Howard Johnson by Wyndham University of Alabama Tuscaloosa

For the price, the rooms are good quality, and it's suitable for pets. My room had a mini fridge, microwave, and a nice lounge chair, plus a huge bathroom that made it easy to shower and get dressed. The shower had several bars and a fold-down seat, which made the room especially helpful for travelers with disabilities. Continental breakfast was nice, and the staff were very friendly. The carpet in my room was fine, though the carpet throughout the hotel needs replacing.

The only decent things were that the AC worked and the pillow was nice. The hallway carpet was deplorable, the first floor smelled of smoke and bad breath, and staff were complaining about being ready to go home while I checked in. My room had a dated 1970s comforter with cigarette holes, curtains with holes, and a roach inside the toilet. There wasn't a coffee maker, though I wouldn't have used it anyway. At night I found a note on the tiny lobby door telling guests to exit through the outside side door. That meant people staying there were locked out of that entrance. It didn't feel safe. Never again.

We left after about half an hour instead of staying the night. The pull-out bed had crumbs and partly opened Snickers wrappers on it, and there were roaches crawling on the curtains and in the bathrooms. Some stains on the pillows looked strange too. It felt like a sauna until we turned on the AC and let it cool down. We wanted to tell the staff about it, but they looked like they didn't want to hear from us, so we kept quiet. I'd stay somewhere else.

We were there for a football game and would have left if we'd been able to find two other rooms. The room smelled of smoke, including at night, probably because some staff smoke outside the front entrance. We killed two live roaches. The towel rack and shower knob were broken, the floors were dirty, and the room was dusty, with what looked like roach droppings on the walls. This hotel rates zero stars. Run, don't walk away.