Originally Posted by
emailkid
I've seen a lot of this country over the last couple of years, and not too many Motel 6 franchises charge $30 anymore. Even mom and pop motels don't charge $30 anymore around major cities. Sure, out in the country you can still find them, along the interstates in the middle of nowhere, but around big cities, not so much. Saw lots of $30, even $25 motels in Amarillo, Texas, but really, that's a city you pass through, not visit
Amen to that. Motel 6 is definitely NOT what it was some 15 or 20 years ago. Back in my early travel career, before Priceline and widespread Internet use, I could use Motel 6 a lot and get places in the $20s and $30s. Very few have $30s anymore, and those are in oversupplied places like Anniston, Alabama, or Amarillo that have lots of trucks going through.
Motel 6 went through a management change some years ago where they did a round of renovations and took an aggressive pricing approach, ESPECIALLY on weekends in some markets. They also got lazier about posting rates and generally dropped the business model that got them where they were in the first place.
If you use Priceline a lot and try to bottom-feed at 2* level for $30s or even, if possible, $20s like I do, you end up at extended-stay places a lot. They're much nicer than M6es, but you don't get maid service every day.
IMO Europe is much better set up for budget travel, what with a stronger hostel network and compact cities where rail travel is an option. OTOH, you get relatively high costs for everything nonetheless. SE Asia IMO is the great budget region where you can live better for the same money.
Tahiti was easily the hardest place I've ever traveled on a tight budget.