Howard Johnson By Wyndham Lake City

The rooms stay very cool with AC, rates are low, and there’s a laundry room, pool, and breakfast, though we didn’t use the breakfast or pool. The motel is pet-friendly for $11.10/night and is conveniently located on 90 with restaurants nearby. There’s also a very nice, very vocal stray cat in the laundry room. The parking lot is a bit small, and some residents block the entrance, which doesn’t seem like there’s much that can be done about it. My family and I stayed here after Idalia displaced us. It provided shelter, but little else, and was by far the worst motel I’ve stayed in. We even tried to find another motel while there. The lobby is welcoming, but the daytime staff weren’t. When I arrived after booking online, I was asked, "what do you want". My fiance booked a separate room and had a similar encounter. The overnight staff member was kinder, so props to him. The lobby closes after dark, and you have to use the side window. The halls and stairwells are very run down, with a sickening smell, lots of wall cracks, and leaks. In our king room, there was a broken window and screen, a constantly leaking sink and toilet, a sticking door, cigarette-burned sheets, cigarette butts under the bed, roaches on the walls, rags stuffed into the bathroom vent, and water trapped beneath the bathtub. That caused a leak onto the ceiling tiles on the bottom floor. The room also had a lingering musty and cigarette odor, no phone to the front desk, slow internet, and a DirecTV setup with little variety. The bed smelled so awful it made me want to throw up. My fiance’s parents stayed in a double-queen room, which we moved into after they left the next day. It was better, but still musty and smelled of old cigarettes. My pets and I have felt ill since the stay. The sink leaked again, the AC worked but its exterior panel was busted, and there were more roaches, a rusty microwave, a filthy refrigerator, and a clogged bathtub. During our 5 day stay, housekeeping never came, offered fresh towels, or took the trash. I know things are hard after Idalia, and I appreciate the people who did show up for work, but it seemed clear the motel hadn’t been looked after for a long time. They also randomly charged $20 to each of two different cards we used, then denied the charges both times. When I called after checkout, a rude woman denied them again and told us to talk to the manager when they came back. Good for basic shelter, but the motel is badly run down and the rooms are extremely dirty, with what seemed like a major roach problem and broken windows. There are low rates, laundry, cool rooms, breakfast and a pool. We didn’t use the last two.