Americas Best Value Inn Martinsburg

Both rooms I booked for my crew had the same problems: they weren't very clean, and there were flies and bugs in the rooms and bathrooms. A noticeable mold smell made the stay less pleasant, and I hope management deals with it and improves the cleaning. The price was very reasonable and the location worked great for us. The front desk attendant was friendly and helpful.

The mattress didn't fit its frame, the pillows were lumpy, and the chair and drapes were dirty. There were burn holes in the bedspread, too. The place smelled awful and needs to be demolished. A sign on the door threatened a $250 fine for smoking. I won't be back anytime soon and wouldn't recommend it.

The bathroom was one of the better parts of my week here for work with a road crew. The shower has a four setting head with a massage option, the water is potable and has no odd smell, color, or residue, and the fan and light work well. Just keep the curtain inside the basin, or water will end up on the floor. The toilet is a powerful super sucker, good luck clogging it. The shower stall has high school locker room vibes. The beds are firm queens, fine for two people or one person spreading out, though anyone over 6 feet probably won't fit. I'm 5'7 and can reach both ends with a light stretch. The frame is basically a big metal box, so bump it with work boots and it'll boom like the oil drum Slipknot uses in Psychosocial. Honestly, it's a clever, cheap solution to an expensive problem. The lid lifts by handles on either side, and cheap air shocks like the kind at auto parts stores hold it open. There's lots of storage inside. It looks like a giant cast iron panini grill, and I love that you don't see it anywhere else. Housekeeping did a better job than at most hotels I've stayed in, cough, Canton, Ohio, cough. They took out the trash and made the bed every day, and turned on the heat when it was cold so the room was warm when I got back from working all day. They don't replace towels or rags, though, so ask the front desk for extras. I didn't see bed bugs or wake up with bites or bumps. There are roaches, but I didn't see as many as people describe. It looked like they were actively spraying to get rid of them, so I don't fault them for that. For a night or two, you may never see any. In my week there, I saw a small handful. Keep food and open containers out of the room and they may move on to another room. It's an older hotel with some wear and old equipment, which I think gives it character. I'd put the condition at 7/10. For the price, the quality was better than I expected despite some small issues, and I've stayed in much worse places that cost more, smelled awful, probably gave me dysentery, and tried to kill me with tornadoes and floods. Four stars from me. The location is useful for road crews and flaggers, right off the DC Beltway with gas stations and shops nearby. Walmart is 15-20 minutes away in a big plaza with stores and fast food, and Sheetz is down the street for a late night snack. Traffic gets heavy around 5 PM, so getting into and out of the parking lot takes some aggression.

I booked a King room for $465 through Booking.com because the listing said "PET FRIENDLY" and didn't mention any pet fee. At check-in, they charged me an unexpected $120, then gave me a Pet Acceptance Agreement to sign after I'd already paid and arrived. The King room had a bad shower leak that left puddles on the bathroom floor. They moved us to a cheaper room with two double beds but didn't adjust the price. The replacement room's bathroom light didn't work from Thursday check-in until Monday afternoon, so we went four days without proper bathroom lighting. There were bugs in the room, and my wife was bitten several times overnight. When a maintenance worker came to fix the light and saw my 4lb dog, he said, "we can definitely waive some of that pet fee." Even their own staff seemed to recognize it was unreasonable. Management refunded $60 "out of goodwill" but won't return the other $60. When I said the fee wasn't disclosed at booking, they kept blaming me for using a "third-party site," even though hotels control the fee information on those platforms. Their response was that the fee is "clearly posted in the lobby." Charging a fee after a customer has booked and paid isn't ethical business practice. They don't properly disclose pet fees on booking platforms, so you may learn about extra charges only after you arrive. With the undisclosed fee, room problems, and management refusing to take responsibility for the listing information, I can't recommend this hotel.