La Quinta Inn Bristol

The room looked good and was very clean, and the continental breakfast was very good. But the practical issues piled up: there's only one luggage cart and they don't keep track of it, so you may have to carry your bags in one at a time. Microwaves and refrigerators are advertised, but you have to request them since they aren't in every room. The Wi-Fi was so bad I used my girlfriend's hotspot. My Nintendo Switch had no sound when connected to the TV, and neither did any other device I tried. The ice machines on floors one and two were broken, so I had to go to the third floor.

We did get enough sleep, but the worn-out beds were rough on my back and it took me forever to get moving in the morning. The room's single-cup coffee maker had water in it already, with the coffee and tea packets soaked in that water. I was glad I'd brought my own four-cup maker. The thought of using theirs, with water I couldn't judge for age or freshness, made me feel like I might get sick. The Wi-Fi, surprisingly, was excellent. On the way to Mississippi we stayed at a Comfort Inn in Troutville, VA, for about the same price as this motel's two-double-bed smoking room. That room was three times bigger and had a desk, microwave, and mini fridge. I would absolutely not recommend this place. We stayed here on the way home from Mississippi, and finding dinner was another hassle. Though there are dozens of restaurants nearby, they all close at 10 p.m. We were there on a Tuesday. My TomTom found a Dominoes that was open, and it was the only place I could find after calling every restaurant within a mile instead of driving around.

They gave us a 50 percent discount on the room the next day, which was appreciated. The breakfast fruit, though, was bruised and brown. Our first room hadn't been cleaned, and the second was only a little better, with hair and a bit of trash on the floor plus a half-empty shampoo bottle in the bathroom. I also heard another guest telling the desk that one room in their connecting pair was still uncleaned. The evening clerk seemed baffled.

It turned out to be a Days Inn, not a Laquinta Inn, so that was a big difference from what I expected. Still, it was clean and the guy at the front desk was SUPER nice.