Motel 6 Dale

We ended up cutting our trip to Holliday World short and driving home instead of staying the second night. After what happened, we didn’t feel safe staying there. My husband and son slept in room 211, in the beds closest to the door. Before bed, my husband killed a small brown bug on the mattress but didn’t think much of it. A few hours after waking, both had large, clustered red bites on their ears, necks, arms, and backs. We realized the mattress must have had bed bugs. We told management, but they said they wouldn’t inspect the room until we returned to the motel. When we got back, they gave us keys to room 306 and said they’d switch us because they didn’t know how to check for bed bugs. We looked ourselves and found another one in the mattress piping. We photographed it and showed the manager, along with the bites on my husband and son. He offered another room, but we didn’t want to stay because we felt the whole hotel might be infested. We asked for a full refund and he refused. Customer service contacted management for us, and the manager told them the mattresses had been inspected and there were no bugs, even though he’d said more than once he didn’t know how to inspect for them. We submitted a form asking customer service to have someone else speak with us, but don’t expect much to come of it. If you stay here, you’ll likely get bitten and then just be moved to another room to get bitten again. We stayed at the motel to save a few bucks, and it ended our trip early. Don’t stay here. Whatever happens, they won’t believe you.

Two of us were woken around 1:45 a.m. on the first night with bites running from our knees to our necks. You could see bed bugs on the sides of both beds’ mattresses and box springs. My coworker had to call the front desk by phone because nobody was there overnight, and they said nothing could be done until morning. When we spoke with staff then, they wanted to inspect the beds because they didn’t believe us, even after we showed them blood from bugs we’d killed and the bites on our bodies. As soon as we lifted our shirts, they blamed us for bringing the bugs in. We’d made up our minds to leave and find another motel, and said we wouldn’t argue about it. They begged us to stay and offered another room, but we politely declined and asked for a refund for the three remaining nights of the four we’d paid for upfront. They refused, saying we’d brought the bed bugs. We were in town for work for a few days. I normally don’t write reviews, but this was too bad not to. We went to the Baymont by Wyndham across the street, which was a much better stay. I’d avoid this place.

The checkout was unexpectedly kind: an Indian woman gave my friend and me boxes of Indian sweets. I later figured they were meant as gifts because someone had messed up. That gesture is why I’m giving three stars instead of one. Before that, though, the check-in experience went badly. I told the staff member I had Stewie with me, and he tried to charge a $10 cleaning fee. I said I bring my own supplies for accidents and didn’t need it. He claimed it was on the website, but I book through Hotels.com, which says pets stay free. The conversation turned into a threat to call the police and kick me out if I left my dog and he disturbed other guests by barking. I was stunned. I told him, pretty deadpan, that he’d get a glowing review, and his face fell when he realized he’d threatened a loyal customer. I’ve always been a loyal Motel 6 customer because the chain is supposed to be pet friendly. Most staff have treated me well. In Nashua NH, when I was homeless, the staff were wonderful and stood up for me when someone caused trouble over my dogs. In Milan OH, they treated my dogs like rock stars and went beyond what they had to do because they loved them. Other places have just left us alone to enjoy our stay, and if I had to leave the dogs, it wasn’t a big deal. I lost one of my boys in April. The one I still have is 16, very small, blind, deaf, and sleeps most of the day. Some days I have to wake him up to go out. I know my dog. His comfort matters, and I want him in a safe place with familiar things. I’ve never crated him unless he was injured. I can’t speak for other owners whose pets have separation issues, but calling a fee for pets “free” doesn’t add up. Pets are family, not things. After I raised the issue, the staff member didn’t charge the $10 and became accommodating, even giving us a mini fridge. Everything was fine when I left Stewie and when we got back, though I worried about him and about having another run-in with that staff member. If my friend hadn’t been staying with me, I would’ve left and paid extra for Stewie elsewhere. I’m due to stay at a Motel 6 in Fort Wayne IN next weekend, and now I’m worried I’ll have the same experience. One bad apple can ruin the whole thing.

We were traveling with family and friends, and this was the only nearby place, so we stayed. Three guys were staring at us when we came in, and the woman at reception didn’t seem to notice us until two more adults arrived. In rooms 309 and 308 on the third floor, bugs kept coming out of the vents. Staff said they’d remove them, but more kept appearing. There were tons of stink bugs. It was disgusting.