Top Signs You're At A Bad Motel
Jan 24th, 2006, 12:22 PM
#83
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I haven't had it so bad. I've only left two because I skivied the rug (I couldn't picture walking on it, sockless or not). I've always been able to leave right away. After all these years, I don't think I've hit any real bad ones. Not the case with public washrooms though.
Except maybe:
When you arrive late at night, go right to bed and see in the morning that every parking lot and surrounding grounds for the motel/hotel is covered with 10 foot fence topped with barbed wire. And when you go to find a restaurant, you discover there is nothing within blocks but "Gentlemen's Clubs" and pawn shops.
This happened at a hotel with very nicely appointed rooms in Memphis.
Except maybe:
When you arrive late at night, go right to bed and see in the morning that every parking lot and surrounding grounds for the motel/hotel is covered with 10 foot fence topped with barbed wire. And when you go to find a restaurant, you discover there is nothing within blocks but "Gentlemen's Clubs" and pawn shops.
This happened at a hotel with very nicely appointed rooms in Memphis.
Jan 24th, 2006, 03:03 PM
#84
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"Fourth, any motel that doesn't have a coke machine outside probably is in either a bad neighborhood or attracts the sorts of people who would vandalize the coke machine."
I just wanted to repeat this and say that it's the most useful and insightful thing I've read all day!
I just wanted to repeat this and say that it's the most useful and insightful thing I've read all day!
Jan 25th, 2006, 08:30 AM
#88
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All these were late night check ins with exhausted travelers.
Cape Girardeau MO - Turned down a bed to put the grandson to sleep, it was full of dead roaches.
Lewistown MT - The office also served as a gun shop, the rooms were spartin but clean.
Waycross GA - Placed food (pizza) in a corner to keep the roaches and other bugs happy so we could turn the lights out. It worked! This was also a very early check out.
Another motel in Waycross GA I was ask the next morning if the gun fire woke us up. Seems there was a shoot out between the police and a robbery suspect on the motel property next to where we were staying.
US-23 in KY - All the water faucets, and even the water in the tolet was scalding hot.
Another older motel out west, a faded sign listing hourly rates.
Oberlin KS - Crime scene tape blocking the entrance to the motel where we had planned to stay. Had been a murder there that morning.
I-75 in KY, motel - After checking in the clerk brought up one little problem they were having, the water for the motel had been shut off. She was nice and offered the fact that water could be purchased at a convienance store near by. We moved on...
Cape Girardeau MO - Turned down a bed to put the grandson to sleep, it was full of dead roaches.
Lewistown MT - The office also served as a gun shop, the rooms were spartin but clean.
Waycross GA - Placed food (pizza) in a corner to keep the roaches and other bugs happy so we could turn the lights out. It worked! This was also a very early check out.
Another motel in Waycross GA I was ask the next morning if the gun fire woke us up. Seems there was a shoot out between the police and a robbery suspect on the motel property next to where we were staying.
US-23 in KY - All the water faucets, and even the water in the tolet was scalding hot.
Another older motel out west, a faded sign listing hourly rates.
Oberlin KS - Crime scene tape blocking the entrance to the motel where we had planned to stay. Had been a murder there that morning.
I-75 in KY, motel - After checking in the clerk brought up one little problem they were having, the water for the motel had been shut off. She was nice and offered the fact that water could be purchased at a convienance store near by. We moved on...
Jan 25th, 2006, 08:47 AM
#89
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We checked into a motel in Chemult, Oregon. When we opened the door to our room, our big black Labrador dog disappeared under the bed and would not come out. I lifted the foot of the bed. Our dog was guarding the remains of a beef rib dinner. The room clerk -- an Indian lady with one of those dots in the middle of her forehead -- insisted this could not be true. We urged her to come see. She sent her husband. He entered, looked, shrugged, and left. So did we.
Feb 12th, 2012, 12:01 PM
#91
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I see that this is a really old comment thread, but I am stuck in a crappy motel until late tonight and reading this had me laughing so hard I was crying. Made putting up with this room much more bearable for a few more hours. Here is mine from this motel:
1. When the manager calls and accuses you of stealing 3 bed sets (blankets, comforters, the works)... because you had to request new ones twice because you have two children who picked up a flu while there and puked all over them. Not sure where we were supposedly hiding them or why we would want used, stained, and cigarette burned blankets.
2. When every time you shower, yellow water runs in streams down all of the walls and you have to keep your belongings in the center of the room.
3. When you go through three pairs of white socks because they turn black walking on the floor in your room.
4. When you have to air dry after your shower because the cleaning staff never bring back clean towels and the management accuses you of theft and refuses to bring new ones.
5. When the housekeeping lady comes in and (after being warned that your son is in the tub behind the 'closed' curtain) proceeds to enter the bathroom, pull back the shower curtain and peek at your child.
6. When the first thing you have to do upon entering your room is wash out the microwave because it is filled with food splatters from the previous guest.
7. When the coffee maker in your room is so dirty and has so many layers of dust on it that you wouldn't touch it with a stick.
8. When you are scared to use the toilet in your room because the seat looks like it has been burned everywhere with acid and the holes burnt in are all stained yellow-orange.
9. When the housekeeping staff come and ask you if you would 'like' your garbage taken out. No thanks, I think I'll let it pile up until you need a truck to haul it out!?
10. When the housekeeping staff spend an extraordinarily long amounts of time in the rooms (with apparently pairs of single men staying in them, I've seen them come and go) on either side of yours – while the men are still in the rooms.
1. When the manager calls and accuses you of stealing 3 bed sets (blankets, comforters, the works)... because you had to request new ones twice because you have two children who picked up a flu while there and puked all over them. Not sure where we were supposedly hiding them or why we would want used, stained, and cigarette burned blankets.
2. When every time you shower, yellow water runs in streams down all of the walls and you have to keep your belongings in the center of the room.
3. When you go through three pairs of white socks because they turn black walking on the floor in your room.
4. When you have to air dry after your shower because the cleaning staff never bring back clean towels and the management accuses you of theft and refuses to bring new ones.
5. When the housekeeping lady comes in and (after being warned that your son is in the tub behind the 'closed' curtain) proceeds to enter the bathroom, pull back the shower curtain and peek at your child.
6. When the first thing you have to do upon entering your room is wash out the microwave because it is filled with food splatters from the previous guest.
7. When the coffee maker in your room is so dirty and has so many layers of dust on it that you wouldn't touch it with a stick.
8. When you are scared to use the toilet in your room because the seat looks like it has been burned everywhere with acid and the holes burnt in are all stained yellow-orange.
9. When the housekeeping staff come and ask you if you would 'like' your garbage taken out. No thanks, I think I'll let it pile up until you need a truck to haul it out!?
10. When the housekeeping staff spend an extraordinarily long amounts of time in the rooms (with apparently pairs of single men staying in them, I've seen them come and go) on either side of yours – while the men are still in the rooms.
Feb 12th, 2012, 12:27 PM
#92
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I remember this thread from six years ago, but it's still funny.
Since that time I've learned to use web sites to get user reviews of lodging prior to making a reservation. I always check out the reviews that rate a place "Terrible" to see if there's something about a place that some people might overlook but that others can't ignore.
One such review I recall stated that he should have known something was wrong when he saw a sign at the front desk warning, "No refunds after ten minutes."
Since that time I've learned to use web sites to get user reviews of lodging prior to making a reservation. I always check out the reviews that rate a place "Terrible" to see if there's something about a place that some people might overlook but that others can't ignore.
One such review I recall stated that he should have known something was wrong when he saw a sign at the front desk warning, "No refunds after ten minutes."
Feb 12th, 2012, 01:06 PM
#93
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I hereby approve of THIS old thread being revived!!!
... "when you can't figure out if the fence surrounding the place is the keep the neighborhood OUT or your fellow motel guests IN" (Stamford, CT, Motel with a one-digit number)
Oh heck, I'm tame compared to most of these experiences. I've only ever SEEN three cockroaches IN MY LIFE. Two were in different cheap motels, and the other on a street in Tijuana (but I digress).
Wait, I thought of one... "when your father checks into a motel and you reach your room to find a couple of dozen empty beer/alcohol bottles inside"
Oh, I thought I was in a (qualifying) cheap hotel/motel one time, by the fact that I kept feeling 'bite' marks as I lie in bed watching TV with the lights on late at night. Each time I'd move, I'd feel a bite... and I was mortified.
It was so late I figured I'd just bear it, so I first opened the covers, and never saw a hint of anything that wasn't pure white (repeated many times over). FINALLY I turned off the lights and the TV, got back into bed, and was quite FASCINATED to find my own little 'electric show' happening any time I moved my legs.
As I was in Whitehorse, Yukon, which is among the driest places on the continent (Nevada has slightly less average precipitation), I suspect the static electricity was especially energetic in early April (with temps outside near 5 degrees) and eventually I was SEEING it flash from under the bed covers. (clarity: this was no electric blanket - but I thought I was feeling 'bedbugs' )
... "when you can't figure out if the fence surrounding the place is the keep the neighborhood OUT or your fellow motel guests IN" (Stamford, CT, Motel with a one-digit number)
Oh heck, I'm tame compared to most of these experiences. I've only ever SEEN three cockroaches IN MY LIFE. Two were in different cheap motels, and the other on a street in Tijuana (but I digress).
Wait, I thought of one... "when your father checks into a motel and you reach your room to find a couple of dozen empty beer/alcohol bottles inside"
Oh, I thought I was in a (qualifying) cheap hotel/motel one time, by the fact that I kept feeling 'bite' marks as I lie in bed watching TV with the lights on late at night. Each time I'd move, I'd feel a bite... and I was mortified.
It was so late I figured I'd just bear it, so I first opened the covers, and never saw a hint of anything that wasn't pure white (repeated many times over). FINALLY I turned off the lights and the TV, got back into bed, and was quite FASCINATED to find my own little 'electric show' happening any time I moved my legs.
As I was in Whitehorse, Yukon, which is among the driest places on the continent (Nevada has slightly less average precipitation), I suspect the static electricity was especially energetic in early April (with temps outside near 5 degrees) and eventually I was SEEING it flash from under the bed covers. (clarity: this was no electric blanket - but I thought I was feeling 'bedbugs' )
Feb 13th, 2012, 04:25 PM
#95
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I almost stayed in one in Chowchilla that had towels that were so thread bare they were nearly transparent, pubes on the pillow, and nothing but porn on the TV. My first ex-husband was insulted that I refused to stay there because "all of the other racers are staying here!"
Feb 13th, 2012, 08:18 PM
#96
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This was part of a trip report:
Hotel Cloche, Geneva
During the last renovation of the Hotel Cloche in 1897, they decided to exclude anything that resembled an amenity. The room, which is tiny, is its best feature. The mattress was either slate or shale, I am not sure which, and the sheets were starchy. The pillow was smaller than a beignet but not as puffy. The floor was covered with odd colored spongy diamonds things, usually found in outdoor playgrounds to protect the heads and bones of children. There was a television and a remote but it must have been one of those cardboard display units displayed at the Door Store, since neither worked. Did I mention that the hotel lied and said they had an elevator and that luggage is not easy to drag up a spiral marble staircase?
The bathroom was so tiny that it was used to train astronauts, so they would be prepared under the most confined of circumstances. One can multi-task while seated. The shower head needed to hand held which did not allow for singing into my soap microphone. Did I mention that this place was recommended by Frommer’s?
The clerk/owner attempted to be gracious but with his Inspector Clouseau accent I expected him to send us to the zoo to see the minkeys. Instead, he suggested we visit the Red Cross museum, but the donation at the door was a pint of blood.
A heat wave attacked Geneva thus we had to leave the window open which was not too bad if were not for the Grand Casino across the street and a major thoroughfare a block away. Hotel Cloche has the type of charm that would attract, Reinfield, Dracula’s assistant.
Hotel Cloche, Geneva
During the last renovation of the Hotel Cloche in 1897, they decided to exclude anything that resembled an amenity. The room, which is tiny, is its best feature. The mattress was either slate or shale, I am not sure which, and the sheets were starchy. The pillow was smaller than a beignet but not as puffy. The floor was covered with odd colored spongy diamonds things, usually found in outdoor playgrounds to protect the heads and bones of children. There was a television and a remote but it must have been one of those cardboard display units displayed at the Door Store, since neither worked. Did I mention that the hotel lied and said they had an elevator and that luggage is not easy to drag up a spiral marble staircase?
The bathroom was so tiny that it was used to train astronauts, so they would be prepared under the most confined of circumstances. One can multi-task while seated. The shower head needed to hand held which did not allow for singing into my soap microphone. Did I mention that this place was recommended by Frommer’s?
The clerk/owner attempted to be gracious but with his Inspector Clouseau accent I expected him to send us to the zoo to see the minkeys. Instead, he suggested we visit the Red Cross museum, but the donation at the door was a pint of blood.
A heat wave attacked Geneva thus we had to leave the window open which was not too bad if were not for the Grand Casino across the street and a major thoroughfare a block away. Hotel Cloche has the type of charm that would attract, Reinfield, Dracula’s assistant.
Feb 14th, 2012, 03:47 AM
#97
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- There is no lobby. The front desk is behind bullet proof glass and the check in is conducted through the sliding drawer of a bank drive thru.
- The front desk clerk is behind bullet proof glass and must buzz you into the lobby.
- Hypodermic needle left in bathroom from previous occupants.
- Other veteran travelers will recall the original Holiday Inn hot water system circulated by the heater. If you were first in the morning to shower, or in the shower after the water system was dormant from the afternoon, you would hear a sputter then a hiss warning to get out of the way as the next water from the shower would have been boiling for hours and would scald you or worse.
- The front desk clerk is behind bullet proof glass and must buzz you into the lobby.
- Hypodermic needle left in bathroom from previous occupants.
- Other veteran travelers will recall the original Holiday Inn hot water system circulated by the heater. If you were first in the morning to shower, or in the shower after the water system was dormant from the afternoon, you would hear a sputter then a hiss warning to get out of the way as the next water from the shower would have been boiling for hours and would scald you or worse.
