DRIVE BY THIS MOTEL! For our sister's 50th bday we chose McGregor b/c sis had been to the area briefly, had wanted to return to see the sites & go shopping. We wanted the visit to coincide w/ the craft/flea market on St. Feriole Island to do more shopping. In April I made reservations to stay 2 nites @ Holiday Shores Motel. 2 wks before our trip I got a call that the motel had been sold. I asked the caller what she recommended. She said Village Motel. I checked out the web reviews, looked favorable, I called to reserve a room for June 18&19. What a mistake! Upon arrival to the room we were greeted by a strong damp musty odor. We thought it just needed aired out. The room was pretty tight quarters-no biggy-not nearly as nice as the pictures. We turned on the small window air conditioner believing this would help remove the dampness & smell. We checked the beds for bed bugs, found no signs-kinda wished we had, as we would have left immediately. Our room had 2 queen sized beds that sagged in the middle, were hard & uncomfortable. The mattresses were the old, very thin kind that reminded me of our dead grandmas old bed-minus the wire springs. NO mattress pad-GROSS! Mattresses even felt damp. The sheets might have been white & not see thru at one time or they might have been gray, not really sure. The underside of the bedspreads were stained.Now we come to the dingy gray towels that may have been white when new. They were stained, had a burnt, greasy smell to them. The towel hanging on the back of the bathroom door was able to stand up on it's own as if still on the hook. A sign in the room had 3 different prices that were charged for the room, when I asked the manager about this he said "it depends" gave no further explanation. For heaven's sake depends on what-gender, age,level of hotness kind of vehicle, time of day, wind blowing or not? After looking over the room we left to get some dinner & find another motel for the next nite, we had decided to suck it up for one nite since we saw no signs of bugs & it had running water. We were sure that having the air conditioner running would solve the dampness and musty odor. WRONG. When we returned it still smelled & we all woke up with headaches. The following morning I went to the office to check out & get my money back. I was told the man I needed to talk to was sleeping. We left to find some breakfast & returned around 9:30. The manager refused to give me my money back for a nite we were not going to stay. I wasn't asking for anything more or anything less than what I thought was fair although their website plainly states "satisfaction guaranteed". After giving him examples of why we were not staying a 2ond night his demeanor told me he didn't believe us. He asked why we didn't turn the heat on to get rid of the musty smell--it was 80 freaking degrees outside that's why! Also in his condescending manner he insinuated the headaches wer woke up with ere due to "something else". OK, to be honest there was a lime-a-rita can in the garbage, which 1/2 of it was poured down the drain b/c it was warm! I was refunded $43. I had paid up front as required: $75 x 2=$150 plus $18 in misc charges(12% is a pretty high tax rate-won't be buying anything in McGregor if I ever return). We did not stay a second nite, so I paid $125 for a sh**hole room. I do not think this was fair & told his so, but I was tired of arguing. One of my sisters asked other guests as they were packing their car if they noticed a smell in their room. They said yea & were glad they were leaving. My final trip in McGregor was to the Chamber office. I wanted someone to know how disappointed we were & how we were treated by this manager. It is a shame as experiences like this give small towns & small businesses a bad name. Two side notes: #1 all of our unworn clothing that we had with us still smelled like that room 2 days later. #2: The Village Motel website claims satisfaction guaranteed, that is a bold-faced lie. read more