Budget and luxury hotels embrace road trip packages

(Joie de Vivre/Christian Horan)

Several US hotel chains have launched new road trip packages and tools to enable travellers to get the best out of summer.

Budget motel chain Motel6 has launched a tour exploring the heartland of US jazz by car.

The road trip program, which is similar to that launched recently in Germany by high-end hotel chain Design Hotels, covers 4,000 km of roads between New Orleans and Chicago.

The route follows that taken by the jazz pioneers between 1920 and 1970, taking in some of the best jazz clubs in the US and visits to jazz hotspots such as Chattanooga, Nashville, Louisville, St. Louis, Kansas City and Memphis.

There are also stopovers and Motel6 properties at historical spots such as "Beale Street" in Memphis, the multicultural crucible of delta blues, jazz, rock'n'roll, R&B and gospel music and Clarksdale, Mississippi, the historic site where Robert Johnson "sold his soul to the devil."

The road trips coincide with "Jazz Fest", a jazz and heritage festival which runs until May 2 in New Orleans.

Using Goin6, the Motel6 trip-planning site, road-trippers and festival-goers can find an interactive map, sights to see, places to eat, online booking at Motel6 and a user area to exchange photos and messages.

At the other end of the scale, upmarket Californian chain Joie de Vivre (JdV) last week launched a new road tripping package which allows guests to earn a free night if they stay at three JdV hotels.

By visiting the website, road trippers can plan their itinerary and book properties, as well as submitting road trip videos for a chance to win one of three free California road trips. The contest ends on June 8.

http://goin6.com

http://www.roadtrippincalifornia.com