I have a few general rules about traveling. One is "be flexible." Another is "never stay at a Motel 6." While I am sure there are nice Motel 6's out there, I have never had the good fortune to stay at one. So, when my husband informed me that he had booked us into a Motel 6 for a one-night stay on our recent road trip, I was pretty scared. Motel 6? Yikes! But remembering my first rule, I figured, let's get there and see what it's like. My husband sent me the website listing from Motel 6's corporate website and it looked like the hotel was fairly new, so I decided to reserve judgment.
Well, we pulled into the parking lot and at first thought we'd gotten lost. The motel looks nothing, and I mean NOTHING, like the picture on the website. The picture on the website shows a newer chain hotel with nice landscaping, etc. The actual Motel 6 we stood in front of looks more like run-down project housing than a motel. There was trash in the parking lot, numerous shady characters hanging out in the doorways of the rooms, chipped and peeling paint, in the five minutes we were there we got to hear a loud argument between hotel "guests" that was seemingly about illegal substances, etc. etc. etc. The place looks like it is serving as cheap pseudo-temporary housing for the poor instead of a hotel. We have a toddler son and took one look inside one of the rooms (it was unoccupied but conveniently, the lock was broken so we could take a peek) and said "no way." I don't really want to describe what one of the rooms looked like - and probably don't have to. Between the horrific condition of the room and the surroundings there was no way we were going to stay at this dump. We hightailed it down the road to a Comfort Inn where we had a nice stay for only slightly more money than the Motel 6 was charging.
So. If my husband had checked TripAdvisor we would never have been hoodwinked by the blatantly deceptive photograph on the Motel 6 website. STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE! It is NOT the same place pictured on the Motel 6 website. By FAR. And I do not think it would be safe for anyone staying there - forget actually having an enjoyable experience.








