I vacillated between one and three stars. In the end, as my cousin pointed out, we paid a grand total of $116 for three nights, and shouldn't complain.
Ok, no *complaining*, but here are some notes which I hope future visitors (and also, motel management) will find useful:
- Despite the 3 big signs proclaiming "Phoenix Inn", this place is officially the Atomic Inn. Well, I guess it's technically both; they are saving up the $60,000 to replace the signs, but have put the new logo on everything from the lampshades to the room doors.
- However, perhaps those funds could have been better spent elsewhere, like on fitted bedsheets? Or, if you must go with flat sheets, iron out those pesky house-keeping problems so rooms are actually cleaned.
- I stayed for 3 nights right after Thanksgiving (Friday-Monday); the motel was solidly booked, and they had a major labor crisis. Two house-keepers quit, and their replacements weren't really up to speed. So our room wasn't cleaned once during that whole time; the last night, I picked up fresh towels and took out the trash myself.
- Jerry, the manager, was pretty contrite. I like the guy; he has way more tattoos than your typical motel employee, but seems genuinely invested in improving the motel (I think a number of rooms are being remodeled, some even with flat-screen TVs). I understand that hey, sometimes everything that can go wrong *does* go wrong. But, as I told him, a heads-up can go a long way towards placating your customer.
- Honestly, the other employees (besides the disgruntled housekeeping staff) seem way less competent than Jerry; they're cheerful but careless. I asked on Saturday morning if the lone bathroom towel hook could be fixed; when I checked Saturday night, the desk staff played the "no one told me" game. The maintenance guy then told me he would take care of it Sunday. Sunday night, my cousin and I bet on the chances that the hook would be fixed and the trashcan would be empty; neither of us liked the odds, and we were right.
- Look, I understand that for less than $40/night (thanks to stay-2-get-1-free), I should just be grateful that I got such a good deal for a relatively comfortable place to stay while exploring Death Valley. But for some reason -- maybe because the motel staff are all young and atypical employee demographic -- also, because the Atomic Inn logo calls out to my inner nerd -- I want them to do well. I want them to be that charming, local, funky place that woos travelers away from the generic Motel 6.
So my overall advice is to follow through on your promises, and communicate in advance if you can't. Don't say you serve breakfast, and then run out by 7:15 AM, or tell me that no one brought anything that day at all. Don't tell me my room has a flat screen if it doesn't. Seriously, I don't have a problem getting my own breakfast elsewhere, and I sure didn't come to Beatty to watch TV. It's just that I don't like getting wrong information.
Okay, now that I've gotten all that out of my system, let's reinforce the good points. You will get a clean and comfortable room -- the beds are actually really comfortable -- and it will be very easy on your wallet. True, you will be about 30 miles from the heart of Death Valley National Park, but you will pay only one-third (or maybe one-half) the cost of getting a room in Furnace Creek Ranch or Stovepipe Wells.
So ... while I probably will not return to the Atomic Inn, I would urge you, oh faceless Internet researcher, not to discard the Atomic Inn out of hand altogether. Give them a chance. And then go explore the wonders of Death Valley.