US website. The absence of an online guide to motorcycle hotels is a significant lack in the motorcycle-related information floating about in the aether over north America. There are some lists compiled by riders or clubs, but these have obvious problems: they may be out of date, they depend on personal opinions and one-time experiences and they lack objective criteria, except perhaps for prices, parking, cleaning rags and a knowledgeable manager.
There are many motorcycle-friendly hotels which are not members of a group.
They do things differently in Europe. Hotels will offer you considerably more than a water hose.
Many European hotels, especially but not entirely in places known to be popular with riders in Italy, Austria, Germany and several other countries, have caught onto the potential business that motorcyclists offer. In order to present a predictable service, they have formed themselves into marketing groups. The two with whom I am most familiar are MoHo Motorrad Hotels and www.motorrad-hotel.com.
I like the extra effort hotels put in to attract motorcyclists.
Now I know that many riders in the US and Canada camp rather than staying in hotels/motels. While there are also riders in Europe who camp, especially at events like European Bike Week or the Elefantentreffen, many can’t be bothered lugging camping gear with them. The availability and pricing of those hotels clearly has something to do with that.
But what do these “motorcycle friendly” hotels in Europe offer that makes them different from their American fellows?
Lockable bike parking is a very welcome facility at motorcycle hotels.
MoHo lists its member hotels in three categories which it describes as follows. 5 Helmets: Highest level of motorbike competence, consulting and service. 4 Helmets: Everything is there for the perfect holiday on a motorbike. Bikers will receive optimal advice and support. 3 Helmets: As well as a place for passing through or for a weekend trip, also ideal for a holiday on a motorbike. Basic equipment for bikers. They do not explain what, if anything, 1 or 2 Helmets mean.
Five Helmet hotels provide a workshop with tools, a helmet care stand with cleaning products, electric bike charger, a washing area with sponge and hose (cleaning products on request), a motorcycle garage, parking spaces for trailers, a drying room for bike clothing, luggage storage, pickup service in case of crash or breakdown, motorcycle rental and replacement tire service (using a local business). As well, they have Internet access, an information area with maps and up-to-date information, tour planning help including pre-prepared tours, GPS tours, guided tours, activities for off-bike days… and the host is also a motorcyclist who will lead at least some of the tours. Guaranteed.
The Iselsberg Hotel advertises its motorcycle-friendliness with a couple of old outfits.
Four- and Three-Helmet hotels offer most of those facilities and services; you can check which ones on their websites. There is no charge for any of this, and hotel prices are not increased by the grading. MoHo offers 51 hotels, shown on an excellent free map of the German, Austrian and Italian bike country. Competitor www.motorrad-hotel.com also has a road map, and although it offers only nine hotels in Austria and Italy, they are all well located. For precise services, see their websites. Best of all, MoHo and motorrad.com services are checked regularly.
Lately, some hotels have begun offering the opportunity to test ride the entire BMW motorcycle range – effectively a chance to rent a bike for a half day, a day or longer at a very reasonable cost. This is organized in association with BMW Motorrad. Just check the websites. I believe that KTM is looking at putting much the same thing in place.
The lounge at Voetter’s Hotel in Kaprun holds motorcycle memories.
To see how this works out, let’s take a look at Voetter’s Hotel in Kaprun, near the beginning of the Grossglockner Alpine High Road. A 4-Star and 4-Helmet venue, it offers the usual high standard of accommodation as well as special offers for motorcyclists and even a discount on the 33 Euro toll for the Grossglockner Strasse as well as free access to the Oldtimer Museum that’s incorporated in the hotel.
The museum has some 200 exhibits, with roughly equal numbers of cars and motorcycles/scooters. I really liked the spread of motorcycle exhibits: rather than the usual preponderance of British bikes, the museum has a lot of German, Italian and Austrian machines including a range of Messerschmitt “cabin scooters”. Their designer, Fritz Fend, was a friend of the hotel’s owners. I even like the hotel slogan: “We put mountains between you and the everyday”.
Not every MoHo hotel has a museum, but apart from that, the Voetter’s hotel offering is very much like that of other hotels with the same rating. They also offer free 14 day premium access to the Calimoto app (https://calimoto.com/en) to plan your rides. “In summer, the regulars’ table (“Stammtisch”) becomes a bikers’ regulars’ table. Sometimes on the terrace, sometimes at the cozy bar in Voetter’s hotel is the exchange of experiences and ideas around the beloved motorcycle program in your motorcycle vacation in Salzburg Land.” Or so they say on their website!
My Shoei awaits cleaning. I didn’t need the charging apparatus for my Yamaha T7.
I don’t mean to denigrate North American accommodation, you understand, but I think even a 3-Helmet rating beats a free water hose…
Photos: The Bear
(My usual thanks to Edelweiss Bike Travel (edelweissbike.com) for lending me the Yamaha T7 rental bike that made it possible for me to do the research for this story.)
