Sunnydale Motel

I wouldn’t stay there even for free. The place was filthy, and I heard what sounded like an employee talking through the wall about needing more “crank.” The staff member I spoke with also smelled as if she hadn’t showered in a very long time. I saw signs of mice, roaches, and bed bugs, and had heard the motel had been condemned not long ago over plumbing and rodent problems. I don’t know how it’s still open. It also seemed like a drug hotspot in homedale, and the staff looked like they might be involved. This was the nastiest place I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been to 3rd world countries. I’d have rather slept outside.

We left around 4 a.m., while it was still dark, because I couldn’t take another hour there. I woke up constantly, at least once an hour, and the town itself gave me the creeps. We’d arrived at 9 p.m., tired, with the next town three hours away, so my teenage son and I ended up sharing the only remaining bed. We slept on top of the covers because the bed looked dirty, using travel pillows from the car. There weren’t even towels. When I asked, the woman brought a pile of bath rugs, the sort you’d normally get alongside towels at a motel. The shower was slimy, dirty, and gross, so we skipped it. The first room she showed us smelled strange and reminded me of crack houses from crime movies. It had no sheets or pillowcases, and the pillow had lots of old wet spots. She said the linens were in the dryer and she’d come back to make the bed, but I was too shocked to stay in there. The next room had linens, but its door had no doorknob and a big hole where one should have been. I’m from L.A., and I couldn’t sleep with a door that could just be pushed open. She argued that Homedale was “completely safe,” then said there was only one other room, with one bed. My son and I briefly considered sleeping in the car before deciding to share the bed. The website claimed free wifi and local calls, but there was no wifi and no phones to make calls with. I kept my phone on my chest in case I needed to call 911 quickly. I travel often, and I’ve never seen a place like this. It felt like a scary movie.

We found other people’s clothes and food in the closet and cabinets, and there was still stuff in the freezer. Bugs were everywhere in our room, and I ended up covered in bites. The staff wasn’t very nice, either. At $54 a night, it costs way too much for what you get. This was the worst motel I’ve ever seen. There are more cockroaches than people in that town. I’d never recommend it. They should call it the Roach Motel.

The manager told me to use another room because the toilet was full of toilet paper. The staff were friendly, but the rooms are pretty ghetto, and at $50 it’s not good value.