How Choice Hotels^® Shaped American Road Trips

The American road trip didn’t arrive all at once. It unfurled as new roads knit the country together and families discovered that a full tank and an open map could turn weekends into memories. Early cross-country motorists in the 1910s–1920s followed named trails like the Lincoln Highway and Dixie Highway, stitching together state roads with hand-lettered signs, word of mouth, and lots of luck. By the 1930s, cars were sturdier and more affordable, national parks added paved access, and state tourism offices published mile-by-mile guides that made planning less guesswork and more invitation.

Before the glass-tower hotel, there was the single-level or low-rise building set around a lot so guests could easily park at the door, unload quickly, and sleep within steps of their car. Owners typically lived on site, rooms were simple and tidy, and the most reliable earned reputations for fresh linens, private tiled baths, in-room telephones, and a light burning at the front desk as late arrivals rolled in. The motor court fit the way Americans actually traveled, and it brought predictability to the pause between destinations.

Long before Route 66 was in the spotlight, the Lincoln Highway (est. 1913) gave Americans their first coast-to-coast driving dream—New York City to San Francisco on a single, named route. In the auto-trail era, the Lincoln was equal parts infrastructure campaign and marketing marvel. Boosters painted signs, local businesses funded improvements, and motorists discovered you could cross a continent at human speed. It promised big ambition with practical stops at garage towns, courthouse squares, roadside cafés, and early motor courts that made the day’s last miles easier. The route matured with updated paving and U.S. highway numbering in the 1930s–1950s. And it maintained its charm even as interstate travel grew in the 1950s onward. For early long-distance drivers, “I did the Lincoln” was a badge of honor.

If the Lincoln taught America to go east to west, the Dixie Highway (est. 1915) encouraged drivers to think north to south. Stretching from the Great Lakes to Florida on a network of linked segments, it offered winter warmth, music-city energy, and resort culture long before interstates hastened the journey. Families chased sunshine, explored Mammoth Cave, hiked ridges around Chattanooga, experienced civil-rights history in Atlanta, and found leisure along beaches in Florida, all in digestible day slices. The route expanded in the 1930s–1950s as paving and four-lane stretches improved comfort and then flowed onto newly numbered interstates. Communities along the older corridor doubled down on identity, turning the Dixie into a living heritage drive.

Born in Springfield, MO in 1926, Route 66 taught America the art of purposeful dawdling with a few honest hours behind the wheel. It linked Midwest industry to Western sunshine and opportunity, making it the most storied drive for seasoned American road trippers. During its heyday in the 1950s, full-service gas stations and garages, friendly diners, motor courts, and unique attractions lined the road at human intervals so you could plan the day by burgers and neon, not by luck.

Its lasting legacy is bigger than nostalgia. Route 66 helped define the American road trip as not just a drive from point A to B, but a journey shaped by story. It trained drivers to value the stretch between destinations just as much as the destination itself. That instinct still inspires the way people road trip now, whether they’re planning a bucket-list drive across the Southwest, piecing together a weekend close to home, or chasing a little neon, diner pie, and roadside kitsch in honor of the centennial. Because even a century later, Route 66 remains the blueprint for the kind of road trip that feels personal, unhurried, and worth taking.

In 1939, seven motor court owners from Florida formalized expected standards of hospitality into the Quality Courts co-op. Within two years, the group incorporated as Quality Courts United, often cited as the nation’s first hotel chain—not because one company built every property, but because member hotels agreed to operating benchmarks and a recognized name travelers could trust. The promise was practical, not flashy. It was a commitment to excellence, and that the stop you found tonight was as reliable as the one you’d book tomorrow.

Quality Courts eventually met the Mother Road around 1945. Still standing today just southwest of Chicago, where U.S. 6 crosses the original U.S. 66, the Manor Motel in Channahon (near Joliet) became the first verifiable Quality Courts hotel on Route 66. Fully built by 1954, it was a Quality Courts standard, providing motorists with park-at-the-door convenience, tidy rooms, private baths, in-room telephones, a pool, and an on-site restaurant. But the Manor’s significance is bigger than just one address. It proves how the Quality Courts standard landed on Route 66 in a concrete way, even as much of the early motor court network was oriented east. And it illustrates a lasting truth about the Choice Hotels identity—founded on the road and built for moments in between.

As the U.S. Interstate System expanded and road trips shifted beyond regional loops in the 1960s-1970s, Quality Courts modernized its structure, evolved its branding, and grew its footprint. By the early 1980s, the organization (on its path to becoming Choice Hotels) expanded west of the Mississippi in a sustained way, rounding out a coast-to-coast presence and meeting travelers on routes old and new. The westward buildout delivered two benefits to road-trippers. First, the convenience of planning a multi-day itinerary and booking the same level of comfort across state lines. Second, even more coverage, with properties close to interchanges and legacy routes. The promise never really changed. It just scaled to the way people were actually moving.

The American road trip has always had an economy lane. When the classic Rodeway Inn and Econo Lodge motel brands joined the Choice family in 1990, they reinforced the car culture essentials of timeless value in pull-up parking, fair prices, and a straightforward night’s rest. For decades, those properties anchored small towns, state highways, and bypassed stretches of the old routes where family budgets, work trips, and youth sports weekends all intersected. Bringing those quick economy brands under the same umbrella as Quality, Comfort, Clarion, and Sleep gave travelers a wider menu for the same kind of journey. Road trippers could choose the level of amenities that fit their trip, enjoy the promise of predictability, and find it wherever the road leads.

The road trip never really left, it just reinvented itself. Today’s travelers plan with apps instead of atlases. Families stack long weekends into one-tank getaways, remote workers build loops around work and wander, and friends use playlists as itineraries. Mid-century travelers wanted many of the same things road trippers want now. The details may have changed, but the needs all feel familiar.

That same traveler-first idea resonates with Choice Hotels today. Road trippers likely book a room on their phone instead of pulling in under a glowing vacancy sign, but they’re still looking for the same simplicity and reliability at the end of the day. Now that shows up in mobile-friendly booking, quick check-in, free WiFi, plentiful outlets, and more modern innovations. It also means travel-essentials that help a modern road trip run smoothly, from mini-fridges and microwaves to kitchenettes in extended-stay brands, complimentary breakfast at many hotels, guest laundry, fitness centers, pet-friendly options, a growing access to EV charging, and different brands for different travel styles.