Motel 6 Lake Delton Wi

I booked online with payment due at arrival, then called to ask about canceling. They said I had to contact booking.com, so I did. Before I could even dial, they charged the full room price to my card. When I called back, I pointed out that this went against the pay-on-arrival terms and happened while I was trying to cancel. Jason said his boss, Tom, wouldn’t refund me, even though the charge came hours before check-in. I canceled through booking.com and called to confirm, but Jason kept interrupting me and saying it wasn’t serious and I shouldn’t be upset. They acted like they didn’t understand why charging my card early was a problem. I’d give them zero stars if I could.

For $74 a night, I expected a cheap place, but I’ve stayed in cheaper hotels that were much cleaner. Our first room was filthy, so we asked to move. The second one wasn’t any better: dirty floors with old coffee, food, and hair, plus grimy counters covered in fingerprints and more hair. There’s no carpet, but clearly the floors aren’t mopped between guests. The hallways and elevator needed cleaning too. The beds had only two pillows apiece, both flat and uncomfortable. Bathrooms had no shampoo, hair dryer, or Kleenex. The bedrooms did have a TV and microwave. If price is all you care about, this place is cheap. If you want a clean, decent room, look elsewhere. Management should take better care of the property.

We were halfway through a 3.5 day road trip and only needed a shower and a bed, but this stay made me decide against Motel 6 in the future. The sheets looked clean, though the thin bedspread and lumpy pillows weren’t comfortable. There was noise from the halls and nearby rooms, so I put in earplugs around midnight. In the morning, the strong chemical smell had faded and left a musty smoking-room odor. I kept my toothbrush off the counter. There was also a bug, maybe a stink bug, but that can happen anywhere, and the dog vomit in the hall had been cleaned by morning. The bathroom was awful. My friend noticed hair and yellowish goo in the shower, and I saw it myself afterward. I’ve stayed in old work-trip hotels with mildew and tiles falling off, and even those were cleaner than this easy-to-clean acrylic shower. The toilet had a pill or candy in it, with red coating turning the water pink. The walls by the bed had goo on them too. I was sorry I looked closely near the floor. We arrived around 11 p.m. and were surprised that the side doors by the parking lot didn’t lock, so you could enter without a key. We’d passed a few people hanging around the entrance, and there seemed to be long-term residents: one door had Christmas decorations, and people were coming and going from the room across from ours, whose latch held it open. Someone was knocking on that door and talking through it while we were inside. We’d expected a drive-up motel room but were put on the second floor. Check-in itself was friendly and easy. It’s a cheap room, but the condition and smell were rough.

The non-smoking room still smelled strongly of cigarettes. We also heard someone in a nearby room yelling obscenities. I went to complain, and the nice man at the desk said he’d speak to them. Then another man came out saying he’d already talked to them, and that seemed to be the end of it. Two hours later the yelling started again.