Originally Posted by
jackal
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.
This summer I was stuck in Kansas City (flight late so missed a connection), which is not exactly "BOS-WAS corridor". The cheapest room the airport staff could direct me to was $70 a night for a Microtel. When I woke up there I was covered in bug bites.
Originally Posted by
jackal
Right, but you're going to be renting the car in these cities anyway, since public transit in the U.S. is virtually worthless unless you are on the utmost of tiny budgets.
This is an important point. Renting a car will nearly always add up to a lot more per day than public transport anywhere in Europe or Asia. Further, car rental isn't an option for many travelers (too young, can't drive, etc), who may be forced to pay extortionate prices for a taxi to get to/from a distant motel (as happened to me once in Boston).
I must note that I have found public transport entirely sufficient for getting around as a visitor in LA, SF, Chicago, Seattle, etc. The only thing of interest to me not accessible by transit would be outlying motels.
The few times I've done a big city, I've either done it as a day trip/in transit or done it car-free. (Whenever I've done the BOS-WAS corridor, I've always done it car-free and therefore accepted the higher prices of places convenient to public transit. I spent more than I wanted in DEN at a junky Ramada, but that was car-free, too, since I was overnighting there before departing by Amtrak. The hotel I splurged at in SEA was because I needed to be near the SEA DO activities.
The €20 hostels I referred to in European cities are close to the city centres and public transport. Referring to the fact you can get a cheap room in America in the middle of nowhere is comparing apples to oranges.