Motel 6 Abilene, TX

The location was okay, but we left more exhausted and miserable than when we pulled off I-20. After a long drive, my family and I needed sleep, so I followed the billboard and paid $110 for the night. The lobby smelled unpleasantly of urine, though I brushed it off. In the room, I found a roach in the middle of the floor and had to kill it before it got under the bed. It scared my five-year-old daughter, but I thought we could put up with it for one night if that was the worst of it. The bedding looked okay at first. My wife and daughter took one bed, and I took the other. Before I could sleep, I saw movement in the dark. My flashlight showed several bed bugs crawling on the pillow. I was disgusted, woke my family, and told them we had to leave right away. I tried to shower in case anything had hidden on me, but there was no hot water, so I rinsed off in ice-cold water and got everyone back in the car. I went to the office for a refund on our way out. The front desk person said I should have reported a problem right away, not two hours later. I said I hadn't known about the bed bugs two hours earlier, but knew now. He didn't care and refused a refund. He said his manager would call later that morning, but no one ever did. I've stayed at several Motel 6 locations before without trouble, but this whole experience was awful from start to finish. I won't risk staying at Motel 6 again. If you're on the interstate west of Abilene, keep driving.

The interior rooms were great and very clean. The door can be tricky to shut, but if you pay attention and double-check it, there's no problem. The staff are kind, and housekeeping does a great job, leaving the rooms fresh and sanitary. The location works well if you have a vehicle or are passing through. It's less walkable, but still doable. A great stay overall.

The hotel exterior is well kept, and it's a good blue-collar place. The service was good, but housekeeping needs to knock and announce themselves. They walked into my room without doing that on more than one occasion. There was mold at the base of the shower door, and the toilet needed cleaning before I arrived and during my stay. There was mold inside it too. The hotel is out on the highway with nothing nearby, and no eateries within walking distance.

I couldn't sleep, and kept my clothes in the car and my belongings up on a chair. The room smelled old, like mold or smoke seeped into the walls. The furniture and bedding were old, and although I didn't see stains, I couldn't tell whether the bedding had really been washed. That smell made me skeptical. There were no extras: no coffee pot, hair dryer, decent soap, or anything that smelled fresh. It was better than sleeping outside, and I suppose it covered the bare minimum of getting seven or eight hours and taking a shower. But at over $100, the room wasn't worth it. Maybe $50 would have felt acceptable.