Hi-Way Host Motel

That new sign is a tragedy. If they're going to tarnish a local Route 66 icon, they could at least spell satellite TV right. It shouldn't have been changed in the first place. Every day, more of that Americana spirit gets lost to cheap trash.

I booked in December for a September stay, then just days before the trip the hotel cancelled and refused to honor the reservation. At the same time, booking sites were listing the room for triple the price because of a rose bowl event. Cancelling the regular-rate booking to rip people off is despicable.

On my second visit, they again gave me a room without the refrigerator I'd reserved. The bathroom light also didn't work, and nobody fixed it during the stay. There were hairs around the room and a half-dead bug. When I told the desk I needed to get ready for work, they said someone would come. After 45 minutes I asked for another room, but a different attendant already knew the room number and said help was on the way. I went back a third time, upset, and learned they'd scheduled someone for 11, after checkout. Refusing to move me and arranging a repair for after I left was handled very badly. On my first visit, I also got a room without the advertised refrigerator, but because I noticed within 20 minutes they moved us. That second room had cable. There was free parking and the rooms were spacious, but the problems were hard to overlook: thin sheets with cigarette holes, no advertised cable in the first room, internet too slow for work or streaming, spiders in the bathroom, cigarette burns on the toilet, and coffee available in the office only from 7am-9am with no attendant to help. The last towel I used on my face had dried blood on it.

The room barely had anything in it beyond a bed, which at least meant I didn't have to make the bed itself. There were no tables, chairs, or microwave, unlike what the booking.com pictures showed. The blanket was burned, and the towels looked stained instead of clean. For travelers from out of town, this isn't worth the $5-10 per night you might save somewhere else.