Red Carpet Inn Windom

The room was comfortable and I enjoyed my stay, especially for such a reasonable price. The staff were really friendly, and the outside of this older place, its grounds, and parking area were well kept. Breakfast was adequate, with several cold choices. Inside, though, some amenities felt dated, and you had to rotate which one was plugged in. The mini-fridge's freezer door was missing, so the freezer wasn't quite cold enough, while the fridge itself was colder than usual. The toilet and shower area was a bit cramped, and the vent fan was noisy. A good value for a rural family motel.

The front desk woman was very rude. She charged me an extra $10 for having kids, then later that night, after we'd paid for two rooms, called to say I had too many children and should never come back. For breakfast, all they had in the front fridge was Twinkies and a gallon of milk.

They completely ruined our night. We were on a road trip and got turned away at 3:30 a.m., even though we'd looked up cat-friendly motels. We offered to leave our cats in the car overnight, but they still denied us service. They also didn't refund the two rooms. Keep that in mind, they'll scam you if they can ;)

For a tight budget, this place might do for one night, but I wouldn't stay longer. If you need a few nights in the area, try to book the AmericInn. My work arranged two separate two-night stays here, one in each of two different weeks, and both times I arrived to find the fridge unplugged and left open, with the A/C off. I meal prep for these trips and usually bring more than three days' worth of food, so I need a cold fridge soon after arriving. Waiting for it to cool down isn't great. If they're trying to save on electricity, they should do that somewhere else, or plug the fridge in ahead of time once they know who's getting the room. Both weeks, the room felt muggy and damp, even though the weather wasn't especially humid. The A/C didn't fix that. The outlets were awkward, too. In the second week's room, the nearest ones to charge my phone were behind the beds, and the bed frame blocked one of the two sockets. There weren't any outlets near the desks along the shared walls, either. So if you want to work at a desk or table, you'd better have a long cable. Otherwise you have to slide the power strip off the screws on the TV table just to get a couple more inches from the fridge area. The cleaning crew walked right in while I was on a video call and didn't wait for me to answer. That was the second week. The first week, they came in before I could respond, saying they just needed to check something. Knock and wait 5-10 seconds. I could have been changing. It felt unprofessional and inappropriate. Breakfast wasn't much: little single-serve cereal boxes, bread for toast, coffee, milk, orange juice, and basically Little Debbie snack cakes. You'd get a better breakfast at McDonalds down the road or the KwikTrip across the street. One morning even the toaster was unplugged. Another morning, while my bread was toasting, I was eating cereal and holding the bowl to my mouth so I wouldn't drip milk on the counter. The front desk woman, presumably the owner, told me I had to sit down because she was worried about the bread. I'd already closed the lid on the bread box, and the packaged snack cakes were in a separate plastic container, so there wasn't a germ or spill concern. If I'd made any mess, I'd have cleaned it up. That's the respectful thing to do. The front desk woman is old and cranky, and not pleasant to be around. The place also doesn't feel well maintained: the number plaques were coming off several doors and multiple outlet covers were cracked.