Wildguzzi.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Gliderjohn on August 07, 2016, 07:36:11 AM
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I am typing this from a motel that cost me $50.83 with taxes. I am a motel person, not a camping person, at least at this stage of my life. Especially when on the Guzzi I always look for the motels that have a direct entrance from outside into the room. They are getting harder to find but still pretty common in the midwest. As long as it is reasonably clean and has WiFi I don't care about much else. Also seems easier to meet and visit with people at these type of motels.
GliderJohn
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I am with you there, man! A single story courtyard motel is my preference.
A single story courtyard motel under $60 is even better.
Bill Lovelady IS
Eskimo Spy
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I have a friend who was an exterminator and his advise recently has been to check for bedbugs as soon as you get into any hotel room. Pull the sheets back on the mattress and check the seams for the critters and their droppings. Do not open your bags, do not sit on the bed until you check. If you find anything resembling a problem leave immediately and ask for another room. If you happen to be unlucky and contaminate something high heat from a clothes dryer will kill them and the eggs. Seems the pesticide that used to hold the critters at bay is not being used anymore. Mike
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I have found cheap motels to vary a lot by region. Midwest and Western motels are usually fine. But the South and East of the country have been extremely disappointing for me. Dirt, poor maintenance, and often rudeness.
I realize it is not fair and cannot be entirely accurate to tar whole regions of the country from my limited experiences. (And please note, I'm talking only about the cheap motels, not the citizenry in general!) However, I wonder if anyone else has at least observed some hint of this tendency.
Bedbugs are a whole 'nother worry. It seems the world has gone to Hades in a handcart no matter where one looks.
Moto
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To be fair, you hear about bedbugs in mid-range chain motels fairly often. I like to look at reviews in TripAdvisor and if I am really planning ahead, on streetviewer. Across the street from a tavern or brewery is best
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Cheap motels.
Here's to hoping the "blue light special" doesn't turn out to be a
"black light" special... :shocked:
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Like cheap underwear, no ball room.
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On our trip to Alabama recently, we found the worst motel we've ever stayed in.
I even joined TripAdvisor so I could leave a little love-note about it. Once upon a time it was a Holiday Inn, then it was the "Gainesville Inn and Suites", now it's a "Budgetel".
Here's my entry:
Lobby dirty and unkempt. Should have backed out then. To his credit, the clerk asked if we wanted to see the rooms first (we should have). Elevator broke while we were in it. (No inspection certificate or max load information in elevator) Was trapped in the elevator for 15 minutes. Room was dirty and stank. Carpet was soaking wet in front of the bathroom. Shower curtain rod broken and hanging down. Mold on the walls. Smoke detector gone, had been ripped out of the wall, just wires hanging out. Most of the motel is permanent residents, a noisy, shoddy-looking bunch. Just nasty overall. Can't believe that the Gainesville health department hasn't shut this place down years ago - maybe they want to concentrate all the trouble in one place. STAY AWAY!
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g34963-d86556-r375521581-Gainesville_Inn_Suites-Gainesville_Georgia.html#
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Use caution up in the northeast. Many of those "Motel No-tells" are Section 8 housing (welfare), and hotbeds for drug dealing and prostitution. And everything that normally goes along with it.
I'll stick to my Hilton properties.
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As far as things not functioning the worst by far was at a high end Marriot convention center. The third room they put me in finally worked out.
One has to develop a kind of 6th common sense when selecting a motel. The first thing I do when entering a room is make sure everything works like it should and that it is reasonably clean. If not I go immediately back to the desk and generally get things worked out with little problem. Most will also go out of there way to accommodate me concerning asking for old towels if needed to wipe down the bike. Some will offer to let me keep the bike under the awning if I wish or if there is threatening weather forecast.
I also try to stay in smaller towns. Food, etc. is usually within walking distance and you can usually feel that your motel is not a center for drugs and prostitution even if it is cheap. It is all part of the adventure!
GliderJohn
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. . . . hotbeds for drug dealing and prostitution. And everything that normally goes along with it.
I'll stick to my Hilton properties.
now now. don't go beating down on entrepreneurship. . it's niche marketing!
:grin:
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IMO Motel 6 is the last option.
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Use caution up in the northeast. Many of those "Motel No-tells" are Section 8 housing (welfare), and hotbeds for drug dealing and prostitution. And everything that normally goes along with it.
I'll stick to my Hilton properties.
When I said "permanent residents" in my post, that's what I meant, without specifically saying it ... And this is in Georgia, so it's not just the northeast ... !
Lannis
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I stayed in a cheap motel in Meade ks last summer, the room was so small every time I cracked a smile my teeth hit the wall.
The guy at the front desk told me I'd have to make my own bed and handed me a hammer and a saw.
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I stayed in a cheap motel in Meade ks last summer, the room was so small every time I cracked a smile my teeth hit the wall.
The guy at the front desk told me I'd have to make my own bed and handed me a hammer and a saw.
My motel was so cheap that the smoke alarms were coin-operated.
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This is no shit, I stayed in a hotel in licking, mo. One time and the sign out front read "free radio" no tv just a radio. Even had fm!
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And have you found one that still has the coin op vibrating option? Had one of those a few years ago when we finally found a motel that would allow dogs (Days Inn, Memphis). After we got the room my wife declared that dogs are allowed cause no one else will stay there. Dirty room. Two small towels and little hot water.
If you really want to see if it is clean? Put a wet towel on the carpet and walk on it (NOT barefoot). See what gets soaked up.
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I stayed at a Motel 6 in Austin a couple years ago. I walked from the shower to the bed, the bottom of my feet were black.
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I've had good luck out west. Independent campgrounds too.
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And have you found one that still has the coin op vibrating option? Had one of those a few years ago when we finally found a motel that would allow dogs (Days Inn, Memphis). After we got the room my wife declared that dogs are allowed cause no one else will stay there. Dirty room. Two small towels and little hot water.
If you really want to see if it is clean? Put a wet towel on the carpet and walk on it (NOT barefoot). See what gets soaked up.
Me and my British friends were riding across Pennsylvania on our BSAs, coming from the BSA International Rally in Brimfield, MA heading toward the Ohio Valley BSA Owners Club Rally in Toronto Ohio one year.
They had been asking whether there were still any vibrating beds in any motels any where, they wanted to see some. I told them No Way, that was from the far past.
And then we stopped in the "Kane View Motel" just off US6 in Kane, PA, and I'll be dog if they didn't have 25-cent vibrating beds, and they worked too!
Haven't seen any lately though. I read in the Wall Street Journal a few years back that there was one older (70+) guy who owned the last few that were left, and made a bare living travelling the country collecting the quarters. He's probably long since retired ....
Lannis
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I have found no easy solution to which motels are good and which are not.
One small town will have a couple of spotless motels. The next town down the road that looks the same will have horrible rooms. One town with a "landmark" hotel will be really good, the next one horrible.
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I stay in motels 250-300 nights/year because I travel for work. I have a choice of receipted hotels as long as reasonable or a per diem $80/night no receipt required so if I stay for $55, I pocket $25/night. With uh..... my uh.... AARP rate........... I can usually do pretty good and with hotel points, I can stay free now and then and pocket the full $80. If I am stuck working in NYC or during some event, my company will pay the extra.
I haven't encountered bed bugs but I have seen a lot, especially if you pull the night stand away from the wall to plug your phone charger in! Yes, I have seen critters, dead mouse, etc but 95% of the time you get what you pay for. A lot of motels are going with the faux hardwood floors, no carpet which I like better and smell much better. Canadian Motel 6s are much nicer than the US ones. I usually do Wyndham Reward chains and Choice rewards. Super 8, Days Inn, Comfort Inn, etc.
I have run to walmart to buy a pillow and case with a light blanket because I didn't feel like sleeping "in" the bed! On it seemed safer!
I do prefer outside doors so I can park my motorcycle or van/motorcycle next to my door as well. But that said, when it's freezing out, I do like walking down for my cup of coffee through a corridor!
I detest getting a non smoking rook to see cigarette burns on the sink/tub or maybe it's non smoking but whoever does the sheets smokes while they are folding them! If something is gross, I take pictures and show the front desk and will send them to the chain customer service if really bad.
I just left the Ramada Limited in San Marcos, TX where there was a used towel in the shower upon check in and last night, ants attacked my toothpaste! Now in Aransas Pass tonight to work at the Corpus Christi Army Depot tomorrow, a Super 8 next two days, smells pretty good, $56/night aarp discount.
Later this week, maybe the Days Inn near Nashville for a couple days work then the Super 8 in Wytheville which is nicer than most.
JB
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I have found no easy solution to which motels are good and which are not.
One small town will have a couple of spotless motels. The next town down the road that looks the same will have horrible rooms. One town with a "landmark" hotel will be really good, the next one horrible.
Even franchised motels, which you'd think would be pretty consistent if the home office is doing its job and upholding standards, can vary quite a bit in quality. For example, the "Days Inn" in Scottsboro, Alabama, a town we used to travel to a LOT, was horrible, smelly, bug-infested. Anyone who was traveling there and couldn't get a room in the Hampton Inn, Comfort Inn, or Jamison motel went to Guntersville or somewhere 40 miles away rather than stay there.
And it was like that for years. I suppose it really damaged Days Inn reputation, at least for this traveler.
And the "Budgetel" I described earlier is probably NOT an outlier, I'll bet they're all nasty.
Lannis
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When we took our trip across the country and back this summer, we camped. Every night. No bed bugs, nasty carpet, yada yada. No dickering over prices and all that goes with motels. Dorcia hates em, and that's fine with me. I'd rather sleep outside anyway. <shrug>
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I stay in motels 250-300 nights/year because I travel for work. I have a choice of receipted hotels as long as reasonable or a per diem $80/night no receipt required so if I stay for $55, I pocket $25/night.
When we were working the Bellefonte plant project in Scottsboro, AL, it was great to see the craft guys who were there 6 months on "Per Diem" ($84 a day) operate.
Four guys who were friends would get a room with two queen beds, so it cost each of them about $15 a night. There was a good free breakfast (the kind with a waffle maker, eggs, bacon/sausage, biscuits, fruit, bagels, cereal, etc.) PLUS the hotel would pack a "take-away" breakfast for you, whatever you wanted, so all the guys took that for lunch at the site.
In the evening, the hotel would put out (free) buffalo wings, sliced vegetables, or ham biscuits, or some other hors-doeuvre things, and the guys would fill plates up with that, then free popcorn and sodas later.
So with rooms and three meals a day taken care of, the guys were pocketing $70 a day x 180 days for their per-diem = $12,500, plus site pay (often 72 hours a week if they wanted it)...
When a job was over, there were a LOT of nice bass boats and crew-cab dually pickup trucks being bought back home ..... !!
Lannis
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When we took our trip across the country and back this summer, we camped. Every night. No bed bugs, nasty carpet, yada yada. No dickering over prices and all that goes with motels. Dorcia hates em, and that's fine with me. I'd rather sleep outside anyway. <shrug>
I don't mind camping, and certainly like the flexibility, but I've got a couple issues with it.
1) Carrying everything for two people for weeks on the road, camping, on one bike. Tent, ground cloth, bedrolls, cooking gear, clothes, extra riding gear - we did it for 3 weeks in the UK back in 2008 with a BSA A10, but I ended up replacing the rear bearings over there in the middle of the trip, and the whole wheel when we got home. We had 500 pounds on that mule .... Without a trailer or two bikes, I just can't get it all on one bike and have a comfortable experience.
2) The TIME it takes! You've got to set up camp, and that takes a while. Then in the morning, you've got to break camp. Everything is soaking wet from the dew, and it seems impossible to get everything back where it came from when it's dripping wet. And if you wait till the dew dries, it's noon before you get on the road. We find that when we're camping, we only get about 6 hours of riding in a day.
I guess I'm not a rufty-tufty Daniel Boone or a dedicated backpacker, both of whom would pooh-pooh my wittle complaints. But when two of us are crossing the country on one bike, it's more trouble than I (just me) want to go to ....
Lannis
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But when two of us are crossing the country on one bike, it's more trouble than I (just me) want to go to ....
Oh, I agree. The only way we've done it is with a sidecar rig. On this trip, we had the bike in the van (although you can't get a real motorcycle in a Transit) :evil: :smiley: and pulled our little motorcycle pop up camper. I also didn't have to drone across the plains on a bike. I've done it, don't care to do it any more.
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When we took our trip across the country and back this summer, we camped. Every night. No bed bugs, nasty carpet, yada yada. No dickering over prices and all that goes with motels. Dorcia hates em, and that's fine with me. I'd rather sleep outside anyway. <shrug>
And you can get early check in and late check out without bothering the front desk clerk!! Super!! :thumb: :thumb:
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(although you can't get a real motorcycle in a Transit) :evil: :smiley:
Pretty bold talk on a 'motorcycle' board for a guy in an air-conditioned van pulling a motel behind him .... :laugh: :laugh:
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Nephew told me he and his GF flew down to Florida (he has his own plane). Landed in a major airport, got a new rental car for free and a big discount for a ocean front hotel. Pilots are treated way better than motorcyclists.
Hey, you got a room (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S33abzXQfkc) :boozing:
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Pretty bold talk on a 'motorcycle' board for a guy in an air-conditioned van pulling a motel behind him .... :laugh: :laugh:
I think what he meant was that a real bike refuses to enter a Transit. I've been told it's like herding cats.
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I got a new twist on the seedy hotel in Northern Oregon, when they charged full bore for the room when we had to dodge construction debris in the hall, our room was unfinished, and there were critters trapped in the dried out swimming pool. The twist was that they wouldn't take cash.
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Fall of last year, my girlfriend and I took the car to the LaCrosse (sp?) area of Wisconsin to check out the changing colors. Of course, we didn't make reservations anywhere. Wound up staying in an Econo Lodge that was pretty bad, old worn out carpet, funny smell, dirty, etc... Every other place in town was booked solid except for there. Hmmmm, I wonder why?!
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I tend to go backpackers. A lot cheaper (Guzzi content) than a motel. When I am by myself I go in the dorm, cheapest of the lot. Never had any of my stuff interfered with. Perhaps people think they will be beaten up by the big bad bikie. :evil: :rolleyes:
Communal kitchen; sometimes I cook but usually it's takeaways. I go the BBH chain or sometimes YHA but they tend to be dearer. At the end of the day you are looking for a roof over your head and somewhere to sleep. Never had a bad one yet.
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If I am camping en-route, just set up sleeping quarters. I still eat a a restaurants or buy stuff that doesn't need cooking.
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If I am camping en-route, just set up sleeping quarters. I still eat a a restaurants or buy stuff that doesn't need cooking.
I like to camp out West, and often stop at a grocery store for simple shish kabob ingredients to cook over charcoal. One skewer = zero mess. Breakfast in a diner.
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The big message here is, check the room before you pay. If they won't let you check it then walk away.
I remember back in the late 50's early 60's when we traveled mom would check the room before we entered. Even then we passed up some before settling in for the night. One time I remember we kept driving until well past 10pm before we found a place. We started looking at around 5pm. Went through 4 small towns and I can't remember how many motels she rejected. In those days a Best Western was a good bet, but, was really expensive for a family on a teacher's salary.
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I think what he meant was that a real bike refuses to enter a Transit. I've been told it's like herding cats.
Either that, or it's a sign that I'll never ever hear the end of being "caught out" on the m/c-in-a-Transit issue ...
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my .02 on the worst of the worst - I give you the budget inn in corning ny. my review (others have titles like "horrifying!" and "dismal")
<begin paste>
This "motel" should be marketed as some sort of cut rate horror ride. I truly think that the hotel was abandoned and taken over by an itinerant band of sadist swindlers. "Shabby" and "run-down" do not begin to describe the decrepitude of this disgusting, filthy, falling apart mess. I was truly afraid that I was going to fall through the sagging rotted flooring with every step I took. In the middle of the night a piece of the bathroom door molding fell off with a resounding "bang" that woke me in terror. I did not want to touch anything with my skin. The poor teenage girl at the desk had a very rudimentary command of English, and I felt sorry for her, I believe she has been kidnapped and pressed into servitude by her unscrupulous uncle. She tried to get ice, but it was a long, laborious process involving multiple phone calls in a foreign tongue. Be afraid, be very afraid and avoid this place like the plague.
Stayed June 2013
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g47538-d93156-r167606013-Budget_Inn_Corning-Corning_Finger_Lakes_New_York.html#
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The big message here is, check the room before you pay. If they won't let you check it then walk away.
I remember back in the late 50's early 60's when we traveled mom would check the room before we entered. Even then we passed up some before settling in for the night. One time I remember we kept driving until well past 10pm before we found a place. We started looking at around 5pm. Went through 4 small towns and I can't remember how many motels she rejected. In those days a Best Western was a good bet, but, was really expensive for a family on a teacher's salary.
Interesting! We sort of traveled on an "opposite" schedule. My dad was a sailor, so we made several cross-country trips that I can remember 1958 - 1963.
No "looking ahead" or "booking online" back then, so you watched for "Vacancy" signs. We would get up about 0300 and drive until 1600, then start looking for a room. "Best Westerns" were almost always good - the mom-and-pop places MIGHT be Norman and Mrs. Bates.
I HATED being woken up at 0300. The night before, my Mom would buy some of those little cereal boxes where you could open the front of the box on the perforations and pour milk into the carton; and along with the cereal and milk she would buy little "Honey Buns" or "Pecan Twirls".
I still can't face a Honey Bun or Pecan Twirl to this day ..... and I don't go into Cracker Barrels either, because they remind me too much of Howard Johnsons and I had all the Clam Strips and Hojo Colas that anyone should ever have ....
Lannis
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ROFLMAO
Yes on the cereal boxes, but, only when we had a bit of extra money. Most of the time we had a big icebox (yes, the big metal ones) that had our milk and lunch stuff. Cereal, bowls, silverware and bread in another box. Kinda like camping. We did get to eat dinner in a restaurant. Back then it was 'normal' to fill up the icebox from the ice machines (if there was one and if it worked).
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I used to live in hotels 6 to 8 months a year when I flew airtankers. My main criteria was the swimming pool. Indoors and big enough for some good laps? Great, I will stay here. The rest of the crew can stay in some sh-box and eat mickey-d dollar burgers and squirrel away that perdiem if they wanted. I was going to get a good nights sleep and a decent meal. Nothing like swimming for an hour after flying a fire all day. When I travel on my own buck its a different story. I have slept outdoors with just a tarp wrapped around me, and my bike and I parked behind some bushes more times than I care to remember. It seems like cheap priced hotels are going away. I stayed in a few in Louisiana and Nevada where I pulled in late at night and gave the night clerk cash and promised to be out by 6am. The price was cheap- often 20 or 30 bucks- and I could park the bike in the room. I would put my tarp over the bed and use my sleeping bag. Some were pretty bad. Oh to be full of energy and in my 40's again.
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IMO Motel 6 is the last option.
My aren't you picky. :boxing: Never been disappointed in a Motel 6 as far as cleanliness(no bedbugs). :tongue:
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try Texas or Mississippi Motel 6. They are run-down, dirty, second hand motels. In Austin, I walked from the shower to the bed my feet were black.
Not worth $20 saved. Especially when my credit card disappeared in Biloxi.
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Back in college (~1978) I was visiting in far northern Minnesota and stayed twice at the Hotel Warren. First time it was $4 a night, second time it was only $2 a night! Shared bathroom down the hall. Truly a cheap stay!
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IMO Motel 6 is the last option.
IMO Motel 6 is the 1st option. :tongue: Never really been disappointed there unless the AC isn't working. I just want to sleep there, not looking for plushness.
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When we took our trip across the country and back this summer, we camped. Every night. No bed bugs, nasty carpet, yada yada. No dickering over prices and all that goes with motels. Dorcia hates em, and that's fine with me. I'd rather sleep outside anyway. <shrug>
I'll bet you folks slept in your tent trailer. If you stop @ a KOA it can cost as much as a motel to camp there w/no AC. :huh:
Nowadays if you can get by for $60 or less for a motel/night you're doing good, at least out west.
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Back in college (~1978) I was visiting in far northern Minnesota and stayed twice at the Hotel Warren. First time it was $4 a night, second time it was only $2 a night! Shared bathroom down the hall. Truly a cheap stay!
If you go far enough back, how do you think Motel 6 got it's name? :wink:
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If you go far enough back, how do you think Motel 6 got it's name? :wink:
Yup.
I remember as a kid when they were $5.95 a night.
I'm only 52.
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I got a new twist on the seedy hotel in Northern Oregon, when they charged full bore for the room when we had to dodge construction debris in the hall, our room was unfinished, and there were critters trapped in the dried out swimming pool. The twist was that they wouldn't take cash.
I had a punjabi motel operator who would only take cash so he could pocket the $ and not let the govt. know he ever got it. Went to a different motel instead.
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I had a punjabi motel operator who would only take cash so he could pocket the $ and not let the govt. know he ever got it. Went to a different motel instead.
Probably Gujarati, not Punjabi. Gujaratis own about 55% of the motels in the country.
If you don't like paying cash to a small entrepreneur, you're not going to get any welding, machining, tractor-fixing, lawn care, or house cleaning around these parts!! I just pay it, I don't ask about their financial and tax arrangements. They're probably tired of paying the 2 or 3% to the credit card company - margins are tight enough in the motel business anyhow.
Lannis
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If no bedbugs, then most everything else is tolerable for a night. I did stay in Detroit in Sept 2003 after watching the historic 43-119 Tigers lose another game and the motel door had bullet holes in it and I thought the early morning partying in the parking lot would certainly result in my bike being gone in the morning. My eyes were pinned open much of the night but morning came and the bike was fine and I was on my way back east. I've repressed what bargain downtown motel I stayed at.
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Yup.
I remember as a kid when they were $5.95 a night.
I'm only 52.
And I can remember when $15 for a Holiday Inn was over our budget. And when the $20 my father-in-law gave me for a trip actually covered one day of travel. 25cents a gal for gas, $6 for a room, $1 for each meal.
Now we can hear from some of the 'really' old guys who probably remember spending 25cents on a room. :)
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I'll bet you folks slept in your tent trailer. If you stop @ a KOA it can cost as much as a motel to camp there w/no AC. :huh:
Nowadays if you can get by for $60 or less for a motel/night you're doing good, at least out west.
The most expensive KOA was 35 bux, the same as a state park in Washington in the rain forrest. Our month trip cost a measly 35 hundred, everything included. (Guzzi content) :smiley: Campgrounds varied from $10 to $35. If I had shipped the MZ out and the Mighty Scura back, that would have ran $1000-$1200, so I can take that off the top. That makes the trip *really* cheap. (More Guzzi content) :cool: :boozing:
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IMO Motel 6 is the 1st option. :tongue: Never really been disappointed there unless the AC isn't working. I just want to sleep there, not looking for plushness.
I got this offa the 'net. IMO I'd stay at any of the other three.
http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/travel/article/Americans-pick-the-best-and-worst-U-S-hotel-7386004.php
The cheapest hotels (classified as �economy�) only seem worth the stay if you�re looking to save as much money as possible. Of the 34 hotels evaluated by the index, the four economy options are at or near the bottom of the ranking. Super 8 and Motel 6 tied for dead last. Econo Lodge and Days Inn only did slightly better.
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Nephew told me he and his GF flew down to Florida (he has his own plane). Landed in a major airport, got a new rental car for free and a big discount for a ocean front hotel. Pilots are treated way better than motorcyclists.
Hey, you got a room (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S33abzXQfkc) :boozing:
You probably didn't fill your bike with 100 gallons of $5.50 avgas, and pay a tie down fee, either. :smiley:
It's true though. I've stopped at airports where they put the airplane in a hanger and gave me the hanger keys. (!) Gave me the "airport limo" (many small airports have them..but they run) to go to town. If not, the airport manager will generally give you a lift to town, recommend a motel and the place to eat, and ask when you want him to pick you up in the morning. :smiley: It's a little different world at small airports. I like it. Sort of like the Guzzi community.
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If no bedbugs, then most everything else is tolerable for a night. I did stay in Detroit in Sept 2003 after watching the historic 43-119 Tigers lose another game and the motel door had bullet holes in it and I thought the early morning partying in the parking lot would certainly result in my bike being gone in the morning. My eyes were pinned open much of the night but morning came and the bike was fine and I was on my way back east. I've repressed what bargain downtown motel I stayed at.
The "Rodeway Inn" in downtown York PA is like that when I went to the York swapmeet this year. Right smack downtown, really grim South Asian guy at the desk never said one word, people shouting in a foreign language (I think just discussing, not fighting, but who knows?) on an upper courtyard balcony ... but it was $48 a night, the room was clean, there was a big deadlock on the door, the airconditioning worked, towels were fresh. I'd stay there again, I think, as long as I were by myself - I wouldn't do Fay that way ....
Lannis
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I remember my first US trip with my (then) girlfriend about 20 years ago. We stayed in some really nice places, but occasionaly some not so nice places. We developed the following list of warning signs.
1) Signs that say “Clean rooms”.
2) Little groups of plastic chairs outside the rooms.
3) Bars on the cashier desk window.
:grin:
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Sometimes that hundred dollar hotel room is worth lots more than a hundred dollars.
Sometimes that forty dollar hotel room ain't worth spit.
I've quit staying at dives. The novelty wore off years ago.
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Probably Gujarati, not Punjabi. Gujaratis own about 55% of the motels in the country.
If you don't like paying cash to a small entrepreneur, you're not going to get any welding, machining, tractor-fixing, lawn care, or house cleaning around these parts!! I just pay it, I don't ask about their financial and tax arrangements. They're probably tired of paying the 2 or 3% to the credit card company - margins are tight enough in the motel business anyhow.
He was Punjabi as that town is full of them. I used to live there(Yuba City, Ca.). :wink: They are mistaken for muslims by the ignorant.
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A few years ago we stayed @ a private motel in Idaho in a small town where the cost of your room was according to its luxury. We don't need fancy so stayed in the room for hunters($45). They even let me change my motor oil there which was due. :thumb:
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On my trips I typically mix Motels with camping. Weather bad=Motel. I stay in cheap motels and have never been burned. Hain't seen a bed bug in my life. Cheap motels for me are those at $60 or less. Trip from Fl to CA I mostly used camping Cabins at KOA. In each case they were clean if not humble, but at $40 I was happy. In Flagstaff I did pay $80 but it had TV, wifi, heat and a large room. and below the motel prices in the area. It's not a perfect world out there but in general I think our motel options are better than most (not all) countries.
Bill
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Sometimes that hundred dollar hotel room is worth lots more than a hundred dollars.
Sometimes that forty dollar hotel room ain't worth spit.
I've quit staying at dives. The novelty wore off years ago.
The problem is, that hundred dollar hotel room just might be one fiddy depending on what day. (!) Nope, we'll suck it up and sleep under the stars. :smiley: for normally under 30 bux. (Guzzi content)
We have friends that brought bedbugs home from a 4 star hotel. :smiley: It took over a year until they were bedbug free. <shrug> Need I say, Dorcia would rather camp? :smiley:
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On my trips I typically mix Motels with camping. Weather bad=Motel. I stay in cheap motels and have never been burned. Hain't seen a bed bug in my life. Cheap motels for me are those at $60 or less. Trip from Fl to CA I mostly used camping Cabins at KOA. In each case they were clean if not humble, but at $40 I was happy. In Flagstaff I did pay $80 but it had TV, wifi, heat and a large room. and below the motel prices in the area. It's not a perfect world out there but in general I think our motel options are better than most (not all) countries.
Bill
Our motel options are certainly more varied than in, say, the UK, which is one place I have experience riding and camping. There are very few motels compared to here - normal procedure is to camp in the back garden of a pub (or sometimes the pubs have rooms upstairs, if you ask nice). Lots of camping places, few motels .... but we always have fun there.
Lannis
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Bed bugs aren't class conscious .
Dusty
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Bed bugs aren't class conscious .
Dusty
True, true..
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My mom says growing up in the depression they would put the legs of thier bed in cans of kerosene to keep the bedbugs out. Good old hillbilly injenuity.
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My brother is a trucker for Frito-Lay out of Jonesboro AR. When I told him I tend to stay at Trucker Motels, he didn't know what I meant.
Rodeway or Knight's Inn. I think his standards are a bit higher.
Bill Lovelady IS
Eskimo Spy
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Beware BEDBUGS
Also SCABIES (under skin colonies of mites)
I've known more than one person who have contacted both from cheap motels.
Scabies-
(http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc462/leafman60/Miscellaneous/scabies.jpg) (http://s1213.photobucket.com/user/leafman60/media/Miscellaneous/scabies.jpg.html)
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Beware BEDBUGS
Also SCABIES (under skin colonies of mites)
I've known more than one person who have contacted both from cheap motels.
Scabies-
(http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc462/leafman60/Miscellaneous/scabies.jpg) (http://s1213.photobucket.com/user/leafman60/media/Miscellaneous/scabies.jpg.html)
I knew a couple in Florida that moved out of their house for 3 months to get ride of bugs brought home from a resort in Orlando. It never has been just cheap hotels.
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I usually use Expedia to book hotels and look at the reviews. Before I hit the Reserve button, I check Trip Advisor reviews. Often get nicer hotel for cheap hotel prices on weekdays by booking same afternoon. Weekends better to book in advance.
Most motels have a headboard held loosely to wall bu two screws & a slot that I lift off and look behind before unpacking. As soon as I get home, I strip off and put all clothes in black plastic bag(s) & leave in the sun, or directly into washing machine, even if I didn't wear them. Travel shoes stay outside for a while. Take a shower.
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It never has been just cheap hotels.
That is true. If you check the various bed bug registry sites, you will see listings for all sorts of motels. If you go to the trouble to calculate percentages of total motel units for chains, you will see the places most often afflicted with bed bugs. No info on Scabies, though.
I had a friend who worked with the highest rated luxury hotel chain in Canada. Many rooms were $2000+ per night. Even they had bed bugs.
The explanation was that they had many wealthy foreign visitors whose cultural norms of cleanliness often was conducive to bed bug infestations. That's what they said.
I check my bed in any motel. I've never found a bed bug but I have found lots of left-over hair in the bed and strong shaving lotion on the pillows. Those were all the cheap places in my case. I have walked out on those.
example of bed bug bites-
(http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc462/leafman60/Miscellaneous/bed%20bugs.jpg) (http://s1213.photobucket.com/user/leafman60/media/Miscellaneous/bed%20bugs.jpg.html)
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I check my bed in any motel. I've never found a bed bug but I have found lots of left-over hair in the bed and strong shaving lotion on the pillows. Those were all the cheap places in my case. I have walked out on those.
The reason why Best Westerns and Holiday Inns started out extremely successfully and made a fortune over the years is because (at one time) you could COUNT ON the standards and level of cleanliness at those and similar franchised chains (talking 50s and 60s here).
Until then, you were taking a chance on getting an hourly-rate flophouse, or a flea farm, or the Bates Motel; unless you were local, you just didn't know. But Holiday Inns were all the same, the franchise headquarters checked on them all the time, you knew what you were getting.
Not any more! Days Inn is a good example. I've seen Days Inns that were nice clean bright three-star motels, and I've seen Days Inns on the same trip that I wouldn't let my dog stay in, because he'd be cleaner than the motel.
Maybe franchising isn't what it used to be. As many have said, you have to do your own checking, or use resources like TripAdvisor to get some data ....
Lannis
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I used to camp a lot when I was younger, but now, there is nothing like hot shower and a clean bed after a long day's ride. :thumb: :thumb:
On many an overnight motorcycle road trip, I have stayed in some flea-bag hotels of biblical proportions, :rolleyes: :angel: :shocked: but for the most part, it's all part of the adventure! :cool: For the most part, they are just fine...
Here is one in Magdalena, New Mexico that we stayed in a few years ago. It is a hunting lodge for local hunters, actually, and it was OK. :cool:
For this year, we are staying again at the luxurious Largo Motel in booming Quemado, NM, just up the road from Datil. :cool:
(http://thumb.ibb.co/gZwa8v/IMG_9980.jpg) (http://ibb.co/gZwa8v)
(http://thumb.ibb.co/dzev8v/IMG_9982.jpg) (http://ibb.co/dzev8v)
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Stories like these make me want to buy an RV and sleep in my own bed when travelling !!! :huh:
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Stories like these make me want to buy an RV and sleep in my own bed when travelling !!! :huh:
I'm the opposite; I'm reading the current "camper/RV" thread and thinking "What a nightmare! Having to drive a huge rig down the road, burning $120 worth of fuel every day, parking up cheek-by-jowl with other rigs in some Kampground at night for another $40 .... paying taxes and for tires and tags on yet another vehicle .... ".
I guess I'm just a motorcyclist at heart. The Scots purists say "If it's nae rain, it's nae golf." I say if it's nae motorcycle, it's nae vacation ....
Lannis
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We prefer the bike in the van and pulling a 300 lb. motorcycle camper.. basically a tent on wheels with storage inside. It has a king size bed and stand up dressing room. On our mega vacation this year..Drone across the plains for 2 days in air conditioned comfort, then take the bike out of the van and ride. <shrug> works for us.
We slept and ate well. Cheap. :smiley: I cooked every night, some mornings. We'd normally grab a salad somewhere for lunch. Rode some of the best roads in the US. What's not to like? :cool: :boozing:
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8656/28408057944_7e589a083d_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/KhjHUu)1-20160714_201324 (https://flic.kr/p/KhjHUu) by Charles Stottlemyer (https://www.flickr.com/photos/107188298@N06/), on Flickr
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And don't forget, proximity to loud Bars and run down Dives! That's a big concern to my peace of mind.
(http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/ag77/Penderic/Penderic002/Weirdest-Hotels-Beer-Can_zpsld8w78oc.jpg)
After all, if it is too far, I am sure to fall flat on my face on the way back! :boozing:
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Somewhere there is a joke about staying in any motel with a number in it.....
Think I know what it was getting at.
Mark
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Last year on my way to Abilene I paid $20 (including tax) for a motel in Benson, AZ. Cash only. It was clean, had free WiFi.
On my way back from Abilene I paid $100 for a Motel 6 in Bishop, Ca. It was supposed to have free WiFi, but their router could no handle the load.
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Last year on my way to Abilene I paid $20 (including tax) for a motel in Benson, AZ. Cash only. It was clean, had free WiFi.
On my way back from Abilene I paid $100 for a Motel 6 in Bishop, Ca. It was supposed to have free WiFi, but their router could no handle the load.
Yep, I found out a # of years ago don't plan on stopping in Bishop, Ca. for the night if you can help it. All the motel owners there(including Motel 6) are in cahoots to make sure your stay ain't cheap. :evil: In fact the adjacent motels are in cahoots with Bishop too. :sad: Didn't used to be that way.
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Loved the TV series!
(http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/ag77/Penderic/Penderic002/fawlty-towers-resort_zpsun0efwrk.jpg)
:shocked:
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Me too Pennie .
"You need a plastic surgeon dear , not a doctor"
Dusty
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We prefer the bike in the van and pulling a 300 lb. motorcycle camper.. basically a tent on wheels with storage inside. It has a king size bed and stand up dressing room. On our mega vacation this year..Drone across the plains for 2 days in air conditioned comfort, then take the bike out of the van and ride. <shrug> works for us.
We slept and ate well. Cheap. :smiley: I cooked every night, some mornings. We'd normally grab a salad somewhere for lunch. Rode some of the best roads in the US. What's not to like? :cool: :boozing:
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8656/28408057944_7e589a083d_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/KhjHUu)1-20160714_201324 (https://flic.kr/p/KhjHUu) by Charles Stottlemyer (https://www.flickr.com/photos/107188298@N06/), on Flickr
....I think I kinda like your set up, makes sense. Travel, use it as a base camp for a day or 6...hmmm.
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....I think I kinda like your set up, makes sense. Travel, use it as a base camp for a day or 6...hmmm.
It works for us, Ken. We've tried other things, but always come back to "put the bike in the van, tow the camper." It even works for one night stands. You get pretty fast at setup and tear down.
The van can be used as a normal vehicle, too.. not just a camping thing that you have to store somewhere. <shrug>
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It works for us, Ken. We've tried other things, but always come back to "put the bike in the van, tow the camper." It even works for one night stands. You get pretty fast at setup and tear down.
The van can be used as a normal vehicle, too.. not just a camping thing that you have to store somewhere. <shrug>
Our variation on that is the "Roadrunner Magazine"-style "Shamrock Tour". Well, not style, really, actual.
Fay and I were looking for something to do on our 40th Anniversary, and we got down all the old RR magazines, and she decided on a tour of Southeastern Kentucky.
So we rode (oh, it was hot, but we managed it!) to Williamsburg, Kentucky and got a nice room for the week at the Cumberland Inn. Then each day, we'd follow RR's pre-run maps (paper, of course) and take a 200-mile ride each day - one each north, south, east, and west. We really got to know the countryside well, from the South Fork gorges to the Middlesboro coal mines, and each night we'd end up back at the Inn and splash in the pool and pick a nice place to eat.
Then the last day, head toward home, no rush ... and all the road miles on the bike ...
Lannis