Days Inn Columbia I-70

After a long day of driving, we stopped here and were pleasantly surprised by the breakfast. The bed was comfortable, the staff friendly, and the room had cable TV, a bathroom heat lamp, and a quick heater to warm it up. We’d happily stay again if we're in the area, and would recommend it. I'm not sure why the reviews aren't better.

The overnight employee tried to walk into our room while I was writing this. We had the door latched, and when my wife went into the hall, he seemed panicked and said the computer showed the room was empty. It made me wonder whether the overnight staff use unoccupied rooms, and whether they're cleaned afterward. We'd already had problems with two rooms. The first had sewage backing up into the shower, and the front desk guy was very helpful about moving us after the cleaning crew couldn't fix the tub. In the second room, the tub water was yellow and the drain had to be held open by hand, so a shower wasn't really possible. We skipped brushing our teeth too because we didn't have bottled water. My seven-year-old daughter pointed out a Mountain Dew bottle left in the room. It was actually a spit bottle for chewing tobacco. I can't imagine how the cleaning crew missed a 20-ounce bottle of tobacco spit. If you decide to stay here, good luck.

The lobby was closed when I arrived, so I had to check in at the window. The clerk took five minutes to show up, and it was 9pm, not 2am. There were drains in the hallway and I don't know why. The room had a nice fridge and microwave, but a stained chair I didn't want to sit in. It wasn't filthy, but it was far from clean. It's cheap and it shows. I'll pay a bit more somewhere else next time.

The front desk man was very nice and helpful when we asked to switch rooms because the first one smelled of smoke. The next room didn't smell that way, so we stayed, though it wasn't much better. It had a worn out bed that my husband sank into like a hammock, thin old-looking blankets, mold on the ceiling, and cigarette stains on the bathroom sink. Breakfast the next morning was cold and tasted terrible. We couldn't eat it, and even the waffle batter seemed weird, so we went elsewhere. The coffee was good, at least. The room photos made the place look much nicer than what we got. We're disappointed and won't stay again. I wish I'd taken pictures.