My wife and I just completed a week long vacation in Texas. It is a two-day drive from North Carolina. Traveling with dogs makes it more challenging to find hotels along the way. As a Marriott Rewards members, I normally go with Marriott first. If I can't find a Marriott property, we normally consult pet friendly hotels dot com. On our way down, we stayed at the Marriott in Mobile, Alabama, which is an awesome place to stay traveling with dogs (although you will be hard pressed to find any pet-friendly hotels that have plenty of grass nearby.
On our return trip, we normally stay at a Residence Inn located in Montgomery, AL. When we tried to book the hotel, we found out that it is no longer a Marriott. The property is now owned by Sonesta. They charge a high nightly fee as well as a dog fee. With Marriott, the pet fee is offset by my rewards points, so the cost of the room is normally just the pet fee (50-75 dollars normally). All of the other Marriott's we checked nearby were either not pet friendly, they were out-of-the-way, or the pet fees were a ridiculous 125 per night. We started looking further down the highway only to find that there were no pet friendly Marriott properties to be found.
My wife checked down to the pet friendly hotel finder, locating a LaQuinta in LaGrange, Georgia. LaQuinta is great, because they do not charge a pet fee. However, I have had a mixed experience with LaQuinta. Some of the properties are nice, but some are dives. I had to check out of one once. It was really that bad. So we checked other websites to see how this hotel stacked up. Booking.com currently has this property at 8.7/10. Tripadvisor has this hotel at 4.5/5. Those ratings are seriously unheard of. Exceptional even. So we booked a room at $100. Most LaQuinta's are significantly less expensive than that, so I figured it was a safe bet based on the ratings and the price point.
When we arrived, the location seemed okay, but not near any top brand hotels (there is a Baymont next door). I reserved judgment at that point. Walking up the front, the pavement was painted a reddish color, but was eroded away quite a bit. An obvious attempt at one point to improve the looks without any follow up. The interior was nice. There is a small (tiny) bar area on one side of the lobby with the check in desk on the other. I checked in after filling out the pet waiver. The clerk was friendly and personable and even provided a doggie treat for the pet guests. That was a nice touch.
Our room was on the first floor. I am not sure if they put all the pets on the first floor, but the first thing I noted was that the floors are laminate instead of carpet. Okay, pet rooms...it sort of makes sense. The rooms looked nice, but there was a superficial feel to it. It seems like the rooms were probably improved in recent years, but there were signs of neglect as well. I noticed stains on the curtain, stains on the shower curtain, damage to the bottom of the door that had been painted over, and a general sense of wear and tear in the room. The beds were comfortable, which was a plus. The linens looked clean and the sheets and towels did not show the same signs of wear that the room did.
The room had a large flat screen television, complimentary coffee and toiletries and free breakfast (which did not look appealing). We shared a waffle and scooted over to Starbucks after we checked out. The room did not feel scummy, don't get me wrong. The LaQuinta in Montgomery is scummy. I know better than to ever stay at that one again. This one looked decent, but it had a lot of wear for a 100 dollar per night hotel room. Based on the ratings, I don't know what I was expecting, but I think I was expecting a great experience at a modest price point. But one this is certain. This hotel is not an 8.7/10 hotel. Or a 4.5/5 hotel. I don't know who is rating hotels at Booking.com and Tripadvisor, but it causes me to question the legitimacy of those websites. And I contribute to Tripadvisor (or did in the past...I think I'm done giving it away free when Steemit will pay for this advice).
In real world terms, this hotel is average. At the price point, it is slightly below average. I would give this hotel (all things considered) a modest 6/10. That is being fair and maybe even generous. The card reader on the door is dated and required two attempts to get in. Every time. The room showed obvious signs of wear and limited attempts at repair. The shower curtain and curtains needed attention. The breakfast was average. To be fair, it was on par with Marriott's TownPlace or Residence Inn type breakfasts. The price was average for that area of Georgia, maybe a bit elevated. The good? The beds were comfortable, the sheets and towels high quality and clean (non-negotiable for me) and the location along the highway allowed for easy access.
Buyer beware. I would give this hotel a recommendation for folks traveling with pets. If you are traveling without pets, you can find better value elsewhere. If you are traveling with pets, this hotel will do. It isn't the best, but it is probably the best you are going to find in this area at this price point.