Any one ever stayed in a really really cheap hotel?

[Disneyfan754321]

We stayed in a hotel in vegas for $25 and it was ok... but I know it's just to get your business. Orlando & Kissimmee is full of really old properties I see them listed when I do my searches, just wanted to know does anyone actually stay here that's going on vacation?

 

[Rasstuss]

Just pulled up the Maingate Lakeside on Google Earth and realized that is where my wife and I actually spent the night of our 1 year anniversary. This would be almost 14 years ago now when it was a Best Western and I was working in hotel management and was a Best Western employee at the time so I got a nice discount. I have to say it was a bit sketchy then, even licensed as a national chain, so I could only imagine the condition it would be in now. The main problem with rates that low is not the actual property but the type of clientele those rates attract that you are surrounded with.

 

[kanerf]

I got out of my cheap hotel days at least 30 years ago. The lowest I will go these days is a Hampton Inn or HI Express.

 

[wfjny]

I got out of my cheap hotel days at least 30 years ago. The lowest I will go these days is a Hampton Inn or HI Express.

Agreed. In my early 20s (so, ah, 30 years ago), 5 of us stayed in a hotel for $35 a night. It was on 192. So, cost each of us $7 a night. With it costing about $35 a day for Disney, the $7 was the right price for me back then...

Now, as a Diamond level at Hilton Honors, yeah, I have different standards,,,

 

[kanerf]

Agreed. In my early 20s (so, ah, 30 years ago), 5 of us stayed in a hotel for $35 a night. It was on 192. So, cost each of us $7 a night. With it costing about $35 a day for Disney, the $7 was the right price for me back then...

Now, as a Diamond level at Hilton Honors, yeah, I have different standards,,,

LT Diamond, Marriott Titanium, IHG Ambassador and Hyatt Globalist, so my standards are a little high as well. Currently at The District in DC.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

We stayed in a hotel in vegas for $25 and it was ok... but I know it's just to get your business. Orlando & Kissimmee is full of really old properties I see them listed when I do my searches, just wanted to know does anyone actually stay here that's going on vacation? View attachment 606213

You know I used to always want to go to WDW on a shoe string just to see how low it could be done...like a challenge. Then I see some of the motels and hotels that qualify for this and I just could never do it. I used to see the Microtel like under 200 per week and tried to imagine what it must be like.

Then I think of the uses for that low priced motel other than a family going to WDW and it grosses me out. Then I think of lice, bugs and all the other things that we fear when one stays in a motel/hotel that it is so cheap it could rent by the hour and I know its not a challenge I want to take up anymore.

I know that all of those things can be present in any hotel too but I guess my hope is that when they are discovered they will be taken care of immediately. I used to check the bedbug finder website for Orlando. Now I just check all the places I know they can hide in the room.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

Just pulled up the Maingate Lakeside on Google Earth and realized that is where my wife and I actually spent the night of our 1 year anniversary. This would be almost 14 years ago now when it was a Best Western and I was working in hotel management and was a Best Western employee at the time so I got a nice discount. I have to say it was a bit sketchy then, even licensed as a national chain, so I could only imagine the condition it would be in now. The main problem with rates that low is not the actual property but the type of clientele those rates attract that you are surrounded with.

Yes that's what I was saying yes I have seen the Florida project.
I'm sure there are people who do this, i just dont know them.

 

[ttfn3]

Years ago we were visiting family in Florida, and my husband talked me into staying a few days in a cheap hotel room on 192. It was an experience I wish to never repeat. One of my vivid memories is that the room smelled so funky, we bought some dryer fabric softener sheets and hung them all over the room to help mask the smell. I told him never again! On a positive experience, we bought a 2 bedroom timeshare week off ebay at the Marriott Grande Vista for under $300 for the whole week. It was a great experience.

 

[ChanaC]

Yes that's what I was saying yes I have seen the Florida project.
I'm sure there are people who do this, i just dont know them.

I was just thinking about The Florida Project. Great (and sad) movie, but it's a good reminder for everyone to research which motels you might book. The honeymooning couple who pulled up to the motel in the middle of the movie and were really disappointed probably happens way too much in real life.

 

[OhDannyBoy]

I've stayed in hotels in Miami that make motel 6 look 5 star. I was homeless for a short stint and it beat sleeping under a bridge.

 

[kathy884]

If you are willing to bunk up and have a bunch of people who you are traveling with and like being around, what we have done to do Orlando on the cheap is have 10 of us stay in a three bedroom condo that has a maximum occupancy of 10 at a lovely timeshare resort. (e.g. Cypress Point Grand Villas). For tomorrow night for example the retail rate with an AAA discount for the three bedroom lockout is $184 (they way the condo is laid out that leave four people sleeping on the two hyda-a-beds or in our case, we bring some blow up beds. I believe they have a resort fee too, so maybe figure $200 for the night plus taxes if you do retail. That's just $20 pp plus tax with a party of 10. And a week long owner rental can usually be had for much more attractive pricing (TUG2.net or Redweek.com). We've when wanting to do an inexpensive Orlando trip bunked up like that, cooked in for lots of meals, and brought our own food and sandwiches to Disney. It was actually tons of fun and I remember the four or five trips we did like this very fondly. We also would just do three parks over our full six days/seven night (SeaWorld twice when they had the go one day and get your second day free in the same week. And then splurged on one Disney park with an expensive one day ticket. Mad e the other three days resort days, playing in the pool, playing tennis, playing games, watching movies in the evening, stuff like that.// Haven't done el cheapo motels. Used to camp offsite in Orlando, though, when we had a pop up camper.

 

[lynnfitz]

Stayed at a hotel on I-drive for our arrival night. Was quite a few years ago, like many of you our standards have changed, and fortunately our salaries, lol! The game room had a security guard, not a good sign. The next morning I just wanted to shower and get over to royal pacific. Never again. I’m a believer you get what you pay for (most of the time)

 

[shh]

I still do the cheaper places for a few trips...but we're talking best western type places - 70-100/night. Not sure if that's in the same category as above or not. We're hardly in the room and would rather splurge on other stuff. Once in a while, we splurge on something nicer.

 

[linco711]

Yes, and they were really bad. Slept in our clothes and shoes. Drug deals going on outside. Booked it on Priceline. I thought ”How bad can it be?” I don’t book on Priceline anymore. I complained about the hotel and they would do nothing. Such a scam!

 

[Pooh's World]

The biggest problem with the cheap hotels is either unruly/sketchy guests or a cockroach problem. The coackroach problem is specific to Florida but if you read some of the reviews for Motel 6, the walls of the whole building are full of the coakroaches so not much you can do about it.

 

[ClapYourHands]

I’ve stayed at some cheaper properties, but never the suuuuuper cheap ones. Because Orlando is so built up, you can get clean basic hotels for far lower than in most other markets. Including all taxes and fees, I’ve done low $70s on weekends, and had great experiences. Sometimes rates in the $50s end up in the $70s once you add everything in. At that price point, I can still find places that are bright green (4.0+/5) on Hotwire, and I’d probably be willing to risk some of the light green (3.0+/5) properties (though to be honest, there’s usually not much, if any, price difference between properties rated really good and pretty good), but once the rating goes grey, I’m out.

 

[katyjeka]

I have worked at a hotel for over twenty years. I know what happens to the rooms at a nicer hotel so I can't even imagine what goes on at a cheap place. At that price I believe the rooms would get a lot of "hourly" use. If you would decide to stay at one please take your own bedding, wear shoes at all times, water shoes in shower, and touch as little as possible, really!

 

[DumboDash2006]

I got out of my cheap hotel days at least 30 years ago. The lowest I will go these days is a Hampton Inn or HI Express.

That is us. Not quite 30 years ago, but in 1997 as a young couple we stayed at a Comfort Inn in Kissimmee. I feel like back then we paid around $25-30 a night. It wasn't horrible, but not great either. The Choice brand of hotels is one we try and avoid now.

There might be some decent hotels out there for that rate. But....probably not.

ETA at that time the hotel was clean but worn and the A/C didn't work all that great. Some of the clientele seemed to be day laborers staying onsite. One night I went to the vending machines after dark and they were cat calling me and I felt rather uncomfortable. After that dh had to go get snacks.

 

[dioxide45]

Also with cheap hotels, you will be staying in a place with long term tenants. Or those that stay as long as they legally can. Not discounting the issues surrounding this but certainly not the type of place I want to spend a night of my vacation.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

A little off topic, when we went to Williamsburg Va (and can I say Williamsburg area has both awful hotels and restaurants) we stayed at the Governor's Inn which was a Williamsburg property.
A slight digression, in the past we stayed in Williamsburg at a Rodeway Inn (looked like something a serial killer would inhabit), Comfort Inn ( only a little yuccky) and somewhere else where (name eludes me or maybe it is just the truma) the students who work at the surrounding businesses stay for the summer (a name brand hotel but who knew when we booked).
So I am all excited to stay at Governor's Inn. I picture some beautiful Colonial Inn, with nice bedding and well you get the picture. We pull up, it is a brick motel that is literally falling apart. The pool is the size of a tea cup loaded with people. On the way to the room the ground is littered with cigarette butts and the cement and brick stairs are crumbling to the point of dangerousness. I am really annoyed because I had begged my husband to make sure this place was not one of the garbage pits of the past. I think I am such a judgmental jerk, don't judge a book by its cover. So what the doors to the unit are hollow flush. I mean every hotel of note has initials carved into the walls of the room, don't they? The scent of a backed up toilet only adds to the ambiance right? Then I find out the plumbing does not work in the bathroom and bonus when I pull back the sheet on the bed for my check there is a red hair of unmentionable origin on the sheets which clearly were not changed looking at the wrinkle marks.
We spend more time getting our room changed at the desk. Next room, yep you guessed it the toilet does not work either. Finally, they put us in one of their nicer (think Quality Inn nice) properties. The clerk was kind of embarrassed because he said if we had booked for more than 2 nights he could have moved us sooner. Apparently, the complaints for this place are so bad that they plan on moving you to the "nicer" after only one complaint if you book long enough. Was this a test? OMG it was horrible. I saw it was one of the Williamsburg properties and the Trip Advisor reviews were good! Who knew it was going to be an "EWW DAVID".