Super 8 by Wyndham Richmond Midlothian Turnpike

The staff were friendly, but the rooms and hallway carpets were filthy, and those carpets were well past their prime. The whole hotel needs a thorough cleaning, then bug spray and deodorizer. You get what you pay for. The owner ought to be ashamed.

The front desk promised us a partial refund, but it never came. The room itself was horrendous: filthy room and bathroom, sticky floors, an uncomfortable bed, broken fixtures, a flashing strobe-like light over the sink, and fluids splashed on the walls. Music thumped from the room above all night. Vagrants approached us while we were unloading the car, and the disinfectant smell was so vile that in midwinter we had to open all the doors and windows for a full hour just to clear some of it.

The only good part was the staff, who were as helpful as they could be. The hotel was dirty and run down, and my reservation was messed up, so I couldn’t get the room I’d booked. There wasn’t a coffee maker in the room, and the toilet seat was broken.

Most of the time we do well there, though every so often something odd happens. Last time we had to try five rooms before finding one we could use. That’s not how it usually goes.