Budgetel Inn Birmingham

After a fire in one unit and major water damage to others at Skyline Village Retirement Community Apartments in November 2025, a few days before Thanksgiving, senior and elderly residents were put up at America's Best Inn, which has Budgetel on the sign, in Birmingham/Homewood. It was sad and frustrating for everyone involved. Housing this group in a place of this caliber was a disgrace. Some residents apparently had no choice, but I wouldn't have put my pet there. My family and I looked at the room and wouldn't let our mother stay. The place wasn't fit for a horse, and even before the fire, Skyline's building wasn't far from the same below-average upkeep, substandard amenities, and pest problems for the cost.

Aside from a dead gnat, things were cool. The smell when you first walk in needs to go, though, and the big mirror in the room makes it feel like somebody's watching you.

My dad was placed in this motel by his facility after a fire, and the place is awful. It doesn't look like the building is up to code. The A/C unit is missing pieces, the seating cushion has holes in its fabric, and the sink and toilet are worn. There was dust everywhere, and we had to ask housekeeping to clean the bathroom again. A drawer slips off its track and falls open, and the electrical fittings are in bad shape: one cover sticks out from the wall, another is broken, and two outlets have no covers at all. The mirror-side light fixture has no bulb, so the room is very dark, and the bathroom fan doesn't work. A very subpar place.

There's no microwave or freezer, and the fridge is too small for larger meals.