Originally Posted by
lexande
I don't know where you're coming from with regard to hotels, as there is an irritating lack of hostels or other budget accommodation in most of the US (as others have noted). Even in the most expensive European cities, one can generally find a bed for €20 a night, which is very difficult in many parts of America. In Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok it was easy to find an air-conditioned hostel for $9 a night, and in Phnom Penh I could get a private air-conditioned room for $9, which is completely out of the question in any city in America.
Most of the U.S.? Outside of the BOS-WAS corridor, you can find perfectly palatable rooms for $30 or so at places like Motel 6 or mom 'n' pop no-name roadside motels outside of urban areas. You'll have a car in every other major city (L.A., SEA, DEN, etc.) and reasonably-priced motels are a reasonable drive out of the city center.
Sure, you may not be able to get a $10 private room or even a $10 hostel bed like you can in some developing countries (where the wages might not be much more than that per day), but $30 for a decent private motel room with two beds (with ensuite toilet and shower) is very reasonable, IMHO. I have been able to do that all over the U.S. and haven't found anything like it in other developed Western countries. (The Formule 1 in Campbelltown NSW Australia came close, at around US$40, but that was for an uncomfortably small room with an uncomfortably cramped prefab toilet/shower unit.)
Even small-town pensiones, guesthouses, and (as we called them) "Zimmer freis"
were, as I recall, a bit more than that (maybe about $50 or so, on up to $80-100 or more for B&Bs in the UK).