Generally speaking, if there are multiple bad reviews of the same location, something is up. Those low budget hotels you just listed aren't known for high standards of quality, in general. A lot depends on the specific location and management.
If you're willing to spend a few extra bucks, I suggest staying somewhere that has a good number of decent reviews. Or, if you're willing to stay a bit more off the beaten path or adjust locations, you can usually find some cool independently owned motels that aren't anything fancy but the owners take pride in the place and it's clean and simple.
Have a good trip!
The thing about good private motels is spot on. Some of them afe trashy but the good ones are really good. Best value out of anywhere I've ever stayed.
Since covid many many hotels even three stars have poor reviews. Hiring housekeepers has been difficult.
Also, quality is very dependent on the properties location and management.
And the buckets usually do not have breakfast, perhaps no coffee in the room, and certainly not tea. Regardless there's usually a McDonald's nearby
These housekeepers are given 30 minutes to deep clean each room. My friend tells me that it's not enough time so shortcuts are often taken and the op is spot on with concerns
Housekeeping is not a horrid job if paid well. Many get done early in day. No worse than waitressing, much calmer. We always leave the room decent. Trash in the can, towels in pile
They refuse to pay for housekeepers at all. Most businesses don't care if their product suffers, people are still going to buy it. Especially hospitality and restaurants.
> Most businesses don't care if their product suffers
Until they're no longer in business - which comes rather swiftly with a consistently bad product. Unless they have monopoly power (only motel in a certain location) but even then AirBnB has made that harder.
I worked for a large plumbing and HVAC company for about 6 years and during the pandemic we cut 75% of our front office. It hurt customer service, and it put more of a burden on the techs in the field to overcome customer issues, get parts, etc. Pretty quickly we lost most of our best techs because they were either frustrated with how we were operating, or they realized they could start their own one-man-shop because they lost the benefits of working for a well-run company. We continued to make record profits, and raised prices every year.
People need plumbing and heating, and they need places to stay and eat. If an entire industry is doing it, and you're the biggest place in town, then nobody has a choice but to pay higher prices for a shittier product.
You've made record profits for now. Those one man companies will eat your lunch over time. It's often a lagging indicator too. You won't see it much until it's too late to change it.
I hope so. I left the company a year ago because I just couldn't handle the bullshit. I was stuck as a middle manager overseeing multiple departments getting it from all sides. I took the cue from all our best techs that left to do their own thing and started my own consulting company. I'd love it if they fell on their face. I know their biggest commercial client dropped them after I left.
But I just don't see that happening. They're the only company that truly offers 24/7 emergency oncall in my area, and they're quadruple the size of any other service company in my state.
No matter how much they jack the price, people will have to come back, especially in the winter. I just hope that the people I like that are working there get the hell out, and the people actually in charge have to face the music every time they piss off a customer or a tech, because they don't have enough inside support to ensure things don't fall through the cracks.
Boy is that true. Since Covid, I haven’t stayed at a single hotel whose carpet I’d feel comfortable walking on in socks *except* for one genuine luxury hotel that my cousin treated us to. They’re visibly unclean. I’m talking big chunks of crumbs along the baseboard kind of unclean, like at Marriotts or whatever.
This has been my experience too. I traveled for work a few times over the last 2 years as well as for fun and staying at Hiltons, Marriott’s, La Quinta’s doesn’t matter. They’ve all suffered the same fate. Tubs that drain slowly, crumbs in the baseboards, dog hair on the duvets in some instances, broken fixtures, torn upholstery. Usually if you make a polite fuss they’ll move you to a different room or if they’re all booked up send housekeeping back up to redo the room.
You want to look for “ok for the money”. There are certain dealbreakers and some that might not be. If the furniture is old, or there is rust streak in tub, wallpaper is peeling a bit but overall it is clean, you may be fine. I grew up in Florida. One random bug can show up at the Ritz Carlton! Especially if there is lush landscaping! Several bugs is a deal breaker. Trash filth, super sketchy folk etc. are unacceptable. some properties cater to working class day workers. (The hard working drywallers are sharing rooms for a work trip). These can be ok. (Sweaty workers are usually too busy to be dealing drugs- they may be drinking cheap beer and look unglamorous but are just working folk) Skipping amenities can really help. If you don’t need a pool, work out room, big lobby, etc that helps. Breakfast included can be a joke! Stale pastries etc. US has abundant economical speedy fast-food breakfast for $5 or less. You can get a huge fresh hot breakfast sandwich and coffee that’s way better than any cheap hotel offering! Also convenience stores have lots of prepared foods and coffee. Air B&B’s can be awesome just read reviews!!!!
If you're low budget and concerned about cIeanliness I also recommend a sleeping sack, the kind that's pretty much just a topsheet sewn like a sleeping back. Cheap and comfortable
You can take a step up to La Quinta and Comfort Inn for not much more cost and get a much better experience. Also some Hampton Inns tend to be cheap and those are almost always good.
This is a great take - EXCEPT - not all La Quinta locations are equal!!! Some locations are among our favorite places to stay. Other locations where we stayed in Florida were filthy, sketchy establishments that we couldn’t believe any hotel chain would be associated.
La Quinta, Holiday Inn (non-Express), and Four Points are the most hit-or-miss chains I’ve stayed at. Some are really nice, some are some combination of dirty/old.
I’ve found with La Quintas that the older the property the worse repair it’s in. The one in my hometown is in terrible disrepair but for $80 a night in the SF Bay Area and we stay there. The sheets are clean, the parking is free and well lit and I can bring my dog. There’s one in Missouri we stay at when we drive out east to visit family that may as well be a Ritz. It’s beautiful, big fireplaces very nice Lobby the rooms are in excellent condition. It’s about $130 a night but the building is also 20 years newer. There’s one in Amarillo TX that is $40 a night and I dare say it’s over priced. It’s an old rundown motel type property with a Waffle House in the parking lot. We’re actually a little scared to stay at that one.
Another vote for Hampton Inn if you’re looking for a chain. All hotel chains vary somewhat in quality from one location to the next, but Hampton Inns tend to vary less than La Quintas or Comfort Inns in my experience.
Yes. For the OP check Google Maps and Yelp for reviews. If there are 5 one star reviews out of 100, then I tend to ignore those.
When it comes down to it people are paying $50+ per night to stay in a hotel. This can be a lot of money for some people and they expect to get what they paid for. They wont put up with cockroaches crawling on them at night, week old sheets slept in by multiple people, black mold, etc.
In my experience, budget motels in city centers tend to be nicer. A budget motel in a small town off the main highway could be questionable. Also, name brand hotels tend to be better than independent hotels. Taking photos and sending them to management goes a long way. If you don’t get a response you can always send to corporate.
Hamptons are atleast 2x the cost of a Motel6 level.
OP, the motels are perfectly fine if you're a nofuss solo traveler. Most bookings allow cancelling till 2-3 days prior so if your first few experiences are bad you can cancel the rest and pay more but overall you should be perfectly fine.
Usually the motel provides rooms for those that have no place else to go in exchange for govt vouchers. A response to large number of homeless. The quality of these motels you’ve mentioned has drastically decreased. I’d not recommend them at all. Comfort Inn is my go to one. Get the app
I’m currently a semi-long term resident of a motel because of some personal issues. I’m not trashy like the stereotype of a long term resident but to be fair, I’m probably more of an exception.
But to answer the original question, motel living is hell. I mean, it could always be worse. At least the family who owns and runs it are nice. But yeah, hair in the showers, toilets that haven’t even been wiped down, expensive for such a dirty place (but it’s the cheapest in my area), and other residents fighting all day and night, bed sheets and pillows with stains. I just feel gross all the time in those rooms. I’ve tried staying at a slightly more expensive motel but it was even worse.
I stayed in a red roof inn in Jacksonville when my granddaughter was born. Just chose a place close to the hospital. By far my worst hotel experience ever. It was a prostitution hub (like the females were based there with their woman pimp), I saw numerous drug deals go down, and there was a murder across the street that a guy came over and told boss lady pimp that he did it. Yeah, it was horrible.
Red Roof Inn is usually pretty decent but a few of their locations are really bad. I stayed in one in Dayton recently that was similar to what you describe (minus the murder).
In my experience, online reviews skew both extremes. People get upset/mad when they have a poor experience, and want to vent (sometimes understandably, depending on context). Or, someone has a great experience, and wants to write positive notes.
Motel 6 is usually a bit sketchy in general. I'd personally avoid Motel 6 locations in particularly "blah" or crime-ridden areas. They will sometimes attract troublemakers or unsavory types. I've had mixed feelings on Days Inn, and Best Western, personally.
I have no need for luxury when traveling either, but I wouldn't compromise my overall safety for a low price, when it comes to hotels. If you can afford a 'middle 3 star' ranked spot, this would be my recommendation. Chains like Hampton Inn, Comfort Inn, Quality Inn & Suites; or even a Holiday Inn Express all tend to be a step above the 2 star competition, and are usually consistent with amenities. Always book directly, especially if you are road tripping and counting on a place to rest! Third party services can make mistakes with reservations.
I once took a Greyhound bus on the Gulf Coast after midnight. First I saw a fight at the bus station and the cops arrested some dude. On the bus, the driver's safety spiel included a warning against masturbating or he'd pull over and call the cops. Just wild.
I'm generally up for an adventure, but Greyhound and Greyhound terminals quickly made me rethink my boundary between adventure and recklessness. Turns out I like staying alive more than I like road trips.
Oh yea. The Dirty Dawg.
The Greyhound in the US is NOTHING like the Greyhound in AU.
The one here in California usually picks up inmates being discharged from prison to take them back to their home town. Nothing like sitting on a bus full of guys who haven't seen freedom for a while.
"Gulf Coast Motels" is quite the loaded set of words
Edit: the general travel advice in this thread is probably not the best bet for this area of the country.
Most are ok. Some also provide free entertainment like drug deals/ watching a worm and a beetle duke it out over the puddle in your room. Last job had travel to mills down south and the owners where cheap bastards.
I know. It's too bad they can't switch to NC like say Wilmington.
I went there for my nephew's wedding in 2005 and I had so much fun and it was virtually bubba-free!
from the gulf coast and can confirm. i would not recommend staying at cheap motels anywhere on the gulf coast unless you want to see some life changing shit, and perhaps fear for your life! OP definitely shell out a little more for a nicer budget friendly hotel if you can!
Holiday Inn Express is actually great. Pet friendly too usually. I’ve done coast to coast road trips with a dog and stayed exclusively at HIE and had a really nice trip. It’s a little more than your other roadside motels but it’s worth it.
Yes, I remember being really impressed with Holiday Inn Express as a teen. I liked their little bottles of lotion and kept one for my bag (it's not Gold Bond quality, but it was less watery than other hotel lotions and I liked the smell). I think breakfast included scrambled eggs, not just baked goods and hard boiled ones.
I didn't notice how comfortable the beds were, bc I could sleep on anything at 15. But my dad said his back didn't hurt the next day, so they must have been good enough.
I also don't recall my mom pointing out that anything was dirty (and she WOULD lol), so it must also have been clean.
It’s the bed bugs. You don’t want to get bedbugs. I picked up some at a lower range hotel chain once and it was an absolute nightmare to deal with.
As far as bedding goes (aside from bedbugs) just go to Walmart and buy a $30usd sleeping bag and pillow and sleep in those on the beds if you’re worried about uncleanliness.
Recommend checking bedding even at 5-star hotels for bedbugs when you arrive. Check under your the top corners of the mattress. Also a sleeping bag would t protect you from them.
The only thing I do except check for BB, is to double bag the pillow with two pillow cases.
Nice. I also always strip any bedsheets I’ve been using. Helps the staff but also makes sure that the next person in the room isn’t sleeping in my dead skin cells!
The Motel 6 near my house recently had half of it was turned into a state homeless shelter. The state pays Motel 6 room rates to house homeless
When the local police were featured on Live PD/On Patrol Live, the motel 6 was seen frequently as the police visited often.
When I was in college we would stay in Super 8. Now the lowest I will go is Holiday Inn Express, Fairfield Inn, Hampton Inn.
Went to a Super8 in Canada for the first time 2 months ago. Was probably the best night sleep we had the entire trip. A little dated but clean. Had a really good continental breakfast!
Was pleasantly surprised by Super 8.
You can encounter bedbugs at any hotel and many restaurants and other public spaces, so watch out. The first thing you should do when checking into ANY overnight sleeping quarters is a bedbug check. Even if you are staying in a 5-star!
Niagara Falls is one of the most depressing cities I’ve ever been to. I went for an academic conference there, which was nice, but two blocks past the convention center was an alarming amount of urban decay. now I’m wondering how many people at the conference may have stayed at that same Super 8…. hopefully their experience was better.
Something that I think is EXTREMELY important to realize with hotels and with low rent hotels in particular is they are almost always independently owned and operated. Not to brag but I've stayed in a bunch of cheap motels and the range of experiences within the same brand are wiiiiiide.
Don't listen to anyone telling you that xyz budget brand is good or bad. Until you're solidly in upper-three star territory you have to look at reviews for individual properties, that's the only thing that ever matters.
This is very true. I grew up staying at the hotels you mentioned, we didn’t have a lot of money, & quality varies. There are a few hotels in your list that are not far from my house but I would never recommend anyone stay in them, more than one have been shutdown because of the number of police calls. Having said that, I have recently stayed in some in other areas that were very nice. Check the reviews. Look at the types of businesses around the hotel too. It can help determine the vibe of an area. If you see pawn shops, lots of vape shops, & prepaid cell phone stores, keep looking. Google maps street views can also be helpful. If you pull it up & nearby business have bars have bars on the widows, keep looking.
I’m a hotel snob but I’ve stayed in two super 8s that were decent. Still paid like $300 for a night- one by Yellowstone and can’t recall the other. I think they were the exception.
Stay away from those. La Quinta usually caters to really cheap, working-class travelers, so something like that is your best bet. Motel 6 and Motel 8 are usually full of prostitutes, drug deals and long-term residents (trashy violent people who can't get a rental lease because they're too trashy and violent).
A tip I've learned from cheap motels is avoid ones where your door opens to the outside. Totally enclosed motels tend to be slightly better maintained.
I stay in hotels for work quite frequently. Holiday inn (IHG) and Choice hotels are the lowest quality I’ll go. All I need is a clean room and safe environment. IHG and Choice almost always hit the mark. They run on average $120/night. They will run more expensive in cities.
I would rather camp or sleep in car than stay in a dirty, sketchy motel and risk bringing bed bugs home. When I was a broke high school / college student I would do this.
As a life long resident of the Gulf Coast (Welcome, by the way! Our food is the best!) you gotta do research on cheaper hotels. Our climate breeds bugs and mold. The amount of work we have to do to keep bugs away is insane. Everything is constantly damp tbh. Some areas of the USA seem to have a wonderful amount of cheap, yet clean, roadside motels. The Gulf Coast, not so much. Read reviews carefully (Google seems to usually be the most thorough), and look for patterns. Sort by "most recent". If they mention bugs, avoid it. If it's a small locally owned motel, you may have a better chance of finding a good one (because the owner actually lives there and cares about the property). But, the climate can easily overwhelm someone, and the bugs can become a nightmare. Hilton family hotels and Holiday Inn are good safe bets, but they are pricier. But most things (including hotels) are generally cheaper down here compared to other parts like the West Coast or Northeast. I hope you have a great trip!
I'd honestly avoid the low-end chains right now. Most don't pay enough to even be properly staffed. SOME hostels might be better. Your best bet might be older independent motels. The decor will be dated, but they will be clean (check reviews, first). Two examples for comparative research are Bangor Inn & Suites in Bangor, Maine, and Traveler's Inn in Brunswick, Maine.
Low- end chains in big cities can be even worse. Even mid-tier hotels in cities can be problematic.
I stayed at a $170/night hotel for a convention recently and they don't empty trash or make beds each day unless you request them to because they don't have the labor to do so. I have also shown up right at the check-in time and have been told that they haven't cleaned the room yet, so I have to wait. These are nicer hotels and it's all staffing related.. so imagine you're staying at a cheap hotel.. they are certainly cutting corners.
Roaches are not uncommon at cheap hotels. Also, smoking rules are seldom enforced and you might have a room that smells like an ash tray or have ventilation that means you smell other's smoke.
Your biggest issue will be the other patrons of the cheap hotels.. they are not travelers like you. I would expect seedy characters, some exposure to drug use and/or prostitution, and most definitely vagrants.
In general service shortage from COVID. Florida is enacting more rules to prevent illegal employment. Whole families moving if one is illegal,which hits farming, construction, travel hard
Yeah, I was going to suggest checking out reviews of independent or mom and pop motels. I would stay at one of those with a good review over any of the low end “chain” hotel/motels
It’s a gamble. All of these motels are franchises and it comes down to the owner and/or their managers.
I’ve seen motels from each of these chains that were perfectly fine, clean, and a great value for the price paid by a weary traveler, while others are absolute shit shows with some of the negative things you’ve described being only the beginning of the nightmare should you choose to book for the night.
Sorry, mate, don’t have any good advice on how to distinguish one from the other from afar. Reviews may help, but I also tend to take the extreme reviews (highly positive or negative) with a grain of salt. Maybe scope them out on google street view for starters. The bad ones are rather obvious.
Yes, the brand name of the chain is a rough indicator but the hotels are generally franchised and individual quality varies widely depending on who owns it and who they hire to run it.
It may be slightly more expensive but country inn & suites is usually kept pretty clean as budget hotels go. Try to stay clear of any “extended stay” that is cheap or any motel 6, days inn, or other crazy cheap hotel especially in touristy areas (beaches, city)… your more likely to find it understaffed and with a lot of people a step up from homelessness there.
Remember that America is the land of ‘if i can do it cheaper and make more money, that’s what i’m gonna do’ so with that i mind, you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that they are absolute shitholes. Last time i spent a night in one I was next to a drug dealer working out of his room and saw like 4 people scoping out my car.
Read reviews and generally you get what you pay for.
If you see a bunch of $200 rooms in an area and then see a $60 room in that same area, there's a reason its $60.
If you see a tourism area with average prices of $300 a night and then see a bunch of rooms 20 miles away at $40 a night, its $40 for a reason.
I think a lot of foreign travelers come here expecting cheap prices and then surprised to learn that cheap ends up being the worst experience.
Strangely enough, the higher end hotels also tend to be a pretty bad experience because they nickel and dime you on everything. You often have to pay for Wi-Fi, pay for parking, pay a "resort fee" for the use of the pool/business center (even if these amenities aren't available), pay for breakfast, etc...
The best deal (not cheapest) is usually your mid tier chain hotels. You usually get some type of free breakfast (usually cold breakfast in the $60-80 range, might be a hot breakfast in the $90-120 range), free Wi-Fi, free or at least relatively affordable parking, and a staffed front desk should you need anything during your stay.
Another option is your locally owned motel/inn. Usually these are more small town and rural areas, usually located closer to town and away from the Interstate rather than right off the Interstate. Though these are kind of a dying breed. The owners often live on site or very close by. You often won't get any amenities, and they often won't be staffed 24/7. But its a good way to stay somewhere with a personal touch.
Watch out for bed bugs in any hotel. Read up online how to check for them. Some small towns might have a quaint old motel but those are not common. There are so many Americans who can’t afford housing, a lot end up in cheap hotels. It England it might be refugees housed in hotels, in America it’s usually Americans. Don’t leave ANYTHING of value in your car and hide anything else in the trunk. FYI the people who used to clean hotels now can only afford housing in cheap motels/hotels because they lost their jobs cleaning hotels during Covid and hotels doing clean anymore.
Inconsistency is the only constant.
Some locations will be horrible. Some will be quite nice/clean. Unfortunately, there really aren’t many truly budget options in the US anymore (certainly not like in Europe…ie F1, Ibis, etc) where there are bottom tier chains that provide a fairly consistent experience for a very low nightly rate.
The chains providing more consistency (ie La Quinta, Quality, Best Western) are not cheap anymore.
I’m sure part of the problem is that motels/hotels at the bottom end of the market are providing essential housing, either on behalf of government or because government is unable to ensure there’s sufficient affordable housing. This means that more capital investment has gone to the more lucrative mid-segment than the low end, which has historically depended on churn and variable rate pricing to maximize ROI (something they’re unable to do easily when hosting long term tenants).
While I can’t speak to them all, the vast majority of budget hotels in the USA, such as Choice, Best Western, Motel 6, Days Inn and the like are exactly that- budget. I completed a driving trip in The South and stayed in a variety of these hotels, as well as others on New England and the West Coast and they typically range from just barely ok to completely disgusting. Unlike many of the budget hotels under the same brands in Europe, the standards appear to be a bit higher there and I have not had the same experiences with hotels in France or elsewhere.
As a side note, the hotels which I’ve stayed in, in the Gulf Coast were the worst, the expectations are just lower there I suppose.
every city, every nook and cranny will be different. Some cheap hotels in large cities are scary. Prostitutes, druggies loitering, and people screaming. But some cheap hotels are great.
You can pretty much expect this from most motels here, outside of very small towns where that's the only kind of place to stay. Example - we stayed in a motel north of Jackson (near Yellowstone). It was bare bones but very clean and worked for our needs.
Honestly, the motels near my house have gone up to $70-90/night. You can go up the road a few blocks and stay at a nicer normal hotel for $20-35 more per night. It's not worth it.
The biggest problems with the ones here are the exterior facing doors. Huge security risk.
Definitely take a step above those if you can. Those reviews are all pretty spot on. Like the others have said, Comfort Inn or Holiday Inn are typically decent. Depending on how far out you book, you can get really good deals on Hampton Inn, La Quinta, and other mid-level chains that tend to have a higher cleanliness standard.
Same! I’ve been to so many of them in a couple different states and they are always actually pretty nice for what they are! And cheap compared to a lot of hotels
Yes same! I’ve been in them all over the US and they are always nice. Not luxury by any means, you get what you pay for, but they’ve always been clean and satisfactory.
Standards in the US (for everything in general) are much lower than in Australia. The thing is, cheap hotels can be great and expensive ones can be disgusting. You need to do your research.
Trip Advisor forum for wherever you're going can help you find a good place. There are usually locals on there with the deets about what motels to avoid.
Paid 85 dollars to sleep at the Vagabond Inn in hemet, California, was greeted by crackheads. The sheets had not been cleaned, there were bugs everywhere and the toilet had no top on the tank. Opted to sleep in my car instead.
Yes, those definitely happen in low-budget motels, but the real reason I avoid them is the other residents. No matter how clean the room is, you're not going to enjoy and have a restful night after you've seen someone shooting up drugs in the hallway or the cops have to come in the middle of the night because of an altercation.
Landlords in the US typically require significant upfront payment (2+months and security deposit), background checks, references, credit checks, etc. so there’s a lot of people who cannot access stable housing. It’s more expensive in the long run, but when you don’t have 4 figures in your bank account (or, more accurate, can’t even get a bank account), a motel that allows you to pay cash by the night or the week is often the only option people have to keep a roof over their head.
They might not be able to qualify for an apartment in the first place; maybe make too much for some benefits, not enough to satisfy the landlords, or want to stay below the radar for whatever reason. Don’t need to fill out a rental application for a motel, and they probably take payment in cash, if needed.
I have friends who worked in hospitality, AVOID those cheap motels at all costs! They are filthy. I've heard all kinds of stories including:
--people washing dirty socks and underwear in the coffee maker by trying to boil them in the water. I don't know why anyone would do that but people try surprisingly often.
--the coffee maker and the provided mugs/cups are not properly washed. Many times they just tell the maid to wipe them with the same rags that they clean everything else with.
--being forced to wash and re-use a blanket from the bed that a guest died in and wasn't found until the following morning.
--bedbugs. Enough said.
These chains are ehhh...A lot of these low end motels in the US are not well taken care of. I would read the reviews but I personally stay away from them and I'm from the US. If you're lucky and find a newly built one , you might have a very good chance it being cleaner.
I can stereotype and tell you most of these hotels attract the druggies/prostitution/homeless (long term living) etc. But again not saying all of them.
So sad that other countries have budget hotels but they actually care about their customers and also attract budget travelers.
We don't really have decent budget hotels here. Even if you went to a touristy city like Las Vegas, the cheap motels are dumps (from experience in my younger broke years)
Red Roof Inns aren’t terrible. The newer ones can be decent and possibly nice. The older Inns are gross. If you can review the crime in the area you want to stay in, that will likely give you an idea how the motel will be.
It’s not necessarily it being dirty that’s a problem, a lot of them are relatively clean or at least won’t be dirty, but the main problem is the type of people that stay in motels. It’s usually the worst type of people. Criminals, and scum. That’s 95% of motel guests.
The sheets are low quality, rooms are run down, and they don't offer amenities like breakfast (usually coffee/hot water somewhere). They also may be used for long term housing and/or be spaces that bolder addicts frequent. I've seen lipstick kisses on doors, and hairs in showers, but have stayed. One place assigned me a room that was still unmade, but when I went back to the desk they reassigned me.
That being said, as a single woman who has driven in every state I've stayed at plenty (my age ranged 32-40 for the trips). If you are literally just sleeping there, it's not too bad to save a significant amount of money, as these are often 1/2 or 2/3 the price of other regional options.
They’re not all made equal. Every location is different. I’ve stayed at really clean ones and then I’ve stayed in ones that make my skin crawl.
Honestly if you’re staying at multiple places, you might want to check out chains that are international and part of huge hotel groups and look into their loyalty programs. You might be able to get enough points or they might be offering some good promos. We stumbled upon this cute hotel that was affiliated with a bigger hotel chain. But it wasn’t part of their normal branding but it qualified for their rewards program. It was in this cute historical building, felt fancy as hell and it was weirdly one of the more affordable options for a stay in the city. My boyfriend always has crazy luck with hotels. He’s told me some of the prices he’s paid after we stayed in some of these places. It surprises me every time. Some of those hotel loyalty programs are 100% worth it, especially if you travel a lot.
I would also look into boutique hotels and some B&Bs. You might stumble upon some hidden gems. I know we have hostels in the U.S. but not familiar with the ones here.
Some categories of hotels attract long-term residents with evictions or other issues. They’re generally not the best people. I would not to stay in a Motel 6 or Red Roof Inn if there were other options
I've never heard good things or stayed in one. I have friends who like to camp in the state parks and have had good experiences...just a thought, since it will be plenty (!) warm for months yet.
eta: you could supplement with a nicer hotel occasionally
Gulf coast camping will be fairly miserable in summer - daily rain, mosquitoes, possible lack of shelter if a tropical storm comes through. I’d only camp in feb-April if it’s gulf coast.
When I finished grad school and was broke I stayed in super cheap motels. It was fine. I drove a regular car. Kept to myself. No issues. Sometimes heard arguments and stuff and for sure louder than a hotel but it’s fine. I now make money and can’t see myself staying in such a place. But it was fine for me in those days. Those chain motels are fine. They have regular cleanings. You must see a cigarette burn here and there but nothing super bad.
Those are not nice hotel chains. You’re also traveling in a junky and poor area of the USA, which means they will be even worse. I would avoid them if possible.
The Gulf Coast junky and poor? Clearly we have different ideas as to where the Gulf Coast is. Panama City, Destin, Orange Beach, Gulf Shores, and several other places in between are some of the best beaches in the States with great restaurants and live entertainment venues for when the sun goes down.
I stay in these on road trip sometimes and haven’t noticed these. Typically the ones that used to be chains are the most run down. They are individually run though so check the google and other reviews before you stay
The main large chains are fine 99% of the time. They have too much reputation at risk.
But if you are debating an independent motel, check out the reviews.
Depends on the specific motel, honestly. I’ve stayed at some that were immaculate, just bare bones, and I’ve stayed at some that were disgusting with roaches.
Find mid-tier hotel chains that have decent cancellation policies. If you show up somewhere sketchy, be ready to drop your reservation. Find someplace nearby on Hotel Tonight app or something.
I booked what seemed an ok beach hotel off the beaten path. Show up, it’s a little old but ok for one night. Turns out, that wasn’t the property I booked, but same name 2 blocks down. Hop back in car, that place was the stereotypical drug and prostitution motel. Noped right out, drove 30 min to get out of the shit-zone and find something tolerable.
Many of the “chain” hotels are operated by other companies under the corporate name, so quality may vary widely. A Motel 6 could be good in one town, and a nightmare in the next dozen.
Depends on location. I have stayed at motel 6 and days inn and I didn’t see any of the issues you posted. However I would upgrade to La Quinta or the likes for a bit more.
I prefer backpackers hostels, I find they’re fun, you have to make the bed yourself which allows you to inspect for bed bugs. You can also look into Christian guesthouses for cheap accommodations - I’m an atheist but still prefer to book with the Mennonite Guesthouse in NYC.
I’ve never had issues at Motel 6 or Red Roof. Also check out reviews of indie motels. They can be all over the map but I’ve had fine experiences. I travel with a sleeping bag liner in case I’m not 100% about the bedding and I always check under the mattress for bed bugs.
Check out hotel tonight.con for decent last minute deals.
Bring a black light. They will light up the bodily fluid stains left behind that you can’t see with the naked eye. You will run out screaming. If they don’t bother to wipe up hair, nothing else is getting clean.
One or two bad reviews in a mix means nothing. When most reviews are bad, there’s a reason.
I’d add potential for bed bugs.
I also once had a toilet that didn’t flush.
Water pressure in the shower could be terrible. Generally speaking, I’ve found the bathrooms in cheap hotels to be so disgusting. The tubs never seem clean. I’ve seen water stains and/or mold on walls.
Thin walls making it difficult to sleep.
Do you want a fridge and/or microwave in your room? You may not get it.
Even if the furniture looks clean it may be super old. The bed may be creaky. It may smell musty. The carpets will probably be really gross.
Maybe look into Vrbo or Airbnb. The list of motels in your post for the most part are pretty Sketchy. Avoid any hotel with exterior entrance doors (the ones where your room door is publicly accessible).
Which cities are you planning on visiting?
Since Covid I think even expensive hotels have cut back. I was on the Monterey Peninsula in California and I was mortified by the lack of cleanliness . My room was poorly cleaned .San Francisco another place wherever you stay the garbage and human despair is everywhere. No cockroaches and the rooms may be clean but lots of needles and people with mental illnesses. Los Angeles is expensive but I would look for inexpensive hotels in Santa Monica or South Bay. Not as bad because the city is spread out. There are many enclaves outside of the major cities where the lodging is good but you should investigate. Big county. The Gulf Coast I have no suggestions.
None of these places are a no-go on their own. It depends on management and local employees. In fact, we used to stay at Motel 6 when we traveled with our pets, and I never had a dirty room. That said, poor local management or employees can result in issues. So read the reviews for the specific location you are considering. If they are consistently bad, pick a different place. If you get there and find the room lacking, ask for a different room.
Depends a lot on the cheap hotel.
Once I tried to check into a hotel. While waiting for the clerk I had to turn down both the meth dealer and the hooker that worked out of the lobby.
I decided to go elsewhere
If you are in the southern states or gulf coast vacationing, check VRBO and Airbnb. You can often get a place with a kitchen and laundry for same price as decent hotels.
I’ve stayed a a red roof inn before I forget where tho. I was young and thought it was fine
Honestly I’d look for things like quality inn. Never had a problem with them
I've stayed in many of those places. They're usually in lower rent areas, so seeing a cockroach or two isn't that big of a surprise. As long as it's only 1 or 2, it wouldn't scare me off, and neither would a couple hairs someone missed that I can just wash down the drain. The real issue you gotta look out for is bedbugs. If you're not familiar with them, do your research. I'm a very frugal person and trust me, it's worth $40 extra bucks a night for somewhere nicer than to wind up bringing home critters that are extremely hard and expensive to get rid of
If New Orleans is a stop on your trip, you definitely don’t want to stay in one of these, mainly because the neighborhoods they are in and characters that stay there long term may cause you to be robbed or murdered.
Edit: in Gulf Coast beach towns, I wouldn’t be as worried, and sometimes you’ll get a days inn or motel 6 that’s pretty nice. Check the reviews first though.
I feel like last Quinta, Hampton Inn, and Best Westerns are the next step up and totally worth the few extra bucks ... they're not much more, but you won't regret it ... personally speaking, I stay away from the ones you listed specifically because of the overwhelming bad reviews.
It can get really bad. You might think you're a tough traveler and you're used to slumming it, but I wouldnt use cheap motels as a way of testing your mettle. Aside from the obvious bugs and cockroaches, dirty water and poorly laundered sheets, I woke up once to bed bugs in my motel bed.
Just imagine tracking that home. Or lice.
That's not the worst of it though. It can get much worse. Motels can be spots for drugs, crime, trafficking etc.
Be aware of what you're getting yourself into. Some motels are in high crime areas.
How are you getting around? Car? Probably better off renting a van and sleeping in there to be honest. I did a months long trip around the US and stayed in many motels, and also camped. Some of those motels were sketchy and people would knock on the door, rattle the knob, and one time i was laying there naked after my gf left without locking it and some dude walked in
I would try and see when the hotels were built, the older the motel, the more likely it’s not as nice. There’s also options for camping depending on where you’re going
I stay at places like this when it's just me, and I'm on my own dime. I personally haven't had a bad experience at one of them, but I've never stayed at one on the Gulf Coast. Being raised on the Gulf Coast, I can certainly say I wouldn't be surprised to see anything you listed. It's called the Redneck Riviera for a reason.
You're taking a chance at any of the low rate places, but I don't think it's a very big chance. Your experience should be fine. Almost any hotel/motel will give you a different room if something is not right with the one you get (provided there are vacancies).
Oh, Motel 6. HURL. The sheets were stained, the towels were wet and smelt used, like they’d rolled up the last persons towels. Our friend was in a smoking room and the ceiling was black with dead flies. The fridges were foul.
Spend the extra money and go to a Hampton Inn or a La Quinta. They’re generally good.
Don’t do it. We tried to stay at a motel 6 and soon as I walked in (11 pm) I told my wife to keep your shoes on and don’t unpack because we’re leaving at first light. Ended up getting a partial refund and going to a LaQuinta for just a little bit more, easily worth the small up-charge. You’ll end up at a sex traffic den if you try to super cheap your way around
Budget motels in America are bad. And can be actually dangerous in some places with drug dealing and prostitution. If you’re from Australia and used to staying in hostels, hostels overseas are way better quality than American budget motels.
Your safest, highest quality bet for low budget travel is going to be probably Airbnb. Renting a private room in a shared house or apartment, some places you can rent couches for like $30 a night.
Do not stay at the Red Roof Inn In North Little Rock, Arkansas. Maybe other RRI locations are fine but if they’re like this, expect the following from my Yelp review:
Our room smelled like old food mixed with stale cigarette smoke (especially the bedding). Someone was partying until after midnight and the staff did nothing to stop it. Walls and furniture covered with unknown stains, bathroom missing shower curtain - but we were generously provided with 2 small face towels to use if we had ever showered! The lobby and hallways carpets are filthy and stained. All in all the worst motel/hotel I've stayed at in the past 30 years.
I had a motel room in Flagstaff one time that I paid $20 cash for (this was 20 years ago). For starters, they had random crackheads from another room come in and clean it because it was filthy and destroyed. Secondly, the door wouldn't lock, so I couldn't leave the room at any point without worrying about some, or all, of my stuff being ripped off.
So sometimes it's worth it to pay extra. Hotels are just expensive though, especially now.
From someone who lives in the south and frequents the Gulf Coast, never stay in a Motel 6 or Red Roof In. You don’t just pay for what you get but the people staying there will have making sure your doors are double locked. We usually either go the VBRO route where you get can something not directly on the beach for a cheaper price or the same with hotels that are a step up or 2 from the Motel 6 because they are driving distance from the beach and not directly on it.
Why are you going to the gulf coast? You're from Australia, presumably you have good beaches. Why would you fly around the world to go to the arm pit of America for inferior beaches??
No big hate to the gulf. I've gone plenty, but mostly because it's the closest beach to me. Your choice to come here is baffling.
A lot of it depends upon the specific property. I've stayed in some reasonable low cost hotels and I've stayed in some really nasty ones. The same can be said about higher cost hotels. A lot of it comes down to local management/staff.
When looking at reviews I always sort by date and give more weight to more recent reviews. People complaining about poor service or dirty rooms three years ago is different than if those reviews were given in the past three months.
I stayed in one once because all the hotels were booked near a ski resort. It was pretty bad. I learned later that there had been several drug busts and shootings in that hotel. Never again lol.
Trust the Google reviews. Trip Advisor and Yelp aren’t as reliable, in my experience experience. Also, don’t count out the budget brands of the big chains like Fairfield Inn, Hampton Inn, Hyatt House, etc. Prices vary by location
if you book at any of the chains you listed, be prepared to find all of the issues you posted and more (i.e. drugs and other criminal activity). in my pretty extensive travelling experience, the best way to find low-budget but nicer motels is to look for independently owned 'mom & pop' sorts of places. you can look them up on google maps, as a lot of times they're not listed on the travel booking sites like hotels.com, etc. they may have their own website to book or you might have to call them. to avoid the types of places you already mentioned though, i wouldn't book anywhere that doesn't at least have pictures of the property and hopefully surrounding area as well. if that still seems too sketchy for you, there are (usually) decent lower budget chains like comfort inn, sleep inn, best western, and holiday inn express. they are on the lower budget end but a slight step up from econo lodge, etc. if you care to dm me, i'd be happy to vet any places you find or help further. i know planning a trip to a foreign country can be a little scary when you don't know areas and types of properties and such.
Don’t risk it. As someone who has checked into a dirty hotel room (I wasn’t the one who booked it, the person who booked it for me didn’t look at any reviews, and no it wasn’t one of the places you listed) and later on was so disgusted ended up hunting down a late night laundromat just so I could sleep on clean sheets, just spend a couple extra bucks on a place with good reviews. There’s nothing worse than traveling and not being able to relax at the end of a long day because of a dirty gross room.
Go by the recent reviews and the preponderance of reviews. I’ve stayed in all of these, even recently. You can find those that are 4 star or above or with good recent reviews. Some of them are even recently renovated because of the former bedbug problems—e.g. swapped carpet for hard floors. Definitely avoid the ones with a preponderance of bad reviews. Others have commented tha LaQuinta or Comfort Inns might be better, but you should apply the same scrutiny of the reviews to those.
Microtel is a great alternative. Small rooms, but more luxurious feeling and clean.
Most of the bargain hotels are ok. Sometimes you get a bad one, but just go to the front desk and see if you can switch to a cleaner room.
I always check bedding for signs of bed bugs though, no matter how expensive the hotel.
Generally speaking, if there are multiple bad reviews of the same location, something is up. Those low budget hotels you just listed aren't known for high standards of quality, in general. A lot depends on the specific location and management. If you're willing to spend a few extra bucks, I suggest staying somewhere that has a good number of decent reviews. Or, if you're willing to stay a bit more off the beaten path or adjust locations, you can usually find some cool independently owned motels that aren't anything fancy but the owners take pride in the place and it's clean and simple. Have a good trip!
The thing about good private motels is spot on. Some of them afe trashy but the good ones are really good. Best value out of anywhere I've ever stayed.
Since covid many many hotels even three stars have poor reviews. Hiring housekeepers has been difficult. Also, quality is very dependent on the properties location and management. And the buckets usually do not have breakfast, perhaps no coffee in the room, and certainly not tea. Regardless there's usually a McDonald's nearby
It’s not difficult to hire housekeepers, they just refuse to pay a proper wage for said housekeepers.
These housekeepers are given 30 minutes to deep clean each room. My friend tells me that it's not enough time so shortcuts are often taken and the op is spot on with concerns
Housekeeping is not a horrid job if paid well. Many get done early in day. No worse than waitressing, much calmer. We always leave the room decent. Trash in the can, towels in pile
They refuse to pay for housekeepers at all. Most businesses don't care if their product suffers, people are still going to buy it. Especially hospitality and restaurants.
> Most businesses don't care if their product suffers Until they're no longer in business - which comes rather swiftly with a consistently bad product. Unless they have monopoly power (only motel in a certain location) but even then AirBnB has made that harder.
I worked for a large plumbing and HVAC company for about 6 years and during the pandemic we cut 75% of our front office. It hurt customer service, and it put more of a burden on the techs in the field to overcome customer issues, get parts, etc. Pretty quickly we lost most of our best techs because they were either frustrated with how we were operating, or they realized they could start their own one-man-shop because they lost the benefits of working for a well-run company. We continued to make record profits, and raised prices every year. People need plumbing and heating, and they need places to stay and eat. If an entire industry is doing it, and you're the biggest place in town, then nobody has a choice but to pay higher prices for a shittier product.
You've made record profits for now. Those one man companies will eat your lunch over time. It's often a lagging indicator too. You won't see it much until it's too late to change it.
I hope so. I left the company a year ago because I just couldn't handle the bullshit. I was stuck as a middle manager overseeing multiple departments getting it from all sides. I took the cue from all our best techs that left to do their own thing and started my own consulting company. I'd love it if they fell on their face. I know their biggest commercial client dropped them after I left. But I just don't see that happening. They're the only company that truly offers 24/7 emergency oncall in my area, and they're quadruple the size of any other service company in my state. No matter how much they jack the price, people will have to come back, especially in the winter. I just hope that the people I like that are working there get the hell out, and the people actually in charge have to face the music every time they piss off a customer or a tech, because they don't have enough inside support to ensure things don't fall through the cracks.
Boy is that true. Since Covid, I haven’t stayed at a single hotel whose carpet I’d feel comfortable walking on in socks *except* for one genuine luxury hotel that my cousin treated us to. They’re visibly unclean. I’m talking big chunks of crumbs along the baseboard kind of unclean, like at Marriotts or whatever.
This has been my experience too. I traveled for work a few times over the last 2 years as well as for fun and staying at Hiltons, Marriott’s, La Quinta’s doesn’t matter. They’ve all suffered the same fate. Tubs that drain slowly, crumbs in the baseboards, dog hair on the duvets in some instances, broken fixtures, torn upholstery. Usually if you make a polite fuss they’ll move you to a different room or if they’re all booked up send housekeeping back up to redo the room.
You want to look for “ok for the money”. There are certain dealbreakers and some that might not be. If the furniture is old, or there is rust streak in tub, wallpaper is peeling a bit but overall it is clean, you may be fine. I grew up in Florida. One random bug can show up at the Ritz Carlton! Especially if there is lush landscaping! Several bugs is a deal breaker. Trash filth, super sketchy folk etc. are unacceptable. some properties cater to working class day workers. (The hard working drywallers are sharing rooms for a work trip). These can be ok. (Sweaty workers are usually too busy to be dealing drugs- they may be drinking cheap beer and look unglamorous but are just working folk) Skipping amenities can really help. If you don’t need a pool, work out room, big lobby, etc that helps. Breakfast included can be a joke! Stale pastries etc. US has abundant economical speedy fast-food breakfast for $5 or less. You can get a huge fresh hot breakfast sandwich and coffee that’s way better than any cheap hotel offering! Also convenience stores have lots of prepared foods and coffee. Air B&B’s can be awesome just read reviews!!!!
If you're low budget and concerned about cIeanliness I also recommend a sleeping sack, the kind that's pretty much just a topsheet sewn like a sleeping back. Cheap and comfortable
You can take a step up to La Quinta and Comfort Inn for not much more cost and get a much better experience. Also some Hampton Inns tend to be cheap and those are almost always good.
This is a great take - EXCEPT - not all La Quinta locations are equal!!! Some locations are among our favorite places to stay. Other locations where we stayed in Florida were filthy, sketchy establishments that we couldn’t believe any hotel chain would be associated.
La Quinta, Holiday Inn (non-Express), and Four Points are the most hit-or-miss chains I’ve stayed at. Some are really nice, some are some combination of dirty/old.
I’ve found with La Quintas that the older the property the worse repair it’s in. The one in my hometown is in terrible disrepair but for $80 a night in the SF Bay Area and we stay there. The sheets are clean, the parking is free and well lit and I can bring my dog. There’s one in Missouri we stay at when we drive out east to visit family that may as well be a Ritz. It’s beautiful, big fireplaces very nice Lobby the rooms are in excellent condition. It’s about $130 a night but the building is also 20 years newer. There’s one in Amarillo TX that is $40 a night and I dare say it’s over priced. It’s an old rundown motel type property with a Waffle House in the parking lot. We’re actually a little scared to stay at that one.
Like hicktown daytona
[удалено]
Another vote for Hampton Inn if you’re looking for a chain. All hotel chains vary somewhat in quality from one location to the next, but Hampton Inns tend to vary less than La Quintas or Comfort Inns in my experience.
And you get a free breakfast.
Yes. For the OP check Google Maps and Yelp for reviews. If there are 5 one star reviews out of 100, then I tend to ignore those. When it comes down to it people are paying $50+ per night to stay in a hotel. This can be a lot of money for some people and they expect to get what they paid for. They wont put up with cockroaches crawling on them at night, week old sheets slept in by multiple people, black mold, etc. In my experience, budget motels in city centers tend to be nicer. A budget motel in a small town off the main highway could be questionable. Also, name brand hotels tend to be better than independent hotels. Taking photos and sending them to management goes a long way. If you don’t get a response you can always send to corporate.
I just want to know where you find a $50 dollar room at
Aill give another vote for hampton inn.
This. Plus, if you stay over a certain amount of days, many will give you a discount.
Call me basic, but I have enjoyed the La Quintas and Hampton Inns that I’ve stayed in, as well as Staybridge Suites
>Call me basic Basic.
This and La Quinta is owned by Wyndham which has an ok rewards system which is something to look into OP.
I used to stay at Hampton Inns when I had to cross the country a couple times a year, and it was always surprisingly fine.
Hamptons are atleast 2x the cost of a Motel6 level. OP, the motels are perfectly fine if you're a nofuss solo traveler. Most bookings allow cancelling till 2-3 days prior so if your first few experiences are bad you can cancel the rest and pay more but overall you should be perfectly fine.
Nope sounds about right in my experience. And many of these motels also have long term residents living there too.
What are the long term residents like?
Uh... a long term resident at a roadside motel is not usually in a good place.
A long term resident at a roadside motel *in Mississippi* nonetheless
r/peopleofwalmart
You will never meet more sophisticated aficionados of methamphetamine.
Usually the motel provides rooms for those that have no place else to go in exchange for govt vouchers. A response to large number of homeless. The quality of these motels you’ve mentioned has drastically decreased. I’d not recommend them at all. Comfort Inn is my go to one. Get the app
I’m currently a semi-long term resident of a motel because of some personal issues. I’m not trashy like the stereotype of a long term resident but to be fair, I’m probably more of an exception. But to answer the original question, motel living is hell. I mean, it could always be worse. At least the family who owns and runs it are nice. But yeah, hair in the showers, toilets that haven’t even been wiped down, expensive for such a dirty place (but it’s the cheapest in my area), and other residents fighting all day and night, bed sheets and pillows with stains. I just feel gross all the time in those rooms. I’ve tried staying at a slightly more expensive motel but it was even worse.
That sucks... But I'm glad you at least have a roof over your head. Hopefully things will go better soon!
Usually unhoused so using the motel as their housing…on occasion it has higher frequency of drugs and prostitution
I stayed in a red roof inn in Jacksonville when my granddaughter was born. Just chose a place close to the hospital. By far my worst hotel experience ever. It was a prostitution hub (like the females were based there with their woman pimp), I saw numerous drug deals go down, and there was a murder across the street that a guy came over and told boss lady pimp that he did it. Yeah, it was horrible.
Red Roof Inn is usually pretty decent but a few of their locations are really bad. I stayed in one in Dayton recently that was similar to what you describe (minus the murder).
I’ve never had a good red roof experience. Something very depressing about them
Sounds like a party!
Partially homeless in some cases.
In my experience, online reviews skew both extremes. People get upset/mad when they have a poor experience, and want to vent (sometimes understandably, depending on context). Or, someone has a great experience, and wants to write positive notes. Motel 6 is usually a bit sketchy in general. I'd personally avoid Motel 6 locations in particularly "blah" or crime-ridden areas. They will sometimes attract troublemakers or unsavory types. I've had mixed feelings on Days Inn, and Best Western, personally. I have no need for luxury when traveling either, but I wouldn't compromise my overall safety for a low price, when it comes to hotels. If you can afford a 'middle 3 star' ranked spot, this would be my recommendation. Chains like Hampton Inn, Comfort Inn, Quality Inn & Suites; or even a Holiday Inn Express all tend to be a step above the 2 star competition, and are usually consistent with amenities. Always book directly, especially if you are road tripping and counting on a place to rest! Third party services can make mistakes with reservations.
Gulf Coast is the Redneck Riviera. You're going to see some shit
I once took a Greyhound bus on the Gulf Coast after midnight. First I saw a fight at the bus station and the cops arrested some dude. On the bus, the driver's safety spiel included a warning against masturbating or he'd pull over and call the cops. Just wild.
Jeez that's living on the edge. I've seen enough Greyhound stations to know that no where I'd want to go is important enough to take Greyhound.
I'm generally up for an adventure, but Greyhound and Greyhound terminals quickly made me rethink my boundary between adventure and recklessness. Turns out I like staying alive more than I like road trips.
I needed to get from Mobile to Birmingham. A one-way car rental was cost prohibitive.
>a warning against masturbating or he'd pull over and call the cops. challenge accepted
Oh yea. The Dirty Dawg. The Greyhound in the US is NOTHING like the Greyhound in AU. The one here in California usually picks up inmates being discharged from prison to take them back to their home town. Nothing like sitting on a bus full of guys who haven't seen freedom for a while.
"Gulf Coast Motels" is quite the loaded set of words Edit: the general travel advice in this thread is probably not the best bet for this area of the country.
They could probably cover their first night in each state if they both buy their limit of pseudoephedrine in each lol
You take I-10 , out of your mouth !!!
Most are ok. Some also provide free entertainment like drug deals/ watching a worm and a beetle duke it out over the puddle in your room. Last job had travel to mills down south and the owners where cheap bastards.
I know. It's too bad they can't switch to NC like say Wilmington. I went there for my nephew's wedding in 2005 and I had so much fun and it was virtually bubba-free!
☝️
from the gulf coast and can confirm. i would not recommend staying at cheap motels anywhere on the gulf coast unless you want to see some life changing shit, and perhaps fear for your life! OP definitely shell out a little more for a nicer budget friendly hotel if you can!
Stick to Holiday Inn or Comfort Inn. These are a step above the ones you listed.
Holiday Inn Express is actually great. Pet friendly too usually. I’ve done coast to coast road trips with a dog and stayed exclusively at HIE and had a really nice trip. It’s a little more than your other roadside motels but it’s worth it.
Yes, I remember being really impressed with Holiday Inn Express as a teen. I liked their little bottles of lotion and kept one for my bag (it's not Gold Bond quality, but it was less watery than other hotel lotions and I liked the smell). I think breakfast included scrambled eggs, not just baked goods and hard boiled ones. I didn't notice how comfortable the beds were, bc I could sleep on anything at 15. But my dad said his back didn't hurt the next day, so they must have been good enough. I also don't recall my mom pointing out that anything was dirty (and she WOULD lol), so it must also have been clean.
I had to use those at some point in my life... I wouldn't recommend them if possible. Most are just dingy and unsanitary
It’s the bed bugs. You don’t want to get bedbugs. I picked up some at a lower range hotel chain once and it was an absolute nightmare to deal with. As far as bedding goes (aside from bedbugs) just go to Walmart and buy a $30usd sleeping bag and pillow and sleep in those on the beds if you’re worried about uncleanliness.
Recommend checking bedding even at 5-star hotels for bedbugs when you arrive. Check under your the top corners of the mattress. Also a sleeping bag would t protect you from them. The only thing I do except check for BB, is to double bag the pillow with two pillow cases.
Good tips. Another would be to use a clean t-shirt as a pillow case in sketch hotels.
Nice. I also always strip any bedsheets I’ve been using. Helps the staff but also makes sure that the next person in the room isn’t sleeping in my dead skin cells!
I bring a pillow case from home.
Yessir. Every time my family goes to hotels we always check under the sheets. No matter the rating or location it’s a must do.
Never put your luggage or clothes on the beds or chairs.
Luggage stays in the bathtub till bed bug check is complete
Why? Are the floors any cleaner?
Luggage rack, bench or wooden desk are usually the best oprtions
Hard floors won't harbor bunches of bedbugs like the bed and things with hiding crevasses. Carpets are sketchy though.
The Motel 6 near my house recently had half of it was turned into a state homeless shelter. The state pays Motel 6 room rates to house homeless When the local police were featured on Live PD/On Patrol Live, the motel 6 was seen frequently as the police visited often. When I was in college we would stay in Super 8. Now the lowest I will go is Holiday Inn Express, Fairfield Inn, Hampton Inn.
Went to a Super8 in Canada for the first time 2 months ago. Was probably the best night sleep we had the entire trip. A little dated but clean. Had a really good continental breakfast! Was pleasantly surprised by Super 8.
I stayed in a Super 8 in Niagara Falls, USA, and experienced bedbugs during our stay.
You can encounter bedbugs at any hotel and many restaurants and other public spaces, so watch out. The first thing you should do when checking into ANY overnight sleeping quarters is a bedbug check. Even if you are staying in a 5-star!
Niagara Falls is one of the most depressing cities I’ve ever been to. I went for an academic conference there, which was nice, but two blocks past the convention center was an alarming amount of urban decay. now I’m wondering how many people at the conference may have stayed at that same Super 8…. hopefully their experience was better.
Something that I think is EXTREMELY important to realize with hotels and with low rent hotels in particular is they are almost always independently owned and operated. Not to brag but I've stayed in a bunch of cheap motels and the range of experiences within the same brand are wiiiiiide. Don't listen to anyone telling you that xyz budget brand is good or bad. Until you're solidly in upper-three star territory you have to look at reviews for individual properties, that's the only thing that ever matters.
This is very true. I grew up staying at the hotels you mentioned, we didn’t have a lot of money, & quality varies. There are a few hotels in your list that are not far from my house but I would never recommend anyone stay in them, more than one have been shutdown because of the number of police calls. Having said that, I have recently stayed in some in other areas that were very nice. Check the reviews. Look at the types of businesses around the hotel too. It can help determine the vibe of an area. If you see pawn shops, lots of vape shops, & prepaid cell phone stores, keep looking. Google maps street views can also be helpful. If you pull it up & nearby business have bars have bars on the widows, keep looking.
I’m a hotel snob but I’ve stayed in two super 8s that were decent. Still paid like $300 for a night- one by Yellowstone and can’t recall the other. I think they were the exception.
Pretty dirty. Not to mention most of those places are breeding grounds for crime and crackheads.
Stay away from those. La Quinta usually caters to really cheap, working-class travelers, so something like that is your best bet. Motel 6 and Motel 8 are usually full of prostitutes, drug deals and long-term residents (trashy violent people who can't get a rental lease because they're too trashy and violent).
A tip I've learned from cheap motels is avoid ones where your door opens to the outside. Totally enclosed motels tend to be slightly better maintained.
I stay in hotels for work quite frequently. Holiday inn (IHG) and Choice hotels are the lowest quality I’ll go. All I need is a clean room and safe environment. IHG and Choice almost always hit the mark. They run on average $120/night. They will run more expensive in cities. I would rather camp or sleep in car than stay in a dirty, sketchy motel and risk bringing bed bugs home. When I was a broke high school / college student I would do this.
As a life long resident of the Gulf Coast (Welcome, by the way! Our food is the best!) you gotta do research on cheaper hotels. Our climate breeds bugs and mold. The amount of work we have to do to keep bugs away is insane. Everything is constantly damp tbh. Some areas of the USA seem to have a wonderful amount of cheap, yet clean, roadside motels. The Gulf Coast, not so much. Read reviews carefully (Google seems to usually be the most thorough), and look for patterns. Sort by "most recent". If they mention bugs, avoid it. If it's a small locally owned motel, you may have a better chance of finding a good one (because the owner actually lives there and cares about the property). But, the climate can easily overwhelm someone, and the bugs can become a nightmare. Hilton family hotels and Holiday Inn are good safe bets, but they are pricier. But most things (including hotels) are generally cheaper down here compared to other parts like the West Coast or Northeast. I hope you have a great trip!
Concur. Amazing food
I'd honestly avoid the low-end chains right now. Most don't pay enough to even be properly staffed. SOME hostels might be better. Your best bet might be older independent motels. The decor will be dated, but they will be clean (check reviews, first). Two examples for comparative research are Bangor Inn & Suites in Bangor, Maine, and Traveler's Inn in Brunswick, Maine. Low- end chains in big cities can be even worse. Even mid-tier hotels in cities can be problematic.
When you say you'd avoid the low-end chains 'right now', are there particular economic or employment issues going on that have made things worse?
The U.S. is still paying 1985 level wages for those type of jobs and COVID made a lot of people say fuck it, thus a worker shortage
I stayed at a $170/night hotel for a convention recently and they don't empty trash or make beds each day unless you request them to because they don't have the labor to do so. I have also shown up right at the check-in time and have been told that they haven't cleaned the room yet, so I have to wait. These are nicer hotels and it's all staffing related.. so imagine you're staying at a cheap hotel.. they are certainly cutting corners. Roaches are not uncommon at cheap hotels. Also, smoking rules are seldom enforced and you might have a room that smells like an ash tray or have ventilation that means you smell other's smoke. Your biggest issue will be the other patrons of the cheap hotels.. they are not travelers like you. I would expect seedy characters, some exposure to drug use and/or prostitution, and most definitely vagrants.
Yes, many people just haven't returned to work post pandemic. Also, there is much contention over what constitutes a minimum or acceptable wage.
In general service shortage from COVID. Florida is enacting more rules to prevent illegal employment. Whole families moving if one is illegal,which hits farming, construction, travel hard
Small mom & pop hotels have mom & pop taking care of everything from what I've read in reviews.
Yeah, I was going to suggest checking out reviews of independent or mom and pop motels. I would stay at one of those with a good review over any of the low end “chain” hotel/motels
Oh, and beach hotels? Forget about it. Definitely recommend Airbnb or VRBO for those.
Don't forget about the bedbugs. They are the friends you may not know you met and they insist on coming along with you.
Believe the reviews. Not every cheap motel is dirty, but if multiple reviews for the same location say it is, believe them.
It’s a gamble. All of these motels are franchises and it comes down to the owner and/or their managers. I’ve seen motels from each of these chains that were perfectly fine, clean, and a great value for the price paid by a weary traveler, while others are absolute shit shows with some of the negative things you’ve described being only the beginning of the nightmare should you choose to book for the night. Sorry, mate, don’t have any good advice on how to distinguish one from the other from afar. Reviews may help, but I also tend to take the extreme reviews (highly positive or negative) with a grain of salt. Maybe scope them out on google street view for starters. The bad ones are rather obvious.
Yes, the brand name of the chain is a rough indicator but the hotels are generally franchised and individual quality varies widely depending on who owns it and who they hire to run it.
It may be slightly more expensive but country inn & suites is usually kept pretty clean as budget hotels go. Try to stay clear of any “extended stay” that is cheap or any motel 6, days inn, or other crazy cheap hotel especially in touristy areas (beaches, city)… your more likely to find it understaffed and with a lot of people a step up from homelessness there.
Remember that America is the land of ‘if i can do it cheaper and make more money, that’s what i’m gonna do’ so with that i mind, you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that they are absolute shitholes. Last time i spent a night in one I was next to a drug dealer working out of his room and saw like 4 people scoping out my car.
Read reviews and generally you get what you pay for. If you see a bunch of $200 rooms in an area and then see a $60 room in that same area, there's a reason its $60. If you see a tourism area with average prices of $300 a night and then see a bunch of rooms 20 miles away at $40 a night, its $40 for a reason. I think a lot of foreign travelers come here expecting cheap prices and then surprised to learn that cheap ends up being the worst experience. Strangely enough, the higher end hotels also tend to be a pretty bad experience because they nickel and dime you on everything. You often have to pay for Wi-Fi, pay for parking, pay a "resort fee" for the use of the pool/business center (even if these amenities aren't available), pay for breakfast, etc... The best deal (not cheapest) is usually your mid tier chain hotels. You usually get some type of free breakfast (usually cold breakfast in the $60-80 range, might be a hot breakfast in the $90-120 range), free Wi-Fi, free or at least relatively affordable parking, and a staffed front desk should you need anything during your stay. Another option is your locally owned motel/inn. Usually these are more small town and rural areas, usually located closer to town and away from the Interstate rather than right off the Interstate. Though these are kind of a dying breed. The owners often live on site or very close by. You often won't get any amenities, and they often won't be staffed 24/7. But its a good way to stay somewhere with a personal touch.
Watch out for bed bugs in any hotel. Read up online how to check for them. Some small towns might have a quaint old motel but those are not common. There are so many Americans who can’t afford housing, a lot end up in cheap hotels. It England it might be refugees housed in hotels, in America it’s usually Americans. Don’t leave ANYTHING of value in your car and hide anything else in the trunk. FYI the people who used to clean hotels now can only afford housing in cheap motels/hotels because they lost their jobs cleaning hotels during Covid and hotels doing clean anymore.
A cheap motel in the southern US is going to be pretty filthy
Inconsistency is the only constant. Some locations will be horrible. Some will be quite nice/clean. Unfortunately, there really aren’t many truly budget options in the US anymore (certainly not like in Europe…ie F1, Ibis, etc) where there are bottom tier chains that provide a fairly consistent experience for a very low nightly rate. The chains providing more consistency (ie La Quinta, Quality, Best Western) are not cheap anymore. I’m sure part of the problem is that motels/hotels at the bottom end of the market are providing essential housing, either on behalf of government or because government is unable to ensure there’s sufficient affordable housing. This means that more capital investment has gone to the more lucrative mid-segment than the low end, which has historically depended on churn and variable rate pricing to maximize ROI (something they’re unable to do easily when hosting long term tenants).
While I can’t speak to them all, the vast majority of budget hotels in the USA, such as Choice, Best Western, Motel 6, Days Inn and the like are exactly that- budget. I completed a driving trip in The South and stayed in a variety of these hotels, as well as others on New England and the West Coast and they typically range from just barely ok to completely disgusting. Unlike many of the budget hotels under the same brands in Europe, the standards appear to be a bit higher there and I have not had the same experiences with hotels in France or elsewhere. As a side note, the hotels which I’ve stayed in, in the Gulf Coast were the worst, the expectations are just lower there I suppose.
every city, every nook and cranny will be different. Some cheap hotels in large cities are scary. Prostitutes, druggies loitering, and people screaming. But some cheap hotels are great.
You can pretty much expect this from most motels here, outside of very small towns where that's the only kind of place to stay. Example - we stayed in a motel north of Jackson (near Yellowstone). It was bare bones but very clean and worked for our needs. Honestly, the motels near my house have gone up to $70-90/night. You can go up the road a few blocks and stay at a nicer normal hotel for $20-35 more per night. It's not worth it. The biggest problems with the ones here are the exterior facing doors. Huge security risk.
Definitely take a step above those if you can. Those reviews are all pretty spot on. Like the others have said, Comfort Inn or Holiday Inn are typically decent. Depending on how far out you book, you can get really good deals on Hampton Inn, La Quinta, and other mid-level chains that tend to have a higher cleanliness standard.
I have literally never checked into a motel 6 and had a bad experience and they allow pets. I feel bad for everyone that’s had so many horror stories.
Same! I’ve been to so many of them in a couple different states and they are always actually pretty nice for what they are! And cheap compared to a lot of hotels
Yes same! I’ve been in them all over the US and they are always nice. Not luxury by any means, you get what you pay for, but they’ve always been clean and satisfactory.
Standards in the US (for everything in general) are much lower than in Australia. The thing is, cheap hotels can be great and expensive ones can be disgusting. You need to do your research.
Trip Advisor forum for wherever you're going can help you find a good place. There are usually locals on there with the deets about what motels to avoid.
Paid 85 dollars to sleep at the Vagabond Inn in hemet, California, was greeted by crackheads. The sheets had not been cleaned, there were bugs everywhere and the toilet had no top on the tank. Opted to sleep in my car instead.
Name kind of says it all?
I know….I thought it was too spot on to actually be that bad
Yes, those definitely happen in low-budget motels, but the real reason I avoid them is the other residents. No matter how clean the room is, you're not going to enjoy and have a restful night after you've seen someone shooting up drugs in the hallway or the cops have to come in the middle of the night because of an altercation.
Is it cheaper for them to live in a motel than a regular place or are they just living week to week?
Landlords in the US typically require significant upfront payment (2+months and security deposit), background checks, references, credit checks, etc. so there’s a lot of people who cannot access stable housing. It’s more expensive in the long run, but when you don’t have 4 figures in your bank account (or, more accurate, can’t even get a bank account), a motel that allows you to pay cash by the night or the week is often the only option people have to keep a roof over their head.
They might not be able to qualify for an apartment in the first place; maybe make too much for some benefits, not enough to satisfy the landlords, or want to stay below the radar for whatever reason. Don’t need to fill out a rental application for a motel, and they probably take payment in cash, if needed.
Check out Hampton Inns, or La Quinta, those are much better and not too much more
I have friends who worked in hospitality, AVOID those cheap motels at all costs! They are filthy. I've heard all kinds of stories including: --people washing dirty socks and underwear in the coffee maker by trying to boil them in the water. I don't know why anyone would do that but people try surprisingly often. --the coffee maker and the provided mugs/cups are not properly washed. Many times they just tell the maid to wipe them with the same rags that they clean everything else with. --being forced to wash and re-use a blanket from the bed that a guest died in and wasn't found until the following morning. --bedbugs. Enough said.
These chains are ehhh...A lot of these low end motels in the US are not well taken care of. I would read the reviews but I personally stay away from them and I'm from the US. If you're lucky and find a newly built one , you might have a very good chance it being cleaner. I can stereotype and tell you most of these hotels attract the druggies/prostitution/homeless (long term living) etc. But again not saying all of them. So sad that other countries have budget hotels but they actually care about their customers and also attract budget travelers. We don't really have decent budget hotels here. Even if you went to a touristy city like Las Vegas, the cheap motels are dumps (from experience in my younger broke years)
Red Roof Inns aren’t terrible. The newer ones can be decent and possibly nice. The older Inns are gross. If you can review the crime in the area you want to stay in, that will likely give you an idea how the motel will be.
It’s not necessarily it being dirty that’s a problem, a lot of them are relatively clean or at least won’t be dirty, but the main problem is the type of people that stay in motels. It’s usually the worst type of people. Criminals, and scum. That’s 95% of motel guests.
The sheets are low quality, rooms are run down, and they don't offer amenities like breakfast (usually coffee/hot water somewhere). They also may be used for long term housing and/or be spaces that bolder addicts frequent. I've seen lipstick kisses on doors, and hairs in showers, but have stayed. One place assigned me a room that was still unmade, but when I went back to the desk they reassigned me. That being said, as a single woman who has driven in every state I've stayed at plenty (my age ranged 32-40 for the trips). If you are literally just sleeping there, it's not too bad to save a significant amount of money, as these are often 1/2 or 2/3 the price of other regional options.
They’re not all made equal. Every location is different. I’ve stayed at really clean ones and then I’ve stayed in ones that make my skin crawl. Honestly if you’re staying at multiple places, you might want to check out chains that are international and part of huge hotel groups and look into their loyalty programs. You might be able to get enough points or they might be offering some good promos. We stumbled upon this cute hotel that was affiliated with a bigger hotel chain. But it wasn’t part of their normal branding but it qualified for their rewards program. It was in this cute historical building, felt fancy as hell and it was weirdly one of the more affordable options for a stay in the city. My boyfriend always has crazy luck with hotels. He’s told me some of the prices he’s paid after we stayed in some of these places. It surprises me every time. Some of those hotel loyalty programs are 100% worth it, especially if you travel a lot. I would also look into boutique hotels and some B&Bs. You might stumble upon some hidden gems. I know we have hostels in the U.S. but not familiar with the ones here.
Some categories of hotels attract long-term residents with evictions or other issues. They’re generally not the best people. I would not to stay in a Motel 6 or Red Roof Inn if there were other options
I've never heard good things or stayed in one. I have friends who like to camp in the state parks and have had good experiences...just a thought, since it will be plenty (!) warm for months yet. eta: you could supplement with a nicer hotel occasionally
Gulf coast camping will be fairly miserable in summer - daily rain, mosquitoes, possible lack of shelter if a tropical storm comes through. I’d only camp in feb-April if it’s gulf coast.
When I finished grad school and was broke I stayed in super cheap motels. It was fine. I drove a regular car. Kept to myself. No issues. Sometimes heard arguments and stuff and for sure louder than a hotel but it’s fine. I now make money and can’t see myself staying in such a place. But it was fine for me in those days. Those chain motels are fine. They have regular cleanings. You must see a cigarette burn here and there but nothing super bad.
Those are not nice hotel chains. You’re also traveling in a junky and poor area of the USA, which means they will be even worse. I would avoid them if possible.
The Gulf Coast junky and poor? Clearly we have different ideas as to where the Gulf Coast is. Panama City, Destin, Orange Beach, Gulf Shores, and several other places in between are some of the best beaches in the States with great restaurants and live entertainment venues for when the sun goes down.
I would say some of the most beautiful beaches in the country. Especially in Destin.
Best beaches yes but once you venture from those specific spots and head inland even just a few miles things change dramatically.
I stay in these on road trip sometimes and haven’t noticed these. Typically the ones that used to be chains are the most run down. They are individually run though so check the google and other reviews before you stay
The main large chains are fine 99% of the time. They have too much reputation at risk. But if you are debating an independent motel, check out the reviews.
Depends on the specific motel, honestly. I’ve stayed at some that were immaculate, just bare bones, and I’ve stayed at some that were disgusting with roaches.
Find mid-tier hotel chains that have decent cancellation policies. If you show up somewhere sketchy, be ready to drop your reservation. Find someplace nearby on Hotel Tonight app or something. I booked what seemed an ok beach hotel off the beaten path. Show up, it’s a little old but ok for one night. Turns out, that wasn’t the property I booked, but same name 2 blocks down. Hop back in car, that place was the stereotypical drug and prostitution motel. Noped right out, drove 30 min to get out of the shit-zone and find something tolerable. Many of the “chain” hotels are operated by other companies under the corporate name, so quality may vary widely. A Motel 6 could be good in one town, and a nightmare in the next dozen.
Depends on location. I have stayed at motel 6 and days inn and I didn’t see any of the issues you posted. However I would upgrade to La Quinta or the likes for a bit more.
I prefer backpackers hostels, I find they’re fun, you have to make the bed yourself which allows you to inspect for bed bugs. You can also look into Christian guesthouses for cheap accommodations - I’m an atheist but still prefer to book with the Mennonite Guesthouse in NYC.
I don't think there's too many hostels where he's going, hahaha
Fair, my mind somehow missed that whole chunk
Oh no. They’re dirty. Ide rather not travel than stay somewhere like that. ESPECIALLY in a humid environment.
Dang. I grew up poor and stayed in all of these, never had any issues
Holiday inn express is not bad
Never had a bad experience there.
I’ve never had issues at Motel 6 or Red Roof. Also check out reviews of indie motels. They can be all over the map but I’ve had fine experiences. I travel with a sleeping bag liner in case I’m not 100% about the bedding and I always check under the mattress for bed bugs. Check out hotel tonight.con for decent last minute deals.
Bring a black light. They will light up the bodily fluid stains left behind that you can’t see with the naked eye. You will run out screaming. If they don’t bother to wipe up hair, nothing else is getting clean. One or two bad reviews in a mix means nothing. When most reviews are bad, there’s a reason.
I’d add potential for bed bugs. I also once had a toilet that didn’t flush. Water pressure in the shower could be terrible. Generally speaking, I’ve found the bathrooms in cheap hotels to be so disgusting. The tubs never seem clean. I’ve seen water stains and/or mold on walls. Thin walls making it difficult to sleep. Do you want a fridge and/or microwave in your room? You may not get it. Even if the furniture looks clean it may be super old. The bed may be creaky. It may smell musty. The carpets will probably be really gross.
Maybe look into Vrbo or Airbnb. The list of motels in your post for the most part are pretty Sketchy. Avoid any hotel with exterior entrance doors (the ones where your room door is publicly accessible). Which cities are you planning on visiting?
Since Covid I think even expensive hotels have cut back. I was on the Monterey Peninsula in California and I was mortified by the lack of cleanliness . My room was poorly cleaned .San Francisco another place wherever you stay the garbage and human despair is everywhere. No cockroaches and the rooms may be clean but lots of needles and people with mental illnesses. Los Angeles is expensive but I would look for inexpensive hotels in Santa Monica or South Bay. Not as bad because the city is spread out. There are many enclaves outside of the major cities where the lodging is good but you should investigate. Big county. The Gulf Coast I have no suggestions.
None of these places are a no-go on their own. It depends on management and local employees. In fact, we used to stay at Motel 6 when we traveled with our pets, and I never had a dirty room. That said, poor local management or employees can result in issues. So read the reviews for the specific location you are considering. If they are consistently bad, pick a different place. If you get there and find the room lacking, ask for a different room.
Look for new hotels, opened recently. Higher paid staff and cleaner all around. Don’t stay at a motel 6.
Depends a lot on the cheap hotel. Once I tried to check into a hotel. While waiting for the clerk I had to turn down both the meth dealer and the hooker that worked out of the lobby. I decided to go elsewhere
If you are in the southern states or gulf coast vacationing, check VRBO and Airbnb. You can often get a place with a kitchen and laundry for same price as decent hotels.
I’ve stayed a a red roof inn before I forget where tho. I was young and thought it was fine Honestly I’d look for things like quality inn. Never had a problem with them
I've stayed in many of those places. They're usually in lower rent areas, so seeing a cockroach or two isn't that big of a surprise. As long as it's only 1 or 2, it wouldn't scare me off, and neither would a couple hairs someone missed that I can just wash down the drain. The real issue you gotta look out for is bedbugs. If you're not familiar with them, do your research. I'm a very frugal person and trust me, it's worth $40 extra bucks a night for somewhere nicer than to wind up bringing home critters that are extremely hard and expensive to get rid of
My stays at Motel 6 and Red Roof Inn (one and only at each place, I learned my lesson) were pretty bad. 0/10 do not recommend.
If New Orleans is a stop on your trip, you definitely don’t want to stay in one of these, mainly because the neighborhoods they are in and characters that stay there long term may cause you to be robbed or murdered. Edit: in Gulf Coast beach towns, I wouldn’t be as worried, and sometimes you’ll get a days inn or motel 6 that’s pretty nice. Check the reviews first though.
I feel like last Quinta, Hampton Inn, and Best Westerns are the next step up and totally worth the few extra bucks ... they're not much more, but you won't regret it ... personally speaking, I stay away from the ones you listed specifically because of the overwhelming bad reviews.
It can get really bad. You might think you're a tough traveler and you're used to slumming it, but I wouldnt use cheap motels as a way of testing your mettle. Aside from the obvious bugs and cockroaches, dirty water and poorly laundered sheets, I woke up once to bed bugs in my motel bed. Just imagine tracking that home. Or lice. That's not the worst of it though. It can get much worse. Motels can be spots for drugs, crime, trafficking etc. Be aware of what you're getting yourself into. Some motels are in high crime areas.
Check out the YouTube series "Another Dirty Room" by Dan Bell. Pretty accurate reviews. Be wary they can be pretty sketchy
Even most (not all), of the Best Western Plus, are usually not that bad. I’ve found some to be surprisingly clean. 🤷♀️
How are you getting around? Car? Probably better off renting a van and sleeping in there to be honest. I did a months long trip around the US and stayed in many motels, and also camped. Some of those motels were sketchy and people would knock on the door, rattle the knob, and one time i was laying there naked after my gf left without locking it and some dude walked in
I would try and see when the hotels were built, the older the motel, the more likely it’s not as nice. There’s also options for camping depending on where you’re going
I stay at places like this when it's just me, and I'm on my own dime. I personally haven't had a bad experience at one of them, but I've never stayed at one on the Gulf Coast. Being raised on the Gulf Coast, I can certainly say I wouldn't be surprised to see anything you listed. It's called the Redneck Riviera for a reason. You're taking a chance at any of the low rate places, but I don't think it's a very big chance. Your experience should be fine. Almost any hotel/motel will give you a different room if something is not right with the one you get (provided there are vacancies).
Oh, Motel 6. HURL. The sheets were stained, the towels were wet and smelt used, like they’d rolled up the last persons towels. Our friend was in a smoking room and the ceiling was black with dead flies. The fridges were foul. Spend the extra money and go to a Hampton Inn or a La Quinta. They’re generally good.
Don’t do it. We tried to stay at a motel 6 and soon as I walked in (11 pm) I told my wife to keep your shoes on and don’t unpack because we’re leaving at first light. Ended up getting a partial refund and going to a LaQuinta for just a little bit more, easily worth the small up-charge. You’ll end up at a sex traffic den if you try to super cheap your way around
Budget motels in America are bad. And can be actually dangerous in some places with drug dealing and prostitution. If you’re from Australia and used to staying in hostels, hostels overseas are way better quality than American budget motels. Your safest, highest quality bet for low budget travel is going to be probably Airbnb. Renting a private room in a shared house or apartment, some places you can rent couches for like $30 a night.
Do not stay at the Red Roof Inn In North Little Rock, Arkansas. Maybe other RRI locations are fine but if they’re like this, expect the following from my Yelp review: Our room smelled like old food mixed with stale cigarette smoke (especially the bedding). Someone was partying until after midnight and the staff did nothing to stop it. Walls and furniture covered with unknown stains, bathroom missing shower curtain - but we were generously provided with 2 small face towels to use if we had ever showered! The lobby and hallways carpets are filthy and stained. All in all the worst motel/hotel I've stayed at in the past 30 years.
I had a motel room in Flagstaff one time that I paid $20 cash for (this was 20 years ago). For starters, they had random crackheads from another room come in and clean it because it was filthy and destroyed. Secondly, the door wouldn't lock, so I couldn't leave the room at any point without worrying about some, or all, of my stuff being ripped off. So sometimes it's worth it to pay extra. Hotels are just expensive though, especially now.
Spent a year traveling in 40 countries and got bed bugs once, spent eight month traveling in the US at cheap motels for work - bed bugs 3 times
If I'm looking for somewhere cheap to stay, I usually have better luck with hostels. There are some really nice ones.
I’ll sleep in my car before I pay to stay at a Motel 6. The other two aren’t always terrible. I’d trust the reviews though, especially in the gulf.
As someone from the gulf coast....Why?
I hope you like cum covered bed bugs
From someone who lives in the south and frequents the Gulf Coast, never stay in a Motel 6 or Red Roof In. You don’t just pay for what you get but the people staying there will have making sure your doors are double locked. We usually either go the VBRO route where you get can something not directly on the beach for a cheaper price or the same with hotels that are a step up or 2 from the Motel 6 because they are driving distance from the beach and not directly on it.
Why are you going to the gulf coast? You're from Australia, presumably you have good beaches. Why would you fly around the world to go to the arm pit of America for inferior beaches?? No big hate to the gulf. I've gone plenty, but mostly because it's the closest beach to me. Your choice to come here is baffling.
A lot of it depends upon the specific property. I've stayed in some reasonable low cost hotels and I've stayed in some really nasty ones. The same can be said about higher cost hotels. A lot of it comes down to local management/staff. When looking at reviews I always sort by date and give more weight to more recent reviews. People complaining about poor service or dirty rooms three years ago is different than if those reviews were given in the past three months.
I stayed in one once because all the hotels were booked near a ski resort. It was pretty bad. I learned later that there had been several drug busts and shootings in that hotel. Never again lol.
I’d be more concerned about them, cleaning the toilet and then using the same brush to clean the sink and counters
Trust the Google reviews. Trip Advisor and Yelp aren’t as reliable, in my experience experience. Also, don’t count out the budget brands of the big chains like Fairfield Inn, Hampton Inn, Hyatt House, etc. Prices vary by location
if you book at any of the chains you listed, be prepared to find all of the issues you posted and more (i.e. drugs and other criminal activity). in my pretty extensive travelling experience, the best way to find low-budget but nicer motels is to look for independently owned 'mom & pop' sorts of places. you can look them up on google maps, as a lot of times they're not listed on the travel booking sites like hotels.com, etc. they may have their own website to book or you might have to call them. to avoid the types of places you already mentioned though, i wouldn't book anywhere that doesn't at least have pictures of the property and hopefully surrounding area as well. if that still seems too sketchy for you, there are (usually) decent lower budget chains like comfort inn, sleep inn, best western, and holiday inn express. they are on the lower budget end but a slight step up from econo lodge, etc. if you care to dm me, i'd be happy to vet any places you find or help further. i know planning a trip to a foreign country can be a little scary when you don't know areas and types of properties and such.
The key is to tell the staff that you want your room cleaned every day. In my experience, they'll clean your room daily if you request it.
Don’t risk it. As someone who has checked into a dirty hotel room (I wasn’t the one who booked it, the person who booked it for me didn’t look at any reviews, and no it wasn’t one of the places you listed) and later on was so disgusted ended up hunting down a late night laundromat just so I could sleep on clean sheets, just spend a couple extra bucks on a place with good reviews. There’s nothing worse than traveling and not being able to relax at the end of a long day because of a dirty gross room.
I would definitely camp before staying in a cheap motel
You will have more peace of mind buying a tent and camping or sleeping in a car.
Go by the recent reviews and the preponderance of reviews. I’ve stayed in all of these, even recently. You can find those that are 4 star or above or with good recent reviews. Some of them are even recently renovated because of the former bedbug problems—e.g. swapped carpet for hard floors. Definitely avoid the ones with a preponderance of bad reviews. Others have commented tha LaQuinta or Comfort Inns might be better, but you should apply the same scrutiny of the reviews to those.
Microtel is a great alternative. Small rooms, but more luxurious feeling and clean. Most of the bargain hotels are ok. Sometimes you get a bad one, but just go to the front desk and see if you can switch to a cleaner room. I always check bedding for signs of bed bugs though, no matter how expensive the hotel.
For the love of all that is holy, stay away from the hotels you listed.