Econo Lodge Harrisburg - Hershey

There were cockroaches in our third-floor room, evidence someone had smoked in the supposed non-smoking room, and the deadbolt was broken, so we couldn't lock the door. The location is good, but the rooms are disgusting and the employees didn't seem to care, preferring to talk on their cellphones. Booking here was a bad idea. Avoid it.

The man at the front desk who checked me in, a middle-aged Indian man, was the one bright spot in the service. The cleaning crew was invasive and kept the elevator blocked much of the day. The room was appalling. There was a fluid coming up through the second-floor floor, sticky stuff on the walls and ceiling, and literal French fries and dusty grime inside the A/C blower. The bathroom hadn't been cleaned properly, with hairs all over it and a flossing toothpick in the tub drain. The supposedly non-smoking room smelled of smoke, and the curtains had cigarette damage. The bed was uneven and impossible to get comfortable in without feeling like I'd end up on the floor. The mini-fridge looked close to rusting apart, and the door scraped the floor and needed a hard pull to shut, otherwise the room wouldn't be secure. If I had even a little self-respect, I wouldn't stay here. There's a Comfort Inn across the street. This was the most disgusting place I've spent a night in my life, even counting my two years in Iraq just after we bombed them. I'd rate the room below one star if I could.

I called Choice Hotels after all this, and they said they would issue me a refund. The hotel itself refused to return my money, saying I'd already had the best price through the online services. They offered to cancel the stay, but I'd still have to pay. I had to buy large trash bags to seal up my belongings better than the open reusable bag I'd packed, so no little friends came home with me. At check-in around 430, the room door was hanging open and there were no linens or towels, so I had to wait until 530 to get into the room I'd paid for. They said they were short staffed. When I asked for extra blankets, they refused, even though the blankets were really thin. The towels were stained. The room was dirty and had bugs, no smoke alarm, coffee maker, soap, or breakfast. The toilet looked like it hadn't been cleaned until I bought bleach cleaner and did it myself. The bathroom light kept switching on and off all night. The skills machine game didn't work, the hair dryer didn't work, the microwave was dirty, and the mini fridge wasn't cold enough for me to trust with food. Neither the deadbolt nor the bathroom lock worked. I reported all of it at the front desk. When I asked for late checkout, they laughed, refused, and asked why. I'm a Choice Hotels platinum member, and late checkout and early check-in are perks. They said they were fully booked and needed time to clean the room for the next guests. I pointed out that I had still had to wait until 530 to enter because they were short staffed. Even the housekeeper said it was her first week with the agency they used and the place was so filthy she didn't have to come back there.

They don't clean this place, yet the weekend rates go up. The location is the only good thing about it. Without that, I'd say it's worth $15 a night, maybe $25 at most. You're better off sleeping in your car.