Booking a hotel used to be a fairly safe bet, especially with a familiar name on the sign. These days, though, brand recognition doesn’t guarantee a clean room or a good night’s sleep. Guest satisfaction surveys, consumer complaint boards, and independent review sites all point to the same handful of chains showing up again and again in the wrong column, and the reasons range from neglected maintenance to billing disputes that never seem to get resolved.
Motel 6
Motel 6 has long traded on its low prices and its famous “we’ll keep the light on for you” slogan, but recent data suggests that promise hasn’t translated into guest satisfaction. Motel 6 scored 519 in J.D. Power’s 2025 economy-hotel rankings, below the economy segment average of 544.[1] The brand’s parent company didn’t fare any better in a separate survey, where G6 Hospitality, parent company to Motel 6, took last place in the ACSI’s lodging rankings, with a score of 67.[2]
There’s some context worth noting before writing the whole chain off. OYO parent Oravel Stays completed its $525 million acquisition of G6 Hospitality in December 2024, giving the familiar budget chain new ownership.[1] Older complaints may not reflect what’s happening at a given property today, so it’s worth checking recent, dated reviews for the specific location rather than relying on the brand’s reputation alone. Motel 6 often struggles with customer satisfaction due to inconsistent cleanliness and outdated facilities, and many locations fail to meet basic expectations, leaving guests feeling disheartened.[3]
Red Roof Inn
Red Roof Inn markets itself around affordability, pet-friendly policies, and simple perks like free breakfast, but the numbers tell a less flattering story. Red Roof Inn scored 533 in J.D. Power’s 2025 economy hotel guest satisfaction rankings, below the segment average of 544.[1] That gap between marketing and measured satisfaction shows up consistently across multiple studies, not just one.
Guest reviews echo the numbers. Red Roof Inn is a popular hotel chain known for its relaxed pet policies, free Wi-Fi, and continental breakfast, but these days it seems to be known for some not-so-nice “extras” like mold, foul smells, and soiled linen.[4] On top of that, one guest on Priceline described a room where “the room looked like it hadn’t been cleaned properly – sticky floors and a strong musty odor.”[5] The volume and consistency of these complaints across different review platforms suggest a pattern rather than a few isolated bad stays.
Super 8
Super 8 sits at the very bottom end of the budget category, and the reviews reflect that positioning in a rough way. Super 8 has a 1.4-star rating on Consumer Affairs, with a total of 621 reviews on the site, 79% of which received 1-star ratings.[6] That’s not a small sample size skewed by a handful of angry travelers; it’s a pattern spanning hundreds of stays.
The complaints themselves tend to circle the same issues. Common complaints are dirty rooms, mold, “run down” accommodations, and unprofessional customer service employees at the front desk.[6] One traveler’s review captured the general tone, describing a mattress with a hole in the middle and a facility with a “worn out” mattress with a hole in the middle, worn carpet, and a facility with a stale, sour smell.[6] For travelers who need a rock-bottom price, Super 8 can still work, but the odds of landing a subpar room appear meaningfully higher than at competing budget brands.
Econo Lodge
Econo Lodge, one of the many budget brands under the Choice Hotels umbrella, promotes itself as clean, comfortable, and affordable. Econo Lodge is recognized for its affordability and convenience and is one of the most widespread chains under Choice Hotels, and while the chain promotes clean and comfortable rooms, many guests report the opposite.[7] The disconnect between the marketing copy and the actual guest experience is one of the more consistent complaints across review sites.
Specific incidents reported by guests go beyond generic gripes about outdated decor. Some specific complaints include cigarette-butt burnt bedding that still looked worn from previous guests.[7] Choice Hotels operates thousands of properties across the country under different sub-brands, and that scale seems to work against Econo Lodge, since quality control from one location to the next can vary sharply depending on local ownership and management.
Days Inn
Days Inn, another Wyndham-owned budget brand, is a common stop for road trippers looking for something simple and inexpensive along the highway. Days Inn is a budget-friendly pick for road trippers, but recurring complaints about cleanliness and noise often leave guests regretting their stay.[7] Thin walls and roadside locations make noise complaints almost predictable, but the cleanliness issues are less forgivable.
Billing problems have also surfaced repeatedly in guest reports. In some instances, guests even claim to have paid for a room they didn’t use.[7] That kind of complaint, involving money rather than just comfort, tends to stick with travelers longer than a stained carpet ever would, and it’s part of why Days Inn keeps appearing on lists like this one even though its parent brand has other properties that perform noticeably better.
Quality Inn
Quality Inn occupies the upper midscale tier under Choice Hotels, which theoretically should put it a step above the rock-bottom budget brands. In practice, the guest satisfaction numbers don’t fully back that up. Rounding out the bottom of the ranking with 631 points from JD Power is Comfort Inn’s sibling brand, Choice Hotels, a parent company with a reputation for offering wildly different experiences from one site to the next.[8]
Reviewers describe specific maintenance failures rather than vague dissatisfaction. Quality Inn offers a free continental breakfast, Wi-Fi, and comfortable rooms, but some locations may have issues, such as stained linens, leaking ceilings, and unpleasant odors, which may make you think twice before booking.[4] The chain’s own description in the industry press acknowledges this unevenness too, noting that Quality Inn often struggles to compete with higher-rated budget chains, resulting in mixed reviews from travelers seeking value for money.[3]
Extended Stay America
Extended Stay America caters to travelers who need a room for weeks or months at a time, which makes ongoing maintenance and pest control especially important. Unfortunately, that’s exactly where the brand keeps drawing criticism. Extended Stay America has a 1.6 star rating from 274 reviews on PissedConsumer, with frequent customer complaints about dirty rooms, pests, and unsafe conditions.[9]
Billing disputes appear to be a particular sore spot for long-term guests. Reports of unprofessional staff, rude front desk behavior, and mishandled refunds or billing show up repeatedly, alongside recurring complaints citing poor customer service and cleanliness, with many customers requesting refunds for unauthorized or retroactive charges.[9] For a brand built around trust and stability during extended stays, that combination of pest complaints and billing confusion is a tough one to shake.
Wyndham Garden
Wyndham Garden sits in the upper midscale tier, designed with business travelers in mind, but the satisfaction data places it near the bottom of its category. With hotels mainly located in suburban areas and airports, Wyndham Garden offers a stripped-down version of Wyndham’s higher-tiered chains, and with a JD Power Index ranking of 643, it came in as the next-to-lowest-ranking hotel chain in a recent comparison of popular brands.[8]
The parent brand’s broader satisfaction scores haven’t been much stronger. Wyndham Hotels also ranked fairly low overall on the American Customer Satisfaction Index Travel Study 2025, coming in well below benchmarks on everything from entertainment to its loyalty program, with a disappointing 71 out of a possible 100.[8] Guest sentiment online has been blunt about it too, with Reddit full of unpleasant takes on the chain, including one user who wrote that “Wyndham, and every brand under its umbrella, from Wyndham down to Microtel, are DUMPS. Filthy, filthy dumps.”[8]
None of this means every property under these eight names delivers a bad stay. Guest satisfaction data and complaint volume point to patterns across a brand’s portfolio, not a guarantee about any single location on any given night. Checking recent, dated reviews for the exact property, rather than relying on the chain’s name alone, remains the simplest way to avoid an unpleasant surprise.
