Americas Best Value Inn Blue Ridge

The location and service were decent, and the guy running the place seemed nice. But the room was in rough shape, with a broken piece of a three-prong plug stuck in an outlet, which felt like a safety hazard. I also found bed bugs in one of the beds in the middle of the night while trying to sleep. By then it was too late to ask for another room or my money back. I gave it two stars, which is probably generous. For other people's sake, I won't stay again until the facility is cleaned up.

My mom had booked two nights, but on her first evening she found a bed bug under the sheet just as she was getting into bed. The room had seemed dirty from the start, and she hadn't even wanted to set her jacket on the furniture. She packed up right away and spoke to a woman who didn't seem concerned about the bugs. My mom wasn't refunded for that night, though they did return the cost of the second night.

We were glad to find an available room near Blue Ridge, and the front desk staff came promptly when we rang the bell. Royal Waffle King and Monte Alban are next door, with good food and, at Monte Alban, sizable margaritas. We chose the cheapest room without realizing it was for smoking, our mistake. A non-smoking room was offered for $35 more, so we kept our booking and eventually got used to the awful smell. Inside, the carpet didn't seem clean, there was an action figure leg on the floor, and the bedside drawer had loose change and other debris. We left the money. The shower was grimy, with mold spots on the curtain, marks on the wall, and shoddy fixtures. There was no toilet paper, and the mini fridge's freezer was so frosty that water dripped onto our leftovers.

There's a grocery store next door and quite a few places to eat, but the town isn't close enough to walk to, and I don't think we have Uber yet. The place looks run down, with little maintenance since it opened, worn carpet and paint, and broken appliances left along the walkways. The carpet may have been vacuumed, but it was torn in spots. The fridge was too moldy to use, the tub was dirty, the toilet had suspicious yellow stains, and the shower curtain was moldy. Breakfast was cereal without milk, toast without jelly, and bagged donuts served out of the bag. There's a coffee maker in the room, but no coffee. If you're intoxicated and need somewhere to hook up, maybe this is the place. For anything else, probably not.