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It seems like the newer hotels/motels are completely omitting balconies, or aisle balconies, and it's getting harder to find them at a reasonable cost, perhaps due to potential litigation issues, city zoning laws. The older Motel 6's (not the newer ones) and many other older ones have those aisle balconies where you can roam around the entire facility on the outside of the 2nd floor. Love it, love it, love it!!
In some of the bigger cities today, they can be very hard to find, but thankfully they still have some older motels from the 50's/60's that are still around, and many have been rehabbed, like my favorite in L.A., the Royal Pagoda Inn, in Chinatown. $160 I paid last time, but well worth it!
One reason is I still smoke occasionally, and so many hotel chains today have eliminated smoking, and I'm not about to take the elevator to the lobby, and walk outside, go 40-50 feet away to smoke.
But even if I wasn't a smoker, I'd still stay at these places, as I get claustrophobic in these hotels with hermetically sealed windows. And to think they slap the label of Luxury on to so many of these glass towers!
A rooftop deck would be even more picture perfect, but where art thou, unless you pay a steep price for it!
Got spoiled traveling around South/Central America with an abundance of balconies and roof top decks, and at bargain prices.
How about you? Anyone else get claustrophobic in hotels with hermetically sealed windows? Anyone still seek out the older rehabbed motels when traveling?
It seems like the newer hotels/motels are completely omitting balconies, or aisle balconies, and it's getting harder to find them at a reasonable cost, perhaps due to potential litigation issues, city zoning laws. The older Motel 6's (not the newer ones) and many other older ones have those aisle balconies where you can roam around the entire facility on the outside of the 2nd floor. Love it, love it, love it!!
In some of the bigger cities today, they can be very hard to find, but thankfully they still have some older motels from the 50's/60's that are still around, and many have been rehabbed, like my favorite in L.A., the Royal Pagoda Inn, in Chinatown. $160 I paid last time, but well worth it!
One reason is I still smoke occasionally, and so many hotel chains today have eliminated smoking, and I'm not about to take the elevator to the lobby, and walk outside, go 40-50 feet away to smoke.
But even if I wasn't a smoker, I'd still stay at these places, as I get claustrophobic in these hotels with hermetically sealed windows. And to think they slap the label of Luxury on to so many of these glass towers!
A rooftop deck would be even more picture perfect, but where art thou, unless you pay a steep price for it!
Got spoiled traveling around South/Central America with an abundance of balconies and roof top decks, and at bargain prices.
How about you? Anyone else get claustrophobic in hotels with hermetically sealed windows? Anyone still seek out the older rehabbed motels when traveling?
Precisely the reason I would never stay in the type of establishment you describe.
Well, I guess just one of the reasons. It seems that severely outdated places like that tend to be rented out by the hour or by the week more often than on a nightly basis.
I am not a smoker and I do not like those kind of motels, to be honest. There may be some very decent ones but the most of them where I used to stay were dirty and run down, the balcony was often windy, one had to carry suitcases up there with no elevator and so on. Often, bed linens were dirty and there were many dogs barking around.
A nicely managed Holiday-Inn Express, LaQuinta Inn or whatever is enough for me. I do not want any smoke coming in my face when I leave the room.
Last edited by Douglas Dakota; 11-26-2016 at 06:17 AM..
Given all the Motel 6's I've stayed in over the years, because I've oftentimes brought a pet along (Motel 6 is the most pet friendly motel chain of them all), for no extra fee, and I've never run into a poorly managed one yet! All have been very clean!
Yes, I do look out for the motels that have monthly, daily, weekly rentals, but I stayed in one in OR, and another one in Durango, CO, on a trip, and they reserved a section of the motel just for tourists, and it was picture perfect! And I don't mind at all chatting with the permanent or semi-permanent residents.
And, yes, I'm well aware at some hotels, even with balconies, they do not allow smoking, even on the balcony, like the Signature Towers at MGM in Las Vegas.
Exterior corridor motels have come to be seen as less safe in recent years compared to interior corridor hotels where everyone who wants access to room areas generally has to go past the front desk at some point. I know many women who won't stay in exterior corridor hotels because of that while they're traveling alone.
This is a known thing in the hotel business and newer properties are built with that in mind.
I rarely stay at the lower-end older motel-type places. But I do travel with a smoker and balconies can definitely help because I refuse to stay on a "smoking floor" - they're very rarely available anyway.
But at nice hotels when I'm on a higher floor to see the city, mountains, beach, etc. I REALLY like having a balcony to catch the breezes and relax taking in the view. I paid extra to get a fountain-view room at the Bellagio in Vegas and it was well worth it to see the shows - it looks totally different from above than the street and is gorgeous at night. So I'll pay for a balcony or a view if there's something worth seeing (so not a 3rd floor view of a parking lot!).
I love balconies but prefer middle range motels that don't allow smoking. I'm not a motel6 fan because the beds are always so uncomfortable. LaQuinta is pet friendly and much nicer as a whole. I don't like the sealed windows but it's not a deal breaker, all depends where you're staying. Depending on location I've done anything from camping to 5 star resorts but make sure to read the reviews first. We stayed in an awesome motel like you described in sonoma several years ago.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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I like balconies and especially enjoy my flr 66 and flr 65 rooms in Singapore, facing the Merlion / harbour, and above the soccer (Futball) and cricket fields. Sunrise over the harbour is wonderful, Free laser show every night.
After enjoying that for 28 yrs, they have locked out the balconies due to some 'Asia crisis' jumpers (crashing through the mezzanine and into the shopping center below.)
It seems like the newer hotels/motels are completely omitting balconies, or aisle balconies, and it's getting harder to find them at a reasonable cost, perhaps due to potential litigation issues, city zoning laws. The older Motel 6's (not the newer ones) and many other older ones have those aisle balconies where you can roam around the entire facility on the outside of the 2nd floor. Love it, love it, love it!!
In some of the bigger cities today, they can be very hard to find, but thankfully they still have some older motels from the 50's/60's that are still around, and many have been rehabbed, like my favorite in L.A., the Royal Pagoda Inn, in Chinatown. $160 I paid last time, but well worth it!
One reason is I still smoke occasionally, and so many hotel chains today have eliminated smoking, and I'm not about to take the elevator to the lobby, and walk outside, go 40-50 feet away to smoke.
But even if I wasn't a smoker, I'd still stay at these places, as I get claustrophobic in these hotels with hermetically sealed windows. And to think they slap the label of Luxury on to so many of these glass towers!
A rooftop deck would be even more picture perfect, but where art thou, unless you pay a steep price for it!
Got spoiled traveling around South/Central America with an abundance of balconies and roof top decks, and at bargain prices.
How about you? Anyone else get claustrophobic in hotels with hermetically sealed windows? Anyone still seek out the older rehabbed motels when traveling?
So much about travel has changed since the 1960's and 1970's when I grew up. You're basically referring to the old "motor lodge" model. Most motels in that day and age were designed for people traveling the country with their families in automobiles. On the ground floor, you could park your automobile right next to the door of your room. In the upstairs rooms, you had the open corridor with balcony railings Sometimes at night, travelers would come out on the balcony and talk with one another. These were days of cigarette smoking and often they would smoke and enjoy a beer with their neighbors. I remember in the summer the sound of the room air conditioners--usually stuck in the window of each room--humming.
These were days when we were still a pretty innocent country. Violent crime rates were climbing, but for many years many of us chose to ignore it.
It took horrific events like the rape of Connie Francis to get motels to pay more attention to security issues. Francis, a famous singer, was raped in her room by a man who had a pass key to the room. It came out later in a lawsuit that the motel had allowed literally dozens of people to have access to guest rooms.
Slowly the new motels began to incorporate construction that required one to access a building to get to any of the rooms. A pass key was required to enter the building through any door other than the lobby which was manned by a clerk 24/7. The new rooms are safer and more secure. Yet, something has been lost.
I nostalgically look back on my childhood. My family roamed about the western United States during the summer in a Dodge station wagon. We had no fear of bad roads, accidents, and least of all criminals. We were on vacation and we were invincible! At dusk, we looked for the big fancy Holiday Inn signs with the star at the top. Or sometimes the Travelodge signs with the sleepy bear. Than we'd check in to the old motor lodges and we all thought life didn't get any better than that!
Last edited by markg91359; 11-29-2016 at 10:16 PM..
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