This must surely be a first! Baymont Inns & Suites is offering free coffee or bottled water 24 hours a day, seven days week to anyone who stops and asks for it, regardless of whether or not you spend the night. If you wonder why, you have only to ask the hotel chain's public relations department, which has dreamed up this helpful program to keep drivers awake at the wheel. And, perhaps they hope, you'll be tired enough even after your H2O or caffeine jolt to book a room instead of getting back on the highway.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), sleepiness is a known factor in more than 100,000 automobile accidents each year. These accidents claim more than 1,500 lives per year, cause 71,000 injuries and have an economic impact of an estimated $12.5 billion. About 96 percent of these accidents occur in passenger vehicles; only three percent involve drivers of large trucks. So, it could happen to you.
Baymont Inns & Suites has devised a Drive Revived educational program. If you know the warning signs of drowsy driving, the risk factors and methods of prevention, you are more likely to arrive safely at your destination. (The most comical prevention I've heard of was offered by a truck driver who said, "Just roll down the window and hold a $100 bill out the window--it's guaranteed to keep you awake.")
Hence, the free coffee or bottled water offer. But if you do choose to spend the night at any of the chain's 180 sites across the country, be aware of their Blue Sky Rates, which start from $49 per room, subject to availability. The rooms vary by room type and location, and are only valid at participating locations. Advanced reservations are required, but if there's an empty room, you may convince the front desk to waive that requirement on the spur of the moment.
Checking out the company's Web site, I found a Blue Sky $49 rate for the January date I selected at the Kissimmee property in Florida, and a $54 rate at the Sawgrass one outside Naples, also in Florida. From the Baymont homepage, click on the Blue Sky Rate "more details" link. Select the property, and at the bottom of the rate sheet are listed the promo prices, including Blue Sky.
The Web site for the Drive Revived program is www.driverevived.com. The Web site for Baymont and its Blue Sky rates is www.baymontinns.com.