The lobby of the Travelodge appeared to be abandoned, with a badly faded, hand-written sign on the door that said to check in at the Days Inn (which occupied part of the same building)- it was nearly impossible to make out the "Days Inn", frankly I was just lucky I had noticed the Days Inn on the way in and was able to guess that the barely-visible remnants of a few letters might be spelling that. I arrived late at night, and would have been stranded in a rather sketchy-looking motel parking lot if I hadn't figured it out.
The room smelled strongly of cigarette smoke, and the shower floor was cracked and broken (not in a way that leaked or anything, just in a way that made it clear that maintenance and repair was not a top priority). The bedsheets were fine when I checked in, but I noticed some small stains on them after housekeeping came by the next day, which was quite odd.
Fortunately, my personal standards aren't especially high- I was in town for a concert and some museum-going and really just wanted a bed to sleep in for a couple of nights and a bathroom to use, and it at least met those needs... at least, it did once I managed to piece together where to check in, which really shouldn't be a challenge. The fact that the sign telling me where to go to check in was barely legible was truly baffling- who oversees this property? Have they visited any time in the past 5 years? It would have taken some time for the sign to fade like that, and it's a pretty obvious issue.
