Travelodge by Wyndham Escanaba

Booking.com said they had sent a card for the hotel to charge, but the hotel said no card had come through and told us this had never happened before. We also had a bag stolen from our car the night before leaving, and again we were told it had never happened there before. Breakfast barely counted as breakfast, just cereal, mini muffins, waffles, bread, and bagels.

A clean, quiet, no-fuss stop for a night on the road. The bed was good, the bathroom was clean, and there was hot water. The fridge and microwave were decent, and the staff were nice. Breakfast had coffee but few choices and wasn’t well stocked. The surroundings aren’t suited to walking or relaxing.

The bathroom was probably the best part: clean, with a perfect mirror, though there was no plug for taking a bath. The people were very nice, and the small King Room worked despite being cramped. The breakfast area was so small that two people could barely fit to get food. Most of all, the bed was terribly uncomfortable. I actually thought the floor might be better. I probably wouldn’t stay again.

Devin on the night shift was helpful when she couldn’t find extra pillows. There were only four for two queen beds, so she went out of her way to roll an extra blanket to help with my bad back. The rest of the experience was awful. The room was filthy, and I had to use a Swiffer wet mop on the floor and walls to get a layer of grime off. It smelled horrible, and there was mold on the AC fins where air passed into the room. I wouldn’t touch the ironing board because of the dark layer on it. The fridge froze everything, even set at the second-lowest level. One ice maker was already broken when we arrived, and the other quit the second-to-last day; nobody tried to fix it, though it was very hot and we relied on ice for our water bottles. The hotel keypad never worked, and the entrance was left unlocked all day and night. Knowing anyone could walk in at any hour made me feel unsafe. I know lodging costs more during fair week, but this hotel was TWICE the price of other places nearby. That’s preposterous given how disgusting the rooms were.