AMonger
Veteran Expediter
Why does it make me laugh every time amonger says the tranny was out?
Sent from my Fisher Price ABC-123.
A personal shortcoming of yours. No, wait--you think it's funny I said "coming..."
OMG I shoulda slept in the van!
- Thread starter xmudman
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A personal shortcoming of yours. No, wait--you think it's funny I said "coming..."
I've had pretty good experiences so far, a couple were iffy. But none I would have turned away from. I did stay at a small motel in Chesterfield, MI about 6 years ago. The room was alright, but the greeting could have been better. I arrived around 10pm, as I'm walking to the office the manager comes out with a shot gun saying what do I want. I'm thinking a change of pants would be nice, but a room will do. He apologized and said he had been having some trouble around there lately. Funny where you will stay when your down on your luck, but even then I was gone the next day.
pandora2112
Seasoned Expediter
This was before we went on the road but spongebox and I rented a room one time, clerk hands us our keycard and I head to the room...open the door and there are people in the room! Apparently they gave us the wrong room, talk about shocked! Those people looked rathered freaked out and I couldn't stop laughing.
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purgoose10
Veteran Expediter
Copy that, driver.
Some places are acceptable even if they're dives. I stayed at a motel on the moon (oops, eastern Oregon) a couple weeks back after pounding out 2360 miles in 54 hours. Sure the place was dusty, old, full of transients and conjugal visitors to the nearby prison, and yes I hadda drive 8 miles to find a Taco Bell. But THE ROOM WAS CLEAN. Makes all the difference.
Taco Bell should pay you for that commercial since your the only one in America that will drive 8 miles to find one. LOL!
Brisco
Expert Expediter
Wasted a Lot of Gas just to get a Lot of Gas..........................
WanderngFool
Active Expediter
When I stay in a motel I try to stay at the chains, if for no other reason than they don't print out credit card numbers that end up getting stolen out of the trash.
It happens to me last year at a little motel I liked well enough. The Piketon Motel on rt 23 in Ohio, just south of Waverly. Nice people and a nice enough room - wifi sucked though. But then 2 or 3 days later I started getting weird charges on my credit card.
Just this morning I got a suspicious activity call from Citibank. I stayed in an awful little dive in Jarvis FL last week and someone is buying stuff at Walmart.com and a couple of other sites using my CC number.
I like staying at the little non-chain places but from now on it will be cash only or I'll keep driving.
I try to use my Corporate Lodging Card whenever I can. It doesn't save all that much money (a little, but not much) but I like the fact that you hand over the CLC card like a credit card and your real credit cards aren't needed at participating hotels.
That Motel 6 in Terre Haute is a piece of work. The rooms have block walls with stucco on the inside. Feels like you're in a cave. And then there's the cheapest-we-could-find laminate flooring. And then there's the fact that the price they advertise on the sign on the highway is the extended stay price (3 nights or more iirc). I keep a record of every room I stay at and my comment about my room there was just one word - awful.
There are decent Motel 6s though. Menomonee WI is good. Dayton OH is pretty good and dirt cheap. Janesville WI is dirt cheap too and ok. Cloverdale IN is good.
It happens to me last year at a little motel I liked well enough. The Piketon Motel on rt 23 in Ohio, just south of Waverly. Nice people and a nice enough room - wifi sucked though. But then 2 or 3 days later I started getting weird charges on my credit card.
Just this morning I got a suspicious activity call from Citibank. I stayed in an awful little dive in Jarvis FL last week and someone is buying stuff at Walmart.com and a couple of other sites using my CC number.
I like staying at the little non-chain places but from now on it will be cash only or I'll keep driving.
I try to use my Corporate Lodging Card whenever I can. It doesn't save all that much money (a little, but not much) but I like the fact that you hand over the CLC card like a credit card and your real credit cards aren't needed at participating hotels.
That Motel 6 in Terre Haute is a piece of work. The rooms have block walls with stucco on the inside. Feels like you're in a cave. And then there's the cheapest-we-could-find laminate flooring. And then there's the fact that the price they advertise on the sign on the highway is the extended stay price (3 nights or more iirc). I keep a record of every room I stay at and my comment about my room there was just one word - awful.
There are decent Motel 6s though. Menomonee WI is good. Dayton OH is pretty good and dirt cheap. Janesville WI is dirt cheap too and ok. Cloverdale IN is good.
I had almost had the same thing happen to me in SC. When I opened the room it was clear the room was occupied. The ft desk was very upset and gave me another room. In this day and age you are lucky they didn't start shooting and ask questions later. Jerry Lee
Four Ways Inn, Muscle Shoals AL gets my vote as the worst so far. The bed wasn't bad, but-- the bathroom was the size of a small closet, and when I took a shower before leaving I found that the bathtub was mounted considerably higher than normal. I fell when I exited the tub since the floor was so much lower than the tub's floor. I felt the towel rack in my back for several days after that.
40.00 for the night. Had to do it, it was way too warm that night to sleep in the van.
Stay at the Day's Inn just up the road. It's 65.00 for the night, and well worth the extra cost.
40.00 for the night. Had to do it, it was way too warm that night to sleep in the van.
Stay at the Day's Inn just up the road. It's 65.00 for the night, and well worth the extra cost.
tenntrucker
Expert Expediter
Red Roof Inn next to the Pilot in Ft Wayne In, a real dump!
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One of the worst dumps we ever stayed in was the Knights Inn near the Stoop's near Indy. It was HORRIBLE! We could not stay in the truck and anything near was full. The bed bugs would not even stay there!
spongebox1
Expert Expediter
I can name thirty hotels near stoops in Indy, but for some reason the 2 worst hotels in Indy are next to the truckstops
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Absolutely ANYTHING near that Pilot in Ft. Wayne is gonna be chancy at best. I've had my CB on from time to time, and-- if you have to do any business near there, get in and get out.
tenntrucker
Expert Expediter
Haven't been near that Pilot since the new Flying J opened.
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Tennesseahawk
Veteran Expediter
Tennesseahawk
Veteran Expediter
That happened to my co-driver and me once. A guy and gal going at it. We told the counter perp, and he said, "Mr Walters said he was alone."
Oops!
Tennesseahawk
Veteran Expediter
Wrong. I drove 3 miles to get to Taco Bell, passed it by about 3 miles, and went 3 miles back. So nyah.
Traveling Mom
New Recruit
Once in a while we expediters (especially us lowly vanners) find ourselves at a motel front desk, exchanging credit card for room card. This happens when the truck falls ill, is full of freight or simply to give ourselves the luxury of being able to stretch out a little bit.
This thread is for folks to describe their worst motel experiences, and to warn others away from said motels. If you wanna make your point particularly clear, CAPITALIZE the name of the place. I will start.
HERITAGE INN, I40 exit 216, BRINKLEY ARKANSAS.
I stopped here for the night on my way east from El Paso, because my bed was folded up to accomodate the freight. Oh the crimes against tourism this place perpetrates! Damp smell (wet-dog smell). Damp bed with onion-skin sheets. VERY damp carpets. Even the tile floor in the bathroom was damp. And the coup de grace: The shower curtain was COVERED IN MOLD along the bottom. I don't care about the 1972 furniture or the 1992 TV, or the lack of a microwave/coffeemaker/etc. But this place was DISGUSTING. And BTW they charged me $40 all in when the posted rate is $29.95 plus tax, which means an effective tax rate of almost 34%.
Tomorrow, I will be discussing this situation with both my credit card company AND the Arkansas Dept of Health.
OK, so let's hear your stories
April 15, 2015 after driving for 14 hours we stopped at Heritage Inn, Brinkley AR. Price is still $40 and the place is disgusting. We didn't even need a key to walk into our room, lock was broken. Looked like a crime scene in the bathroom. Walked in, walked out and went to the office for a refund only to be told NO Refunds.
The guy behind the counter was very creepy. Late night and he was wearing sunglasses in a very dim lobby. The creepiest thing, there is a gate clasp lock on the outside of the door and anyone could have locked us in the room. And there was no phone in the room either to call for help if we had been locked in (cell phones were dead)...horror movie material with this place.
I spent less than 10 mins on the property and left without refund.
Tennesseahawk
Veteran Expediter
Call your credit card company.