What was your worst motel experience?

[Eck]

Just 3 weeks ago this was the nastiest experience we have had in a long time.

 

My wife and I went to Alexander City, Al., for a family reunion (her side) and while there we stayed at a Hampton Inn.

Upon our arrival, as we were pulling in and up to the front door, I made a comment to my wife saying, look how high the grass is and the weeds in the shrub areas. The grass was nearly up to my knees.

Very unusual for a Hampton Inn.

 

We checked in and I asked if there was a cart available and I was told it was broke, but she went in the back and got it anyway. It appeared to be ok and I used it to unload our stuff.

 

During the night, my wife had to make a potty call, and when she closed the bathroom door, the squealing and grinding of the hinges on the door woke me up and I'm sure the neighbors could hear it.

Next day, I went to the front desk and asked the person at the desk for some spray lubricant and he ran upstairs and brought me a can (why didn't he notify maintenance to do this?), so anyway, I sprayed ALL the hinges in our room.

Later on when we returned back from the reunion, my wife, our daughter, our grand daughter and our great grand daughter, and I all went to the pool. We could not use any of the chairs at the pool because the seats were all ripped out. Again, not at all the norm for a Hampton Inn.

 

Later that evening we were in our room and my wife went to use the microwave and it was filthy, had pop corn in it and something splattered all over the inside and on the door glass. My wife cleaned it out so we could use it.

 

About an hour later, my wife walks around the side of the bed and she steps on an old half chewed up piece of peppermint candy that was stuck to the carpet. If the cleaning lady would have vacuumed the floor like she was supposed to, there was no way she could have missed this. Again unusual for Hampton Inn.

 

When we returned home, the more I thought about it the more I was getting frustrated, so I sat down and wrote a nice, but firm letter to the main office of Hampton Inn explaining our "adventure" while staying at their motel, which by the way charged us rates that would apply to those rates one would expect to pay at the Chicago O'Hare Airport...

After I sent my letter to the main office, I then sent the same letter via email to the manager of the motel where we stayed letting her know how dissatisfied and disappointed we were while staying at the motel she is in charge of and that I notified the main office of Hampton Inn's.

 

A few days went by and to my surprise, I get an email from the manager in that she was apologetic and that she had made an adjustment to what we were charged for our troubles.

Then a couple days went by and I get another email from her asking me to send her our home address because she wants to send us a coupon for two free nights stay at any Hampton Inn within the USA, because of our disappointment.

 

I find it does pay to complain (if done in a nice way) and I am happy that Hampton Inn stood behind there 100% satisfaction guarantee policy. I will be staying there again if we ever go back to Alexander city.

I did not write the letter to get a free ride but to let them know how dissatisfied we were.

 

I am once again a happy member of Hampton Inn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Venturous]

Many years ago... several Ohio members of another club put together a trip to central WV. I decided to join them with my son. Being the frugal (aka cheap_bastards) type... they found a motel with an incredible rate of only $25/night. It was called Yokums Motel.

 

What an absolute crap hole this place was. It honestly looked like something that should be bulldozed. Mattress on bed wore out a decade or so before. Door to bath would not close as foundation settled too much. Floors creaked so bad I wondered if I would fall threw. The 1970's shag carpet was so old some sections were now bald. And the smell... ah yes... the smell.

 

I never thought I could ever think $25 was overpriced... but....

[slowrollwv]

I think I know where that place is. I have never stayed there but did get gas and a Pepsi.

[SilvrT]

Worst motel experience....

 

she called herself Beaudacious .... I nearly died ...

[Venturous]

I think I know where that place is. I have never stayed there but did get gas and a Pepsi.

 

Actually they run several places. The rooms over the gas station aren't too awful bad. The place I mean is a mile or so up the road. I think it is closed now, not sure. Probably condemned. LOL

[Yammer Dan]

Many years ago... several Ohio members of another club put together a trip to central WV. I decided to join them with my son. Being the frugal (aka cheap_bastards) type... they found a motel with an incredible rate of only $25/night. It was called Yokums Motel.

 

What an absolute crap hole this place was. It honestly looked like something that should be bulldozed. Mattress on bed wore out a decade or so before. Door to bath would not close as foundation settled too much. Floors creaked so bad I wondered if I would fall threw. The 1970's shag carpet was so old some sections were now bald. And the smell... ah yes... the smell.

 

I never thought I could ever think $25 was overpriced... but....

 

 

What town would this be??? There used to be some pretty shabby ones but it seems they are not too much in demand any more. Still a couple I would pitch the tent first. Course I would pitch tent anyway....

[slowrollwv]

The worst place we stayed at was a Days Inn. Just in the eastern part of Ken. form WV. The cigarette smoke was so bad that I had to go across the street to Wall Mart and get a can of air freshener in order to set in the room without choking and I smoke. It was really bad for the wife as she had just quit smoking. I did raise some hell with the manager about it and got the room for half price. Just glad I didn't have to stay two days.

[etcswjoe]

I stayed at a motel once and they were out of shampoo. Does that count?

[Zzyzx]

Back about 20 years ago the wife and I decided to head toward the coast for a few days and off we went, without any real plans for where we were going or where we would bed down the nights we were out.

The first night out we stopped at a quant little motel just outside of Gilroy CA.

Checked into the room, pulled back the covers and what to our wondering eye's did appear??? A Used Condom!

The wife was pissed to say the least.

Went to the front desk where they were very surprised about the "condition" of that room and apologized over and over.

They upgraded us to what they called a mini suite and when we got into that room it looked like someone had used the toilet.

We just packed out stuff back into the car and as we drove out tossed the keys out somewhere toward there office.

What a disgusting place!

 

PS: I try to make plans ahead of time now whenever she travels with me...more for my safety

[rickardracing]

Problem is that just because it is a chain motel does not make it a good motel. A lot of the motels are being bought by Indians. Dot Indians, not how Indians. They come from a filthy country and that is how they run their establishments. Sorry to be blunt, not trying to sound like an a$$, but it is true. But then again, we stayed in a motel in Murdo Nevada owned by an American couple......the place was NOTHING like their website. Let's just say, glad I had my .40 cal.

[Flyinfool]

On one of our trips up north for a weekender, everything was booked due to some local event. The only place we could find was a 3 bedroom cabin on a lake. That don't sound bad.

This whole cabin was leaning to one side. there was at least 18 inches in 20 feet of tilt to the floors, but then some of the walls were still plumb, needless to say not a single door could be closed. The toilet was on a pedestal, you had to climb 3 steps before you could sit, brought new meaning to "The Throne".

Was advertised as having a kitchen. The kitchen consisted of a sink with brown running water and a Weber grill and a bag of charcoal but no lighter fluid.

With the tilt in the floor the beds were interesting. The head of the bed was a good 4 inches below the foot of the bed. Needless to say I moved the pillow to the foot of the bed, I may be a little batty but I can not sleep upside down. This was early fall and it got pretty cool at night, the beds only had a sheet, I ended up pulling the throw rug off the floor to use as a blanket.

Then the smoke detector went off in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. It did not survive that trick, there were pieces of smoke detector everywhere by morning.

 

But it was so bad that we laughed hysterically all night and the stories from that weekend st bring us to tears of laughter while reminiscing.

 

So maybe it really was not so bad.

 

At checkout we were informed that it was to be leveled next week to clear the way for a fancy new resort.

[djh3]

I have been in some "bad" motels over the years with traveling for work a lot and riding the bike. but you said worst, so I figured this one is pretty bad as it still stick in my wife and my mind when you say worst motels.

Vicksburg Mississippi. At the time it was a Knights inn. We had traveled all day from south of Tampa bay area and that's how far we made it that day. Place didn't look all that bad from outside, but it was getting dark when we stopped. Checked in, dropped bags and went to go eat. So we get back and its like 7pm or something. Get ready to jump in shower, noticed water was running some and probably for awhile as there was a noticeable stain from dripping water. Took a very long time to get "warm water" Carpet was pretty crappy looking if I remember but I was like "hey I just need to sleep for a few and we are gone". So we get in bed and we must have been closer to a truck stop than I originally thought as you could hear air brakes and such pretty well. Once we turned the lights out there was as much light from under the door as through the window. I had to take towels and shove them in the under door gap to keep out critters and coll air in. Have never stayed in that brand of hotel since. I would have got more sleep at a rest area on a picnic table.

[eagleeye]

I stayed at a motel once and they were out of shampoo. Does that count?

 

That does not count, cheap skate, bring your own shampoooooooooooooo

hahaha

[BlueSky]

Oh, you haven't lived until you have stayed at the Red Rose in Elizabethtown, PA. The rooms are in very old tiny buildings. It looks like a migrant labor camp. The TV was not clear enough to watch. I stayed there for a while when working at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant. My per diem barely covered the room rate of $50/day. Sometimes contracting sucked and the motel and the job totally sucked. Lucky for me it didn't last long, just outage support.

[cowpuc]

Still a couple I would pitch the tent first. Course I would pitch tent anyway....

Dag nab it bro - ya beat me to it!! Actually did once, got a room, it was nasty, put up the tent on the lawn - we camped (wife and kids) on the lawn of the motel

 

Another occasion, when the kids were little we took a weeks vacation over at Six Flags over Illinois,, in a place called Gurney (or something like that).. Anyway, we stayed at this really awesome joint called "The Hitching Post" - pool side room, ping pong tables, pool tables (you know - with que balls and all that), sauna room and on and on.. Had a BLAST playing there when we were not at the park riding the Bat Man!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway,, after a week of fun we headed home..

Had major traffic problems, then some car problems, got late,, got lost in Chicago,, ended up getting really late, kids getting whiny wanting to get another motel.. Pulled into the UNREAL joint (only place with any vacancy) - walked up to this three inch thick window,, shady looking character appears behind the window,, told him I needed a room for 6 of us,, dork wad says $135 - cash only, peeled off the cash, walked to the room, place was right out of the twilight zone.. I had to repair the air unit to get it to work (5 pound coffee can of nasty stuff off the evaporator to get it to work), lights didnt work, funny "spot" on floor turned out to be the outline of a body (just like on "cop" shows my 8 year old daughter tells me in the morning (as my wife and I were laughing about the fact that the beautiful "Hitching Post" back in Gurney was only $59 a night)..

 

And people still still wonder why we tent camp...

[Max]

Hampton Inn explaining our "adventure" while staying at their motel, which by the way charged us rates that would apply to those rates one would expect to pay at the Chicago O'Hare Airport...

 

On tour, H.I.'s used to be our 'go to' hotel when available. Great to know exactly what you were getting at the end of long day on the road and they usually let us park the VR near front entrance under canopy. Haven't used them for a couple of years as rates increased out of sight.

 

Our worse hotel experience hands down was 3 winters ago on Cayo Guillermo, Cuba at the Sol resort. It's 1 of 4 resorts on the cays. It's also the cheapest ... all inclusive,Cuba,beautiful beach,winter,free booze,,gotta book it, how can you go wrong for that price? That was our first mistake. We're pretty easy, go with the flow kinda people. In all fairness we've been to a few other resorts on island, and they've quite decent. The list of complaints on this resort was long, and concurred by many folks we met that week. Sticking to the story line, our room (all rooms) had the equivalent of one layer drywall privacy and sound barrier. You could hear the neighbor pass gas. (keep it family, young grand daughters sometimes read over my shoulder) So as it turns out the new couple next door is quite young and like to disco till 2 in the morning, no problem. Turns out they also like to,, lets just say, keepin' those boots knockin' till sunrise, and loud, unbelievable. This wasn't just a one time shot, this was a daily thing. Tried thumping the wall, that was a temporary fix. Never did get a chance to deal with the guy because they slept all day. Just as well, probably have throttled him. They wouldn't move us 'no spare rooms in the resort senor'. And now the guy on the other side of our room hears this racket and thinks it's us. Anyhoo, we got through the week unscathed. It's laughable now. Next time we'll pay closer attention to Tripadvisor.

[syscrusher]

My best motel experience, aside from Punakaiki Rocks Resort in NZ, was at the spot called "Top of the World" just below the Beartooth Pass in Wyoming (Highway 212). I had passed the place and was getting into the switchbacks when I noticed three discouraging things. It was getting dark, I was low on fuel, and there were a few inches of snow accumulating on the roads with more coming down in big fluffy flakes. I found a spot where I carefully turned around in the middle of the road and went back to that place I had seen. The store/gas station was closed but I went around back and got the attention of the family in the house behind. He agreed to open the store and sell me some gas. They also had one room left out of the three for rent. I was saved! The bed was built from good sized pine timbers that matched the walls. It was warm, and it had a kitchenette. Aside from the sex I had a hundred feet from the ocean at Punakaiki it was the best motel room ever!

 

Sorry, I've stayed in so many dives with the paint peeling off the walls, bugs, and stuff that didn't work that I really couldn't decide on a worst.

 

But I'll never forget the "Top of the World"!

[Yammer Dan]

I ain't wondering Puc but I want the days back where you could just hit a wide spot beside the road and wake up the next morning!!

[awsmsrv]

It's kind of a toss up. A few years ago my wife & I stayed at a cheap motel in Fullerton, CA (where I grew up) that had ants everywhere in the room, including the bed. Wife was not happy & if wife ain't happy, life ain't happy. The other one was when my wife & I were on our way from CA to WA. We stopped at the top of Mt Shasta for the night. They had 1 room left with no heat. We thought it would be OK for just the 1 night. WRONG! We froze. Mt Shasta is pretty high & it gets brutally cold at night. On top of that, it snowed a couple of feet that night & we had to wait in the morning for the snow plow to clear the parking lot so we could leave. I won't go into what else happened after that, however, we were able to look back on it & laugh. It's all just life. No sense in getting too upset. If it weren't for the rain, there'd be no flowers.

[billmac]

Went to Drummond Island for a golf week with the guys and we left early the night before since we made better time than we thought we get on the Island at midnight and no place for four guys to sleep so we find this place called the black bear inn and get a room for $20.00 each, what we get? a room with one single bed and three cots, no sheets, pillows or blankets. then their was no wash cloths or towels, one of the guys went back to the office and the guy said they were extra. the room barley had room for the bed and cots and the bathroom was outside and the shower had a bag of water hanging on a hook with a hose. We think the owner lived in the back of the office cause when he came to the window he had a shotgun and pistol with him. we left a couple hours later we think he must have rented the rooms by the hour cause cars came and left after about 20min and it was only a guy and gal. (think the back seat would have been better) we got no sleep but we have something to talk about our trip at the black bear inn. When we checked in our rooms at the resort we thought we should have came here and sleep in the parking lot. We did have a great week of golf.

[XV1100SE]

One comment, especially with the chains....complain while you are there. Speak to the manager directly and even show them the issues with the room. If you complain after, the first question you'll be asked is did you bring it to the attention of the manager.

 

No matter where you go, always ask for the best rate. Some places will give you the AAA/CAA rate without being a member or asking for proof. Reminds me of the saying..."if you don't ask, you won't get it".

[cowpuc]

I ain't wondering Puc but I want the days back where you could just hit a wide spot beside the road and wake up the next morning!!

 

Right there with ya brother - right there with ya!!

 

Will say this though, not much has changed that way in most of the western states (minus California of course), States like Utah, Montana, the Dakota's, Arizona, New Mexico are still pretty much like you and I remember as open minded to our kinda moteling under canvas freedom seeking biking lifestyle.. I have also done a fair amount of it (still do) down in your neck of the woods (few years ago I spent a month searching for old coal mines in Pennsylvania - West Virginia,, came home with a real old pick axe strapped to the side of the scoot and an AWESOME old coal miners helmet thingy that I modded and wore out in Sturgis on my chopper - will try to post a pick of it when I get a second ) - certainly not the same as back in our time BUT still lots of possiblities.. Bottom line my dear friend,, I think we are a rapidly disappearing breed

 

One comment, especially with the chains....complain while you are there. Speak to the manager directly and even show them the issues with the room. If you complain after, the first question you'll be asked is did you bring it to the attention of the manager.

 

No matter where you go, always ask for the best rate. Some places will give you the AAA/CAA rate without being a member or asking for proof. Reminds me of the saying..."if you don't ask, you won't get it".

 

What about those Motel Coupon books at the welcome centers when ya come into most states - anyone ever find them useful for saving

[Great White]

I've been in too many high priced hotels and low rent dives to remember either the best or the worst hotel/motel....

 

Wait, scratch that. Th ebest was the pacific terrace hotel in San Diego.

 

Ah, I miss san diego....Sun, sand, boardwalk, drinks and roller blading women.....mmmmmmm....

[slowrollwv]

I've been in too many high priced hotels and low rent dives to remember either the best or the worst hotel/motel....

 

Wait, scratch that. Th ebest was the pacific terrace hotel in San Diego.

 

Ah, I miss san diego....Sun, sand, boardwalk, drinks and roller blading women.....mmmmmmm....

 

Heck we have all that right here in Ocean City,MD . Roller Blading women. OHHHHH weight those aren't roller blades they are snow skies..

[Eck]

One comment, especially with the chains....complain while you are there. Speak to the manager directly and even show them the issues with the room. If you complain after, the first question you'll be asked is did you bring it to the attention of the manager.

 

Manager was not available either day when we were there. This is one main reason why I sent my email directly to the main headquarters, and then I sent the same email to her.

I did get the managers business card at the front desk when we were there and it had her email address on it..