I am somewhat grateful that I found a place to stay when a series of flights were canceled in Newark after midnight. Hotels were all booked and the airlines weren’t picking up the tab, so- knowing that I wasn’t going to be there for more than a few hours- I chose Motel Casa.
I have never stayed anywhere like it (not in a good way). It had the largest discrepancy between cost and quality that I experienced. For over $100/ night, it didn’t align with my expectations. This isn’t coming from a lack of travel experience. I was a Peace Corps Volunteer and have lived without running water or electricity. It takes a lot to shock me.
Check-in: I was stuck outside within reception hours. It took several ring doorbell attempts, which then instructed me to knock on someone’s window from the outside to try to wake that person up. That is not normal. The person never woke up, so eventually the lady came down to let me in. She was friendly, but it was a rough start to a stay.
Room: no fan, no a/c- it had cigarette burns in on the comforter. Exposed pipe and outlets without covers. I slept on top of the covers and clothed.
Bathroom: I was given the equivalent size of a hand towel as a towel. It had at one time been white, but that was a very long time ago. The bathroom was shared. There was no soap except for several used bars of what would best be described as “communal soap and loofas”. I chose to just rinse rather than participate, despite having been traveling for more than 24hrs.