Days Inn of Monteagle

It was a late, stormy night, we were tired, and there weren’t many hotels/​motels in the area so we decided to stop off at the Days Inn of Monteagle as we traveled from Augusta, GA to Colorado Springs, CO. I’ve stayed in alot of hotels in my time and this place is definitely at the lower end of the spectrum of comfort. I would have to agree with most of the issues raised by Joel S. The highlights of crappiness for us were: 1) the very uncomfortable, horrible, lumpy bed, 2) the drafty door that wouldn’t close tight so the wind made the door bang against it’s frame all night long (the interstate is very close by and it actually seemed/​sounded like we didn’t even have a door to our room most of the night!), 3) sparse towels, 4) the steps going up to the second floor were unevenly spaced and precarious, 5) the breakfast options in the lobby appeared to consist of two plastic sleeves of cereal (the containers scratched and old looking) — yuck, 6) the shower temperature fluctuated without warning, 7) the tv remote didn’t work but it doesn’t matter because there was no cable anyway. If you’re desperate, you could stay a night here and survive. I certainly would not recommend staying two. The positives: I can’t say it was unclean or foul. It was cheap.

My wife and I were meeting friends for a weekend getaway. They selected the hotel and we went along with them. I didn’t have high expectations and even basic expectations were not met. I could probably make this sound a lot worse with some good story telling but let me just stick to rattling off some facts.
There was a lot wrong but the most offensive things to me were what I learned when I reported that the toilet ran continuously to the maid and that the fan in the bathroom didn’t work. I try to be good about reporting things since every hotel can have something broken. No big deal normally. What I heard from the maid was that the owner was cheap, tried to fix things himself but was not qualified, has her — a small woman — move large CRT TVs and refrigerators from room to room, and doesn’t buy bleach to use with the laundry. YIKES! That’s pretty bad and unsanitary. But it gets worse. She feel and hurt herself while working and was told not to go to the doctor so the insurance wouldn’t go up. That is morally reprehensible and, I suspect, a labor rights violation.
Here are the bad things we encountered:
+ The property is poorly maintained. We had a running toilet, nasty looking tub and surrounding tile, and a broken bathroom fan. Our friends were in a room with a broken heater and had to move after one night. Hair dryer in our room did not work.
+ Our friends second room had a door that even the maid said was impossible to open. It took multiple tries and up to five minutes. Usually throwing your shoulder into it helped. It was next to ours so we suffered through it. When we checked out, the maid asked us to leave it open.
+ Lobby area was not well lit and at breakfast time, just did not look appealing. Well it actually looked abandoned.
+ Female staff was in pajamas at breakfast. Male staff was wearing silk boxer shorts.
+ Bed covers beside couch in breakfast area. We now know where they sleep. :(
+ Breakfast was legally there. I know not to expect much but it needs to meet some minimum standards. Cold coffee. Waffle maker with no batter. On Saturday, no more than 6 danishes and 3 packs of frozen sausage and biscuits. On Sunday, a storage container with 2 danishes and no sausage and biscuits. Juice dispenser looked like it was turned off. No fruit. White bread and toaster but nothing but jam to put on it. Some cereal (did not try it) but milk was hidden and you had to ask for it. We drank coffee but went elsewhere to eat.
After checking out, I read other reviews and I don’t know why this location has a franchise from any chain. It is subpar by any chains standards.