My mom and I recently traveled to Huntington, West Virginia to watch our hometown heroes, the…read moreLouisville Cardinals take on the Marshall Herd. Mom had lined up a hotel room for us weeks in advance, but the night before the game that hotel called to say they do overbooked and we didn't have a room. So Mom began a frantic search online to find us another room.
Huntington was pretty booked, as was most of Ashland, Kentucky. (Marshall is located in the tri-state area -- KY, WV and OH). Not wanting to pay $120 for a room, Mom found this motel just a few miles out of our way in Ohio. I believe the rate was $59 a night. Check-in is normally 11 PM but mom had called in advance to ask if we could check-in closer to 2 AM. The owner said that was not a problem, just to ring the bell when we arrived.
We arrived as planned, around 2:00 in the morning. The motel parking lot was fairly empty. The motel is definitely older, and there is evidence that a few people may live at the hotel as their primary residence. (Camp chairs, clothes and a stack of boots outside of our neighboring room).
The owner was quick to answer the ring of the bell. It was obvious that he too lives at the motel -- he was wearing pajama pants, the door behind the counter led into what looks like his kitchen and halfway through the check-in his wife walked into the kitchen, said hello and filled up a glass of water. This first impression felt strange, but somehow also charming, as us big city folks checked into this small, vacant feeling motel in the middle of nowhere.
Check-in was quick and simple. He said we were welcome to checkout later than 11am, since we were checking in so late. I thought that was nice. We asked about the advertised free wifi. The gentleman jotted down the Wi-Fi password, but then proceeded to let is know that the signal was not so good in our room, or any of the rooms on the non-smoking side. He mentioned that the signal didn't go through the walls so and it would be expensive to fix, but if we were staying in a smoking room on the other side of the parking lot we'd have really good coverage. This felt really disappointing. I tested the wifi in our room anyway, and he was right. It rarely connected correctly, dropped constantly and was slower than old-school dial up connections -- that is when it would even pop-up as a wifi network option.
Ok- so, the room. The rooms are definitely older. The small TV in the room was a 12-17 inch box style. We didn't turn it on, so I'm not sure if they even have cable. There was however a microwave and a mini refrigerator. I was disappointed that there was no coffee maker, and it didn't appear that coffee was offered in the office in the mornings either. That was a bummer, especially since there are zero coffee shops in this small town. The next morning we had to drive to Ashland to find a cup of coffee. (Which, sidenote, turned out to be great -- check out "Pour House Coffee").
The towels and beds were clean, and there was a really convenient electric outlet right by my bed so I was able to plug in my cell phone and keep it close. The pillows looked really lumpy, but that wasn't an issue since I'd brought my own. I was slightly disappointed that the only hygiene items offered was hand soap; no little bottles of shampoo or lotion. This was especially disappointing because I hadn't packed any thinking surely every hotel provides a small bottle of shampoo. The tile in the bathroom was sadly in need of some repair. As someone who has done quite a bit of tiling, I noticed that the grout lines had been squeezed over with caulk. This looks like, and is a really cheap and unflattering repair. I'd recommend the owners take the time to re-tile with something as simple as cheap white subway tiles. This would improve the look of the bathroom dramatically. And make it appear brighter and more clean.
After a long day of being in the car and attending a football game, I decided to ignore the dank-ness and pop in the shower. The water pressure was surprisingly good. I didn't run out of hot water and I didn't altogether hate showering in this motel. The stall was small and dark, but the water pressure made up for that. I have definitely experienced worse.
All in all, if you're in the area and you need an inexpensive place to rest your head and get a hot shower. This hotel would totally work for you. Make sure you bring your own amenities, some instant coffee and expect to use your LTE cell coverage. If we ever visit Marshall for a football game again, I wouldn't hesitate to stay at this motel. The short drive and the price make up for all those other minor inconveniences.
Pro-tip: the road leading to here is a small, one lane country road. Heading back toward Ashland there's a really sharp 90* turn right before the railroad track underpass. It's not clearly marked and would be super easy to speed down the road and realize the turn too late.
