We were on a cross-country drive and wanted to find places that were affordable yet decent. The Econo Lodge in Topeka certainly exceeded our expectations, and we were thrilled.

The hotel is conveniently located and easy to find. It's just down the road from a Wal-Mart, so if you need to pick up last-minute supplies, it's easy to do. We were greeted by an incredibly friendly and helpful member of the staff, who took the time to review the map of Topeka and make suggestions for our brief stay (the hotel is conveniently located in reference to downtown Topeka). She pointed us towards an excellent and extremely close restaurant, The Blind Tiger. The lobby was spacious and clean, and looked like it had just undergone a renovation. Already we could tell that this hotel was better than your average Econo Lodge.

I was a little wary of the outside hotel doors (the doors to the rooms face the parking lot, not an interior hallway), but the presence of several security cameras made me feel a little better about our safety. The area around the hotel seemed safe enough; it was near civilization, but not SO near that I was afraid of strangers walking past our door in the middle of the night.

The room itself was surprisingly nice. Again, it looked like it had been recently renovated (although I think they were still working on the bathroom... nothing bad, it just looked dated compared to the rest of the room). The room was very clean, the bed was comfortable, and we had plenty of pillows. We kept saying to each other, "I can't believe how nice this place is!"

Overall, we were impressed with our stay here, and would stay again if we ever find ourselves passing through Topeka.

I made my reservation well in advance because of the convenient location to the Kansas Expocentre (straight up Topeka Ave. to the north, less than 5 minutes). I told the desk clerk I was bringing a dog. She said she would be sure to get us on the ground floor. Check in was smooth and I did get a room on the ground floor with a micro and fridge. The room was clean, furniture an interesting style, but appeared fairly new. I got a good night's sleep all 4 nights. Good grassy area to walk your dog. A number of restaurants are easily found and not far from the motel. For a 2 star hotel, not bad at all. I'll go back every time I show my dog at the Exprocentre.

We booked this room over the phone after speaking to numerous other local hotels and finding most were booked. We were told by the person on the phone that this facility had won multiple awards and when we arrived they were on the wall behind the counter. After paying tax and a small dog fee our room was $88 which was way over priced. All rooms are outside access and the decor is from the 70's. My mattress slanted to the side, it was if someone had sat on its edge and indented it in. The tub in the bathroom had paint stains in it, as if someone had cleaned their painting tools...which is a possibility considering all of the contruction workers staying here. They all had their doors open standing and were standing outside smoking when we walked up. There are water stains on the ceiling tiles, the curtains are falling down, basically very rough around the edges. Nice plasma t.v. tough. The young woman working the counter was exceptionally nice and helpful but the rest of the place gave me the creeps. I've paid this price tostay at a Disney hotel so I am dissapointed. Headed west now and away from this experience.

I had booked a room for one night at the Econo Lodge basing my decision on cost, photos, and reviews. However, once we arrived at the hotel, we found out what it was really like. The rooms all open to the outside and the "indoor pool" is located in a completely different building. The outside of the hotel was not clean and the breakfast area was tiny. We didn't even end up staying at the hotel that night because they gave us a key to a room that was already occupied. There are much better hotels in Topeka for about the same cost.