Econo Lodge Valley City

The room we switched to was even worse than the first, so we got a full refund and stayed at another hotel in town. The manager said people had been staying in those rooms for over a year, and they claimed the rooms weren’t bad, but the pictures say otherwise. The place already felt a little sketchy when we arrived. Our first room wasn’t clean or pleasant, and there was trash outside and an old grill beside it.

Breakfast was nasty, and after the heater incident I wasn’t willing to try it again. The first time we turned on the heat Friday night, the smoke alarm went off and the room smelled awful. At the desk, a snooty woman said the heaters couldn’t stink because they’d just been cleaned, then told us to use auto fan and leave the windows open for 15 minutes, and said the smell “should go away.” I went without heat after that. Our neighbor had a baby, and I didn’t want to set off the alarm again. At checkout I brought this up along with a few other room problems, and the same worker said they all stink the first time they’re turned on. If they know that, shouldn’t they run the heaters before guests arrive? The woman who checked us in did a good job despite being very busy, but our room floor was dirty. Someone came to vacuum after I told the front desk, though they did a poor job. It was a horrible stay. I’ll pay more and book down the street next year.

For $132, I expected a cleaner bathroom. The floor was gross and needed sweeping and mopping, there was hair on it and bugs in the tub, and the complimentary shampoo and conditioner bottles had already been used. Check in and out were great, and the location by the interstate was good. The breakfast bars were decent, but the room could’ve been better.

The beds were good, the room was clean, and the shower had plenty of hot water and good pressure. Check in also went well, thanks to Dan, a conscientious young man. For a short stop in the middle of a long trip, it’s decent for the price and its proximity to the freeway. The advertised breakfast was a joke, though, just coffee and a fig bar, and they didn’t even have half and half.