Red Roof Inn Knoxville North - Merchants Drive

The woman at check-in was friendly and nice. We travel with a 3.5 pound dog, and one pet stays free, so I tend to choose Red Roof inns. If I had the choice, I'd keep picking them. This stay gets 4 stars for two reasons: the room needed a better vacuuming because there was visible dirt and debris, and when we got back at 10:30 pm, neither pass card worked. I went to the office and she apologized, explaining she'd activated them for only 1 night, even though I'd booked online and paid for 2 nights at check-in.

The towels looked and felt like they were from the 80's and were barely bigger than hand towels. At checkout, they said my $100 deposit hadn't been charged, and my bank app showed it pending, so I thought it hadn't been too bad and wished them a good day. The next day, the charge had gone through. I went back, and they said they'd kept the whole $100 because they claimed I smoked in the room. I quit smoking 4 years ago, and either way, $100 is outrageous. I left feeling hustled. THEY ARE A RIP OFF!!

The rooms were very clean and the staff were friendly and accommodating. We stayed for 2 nights and had a great visit. Dogs are welcome if they're well behaved, and Market Square is only ten minutes away. We'll use them again.

We packed our two young children and our things back into the car and left, then Hotels.com told us several days later that Red Roof had denied our refund. We booked 2 rooms for a quick overnight in Knoxville, but the rooms were among the worst I've seen: black mold on the walls, loose cables and wires across the floor between the adjoining room doors, cockroaches, dirty sheets, and human feces coming out of the tub drain when you flushed the toilet. Yes, really. The man and woman at the desk seemed shocked when I reported it. They offered other rooms, but the first two had cockroaches and duct tape in the tub, so I declined and asked for a refund. They said they couldn't refund me because I booked through hotels.com and told me to contact them. I called customer service right away; the agent apologized and said he would request a refund from the hotel. Other guests I spoke with described overflowing toilets the hotel hadn't fixed, cockroaches, and poor management. I also learned this location is privately owned and is NOT A RED ROOF INN, so Red Roof Inn as a company apparently can't do anything about the bad management and filthy rooms.