Americas Best Value Inn Celina

The guy at the counter wasn’t much help and said straight out that he didn’t know what was going on. Honestly, I’d sooner sleep on the streets of Chicago than in that room, or in my car. There were bugs and webs all over, including in the shower, and body hair and a urine stain under the sheets. Someone had clearly smoked weed in the non-smoking room. The fridge seemed fine until I looked closer, and the microwave was just weird. The bathroom felt unsafe too, with an exposed light near water. The air conditioner wasn’t terrible if you don’t mind the room feeling like an oven, and the coffee machine made about a shot’s worth. The no-smoking sign apparently hasn’t helped in 15 years. They could ditch the cable TV and get an exterminator.

The employees were wonderful, but for $207 I expected a cleaner room. There were odd stains in the shower, and bugs were everywhere during both nights of our stay, crawling on the walls and nightstand. We had two dogs with us and worried they might eat one. We couldn’t tell whether the bugs were roaches or some kind of beetle. Apart from that, it was an okay stay, but we won’t be back.

Grand Lake is right across the street, which makes this a handy place to stay if you want to enjoy the water. My smoking-allowed room was clean and on the ground floor, and once I shut the door and went to bed, I didn’t hear anyone or anything. The staff were pleasant and clearly took pride in keeping the building up. Nothing fancy, but it fit my needs perfectly, and I’m planning to visit again later in the summer.

Good location, friendly staff, and a clean, comfortable room. It’s a no-frills place with standard amenities, but that was all I needed, and for the price it met my expectations. I’d stay again and give it 5 stars for the value. One small catch: if you book online, the cheaper rate can take a while to show up in the system. Otherwise, everything was okay.