Home Style Inn

Rented three rooms. Never again. Filthy, no heat, and a train going by. This place is a dump, minus two stars. I'd recommend it to a dead person.

For an event in March, I'm planning to stay here again. It's an old motel, but it was cheaper and better than some higher-priced motels I've used. I've seen worse apartments for rent in Washington DC. For a building that's over 20 years old, vacuuming, scrubbing and repainting can only do so much. The family who run the place live upstairs and handle the cleaning and upkeep themselves. The older gentleman they call the "boss" helps at the front desk and was very friendly, as was the male manager. They let me check in early, then gave me a late checkout at 12 pm with no extra fee when my event ran an hour late. I left my things in the room and came back later to find everything safe and untouched. The room was clean and had what I needed for a longer stay: a microwave, refrigerator, TV and three chest drawers. I didn't expect a hair dryer or Kleenex tissues in the bathroom at a low-priced motel, and both were useful. The bed was clean, with cotton sheets that felt warmer than the polyester sheets I hate. The building is a bit old, but the room had no sign of bedbugs or other pests when I checked on arrival and again that night. The mattresses seemed fairly new, too. The AC and heat weren't centrally controlled, so I could choose either one and set the temperature. That came in handy when the weather changed and it dropped more than 30 F on the day I arrived in mid October. I had no extra clothes in my luggage, and the heater helped a lot. The location was very convenient, with 7Eleven and a gas station right next door, plus a restaurant and takeout stores across the street.

The room itself didn't smell, and I didn't see any bugs. The bathroom was dated but clean, and the towels were clean too. The hallway, though, smelled like cigarette smoke and had old, heavily stained carpet. The room carpet needed sweeping, the toilet ran all night because its very old flapper valve needed replacing, and there was an ironing board but no iron. The pillows were stiff.

The nicest part of our stay happened after we got home. My daughter realized she'd left her laptop in the dresser drawer, so I called the hotel. As soon as I gave my name and room number, the man said, "We have your laptop! I would have called you, but you didn't leave your number." He shipped it to us that same day. We'll remember that honesty and customer service. Thank you! The room cost $60, less than I'd expected. It was very basic, with no frills, but that was all I anticipated. I was glad to find a clean room close to DC when everything else was booked, and the staff accommodated our group in a friendly way.