Essex House Motel

The room was large, with a king bed, but the bed wasn’t very comfortable. I had a fan instead of an air conditioner. This is an old motel, probably around 60 or 70 years old, and the rooms have seen better days. My main issue was the price. It’s about what you’d pay for a modern Comfort Inn or Super 8, and for these accommodations, that doesn’t feel like good value.

I left with bed bug bites. Don’t book here. The shower had no hot water, the floor was sticky, and the door barely locked. There were creepy people wandering around and knocking on doors at all hours. Only one staff member knew English, and there was graffiti carved into everything in the room. I booked through Priceline because there was no other option at such short notice. Don’t make the same mistake.

I haven’t stayed here myself. I drove a friend from the hotel, and she told me her room had no air conditioning for the night. She couldn’t switch rooms and was very uncomfortable. She didn’t ask me to write this, but I thought it was worth mentioning. I don’t know about the other services or rooms. From outside, it looks decent and could be a nice place to stay. There are two sides to every story, and people’s accounts reflect their own point of view, so I can’t say exactly what happened. That’s all I know.

There were bed bugs! I knew the place was run-down and could live with that since I just needed a place to sleep, but I can’t deal with bed bugs. The first sign was blood spots on the sheet. I thought maybe I’d scratched myself while asleep, but then I saw a big bug crawling on my shirt while I was at the table. I tried to take a picture, but I was too busy getting it off me to get a clear shot. I’m looking for more so I can photograph them. Find somewhere else for the night. This place is cheap for a reason. Close it down if they don’t want to deal with the bed bug problem!