Posted: 8/5/2008 8:46:09 PM EDT
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I'm on a business trip yet again and am taking time to write this to share how even an old dog like me can be taken by surprise from time to time. I left E. TN yesterday with the original idea to get as close to Mobile AL as possible then find a hotel. Odd for me, I had never been to Mobile before other than just passing through type of thing so didn't really have a good taste for the city other than what you hear on the news. I made better time than expected so decided to check out the airport where I was suppose to pick up a guy today. Airport Blvd is a very nice road with all the better chain stores and some super nice neighborhoods. Unfortunately, it also is seven miles to the airport from the interstate and a heck of a lot of red lights. There is only one hotel out by the airport. By the time, I make my way back to the interstate, I65, the long trip has caught up with me. I go down motel row and there's a decent looking from the outside Motel Six for a nice low price. Fairly nice neighborhoods and decent looking place, I go why not? I guess you can't judge a book by its cover. It was cheap for a reason as the rooms were dumpy. I mean broken bed, TV all bent over on a slant where someone apparently tried to swipe it once, and the faucet knob just popped right off. Havng stayed in worse for more money and only needed the three Ss and a place to sleep, I crash anyway. I'm awakened right after dark by more racket than I have ever heard in a hotel. I get dressed, throw my gun in its holster, and go out to see wth is going on. Man, this place blew my mind. What looked like a family place with even kids in the pool was now hooker, pimp, and drug dealer heaven. About a third of the rooms doors are open as people are partying from room to room and this is three three story buildings of this. It takes me about three seconds to realize, I'm the wrong color too. I'm not the paranoid type and have been around the block a few times but it was pretty apparent, my odds were better barricaded in that room than trying to make it to my car. This crap blew my mind as sirens one after ther other came to this place (on a Monday night no less), I listend to pimps beat their girls, little bare foot children raisng hell running the floors all hours of the night, fights, and even what I thought was a couple gun shots. I finally got to sleep again as thing quieted down around 3AM. I was totally relieved my car was still in one piece but then I had parked it right in front of the office. Well, I'm typing this from Montgomery in a hotel that cost three times as much, has a nice big big room, clean, and quiet as a mouse. That's the best case of you get what you pay for in hotels I've had in years. I will never do the pick a hotel on the fly in a big city based on outside appearance again. Tj |
EAST TN. WDVX----- Steam powered Radio! |
Will do. Looks like I'm getting a fairly large account there and will be back regularly. Other than the hotel my overall experience in Mobile was not negative. Like Applachia, the Gulf coast no matter what state you are in all has a distinctive look and feel. Mobile is no exception. Having spent 10 years on the Gulf, I felt at home in many places. It kind of shocked the guy I was traveling with when we were exploring looking to get over on the bay, I went right there without having been there before. I just said, "Hey this is the Gulf, you can get to the water under any of the bridges." Sure enough not only was there a nice parking area, but a real park, and an open dock. Alabama is a very Bible Belt state much like Applachia with two classes of people, saints and outlaws with the inbetween a very small group. I should have counted on that and known the outlaws would be at the lowest price motel. There were a couple other business types checking in as I did and can only imagine they had a rough night too. Yes, tonight I was in a Holiday Inn Express.  Tj PS: You nailed it Waldo. This trip it was Surefire 6p and .38 Snubbie for a bed partner.  |
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I had that same experience about 3 years ago in Richmond Virginia. Me and 3 buddies shacked up for a hunting trip in a cheap motel. Around 3 oclock in the morning, someone is beating on our door, Of course I grabbed the AR and opened the door, only to find about 150 people partying in the parking lot. It was a madhouse of druggies, pimps, prostitutes and all manner of man kind. ANyway, the "lady" who was beating on our door wanted to know if we wanted some "entertainment". After seeing 4 guys with rifles and pistols,, they decided to move the party further down the parking lot. Hell, we got up to go hunting around 4ish and they were still out there going at it. |
| Yeah BTDT , one reason I made the switch from the 1911 to the XD 45 6 more rounds . Sometimes I have my AR with me depending on if Im on my personal vehicle or on the work ride and depending on what I plan on during while Im there . If Im going to be in the room or in my vehicle not away from either ill bring a AR .If Im going to be away the long arms stay at home . I always try to park near the office or at lest under a light. |
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Sounds like my first trip to New Orleans back in 1991. We pulled in after 9pm and were driving around looking for a hotel. Bad mistake. The streets were crowded with people, I told my new bride, "We're in the wrong place." Finally got back on the west side of the river, and after going through 5 places with no vacancies got a room at a hotel that was not my first choice at 11pm. I spent most of the night awake with my BHP. |
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This experience raises a very valuable point: recon + intel is far better than recon alone. In the same situation, I'd look around for a well-run business that sells something I can use, preferably a mom-and-pop shop. Then I'd go in, make a small purchase and some small talk and ask about the hotels in the area. You can get a lot of valuable information from the locals if you know how and who to ask. Lots of chains usually means lots of transient traffic. Glad you made it through the night and got on to the next adventure. |
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Phone with Internat access and a quick trip to Google for reviews can save you a lot of time and trouble when finding hotel/motels. I no longer travel anywhere near as much as I did at my peak, but I have lots of good and bad experiences to draw on, ranging from a dumpy looking place on the outside that turned out to have neat, clean rooms, with good A/C and a target-rich trout stream right behind, to an upscale name-brand hotel in a major TX city that attempted to put me in a room where the PD hadn't quite finished removing the body. Ah, the joys of business travel. I don't miss it at all. |
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Your first mistake was a Motel 6. That and Super 8 are the last two places I want to stay at. Some of them are very nice, but in my experience, they tend to be shady as often as not. I've had much better luck with Best Westerns, Holiday Inn express, La Quinta, etc. Yeah, they're more money, but it's worth it. 
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Had a similar experience in Salt Lake City of all places. Me and a buddy were going down for a Tactical Carbine course and there was some big outdoor products convention going on. We drove around for a couple hours trying to get a decent room and finally gave up. We ended up at a place that looked a bit seedy in the daylight, but was downright scary at night. First time I've spooned my AR! 
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I travel for a living so I know what you are talking about. I got stuck overnight in a hotel 6 in Ontario CA. In the morning, when the salesman picked me up, I noticed a bunch of strangely dressed women knocking on doors. Then I saw two of them with a guy inbetween walking up to a room and I realized what was going on! I just cracked up right there! I am sitting in a decent Holiday Inn Express in Duncanville TX as I type this. I do not get a per diem. My company just pays for my hotel and food with a company card so I don't have to get reimbursed and have my money tied up. That means I can afford to sleep in pretty decent hotels most of the time. My limit is $150 per night, although I very rarely stay much over $100 a night. No way I am staying in a Motel 6 or super 8 on purpose!  Most of the hotels I get are very decent and in the $80 a night range. |
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Sounds like a fun night. Glad all went well. Motel rooms can be a lot of fun. This reminds me of a night the wife and I were staying in the Radison. We had checked in early evening and had just got to the room and were settling in, when the front door opened and in walked an older couple with luggage in hand. I'm not sure what scared them the most, seeing someone in there/our room or the Glock 21 at the ready position. I quickly lowered my pistol when I realised there was no threat. After we had a friendly conversation and both parties apologised for the mix up, the old boy looked at his wife and stated "he knew he should of bought his gun". I was glad he did not. They left for the front desk to get another room. Not wanting any more surprises, I used the second lock on the door frame, and pushed a large arm chair in front of the door. Not 30 minutes later 2 male flight attendants tried to come into the room with keys. The second lock and chair did a great job of stopping them this time. I called the front desk to make sure this problem was sorted out, and we did not have any more guests. Got to love modern technology. |
Yep, if a place is questionable I always make it a point to ask. I have also had good luck asking local LEO's. |
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I have traveled all over the southeast for the past 15 years with my job. Mainly to the major cities and have only had Tom's experience when a flight in Atlanta canceled and I had to stay in a hotel the airline would pay for. They bused us to the quality inn and quality it was not. Pimps,hoes,druggies, gambling, loud music, police, and mayhem ruled the night there until dawn broke. All I had was my Surefire E2D and the metal pole I removed from the clothes hanger. I figured it was better than nothing. Luckily my flight was to Europe and I sure slept good in first class the next 10 hours. Never ever will I stay at another hotel without good intelligence on the area and hotel. Luckily the company I work for has pretty much preselected and qualified hotels in much of the country and actually most of the world. If we find that a place is not suitable, I will change hotels without a question asked and the sorry hotel gets removed from the list.
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BTW, there is a Hampton and a Homewood suites in Providance Park, about 2 miles from the airport. But they are pricey (Mobile hotels are in general, as if they were in Orlando or Miami) Someone trashed Super-8. West of the MS river they are a hell of a lot cleaner. Also stayed in a nice one in PA. Down south they are trashy. When it's my dime (and it used to be) I'd see where the other contractors are staying- if they have 50k in tools on a truck, it's a good sign they think it is safe. In my current hotel, next to my rental car are two 1 tons with welders and coiled up welding leads. With copper at $4/lb, that is a statement about security. There is a hotel near Atlanta airport, about $40/night, looks like a dump. It's popular with the contractors- the owner or his family can see the entire parking lot 24/7 and has tresspass warnings on the local riff-raff. I saw a pair of hookers actually walk arround the property to stay out. One yelled that she could come over if I wanted to. Also the hotel is all concrete block construction- very easy to sleep with planes nearby, even when you are working nights and sleeping days. I had a female coworker return to a rural motorlodge type motel one night to find the motel owner naked in her bed. She held him at gunpoint until the sheriff arrived. She was pissed about the whole thing, as he was the one doing wrong, but she had to check out and add 30 minutes each way to her commute (she was 3 months into a 6 month project) She wanted to stay in the hotel, but both work and the local SO didn't think that was a good idea. The SO actually thought we should have never sent a single female into a rural area like this (this was 25 year ago). I've seen the police report, they worded it very carefuly not to state she was carrying the gun home from work. If I remember right, it said he retrived the pistol [sic] from her bag, as if she left a loaded gun in her suitcase. |
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I remember staying one night at a pretty scary place in San Antonio back in the late 90s. Arrived for a TDY a day early and no room at the 'Q at Ft Sam. Never again. Red Roof Inn is about as low as I will go anymore and depending on the hood, not many of those anymore. Hampton Inn or better if traveling with my family. ETA In my experience, Airport Blvd/Rd etc is not much better than MLK as an address. |
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I had the same kind of experience back in 1994. The wife, 4y/o son and I were on our way to Florida. we were to meet my dad and the rest of the family the next day but left one day earlier than they did, so we decided to pull off of the interstate an find a place to stay the night. I can't remember where we pulled off at, but we drove about 15-20 min. till we found a motel. Looked pretty unassuming at the time (about 10pm). The rooms left alot to be desired, but it was a place to crash. The last thing I did before I went to sleep was to put my pistol under my pillow, as this was my usual routine when traveling. well about midnight, we awoke the sounds of the druggies and hookers, with the occasional police sirens thrown in. We did our best to ignore them, and, as long as my son was getting a good nights sleep, I could put up with it; and that kid could sleep through a freight train rolling past his bed. I finally got to sleep God knows when. At some time during the night, a noise at the door woke me up. I rolled my body back and saw some black guy standing in the doorway with one foot already in my room. I grabbed my pistol and raide it at him and he immediately bolted. All I heard after that was footsteps fading away. I woke the wife and told her what just happened. We then called the front desk to report it assuming they would get the police enroute. Well some fat broad who identified herself as the manager shows up at our door with a 2 foot section of broom handle and says that she will "take a look around and check things out". I then took it upon myself to call police, who came out and took a report, but also told us that it was the third time that night they had been to that particular motel and from the tone in thier voices, they were well acquainted with that place. The next morning, after checking out and driving back to the interstate, we got our first real look at the area in the daylight, I think we passed about 5 strip clubs and liqour stores in about a 2 mile stretch of road. It was the kind of place I would not want to drive through in broad daylight, much less stop and spend the night. BTW: that night was my very first "what would have happened if I did not have a gun with me" experience. |
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working for the gov im on the road a lot during fire season. ive stayed in some dumpy ass hotels as well. alls it does it make you depressed and drain you even more. in my mind its well worth the extra money to get the better room. i will not stay in a super 8, motel 6 or a mom and pop hotel unless i absolutely have too. those seem to be the worse hotels out of them all. we were in reiodoso, NM and all of the hotels were full. the only one we could find was a dump right on the main drag. so we rolled in there and they charged up 140 per room! i dont think the entire hotel was worth that much. beds were nasty, nothing worked, bathroom doors were super small and there was a step up to get in. just a dive. i was not happy. i would have rather found a park and camped under the stars.. im my opinion holiday inn expresses are pretty nice hotels for the money. there fairly new and always have a good breakfast. any of the hotels with "suites" are usually very nice and if its a slow night you can barter with them so they can fill a room. |
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Holiday Inn Express is as low as I go!! Hampton, Drury, Best Western, Fairfield, any of the Marriot family......these are safe bets. I have traveled too much over the years to trust low-rent motels. It just ain't worth it! $129 a night vs. $69 a night may seem steep, until you add in the $250 insurance deductible on your car that was broken in to while you stayed at the cheaper motel. I'll pay the extra $60 and get a good night's sleep....and a complimentary continental breakfast in the morning!
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Quoted:
I remember staying one night at a pretty scary place in San Antonio back in the late 90s. Arrived for a TDY a day early and no room at the 'Q at Ft Sam. Never again. Red Roof Inn is about as low as I will go anymore and depending on the hood, not many of those anymore. Hampton Inn or better if traveling with my family. ETA In my experience, Airport Blvd/Rd etc is not much better than MLK as an address. fort sam houston austin high(low) way 1997 glock in hand as the drug bust /deal next door did i alway make reservations at the boq or at the airforce ones in satx, they are nicer than the army ones |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I remember staying one night at a pretty scary place in San Antonio back in the late 90s. Arrived for a TDY a day early and no room at the 'Q at Ft Sam. Never again. Red Roof Inn is about as low as I will go anymore and depending on the hood, not many of those anymore. Hampton Inn or better if traveling with my family. ETA In my experience, Airport Blvd/Rd etc is not much better than MLK as an address. fort sam houston austin high(low) way 1997 glock in hand as the drug bust /deal next door did i alway make reservations at the boq or at the airforce ones in satx, they are nicer than the army ones dude, you realize this thread is 3 1/2 months ago? and IMHO taking your glock in hand when a drug bust is going on next door lends itself to a very good possiblilty of you getting mistaken for a bad guy on overwatch and getting yourself in a jam that is possibly life threatening. |
| This is one of the many reasons why I refuse to stay at cheap hotels/motels. Holiday Inns are about as low as I can force myself to go. I was in a hotel once and found a hypodermic needle, after that I've refused to stay at cheap places. You can't put a price on life/safety. |