mrv 

howdy
Planning a late summer trek on the Katy Trail. Taking ATRAK to Kansas City, but it doesn't arrive until about 10:30PM.
Does anyone have recommendations for hotels that accommodate cyclists with bike storage - within a couple miles of the KC Union station ?
(yes, I realize the trail is called Rock Island when you kick off from KC)

I am considering a warm showers host. There seems to be 2 or 3 active hosts in KC, pretty close the the AMTRAK station.

ALSO - what about St. Louis? Same question. We need to be near the AMTRAK in St. Louis, as we board at 6:30AM a week later.

Thanks!
mrv

mev

This doesn't answer your hotel question, but I will note that this site: https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/ar...ml/history.php can be used to look up historical on-time performance for Amtrak by station.

For example, I did a quick search for KCY from start of 2022 and found 47 minute average delay and 22 minute median delay. Doing a quick Google map lookup, it looks like the train station is downtown close to many hotels. So if it were me, I'd mostly pick one in my price range.

I did something similar on an Amtrak trip to Tucson at end of 2019. Scheduled arrival ~9:30pm and found a reasonable hotel not too far away. Looked up and plotted the delay history and calculated a pretty high percentage of the time the train was in by midnight. Unfortunately hit the rare occasion as our train was stopped between Deming and El Paso for multiple hours for unknown reason and didn't arrive until 3:30am. I had a roomette and was able to get multiple hours of sleep on the train. After getting my bike and baggage cycled to the now-closed hotel and then hung around downtown until first light and I could travel.

veloz

In St. Louis, I've stayed at the Red Lion - almost across the street from Amtrak station. I think it's called the Oyo now. We rode our bikes to it and took them to the room with no issues. Made our early morning departure easy.

indyfabz

I have never had a hotel not allow me to bring a bike in my room. Pick one that’s close and that you can afford and call to confirm?

mev

It is rare but I had a motel near Ravenswood WV and one in Tok AK and multiple ones in India not let me bring my bike in the room. However, overall less than 1% of places I've gone haven't let me bring a bike in the room so agree with default assumption they let you. Particularly in a downtown area where there aren't likely safe parking alternatives. In the Ravenswood case, I simply cycled on to Parkersburg. In the Tok case the room was literally too small to fit and we found a place in the boiler room.

LesterOfPuppets

I had trouble on the outskirts of Vancouver, WA once - rode 10 more miles to a motel that allowed bikes in the room.
I recently had the Azure Hotel in Mesa, AZ say "no bikes in room". That time I didn't want to mess around with finding another motel, the front desk said I could put it in one of the rooms full of linens, as the maids wouldn't be in there 'til 9am or so.

John N

I tend to agree but not completely as I have had been turned away due to bike once (wouldn't even let me keep it outside so that was definitely weird). Excluding Europe, I have had a handful of times over my 45+ years if touring that the bike could not go into a room but they allowed it to be placed in a storage room, shed, garage, etc. In Europe, it was the opposite. I have only had a handful of times they allowed bikes in the room but they always have a place to put a bike.

indyfabz

The OP is looking for a place to start and end. That't why I suggested inquiring before the trip. No surprises. There are a zillion motels/hotels near the KC station.

mrv 

thanks for the good suggestions, everyone.
I'll check rates and what not for Oyo ('cause YOLO!..... nevermind...) suggested by veloz

In KC, all the warm showers looked like a couple miles away. I just added a hub generator to my set up, but navigating an unknown city at night to a strangers house in a downtown area...... what could go wrong!?

indyfabz

And you’re probably not going to want to do that after the train ride. I’ve taken relatively long, one day train rides where I have gotten in late. It’s like going from one environmental to a totally different one. I was very glad my lodgings were close to the stations. My hotel in Pittsburgh was 3-4 blocks away. Money well spent.

boomhauer

There is a streetcar on the east side of Union Station. It is free. You can ride it about 10 blocks to the heart of downtown KC. There will be a multitude of hotels.
If you are trying to get on the Rock Island / Katy trail from downtown KC it’s easy enough but kind of confusing for your first day. Consider getting off Amtrak at the suburb stop of Lees Summit.

BRUCE NORTHCUTT

I always ask if they allow suitcases with wheels in the room. Then they get the message that my suitcase looks a bike and has two wheels.