I booked our 8-day stay at this motel through Hotwire. As you know, when going through Hotwire you take potluck, but since we were on a tight budget anyhow, the description of a 2-star hotel with a pool for $50 a night sounded like a pretty decent deal. When Hotwire revealed our motel was the Fresno Travelodge, we looked it up and looked at the pictures on their website. It looked okay, the pool seemed nice and the kids got excited to go swimming.

When we arrived, we found the motel to be situated right next to the freeway and in a pretty run down area of town. We saw two pools -- both of which were closed. When asked, the front desk clerk said she would find out when the pools would be open as they had only been closed a couple of days for maintenence. A couple of days? These pools were way green -- one looked like a moat! Needless to say, both pools remained closed during our entire 8-day stay and I never saw anyone tending to them.

Upon entering our room, it appeared fairly clean but completely reeked of mold. We ended up going to a local market to buy air freshener/sanitizer and used it continuously. There were holes underneath the carpet that we would "step into" while walking around. The toilet clogged on two seperate ocassions, one of which the help the front desk was supposedly sending never arrived.

Oh yeah, and the great deal Hotwire supposedly gave us -- $50 a night? Well, when we arrived we saw a huge billboard next to the motel advertising rooms for $35 and up. Never again will I trust you, Hotwire!

If you are looking for a budget hotel in the area, try the Days Inn near Hwy 99 (Olive Street exit). We drove by it and although older, it looked well kept up and the pool area looked clean and pleasant. I really, really wish we would have stayed there instead!

We found ourselves arriving in Fresno late at night without reservations. Not being familiar with the area, we happened across this motel.

The room they gave us was in a fenced-off section a distance from the lobby. This was scary enough. The young tuffs hanging around the area didn't make it any better.

The room itself was just wierd and worn out. It looked like it had been furnished in the late fifties. I swear I saw Elvis! One chair in the room had a big hole in it. The bathroom was small and, while it may have been clean, it just didn't feel like it.

It was hot that evening and the A/C was noisy and inadequate.

What can I say, it was late and after driving for hours, we were too tired to go anywhere else. The one bright spot was the little complimentary breakfast bar in the lobby. Not bad. If nothing else, go there and see if they still have the coupon for Tahoe Joe's. A free slice of cheesecake or appetizer. Tahoe Joe's has really good food.