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Post by iamkristinl16 on Aug 14, 2021 2:03:12 GMT
DS16 is in a baseball tournament aboit 3 hours away from home. I wasn’t sure how many days we would be here (depends on how they do) so decided to go day by day in regards to a hotel. The team is staying at a hotel that is pretty expensive (more than I wanted to pay for a potential 3-4 nights). Last night DS9 and I stayed in an Econolodge in a town about 20 miles from the field. It was ok, but the drive was a little much going back and forth, and the hotel wasn’t great. They won today so we needed to stay again. There wasn’t much available and we ended up at a motel that didn’t look bad online but yikes. I’m not thrilled, and DS is scared. Partly because there are a lot of motorcycles here (not sure why that scared him) and because he thinks we wikl get robbed (I think because of the access from the outside). Anyway, that part doesn’t bother me. But the tv makes a fuzzy noise, only one outlet works right, there is a dead cricket in the bathroom and a live moth (probably because the door to the outside has a little gap between the door and the doorstop), and it smells a little strange. The bathroom door doesn’t close all the way. One of the towels in the bathroom was folded differently than the other and has me wondering if someone used it and it looked just enough like it hadn’t been used that they didn’t change it? I don’t know. The outlets and the cleanliness (or lack of) are what bothers me the most. I’m guessing I can’t get my money back? Send some positive thoughts that we can get some sleep. Right now ds says he is sleeping in the chair because it is farther from the door.
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Post by cindyupnorth on Aug 14, 2021 2:14:53 GMT
OMG!! I’m right there with you! I’m in Fargo as my dad is in the hospital here, taken by ambulance, so everything was short notice. The 1st night there were no hotel rooms as there was a convention and guns and roses concert. I had my 2 girls and my brother calling every hotel in the area, as I was in the ER with my dad. My dd found me one in Moorhead. It was like the cheapest thing ever, and the kind where people end up living. And people are either getting dropped off in the am by a truck of guys or someone is doing the walk of shame in the AM. Anyway, the room itself was clean, the hallways and lobby not so much. It didn’t have bed bugs and I didn’t get shot. So it worked out. I slept for 4 hours and was back to the hospital in the am. All for 55$. Yikes
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quiltz
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,840
Location: CANADA
Jun 29, 2014 16:13:28 GMT
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Post by quiltz on Aug 14, 2021 2:19:13 GMT
Rule #1 about being on a travel team - STAY AT THE OFFICIAL HOTEL! It may seem expensive but there are many intrinsic benefits and social benefits to being together as a team. There are many contracts that will benefit other businesses throughout the entire team/sport organization.
Good luck tonight!
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Aug 14, 2021 2:22:04 GMT
OMG!! I’m right there with you! I’m in Fargo as my dad is in the hospital here, taken by ambulance, so everything was short notice. The 1st night there were no hotel rooms as there was a convention and guns and roses concert. I had my 2 girls and my brother calling every hotel in the area, as I was in the ER with my dad. My dd found me one in Moorhead. It was like the cheapest thing ever, and the kind where people end up living. And people are either getting dropped off in the am by a truck of guys or someone is doing the walk of shame in the AM. Anyway, the room itself was clean, the hallways and lobby not so much. It didn’t have bed bugs and I didn’t get shot. So it worked out. I slept for 4 hours and was back to the hospital in the am. All for 55$. Yikes Yikes. That sounds about the same. I thought the econolodge last night was bad but this is not good. I keep telling myself that people live in worse every night, and I can handle one night. But I think I’m going to be worried about bugs all night. This is about $100. I definitely don’t think it is worth that. Last night around 9:15 when I was going to tell ds to turn off his iPad, I realized that I could hear people having sex really loudly. Like loud screaming and moaning. I turned the AC up and let him stay on his iPad a little longer. Luckily he didn’t notice and it didn’t last too long. Hoping we don’t have a replay of that. |
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Post by Really Red on Aug 14, 2021 2:25:32 GMT
Yuck! Sending happy thoughts your way for an easy night. I agree that as hard as this is to spend money on stuff like this, it’s worth it to stay in the team hotel. I cannot think about how many thousands of dollars I spent on hotels for these purposes.
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Aug 14, 2021 2:27:18 GMT
Rule #1 about being on a travel team - STAY AT THE OFFICIAL HOTEL! It may seem expensive but there are many intrinsic benefits and social benefits to being together as a team. There are many contracts that will benefit other businesses throughout the entire team/sport organization. Good luck tonight! This is the first time we have stayed separate from the team (altnough the kids on the team are all staying together). I agree, it is a pain. Mostly because younger ds wants to hang out with the older kids so he has been a little bored when it is not game time. But it seems like the parents are mostly staying in various places and not really hanging out together. This also isn’t really a trace team, but this is the state tournament. So the planning and set up was a little different than it normally would be for their travel teams. They played yesterday and if they lost, I would have wanted to go home instead of stay. So I thought I would rather risk losing $80 than $$170 if we didn’t stay. That is basically how it is each of the days—if you lose you leave so here we are. |
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quiltz
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,840
Location: CANADA
Jun 29, 2014 16:13:28 GMT
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Post by quiltz on Aug 14, 2021 2:33:51 GMT
But it seems like the parents are mostly staying in various places and not really hanging out together. This also isn’t really a trace team, but this is the state tournament. So the planning and set up was a little different than it normally would be for their travel teams. I do know where you are coming from. Sketchy hotels/motels are scary for me, and I have stayed at a few because the internet isn't the best for the 'latest updated pictures' or details about a neighbourhood. Wishing you well and hopefully next time you can find out what alternate hotels that some other parents are staying at. There is safety in numbers. |
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Post by scrapmaven on Aug 14, 2021 2:38:23 GMT
cindyupnorth, I'm sorry to hear about your dad. My thoughts are w/you both.
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Post by librarylady on Aug 14, 2021 2:38:27 GMT
Experiences like that are the worst, the worst......
Long story but one time we had to stay in an AWFUL motel in small town, Oklahoma.
Washcloths looked like a towel had been cut up to create the washcloths. For some reason there was a glass display case in our room, empty. (The kind a store might have to display goods that are for sale). Everything looked so cheesy.
I felt like I wanted to sleep without my body ever touching the sheets. .....It had a big sign out front that said, "American
Owned." Our son was about 9 at the time but for several vacations afterwards he wanted to know if the place we stayed was
American Owned or not. In his mind, that would mean awful conditions.
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Sarah*H
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,015 
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Post by Sarah*H on Aug 14, 2021 2:42:55 GMT
I was on the road for an extended period this spring and I booked at an extended stay hotel because I thought that's what you do when you are staying for awhile. It took 30 seconds for me to look at that room and go back down and cancel. IMO, there is not reason to stay in a scary, dirty, unsafe place unless you have no other choice. And in the grand scheme of things is the difference in cost for a decent hotel that much? I think I ended up spending $150 more total to stay in a regular Hilton Garden Inn for the time period I was away.
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Post by LisaDV on Aug 14, 2021 2:58:47 GMT
I hope you get some sleep.
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Post by ~Tracy~ on Aug 14, 2021 2:58:54 GMT
I am so fussy about hotels and would rather pay a little extra to have a safe, clean, nice room. We just got home from a 9 day vacation out west and we paid a total of $69 for our accommodations for the entire trip. We have a Hilton credit card and use the points to book rooms for vacations. It’s one of a few credit cards that actually have great rewards for the consumer and I appreciate it so much when we travel. Maybe something like that would work for future trips? I would have a hard time sleeping if it looked sketchy whatsoever.
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Post by freecharlie on Aug 14, 2021 3:05:15 GMT
Nope. I would not be able to sleep.
If my kid was already at the hotel with the team, I would drive over an hour to get to a better spot. I'd eat the $80 and cough up more for a nicer place.
In the future, depending on when the games conclude you could try the cancel without penalty by x time the day before and book multiple rooms that way. Then you could cancel the last day if needed. Or take the last day and sight see or something
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Aug 14, 2021 3:20:16 GMT
I was on the road for an extended period this spring and I booked at an extended stay hotel because I thought that's what you do when you are staying for awhile. It took 30 seconds for me to look at that room and go back down and cancel. IMO, there is not reason to stay in a scary, dirty, unsafe place unless you have no other choice. And in the grand scheme of things is the difference in cost for a decent hotel that much? I think I ended up spending $150 more total to stay in a regular Hilton Garden Inn for the time period I was away. Before this the worst hotel experience we had was at an Extended Stay America. When we walked in the room, there was shredded cheese on the counter. And only one bed for four of us. The rest of the hotel was kind of dirty as well but no dead bugs. They gave us a free night for another time because of the bed situation. We tried a different location and it was about the same. The hotel we had stayed at a few months before was an extended stay (I think residence inn) and was so nice. I was expecting that so what we got at extended stay America was a let down. |
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Post by brynn on Aug 14, 2021 7:42:38 GMT
DS16 is in a baseball tournament aboit 3 hours away from home. I wasn’t sure how many days we would be here (depends on how they do) so decided to go day by day in regards to a hotel. The team is staying at a hotel that is pretty expensive (more than I wanted to pay for a potential 3-4 nights). Last night DS9 and I stayed in an Econolodge in a town about 20 miles from the field. It was ok, but the drive was a little much going back and forth, and the hotel wasn’t great. They won today so we needed to stay again. There wasn’t much available and we ended up at a motel that didn’t look bad online but yikes. I’m not thrilled, and DS is scared. Partly because there are a lot of motorcycles here (not sure why that scared him) and because he thinks we wikl get robbed (I think because of the access from the outside). Anyway, that part doesn’t bother me. But the tv makes a fuzzy noise, only one outlet works right, there is a dead cricket in the bathroom and a live moth (probably because the door to the outside has a little gap between the door and the doorstop), and it smells a little strange. The bathroom door doesn’t close all the way. One of the towels in the bathroom was folded differently than the other and has me wondering if someone used it and it looked just enough like it hadn’t been used that they didn’t change it? I don’t know. The outlets and the cleanliness (or lack of) are what bothers me the most. I’m guessing I can’t get my money back? Send some positive thoughts that we can get some sleep. Right now ds says he is sleeping in the chair because it is farther from the door. |
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Post by brynn on Aug 14, 2021 7:46:13 GMT
I am so sorry. I remember a scary hotel room in Mobridge, SD. It was the only room we could find because the region was celebrating "Custer Days." The family vacation was cut short, and we headed home.
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Post by brynn on Aug 14, 2021 7:47:40 GMT
OMG!! I’m right there with you! I’m in Fargo as my dad is in the hospital here, taken by ambulance, so everything was short notice. The 1st night there were no hotel rooms as there was a convention and guns and roses concert. I had my 2 girls and my brother calling every hotel in the area, as I was in the ER with my dad. My dd found me one in Moorhead. It was like the cheapest thing ever, and the kind where people end up living. And people are either getting dropped off in the am by a truck of guys or someone is doing the walk of shame in the AM. Anyway, the room itself was clean, the hallways and lobby not so much. It didn’t have bed bugs and I didn’t get shot. So it worked out. I slept for 4 hours and was back to the hospital in the am. All for 55$. Yikes I'm sorry about your father. Praying for him. |
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Aug 14, 2021 10:00:31 GMT
The grossest motel I ever stayed in was a Days Inn when my oldest was swimming in the state meet in a small enough town that all rooms got booked too quickly. I feel for you. It’s hard to rest in a place that’s not only filthy but feels unsafe.
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Post by mikklynn on Aug 14, 2021 11:39:51 GMT
cindyupnorth I am so sorry your dad has had a setback. Sending prayers your way. DH had a softball tournament in a small town when we were first married. The guys booked cabins at a resort. He warned me they were "rough". You could see sky through the roof! I should have known when he said bring our sleeping bags. We slept on top of the bedding in our sleeping bags.
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Post by smalltowngirlie on Aug 14, 2021 12:27:07 GMT
Our worst was in Superior WI. We needed a room last minute and this was pre internet so we literally got to town and walked into hotels asking if they had rooms available. IT was late at night so we just took what we could find. It was questionable all the way around.
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Post by Basket1lady on Aug 14, 2021 12:32:21 GMT
The worst place that we’ve stayed was in Sandusky, Ohio. In those days, DH insisted on just driving as far as we could and finding a place. Well, it was 9pm, we had a six month old, and there was nothing else around. But Sandusky has a big amusement park, which we didn’t know. Every place was booked and we were stuck with what seemed to be the last motel room in town. Thankfully DS was barely crawling. I never put him down and we left at daybreak the next day.
But form there on out, DH always insists that we have a reservation! I find that with online reviews, you generally know what you are getting in to. Kristin, next time do a quick Google search on the hotel. Even the hotels in podunk towns seem to have reviews on TripAdvisor and the like.
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J u l e e
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,531
Location: Cincinnati
Jun 28, 2014 2:50:47 GMT
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Post by J u l e e on Aug 14, 2021 13:29:02 GMT
I was running a trail half marathon in another state in a place with no chain hotels. We ended up in a hotel with carpet that felt wet. It smelled gross. The mattress was one where your body rolled to the valley in the center. I “slept” on the very edge where it felt the most level. The shower broke and was unusable. The girl at the front desk didn’t help us right away at check in because she was fighting with her boyfriend on the phone. We got there late and I had to get up early to be at the race, so we were there a total of maybe six hours. One of this most uncomfortable stretches of six hours ever. I regret not just sleeping in my car.
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Post by smasonnc on Aug 14, 2021 13:32:17 GMT
I mistakenly booked a hotel in Austin, TX that was under new ownership so no reviews. I thought it was a nice chain so no problem, right? I got there and it was super sketchy. The owner & his brother followed me to my room and watched me check in and there was a fist mark in the back of the door. I got my money back from Expedia, but only after a lot of back and forth. If you're tenacious and take photos, you can sometimes get your money back. Definitely give it a one-star review and say why.
I agree about the official hotel thing. Lots of travel baseball and our team mom always did a great job. Cheap hotels are seldom a good deal.
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Post by huskermom98 on Aug 14, 2021 14:39:42 GMT
Some of these places sound similar to a Travelodge my boys & I stayed in last summer on our way to Wisconsin Dells. Online it looked decent, but in person parts were definitely sketchy. We had a room that definitely didn't look like the pictures. It felt old, but at least not dirty...but it was also the first one where I wore shoes the entire time! We only needed a place to sleep and it provided that, but I was happy our car was still there in the morning. I was also happy that we didn't need ice because the machine closest to our room was broken, smashed and maybe a little burnt...
So needless to say, I was a little apprehensive about being in charge of finding a place to stop on our way out to Colorado this summer, but found a couple of options that worked.
Also in regards to the comment about reserving and canceling day off--almost every place I looked at this summer is now requiring a cancelation to be made the day before you plan to check in. We had considered making a reservation somewhere along the way and canceling by the required time that evening if we thought we could go farther, but every place required the day before.
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DEX
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,396
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Post by DEX on Aug 14, 2021 17:14:13 GMT
We sold our house earlier than expected as my late husband was retiring soon. He needed a place to sleep during the week and went to our retirement home on weekends. He found a Day's Inn near work. When he checked in he had to sign an agreement that he wouldn't "cook meth" in his room.  . It was all down hill from there. I think he wins for grossest place to stay.  |
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Post by auntkelly on Aug 14, 2021 17:51:15 GMT
When he checked in he had to sign an agreement that he wouldn't "cook meth" in his room. . I think you win for worst hotel story! |
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Post by Darcy Collins on Aug 14, 2021 19:27:29 GMT
Considering how incredibly difficult it is for decent hotels to properly staff right now, I wouldn't touch a bargain basement motel at all.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Aug 15, 2021 4:35:11 GMT
The worst place that we’ve stayed was in Sandusky, Ohio. In those days, DH insisted on just driving as far as we could and finding a place. Well, it was 9pm, we had a six month old, and there was nothing else around. But Sandusky has a big amusement park, which we didn’t know. Every place was booked and we were stuck with what seemed to be the last motel room in town. Thankfully DS was barely crawling. I never put him down and we left at daybreak the next day. But form there on out, DH always insists that we have a reservation! I find that with online reviews, you generally know what you are getting in to. Kristin, next time do a quick Google search on the hotel. Even the hotels in podunk towns seem to have reviews on TripAdvisor and the like. I was going to suggest using TripAdvisor too. I hate staying in nasty hotels! |
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. It was all down hill from there.
