The Downside of Motel 6

In my last post, gushing about Motel 6, I mentioned that there was a downside to the budget chain.

Perhaps you're going to expect me to say that it is the small size of the rooms in the typical Motel 6 (newer ones have much larger rooms), and that moreover one's bed is right up near the front window so that you can pretty much hear everything that is going on in the parking lot right outside.

This last fact in particular makes me feel like I'm roughing it when I stay at a Motel 6, that I'm not really "staying there" so much as "taking a break from the road," like I might be at a typical roadside campground in a national forest.

But as it happens I'm perfectly fine with both of these, as well as other disadvantages (having to pay three bucks a day for Wi-Fi, for example) because Motel 6 is often so cheap compared to other motels in any given city. The warm feeling I get from paying, say, fifty bucks a night instead of ninety, often serves as a nice balm that allows me to put up with a lot of "hardship," provided of course that the place has a clean bathroom, clean linens, working heat/ac, a working television, working door locks,  and is free of any infestations (most important of all).

So far my experience with Motel 6 has been pretty good on all of these counts. I've gone from spurning Motel 6 as inferior to embracing it as a regular part of my lodging choices, one I happily call upon in major metropolitan areas where the hotel prices are higher than average.

So why don't I stay at Motel 6es all the time? First off, the small size of the rooms and the proximity to the outside really does begin to wear upon one after a while. It begins to feel like a small college dorm room, albeit a nice one with its own bathroom and cable television.

Motel 6 serves poorly as a retreat from the world, where I can relax and be in my own space for a couple days on end, which is exactly what I want some time.

More importantly, however, there is the concept of consistency of quality. Many Motel 6es are quite nice, especially the latest round of them, which have hardwood floors and large rooms and large showers.

The problem is that you can't count on this, unless you've already stayed there and know the place. Even then you might wind up with a bad room, bad television, noisy neighbors, etc.

For example, I was recently in Eureka, California after driving up the California coast from Sonoma County, and had just finishing camping near Mendocino. I wanted simply to relax inside my room, so as I was driving in Eureka, I used the excellent Motel 6 Android app to book a room in the Motel 6 on the south edge of town. It took only about thirty seconds. I barely had to break stride.

When I got into town and saw the Motel 6, I realized that the Motel 6 was not among the best of the chain's installation. It felt rather shabby and a bit decrepit. The front desk manager seemed rather listless and clueless.

In my room, one of the standard Motel 6 chairs was so wobbly that I thought it would break when I sat down on it.

It was a Sunday night, and I wanted to watch the football game on NBC.  When I tried to turn on the television with the basic remote nothing happened (a common issue in budget motels). I pushed the button on the tv and it came to life, but the remote still didn't do anything. I checked inside: no batteries. I knew I could complain, but I figured it would be easier just to use my own batteries from my camping stash.

Then when I turned to the NBC channel, I was greeted by a message saying the channel was temporarily unavailable due to a satellite error (all Motel 6es use a common cable package).

I called the front desk and asked about this. The receptionist said they were unaware of this problem but would check with maintenance. They called back after ten minutes and told me that the channel had been offline at the motel "for a while."

I asked: "Does that mean it's been off for a couple hours or for a couple weeks?"

The answer: "several months."

I didn't even make a pretense of complaining. What could it possibly accomplish? The woman at the front desk hadn't even been aware of the problem! It was as if I were the first person to complain about it.

Moreover, I was only going to be there one night. By the morning I would be on the road again.

Thankfully it was the fourth game of the World Series that evening, so I cheerfully watched the working Fox channel and stood outside the room when the Giants finally won, so I could hear the cheers and whelps of joy coming from the other rooms.

Keep in mind that this experience is not typical of Motel 6 experience. But it illustrates that such situations are possible. You can simply chalk it up to that motel being a "bad example" of Motel 6. Yet the sheets were still clean and the bathroom was still quite acceptable. I slept well and was rested in the morning to continue driving.

But I would have been really disappointed if I had booked that room and expected to stay several nights in relaxing fashion. I would have been quite miserable if that had been the case.

That's why in October, when I decided to take a pleasure trip up the Sierras for my birthday, I booked the first night (the eve of my birthday) at a Hampton Inn in Visalia. It's not such much that I wanted all the amenities of a Hampton Inn (which sometimes make me feel like I'm overpaying for the basics), but rather that I wanted to have "no issues" that evening. I wanted to relax.

I know that at a Hampton Inn, they will make sure the channels are working on the television. If the remote doesn't have batteries, they will replace it right away with great apologies.  I can count on these things, and if I don't get them, then it is a really big deal.

That's why I pay 110 bucks a night instead of 45. For that knowledge and assurance. Sometimes it's worth it.