Days Inn by Wyndham Austin/University/Downtown

The beds were at least clean, and the staff were kind for the most part, but the rest of the stay was awful. The bathroom sink was wrecked, the shower looked unclean, and the room had hardly any lighting. The door wouldn’t stay open, and the room smelled strongly of oil or some kind of food. Gross. Bring slippers if you come here, because the floor was disgusting. The pool was dirty too, and about the size of a hot tub. If you stay, know what you’re getting into.

The best thing is the location, close to downtown with a quicker drive. The highway is nearby, but I couldn’t hear the traffic. There’s an HEB about five minutes away and a Target around 15 minutes away if you need anything. I was a little concerned about safety, though I saw lots of people my age or younger staying with their parents too. The hotel looks rough, and the room is a bit worn around the edges, but it’s decent enough for a quick stay. It had good AC, Wi-Fi, a fridge, and a microwave. The lighting was dim. My main complaint was the stiff door: I had to push hard to open it and slam it to be sure it shut.

If another hotel had been available, we would have gone there, but we visited on an extremely busy weekend and paid way too much for what was barely a two-star hotel. Don’t make the same mistake. The outside looked nothing like the photos. The place was dilapidated, with trash everywhere. Inside, the floors and baseboards were black with dirt, though the bed and bathroom were clean enough that we could stay. We had to kill cockroaches, but don’t know if there was an infestation or if a few had wandered in from outside. Either way, it was gross. The room was always hot when we returned from the day, as if they turned off the AC overnight or in the morning. Bring slippers because the floors are filthy.

The hotel let me check in an hour early, and the customer service was fair. After I explained the inconvenience, I was offered a full refund. The room rate was affordable, but the quality needs to improve. The whole place, including the rooms, looked different from the website pictures. I had low expectations after seeing the area, but the room was still unacceptable. Although all rooms are listed as non-smoking, mine showed clear signs of heavy smoking, and a window had been propped open to air out the smoke. The window lock didn’t work, so I felt unsafe. The smoke detector had been removed and was hanging off the wall. I tried to put those problems aside and shower before a nap, but the shower and toilet plumbing weren’t working properly. After an hour in the room, I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t sleep because the bad air made it hard to breathe.