La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Salem OR

The only things that worked for us were the full-size fridge, the window that opens, decent shower pressure, and the mini waffles you make yourself at breakfast. Otherwise, this was a frustrating stay. We came with the kids, who were excited to swim, but the pool was cloudy and the deck around it was filthy. The room also smelled strongly of air freshener, and the floors, baseboards and sticky desk were grimy. There was hair on the sheets. I asked to move to a clean room, but the desk said they were full because of conferences. They sent housekeeping instead. I stripped the beds to help and pointed out the dirty areas, including the floor. The vacuum sounded as if it was picking up rocks. Even after the room was cleaned in front of me, I wiped down every surface with disinfecting wipes and still got a shocking amount of dirt. We had only two bath towels for four people, and one was dirty. When I called, they said to bring it downstairs if we wanted clean ones. I've never been asked to fetch my own towels at a hotel. Sleeping was hard, too: footsteps from above, traffic outside, and a rattling, outdated A/C kept us up. The property was run-down, in a rough part of town, and had a musty smell inside. The room didn't look like the renovated photos online, despite the glowing reviews we booked based on. It's disappointing to be led to expect a clean, maintained place. Spend a little more for somewhere nicer and save yourself the aggravation.

The room was clean and updated, staff were friendly and polite, and breakfast was nice, with waffles, biscuits and gravy, eggs, and sausage. We chose this place because it's near the NPJ volleyball rec center and accepts pets for a $25 fee. There's a pool, but no hot tub. Parking was tight. There is more space in the old Costco lot, but I didn't feel safe there because homeless camps are in the fields on the other side. Our room had a connecting door that might as well have been a curtain. I could hear the people next door loud and clear late into the night. Still, it was a good stay and I'll keep coming back. For food and shopping, there's a Dennys across the street, Walmart across the main drag with a Panda Express next to it, and a Dairy Queen down the street. A new Wonderland Arcade is next door, in part of the old Costco.

Our two nice road bikes were locked twice to a rack, but someone cut both cables and stole them from the parking lot. Keep valuables out of or off your vehicle, and consider another location. The service was only marginal. They got the reservation wrong on my first call, and I spent a long time on hold with customer service. It was hard to reach anyone at the hotel itself. The rooms, though, were generally nice, clean, and fairly quiet.

I went to my room after a quick, very polite check-in with Emma and heard the neighbor's TV blaring. I went back down to tell her, and she promptly found me a different room. She was really accommodating, and I appreciated not having to worry about noise after a long drive, especially with an early day of meetings ahead. Thanks, Emma!