A gimmick duet from about 11 years ago was Picture.
Obviously, KR is just bragging about a different girl every night. But it does raise the question : Who spends time at a motel?
I love mid-range motels. Especially breakfast. People from all over the damn place, moving slowly & politely, figuring out how to make waffles, which pastries are worth a shot, and whether to make a fruit bowl or just grab an orange. True, the cable TV on the side gets more relentlessly stupid & reactionary every year, but nobody is watching.
Motel locations are generally pretty easy to understand. Either they're on the highway or by the airport. The fancy hotels & flophouses in Teh Big City aren't really the same thing, no?
So, today I found a mystery. The Malden Econolodge is the Admiral Stockdale of motels. Why is it there, when there is no there there?
The picture suggests an empty field in Ohio, but really, it's tightly embedded in a dense, mixed race working class neighborhood. The nearest interstate is 15 minutes away in good traffic. Even Route 1 is over a mile, and 10 minutes with good luck. What justification is offered?
The Econo Lodge® hotel is conveniently located just seven miles from the Boston Logan International Airport. This Malden hotel is only minutes from the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston), Tufts University, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Northeastern University and Harvard University.
Additional nearby points of interest include:
•Boston University
•Boston College
•Boston Inner Harbor
•Nantasket Beach Reservation
•Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox baseball team
The John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center is just a quick trip away. A wide variety of restaurants and several shops are within two miles of the hotel.
Most of that stuff is30-60 minutes away, with plenty of closer options. The nearby stores are convenience stores and tiny neighborhood spots. There is no obvious reason anyone would stay at a motel in east Malden.
Yet, there it is. The picture doesn't lie. It's new looking, fresh and well maintained, at least on the outside. $100 a night for a queen bed room.
I have no idea who built this motel or why. Maybe for visiting relatives.
The reviews are pretty interesting:
.“Inexpensive...and you get what you pay for”
The non-smoking rooms reeked...to the point that we asked for different rooms. We had to ask for the manager as the desk clerk was unwilling to admit that there were other rooms available. The new rooms were satisfactory. The breakfast area was tiny. But they did have a simple breakfast available.
front desk check in was more concerned about watching the television then checking me in. It took her 3 tries to get me checked in. Lots of noise heard from other rooms.
Never been to a hotel where the front desk is behind bulletproof glass before - and don't plan to go again. Located far away from everything, the walls are paper thin, so you can be part of your neighbor's activities.
We had a late check-in 12pm and I had to wait several minutes before being checked-in. The room smelled of smoke and we requested a non smoking room,the air-conditioner was mounted on the wall near the ceiling and it dripped all night into plastic trash cans.It was noisy and the outside lighting lit-up the room.
OK, maybe they do need to hire a new staff.
They don't work cheap, but they damn well keep the joint clean.
2 comments:
And the colors in the room, DP. Carefully chosen to clash by one of Satan's minions.
Motel roulette, always fun. Plattsburgh, NY: toilet waste from the room above.
White River Jct, VT: Overflowing trash cans, mold smells, and a bold-face lying clerk who slept on the floor behind the desk that night.
I could go on, but I'm glad the AAU hoop days are over.
Heh.
One trick is that they always start a rehab from the front. A place in New Mexico looked great from the parking lot, fabulous lobby, but the room...Arrgh! Busted lamps, moldy carpet, broken down window, and of course, that smell. Ooowoo that smell.
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