Rodeway Inn Boardman - Hermiston

The room was awful. The walls had paint bleeding through the top coat in stripes and were two different colors, the carpet was stained, and there were holes in the walls. I couldn’t tell whether the linens were really clean because the bleach or soap smell made it hard to judge. There weren’t enough outlets: the only one by the bed’s headboard was inaccessible for my CPAP, and the other walls had just one each, except the TV, microwave, and small fridge wall, which had two. No coffee maker in the room, and lobby coffee wasn’t ready until 6 a.m. The staff were friendly and welcoming, and there’s parking for semis and RVs right off the freeway. There were five taco trucks, a Thai truck, a cake truck, a coffee shop, a noodle and rice bowl truck, and a Subway. Lots of construction workers and truckers stay here.

The people are what make this place. We stayed nearly two months for work, and the staff were always accommodating and ready to help at any hour. They’re working to repair the rooms as they can, and the rooms are great, with good TVs and Wi-Fi. When they’re sold out constantly, it’s hard to get repairs done, which says a lot about their service. The river nearby is beautiful, and while there isn’t much around for travel spots or food, what little there is is great. As someone who travels all over and loves food, I’ll take mom-and-pop places any day. For a motel, they’re amazing. Can’t wait to stay again. People who only stay a day shouldn’t review them, because the staff care and are amazing at their jobs.

It’s a budget hotel, pretty much what you’d expect, and there’s nothing wrong with it. But having housekeeping knock hard on my door at 9 a.m. on a Sunday was frustrating. I tried to remind her that checkout was at 11, but she didn’t understand me because she didn’t speak English. If they’re going to start rounds before checkout, they should leave a “Do Not Disturb” card in the room.

The best thing was the in-room jacuzzi, oddly placed right beside the bed. The women at the desk were also exceptional when helping me, a solid four out of five. But I won’t stay here again. The breakfast was the same ordinary thing each day, service was terrible, and I had to track someone down every day to get fresh towels. The pool was closed and neglected. The floors in our room were stained and dirty, the AC didn’t work, and the bed only had two sheets and what looked like grandma’s blanket. I was told to wear a shirt outside my room, even though it was 95 degrees and I was dressed appropriately while checking out. With the room that hot, the no-shirt rule made no sense. The man seemed jealous because women were outside too, or so I thought. He was always smoking within 10 feet of the lobby door and seemed to make up rules as he went.