Cheap motels

[rodekyll]

Pretty bold talk on a 'motorcycle' board for a guy in an air-conditioned van pulling a motel behind him ....    

I think what he meant was that a real bike refuses to enter a Transit.  I've been told it's like herding cats.

[rodekyll]

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.

[Vince in Milwaukee]

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?!

[Muzz]

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.

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.

[HDGoose]

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.

[Moto]

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.

[charlie b]

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.

[Lannis]

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 ...

[Alchymyst]

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#

[Lannis]

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

[charlie b]

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).

[wavedog]

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.

[Arizona Wayne]

IMO Motel 6 is the last option.

My aren't you picky.    Never been disappointed in a Motel 6 as far as cleanliness(no bedbugs).   

[LowRyter]

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. 

[V7Record]

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!

[Arizona Wayne]

IMO Motel 6 is the last option.

IMO Motel 6 is the 1st option.    Never really been disappointed there unless the AC isn't working.  I just want to sleep there, not looking for plushness.

[Arizona Wayne]

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.   

Nowadays if you can get by for $60 or less for a motel/night you're doing good, at least out west.

[Arizona Wayne]

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? 

[eldoroddo]

If you go far enough back, how do you think Motel 6 got it's name? 

Yup.
I remember as a kid when they were $5.95 a night.
I'm only 52.

[Arizona Wayne]

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.

[Lannis]

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

[Nic in Western NYS]

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.

[charlie b]

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.  :)

[Chuck in Indiana]

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.   

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)  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) 

[LowRyter]

IMO Motel 6 is the 1st option.    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.

[Chuck in Indiana]

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 

You probably didn't fill your bike with 100 gallons of $5.50 avgas, and pay a tie down fee, either. 
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.  It's a little different world at small airports. I like it. Sort of like the Guzzi community.

[Lannis]

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

[Xlratr]

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.

 

[rocker59]

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.

[Arizona Wayne]

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.).     They are mistaken for muslims by the ignorant.