Motel 6 Chula Vista, CA - San Diego

I needed a place at the last minute for one night, and the location suited me. The room was about what I expected for the price, but the cleaning needed to be better. The bathroom towel holder looked dirty and stained, the floors seemed swept rather than cleaned, and the small table had ripped cushions and felt sticky. It worked for a quick night, but I wouldn’t return. I’d pay a little more for somewhere cleaner.

It’s affordable, but there are a lot of characters staying here, and I’ve seen them all. The rooms are often dirty and lack towels; the towels they do have are too small to dry off with. Floors aren’t clean, heaters don’t work, and there’s no bathroom ventilation, so the ceilings are always moldy. The beds need replacing and the plumbing needs fixing.

The rooms are bare-bones and subpar. Other motels and hotels nearby offer similar or better prices with a fridge and microwave included, while here even a minifridge seems like an upgrade. During check-in, Motel 6 told me there’d be no hot water from 10 am to 4 pm on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. They offered no reduced rate. Since I was checking in in the early morning, I stayed the night and checked out before my reservation ended on Dec. 26. They said I’d get a refund, but still haven’t confirmed it with the third-party booking site, delaying the process. Motel 6 itself told me I could check out by 11 am that day because of the hot water issue. Why they couldn’t tell me before I drove 140 miles to Chula Vista is beyond me; they must have known while arranging repairs. There was no transparency, and arriving in the early hours left me with little choice but to stay overnight rather than sleep in my car or call nearby hotels for a last-minute room. I’ve sent messages over the past week, and the alleged manager has yet to respond to me or the booking service, despite both of us having proof the messages were sent. I filed complaints with the BBB and Motel 6 Headquarters in Texas hoping someone at the Chula Vista location would reply. The booking representative also urged me to write a review and filed an internal complaint about the location’s lack of transparency, professionalism, and slow response. During a three-way call with a front desk representative and the third-party agent, the agent heard how rude and disrespectful the front desk person was when he said he had better things to do than handle my refund request. The agent apologized profusely. Motel 6, don’t send a generic apology. Reply to the messages sent since December 24. I have written proof they were sent, as does the booking service, and a recording of the employee’s disrespectful tirade.

The trolley is nearby, and restaurants are an easy walk. The room was clean, but the pillows had been folded inside their cases, and there were only two thin sheets, no blanket. As an elderly woman with bad knees, I could’ve been offered a first-floor room. It was somewhere to sleep, nothing to brag about.