Across the Country, America's Best Value Inn offers affordable, clean, and convenient lodging accommodations. As someone who travels for work 200+ days a year, ABVI is often my last minute resource for a room, especially during busy convention seasons. That said, I'm still scratching my head about this place... Drove up, parked outside the office, and noticed that the owner/manager family lives on premises, in a unit behind the front desk and also in the back of the motel. No one was at the front desk so I rang the bell. As young woman walks out, holding a conversation on her cordless landline phone, looks at me without smiling, and says, "Yes?" "Good afternoon, I'm checking in please." "Name?" I told her my name, she begins typing on her computer while still talking on her phone. As she hands me my room key I ask, "I understand you're undergoing renovations. Is this room away from the construction and quiet?" "What?!" she replied, a cold blank stare, and then back to her phone conversation. "Is the room quiet?" "They're all the same! Go down the path to your right!" and with that she walked back into the managers quarters and closed the door. As for the room, it was newly renovated but unfinished. I liked that there were toiletries, a refrigerator, microwave, and decent wifi. Pros- -Renovated rooms that are slightly falling apart -Relatively quiet -Super close to the freeway -Budget minded pricing Cons- -Consistently unfriendly staff (on two other occasions I asked for help but never got it) -Parking sucks (one night 4 commercial trucks parked in the guest spaces in front, taking up 2 parking spaces each) -Limited housekeeping staff -Little/no security and at night the parking lot, street outside, and paths are completely dark Seriously, this was no "The Best Bang For Your Buck". It wouldn't be my first or second choice of places to stay in the area. For $20-$30 more per night I'd recommend the "Holiday Inn Express", located directly across the street! read more

See all

This is now Muir Woods Inn. We booked online and had an issue with it coming through but the owner was understanding and helpful. He asked us our floor preference and gave us a great room; the view was gorgeous (see picture)! The room was well maintained, possibly even recently redone. Beds had comfy white comforters and white shutters let in the right amount of light. We saw the breakfast counter when we checked-in and thought it was the typical cereal/milk, donuts, and coffee, but was pleasantly surprised when we came down to hot eggs, sausage and pancakes also. On top of all of this, the room was well priced and the family who owned it was super helpful. If you are staying from out of town, Mill Valley is a cute town nearby to get something to eat (something the owner told us about). read more

No good! Got here after driving 500 miles and had to sit and wait for the room to be cleaned. The employees don't speak very good English and were hard to understand. Also it's on a very busy street. No stars! Noisy at night! Sounds like the people upstairs are going to fall through the ceiling. I want to stay somewhere else tomorrow night. This place is no value. read more

See all

Was so worried about the accommodations after reading some of the negative reviews. Was pleasantly surprised. The hotel interiors have been recently remodeled and the beds are new, along with new flooring, fixtures, and locks. Pros-remodeled interior, price, location, big tv in room, all rooms have fridge and microwave. Cons- outside has not been remodeled, construction crews are noisy, smelled like smoke with cigarette butts everywhere. Staff are not friendly but that's fine with me. read more

This place is the worst! I went to check in and I rang the bell, out comes an unfriendly women and as she closed the door behind her I hear yelling and crying( maybe a husband and child?) As I'm going to my room I see a very dirty exterior... little messes around of equipment and garbage. Then the room! Dirty, smelly and in general no place I would willingly stay. Smells like dogs and dog poop. Dirty like pull back the sheets and see a bunch of random hairs. I called down to the office and got a man that was so rude and kind of threatening. I got out of there. Most terrible hotel I have ever been to. read more

They need to hire an exterminator. I found a tick on my young daughter's head while helping her shower and also found a large giant spider on the curtain with me when I was trying to shower the next morning. Bed sheets were not washed and there were large strands of hair on the sheet that did not belong to any of us. Management's children were also running around on site and almost got ran over while I was trying to park; thankfully we were driving slow enough to brake in time. No amount of renovation will hide how tacky and disgusting this place is to stay. I feel like I have to burn my clothes and luggage and scrubbed my skin down with lye to get this repulsive feeling off my body. I typically like to support mom and pop establishments, but this establishment has no business running a hotel/motel when they can't do basic things like wash the linens. Avoid this place like the plague. read more

Don't stay here! I was laying down and noticed a bug crawling next to me. Determined it was a bed bug. I then pulled the bed away from the wall and there was an entire colony of them. I was then moved to another room. I inspected it for bed bugs and it seemed ok. Ten minutes later a cock roach comes out from under the bed! read more

Americas Best Value Inn - Hotels Near Me - Mill Valley, California

See all

And then later on last night, we found out the a/c & heater is not working either. And the hot shower was only like a little warmer than body temperature. So we literally were freezing. And today after work, we asked them to check the room. They switched us to another room. We were happy for a while that the drama is finally over. Then~ I got bug bites right away after I sit on my bed for a min.... read more

Checked in at 8 pm. Was greeted by one of the female family members (think they are from India). Seemed perturbed by me interrupting their family tv time when I came to the front desk. She asked me how much my room was for my reservation. I looked at her like huh? Then said it was a certain price and I told her I was quoted around that price. I saw to the right there was machines and canisters that looked like breakfast was served in the morning. The lady said no more go to a restaurant in the morning if you want breakfast. I asked where the nearest breakfast place was and she said Dipsea. I asked if she knew what time they were opened and she said 5 am. I said really? What place opens at 5 am? She said that they do??? So now I'm upset. Then I asked if our room was upstairs. She said no on bottom floor. I asked if there was anymore rooms available upstairs. She said you check in late...you get that room. I asked if there was anyone above us she said no. I got woken up at 4:15 am by someone walking back and forth for the next hour. The floors must be hardwood/laminate upstairs because it was so loud You could hear everything. I think the customer service by the lady was very rude. Stayed in room 108. Will not ever go back. read more

Now called Muir Woods Lodge; This was an accidental find on Booking.com, the location was close to Sausalito as we could get and the most convenient location to get to Muir Woods, Stinson and Bolinas and the coast, a ferry ride from Sausalito to San Francisco. Our room was clean and comfortable, I did have to call the desk to ask about how to turn the shower on, but the water was hot, and the room was clean and there was coffee in the rooms. The people at the desk were super helpful and it was a great price for this area. read more

The room was depressing and dirty -- and according to the employee who checked us in, it was the best room they had. The room stunk! Stuffy! No ventilation at all. The housekeeper didn't provide towels; we called for towels and were told to come to the front office to get them. The concept of service was completely absent. We checked out early and the hotel staff told us they couldn't refund our money ... we had to do so via the American Best Value Inn website. We tried but the site said to speak to the staff at the hotel. The staff had to call a help line ... in the end we got our money back. Way over priced! I would never stay there again - nor would I recommend anyone else stay there. read more

Got to my room and it smells like dog poo and the manager starts yelling at me when I call to complain about it telling me I can leave at 11:30 at night total jerk talking about how he trust his house keepers because they would tell him if it smelled . My answer to that is stinky people don't know they stink and in San Rafael people should know if they're room they are renting smells like dog poo ! No wonder this place has 2 stars and to be quite honest the manager has his priorities wrong Talking about how his business is doing good because he's sold out , what he's doing is getting in a business that cares nothing about customer service because there is a shortage of hotels . Total jerk !!! read more

This place is a hole. The rooms are bad. The service was horrible. The floors were filthy. The laundry machines were outside.

This is a nice average motel for those looking for something convenient and off the freeway .... The staff was very very nice and asked me many times if everything was ok. There is a lot in the area and a very nice walking trail for those like me who go I on early mornings or any time of day for that matter. Room was great, front and back entrance, big nice balcony along the front, big comfy beds, good pillows, clean newer furniture .... You can tell they are definitely trying hard to clean this place up and update the rooms considering how bad some of the previous reviews were ..this place is a lot better an previously mentioned and the staff was very friendly will definitely use this motel when I come to the area:) read more

NOISE FROM HEAVY TRAFFIC only 100 feet in front of rooms. Minimal parking & no parking at all for anything larger than car or pick up trucks. Room was recently refurbished nicely but who cares if you can't sleep due to HEAVY noise. Earplugs mandatory. -------- Update: I returned home and began breaking out in insect bites on my arms, back, and neck. I did see a review where someone claimed "bed bugs." I think that's what has happened to me. My room was refurbished & appeared clean, but I now have itchy bites immediately after leaving the hotel. read more

Do yourself a huge favor and DO NOT stay here. Worst costumer service in the history of costumer service. Much nicer hotels across the street and in the area without front desk jerks acting like they are doing YOU a favor! I'm embarrassed for them. read more

Stole my money I paid for 4 nights via Expedia. I had a medical emergency so did not even stay for the first nigh. The manager told me she would charge just the first night. After 2 months Xpedia gave up and could not secure a refund. I actually went there and she lied to my face saying she never promised me anything. That's our policy she said. So here's my policy. I expect businesses to be true to their word or I warn others of what to expect. Be warned. In addition, the place is a depressing dump even at the price. read more

I don't know why there's so many bad reviews of this place. We stayed here for 1 night and it was really nice! Super modern and all updated, wall mounted tv, all kinds of channels, nice bathroom, comfy king size bed, and right down the road from the golden gate. Perfect alternative than staying in the city. Will be back again! read more

We love this hotel! The room is nice, clean, updated and conveniently located. It's our favorite place to stay! It's a great choice if you want to stay near Muir Woods and the Golden Gate Bridge. read more

This place is no value! BEWARE-THIS PLACE IS A DUMP: Priceline recommended this place and we paid for it, this is what we experienced. Our first room we entered wasn't made or clean, the manager apologized and was rude. The second room was made up but this is what we found: Bathroom had no vanity to set your things on, so you have to use a chair to avoid using the floor. A temporary door with a 1" space around it with a pad lock to a storage area was located in the hallway, we had no idea if another door from the outside led to our room, (personal safety is obviously of no concern to the motel). Forget any thing like Tissues or glasses to drink from, there we none. This place is like road kill, so take your chances. At the price Priceline quoted, We disgusted and felt we were honestly misled. read more

Upon check in we noticed shower was dirty with long black hair (we're blonde) & dirt in the bottom, the bath mat towel was wadded up, not folded on the shelf, only two towels for 4 of us & it's a room with 2 double beds, only about 1/4 roll of toilet paper, and no refills anywhere to be found, not even a box of tissues. The was tub was the worst, horrible, when my daughter got into the tub to shower she started calling me into the bathroom scared because she said the floor was moving. She turned off the shower to show me and floor of tub really was squishy and moving like a wave underneath her and it sounded like water sloshing around every time she moved her foot. If I could give negative stars I would. I DEFINITELY DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE! read more

The people at the front desk were unhelpful and rude, the night we got there the sheets had brown stains and when the front desk brought up "clean sheets" one set was even worst then the ones on the bed. The second day we left and came back around 10pm and the bed was not made, trash cans were full and they took the dirty towels and didn't bother to leave clean ones. Upon check out i complained, and the man at the front desk yelled at me, and said we were in the room all day. This is the worst hotel experience i have ever had. read more

Rosie u guys r the best! This place is a hidden jewel.. Idk what all the bad reviews r about but we took a chance any because the location and price was right for us. We were soooo pleased with this hotel. It has obviously been remodeled recently and they did a fantastic job! It was very clean, super cute, awesome decor and feels like home! I will stay every time I come to this area now. I hope the rates stay good! Thanks for an awesome stay! Jessica Lopez read more

This place has to be the worst place to stay. It's truly a dump and I would've preferred to sleeping car. I'll let the photos speak for themselves read more

See all

Ken at the front desk gave us excellent customer service. The rooms have been remodeled, and they have free breakfast and coffee in lobby.

I felt the need to defend this freeway motel a bit. I like to go see shows in Mill Valley and this is a great place to stay. It is old and crappy, yes, but if you try you can get a room for $40 a night. The bed was actually comfortable, the pillows were fine. The closet was big enough that we had a friend sleep in there with her roll out and they had their own room. This is not a "nice hotel" this is a freeway stop off. The rooms are huge with rear and front entrances. The walls/floor are thin, so bring ear plugs. We stayed 4 nights and I was totally satisfied. It's just a place to sleep after all. There's so much to do in the area, we were never there otherwise. If you're looking for a motel 6 grade place to stop off where you can get a really cheap rate (esp for mill valley), this is your place. If you want nice clean everything and new amenities, go pay $150 somewhere else and enjoy it! read more

This hotel is very poor. The room has holes in the walls and holes in the curtain. It looks like someone took a bat to the heater. The bed was comfortable but the springs were loud. The shower spit a tiny bit of mist at me making it difficult to rinse off. My wife pointed out that even though the bath towels didn't match, they were excellent for exfoliating the skin! We decided that pro wrestlers were fighting it out in the room above us it was so loud. Turned out to be a frail elderly couple. I'm quite surprised they didn't drop by, literally. read more

People here are being WAY too harsh on the place. I got a room for 2 nights and it cost $220. Rooms for one night in Right across the street were going for $275 a night. I don't know what they are expecting. The room was WAY cleaner than room that you usually get for that big of a price difference. To be honest, there was one big long black hair on the widowsill in the shower, and the bathroom sink ran a tad slow.......thats it about the bitching for the room. Other things, there is no pool, they give you an actual key for the room instead of a fancy card, and the Continental breakfast sucks because it's the worst coffee i've every had and there is no tables to sit down at. You grab a plastic wrap danish, a piece of fresh fruit and a tiny box of cereal and get the hell out of there. Was all of this worth a $330 savings? Hell Yeah! :) If you just want a place to sleep that is probably cleaner than your house and save a crap load of money this place is pretty good. read more

Let's start off with the big red flag in the front window. This place was red carded by the health department on 4/22/19. Apparently they didn't have a permit to serve food, but were serving breakfast to guests. My husband had already paid for the room so we opted to just stay. Not to say that I didn't complain and protest the entire time. I always check hotel mattresses because you never know (even the best hotels) and while I didn't find any bed bugs I did find an incredibly stained mattress cover and a blood stained mattress pad. SO I slept on top of the bedding. I discovered they wash their towels and linens in a coin-op washer and dryer located outside next to the vending machines. The rest of the room wasn't dirty. The sink filled with water when you used it and the faucet was loose. The shower was awful and the tub had no over flow device (just a big hole). When you shower (even with the fan on) it steamed the whole room and made the windows fog. The AC didn't really work either. The walkway upstairs is extremely uneven and if your not paying attention you could easily twist your ankle. And the metal right outside of our door was sticking up and jagged. Bottom line...don't stay here. There's a Hilton Inn Express right across the street read more

See all

This is not the Ritz, but the rooms are clean and well kept. There is road noise but if you are looking for a cheap place to stay and need to to just crash for the night, this place is acceptable. The rooms are big, fresh paint, bathrooms are clean and the bed is comfortable. I would stay here again. read more

We came here on a 3 day weekend and if we had the chance we will come back. It is not a ritzy joint but what do you expect for the cost. The room is on the 2nd floor and the room is decent size. We just used it to sleep as we went on to explore Stinson Beach, Muir Woods, and the beach. Too busy to notice the negatives. Close to Marin and Sausalito Counties and adjacent to the 101 so couldn't ask for more in terms of locality. For me SF was too crazy with congestion of cars and people. The parking is free too so you cannot beat that as well. They have little packaged danish with fresh fruit so that makes up for some of the negatives but too busy to muster on those till then adios read more

I've stayed in 100's, of hotel, this is bar none the worst of them all. Horribly above & beyond rude counter clerk, terrible customer service & a complete lack of ability to understand their errors, unwillingness to correct their errors. Attempted to double charge credit card & in reality they should pay guests to stay there read more

The manager was very very rude. Our room was dirty when we checked in so we promptly canceled it and stayed at the Holiday Inn across the street. read more

This was the most terrible disgusting hotel I've ever been to. The sheets were dirty. The locks were broken. The towels & linen were all stained and dirty. I felt gross to even be in the room. DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER!!! Avoid at all costs. I would have rather slept in my car!!! read more

The rooms are clean just could not figure out the TV set and how do I turn on the shower but once we figure that out the whole visit was good read more

Absolutely horrible motel; worst I have ever stayed at, and I travel a lot. Where do I begin? - locks falling off door (due to being forced open, no doubt) - windows don't lock (huge security risk) - no AC - screens ripped and flapping around - lampshades burned, torn, falling apart (one came off in my hand when I turned a light on) - FILTHY bathroom floor - scuffed, stained, cracked walls, door frames, etc - everything (remote control, fan, etc) covered in sticky goo How a business can exist, run like this, is beyond belief. And before you say "but it's cheap"......$129/night is NOT CHEAP!! AVOID!! AVOID!! read more

For the price we paid for this SMALL room, I would rather have stayed at a Motel 6. Seriously! The room was "brand new" -- meaning renovated -- with some serious flaws. The bed was high, which wouldn't have been a problem if there had been something besides a rolling desk chair on which to sit and tie my running shoes, etc. No place to put our suitcases but on the floor (I guess we could have put them on the large secretarial desk). No place to hang up clothing. No hooks in the bathroom. One of those crazy (but cool-looking??) sinks that is a shallow bowl with a high faucet that splashes everywhere. Sink drained slowly ... and it was new! Floors were bare wood laminate ... in other words not "warm and homey" at all. No rugs. The refrigerator was brand new and large, and there was a microwave and flat screen tv, so that was great, but the living space was so small and impractical that this was only a small consolation. For our purposes -- a comfortable place to lay our heads after a long day of hiking and sight seeing -- these things were a dismally small comfort. Make sure you communicate CLEARLY AND SLOWLY and that you DOUBLE CHECK your reservation AND receipt. We stayed 2 nights. If my husband had not checked about the SECOND night we were staying -- on the morning after our first night there -- we would have been up a creek. He had made it VERY CLEAR -- he's thorough like that -- when making the phone reservation that we would be staying 2 nights. He happened to ask a question about their policy IF we decided not to stay the second night, and this got translated as a 1-night-only reservation!!! Furthermore, if my husband had not checked the bill, he would not have caught that we were charged A LOT MORE than was originally quoted for the 2-night stay. The first night, at 10:30pm, as we were preparing for bed, I called the front desk to find out if there was any kind of a "music curfew" as we could hear loud music playing in the room adjoining ours. The language disparity came into view at this point (which, in hind sight, helped us to understand why they got our room reservation so wrong).The front desk lady didn't understand me and said they had "no music available". I explained in simpler terms and asked if someone could tell the adjoining room to shut it down for the night, and she said she would take care of it. Done and done. Whew. The place appears to be run by a family. We dealt with a husband and wife and a mother in law. None of them seemed to know what the other was doing (or HAD done, as was the case with the room reservation foul-up) and the language barrier was definitely a deterrent to a pleasant stay as we could not ask a simple question and get a simple answer. We are not high-maintenance people, just so you know ... but questions and issues do and did come up. One crucial issue for us is that we did NOT want maid service during our stay. Our reason for this is simply that we have had possessions stolen from out of our room at a previous small motel/hotel. We communicated our desire for NO maid service, gave our room number DIRECTLY to the proprietors -- there were no door hangers that we could hang, so verbally alerting them was the only way to do this. When we got back from a full day away, we were very disappointed to find that someone had come into our room to clean in our absence. I'm sorry to have to review this so poorly. The proprietors were very pleasant. The rooms were clean and tastefully decorated. There were nice amenities, as I mentioned (tv, fridge, microwave). The bed was comfortable. Perhaps they bought this place and got way in over their heads. At any rate, it was not a good experience for us, and we won't be back. read more

Very nice! Doesn't look fantastic on the outside but they are doing major renovations and our room is new and very nice! Only thing is there isn't a chest of drawers to put clothes away and only a couple hangers. But I don't mind that, also close to lots of food places. read more

Worst motel by quality and price. Some things broken and not very clean. It was 150$ a night. Many things broken or noisy. Room was huge, with kitchen and bed was ok. Freeway didn't bother even if it was near. Small breakfast included. read more

I read the reviews of others and was skeptical about staying here but it was a last minute booking and needed a cheap place to stay. I took a chance on this and glad I did. The rooms were just remodeled and look great. Very very clean. They did a great job remodeling it. There was a problem with our arrangement that was EXPEDIA's fault. The Owner/ Manager took care of it at no extra cost. The continental breakfast is typical. Nothing to brag about. The best thing is the coffee machine. I already book there again knowing I'm coming back up in a few weeks. Overall I was very satisfied. read more