7 ms·

The Great Roadside Motel Comeback

49 points by ecliptik 6y ago

blt 6y ago
No Schitt's Creek mention? I wouldn't be surprised if that show inspired a few real-life motel renovation projects.
- bryanrasmussen 6y ago
  reading it, really does seem like Johnny Rose's business plan brought to life. And really I guess in every organization doing this someone must be familiar with the show, I would think creative marketing ideas / tie-ins might pop up.
- throw0101a 6y ago
  The actual motel is for sale: * https://deadline.com/2021/03/schitts-creek-motel-on-sale-for-1-6-million-but-theres-a-catch-1234723441/ https://deadline.com/2021/03/schitts-creek-motel-on-sale-for... * https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/owner-of-real-life-schitts-creek-motel-plans-to-sell-property https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/owner-of-real-life...
neaden 6y ago
There's nothing in this article about if this is a comeback, there is nothing here about year to year bookings, or sales of motels, or anything. Just that some influencer friendly motels are being renovated.
- magwa101 6y ago
  One word, "marfa".
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
  The implication is that someone wrote up a business plan in order to borrow money, made an argument about the near future state of the market that included expansion, and this was bought by the lender(s). Not iron-clad by any means, but not absolutely nothing either.
esaym 6y ago
I remember traveling from Texas to Florida back in 1997 with my family to go to Disney World. We stayed in motels all the way and I remember the signs out front saying $25 per night. I never stayed in a motel/hotel since then until 2010 when some friends and I were planning a road trip. Trying to figure a budget, I figured if I paid doubled the rate I was familiar with for a motel ($25), that we could live like kings. So I asked everyone if our daily motel/hotel budget was around $50 per night and got laughed at pretty bad. Then I did some research and was absolutely shocked.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  Those days are long gone. Also, governments around the country recognized they could raise taxes on a certain population that cannot vote against them. So now, hotel taxes everywhere are 15%+. I laugh when Oregon claims to have no sales tax, and yet hotel room nights have 15% sales tax. Also, no government/populace is going to approve new construction of cheap motels that could invite drugs and prostitution. So the only new ones have to be ones that cost $5M+ to build. Close to $10M or more in any popular area.
  - noahtallen 6y ago
    > I laugh when Oregon claims to have no sales tax, and yet hotel room nights have 15% sales tax. I mean, let’s be fair. No sales tax is extremely nice when buying almost anything, including cars, computers, groceries, furniture, etc. I think it’s pretty great! I’d rather have no sales tax across the board and then a handful of individual items with higher tax.
    - jpindar 6y ago
      New Hampshire is like that - no sales tax on most things, but there is tax on things like hotel rooms, restaurant meals, gasoline, and, in effect, liquor (since you can only buy it in state owned liquor stores). Tourism is one of New Hampshire's main industries. Is it a coincidence that these are things often purchased by tourists? I think not!
cecilpl 6y ago
Today’s new motels are often branded as “boutiques” and charge four-star rates to match that kind of exclusive service and local experience. This is ridiculous... The idea of a "motel" is to be cheap. I'm not too fond of this article. It wasn't well written. Nothing great about it. Some chain hotels purchasing old motels and rebrand them. Whatever.
- ceejayoz 6y ago
  > The idea of a "motel" is to be cheap. The term just means "motor hotel"; a hotel oriented at motorists, usually with an external-facing door for each room. Even in their heyday, there were cheap ones and nice ones.
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  This is part of an ongoing trend of things from the 80s and 90s being rebranded as upscale for millennials who only have fleeting memories of it or family stories about it. Millennials now have real jobs and real money now so there's money to be made by turning things from that time period upscale experiences for them to relive with nostalgia.
  - Syonyk 6y ago
    Millennials now have real jobs and real money now so there's money to be made by turning things from that time period upscale experiences for them to relive with nostalgia. See TV/Hollywood. :/ Tons and tons of remakes. Some are decent enough (the 2017 Duck Tales was solid), but they're pretty clear cash/attention grabs...
- afavour 6y ago
  It's not really that ridiculous. Clearly the previous business model wasn't working well in the 21st century, so people are innovating.
  - kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
    Boosting profit margin with price hikes isn't innovative.
mewse-hn 6y ago
Ah young people with money, surely a grand business strategy
pram 6y ago
IDK how most of these are considered motels. Lone Star Court, for example, is basically located in a Mall and it isn’t cheap in any sense. Is it just because the doors open to the outside? Really?
- solarmist 6y ago
  Yup. I think so. My understanding is that enclosed hallways is the differentiating factor. The other thing that goes along with that is a lack of common areas and services (except housekeeping and maybe a pool)
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  Yes, no interior hallways and exterior facing doors such that you can go straight from your motorcar to your room = motor hotel = motel.
JohnWhigham 6y ago
A bunch of these (if not all) are overpriced soulless cash-ins aimed at milliennials. Nothing to see here.
at_a_remove 6y ago
Certainly in the city here, the very last motels and motor courts have a rather terrible reputation, known to law enforcement and EMT alike, though perhaps foreign to fumigators. Further out, though, along the faded remnants of Route 66, you can see any number of ghost motel properties. Some appear shockingly well-kept. Others I have watched decay until finally bulldozed into plots of dirt which hopefully await a gas station. I do prefer a motel over a hotel: less distance to travel when hauling luggage, a bit more private, which I suppose contributes to that "seedy" reputation. It's just a shame they still seem to cost almost hotel prices.
- throwhalflife 6y ago
  It'd be an interesting challenge to make Breezewood, PA cool again.
- GavinMcG 6y ago
  It's interesting that you associate motels with more privacy. In a motel I feel as though everyone knows exactly where I am, whereas in a hotel while I may run into people in the hall, they often won't be able to match me with my room. Hotels also seem to have fewer rooms with the parking lot and sidewalk right outside your window.
  - fshbbdssbbgdd 6y ago
    In a lot of hotels, getting to your room requires walking though a lobby that’s attended by staff and where there might be other visitors milling about. If you bring an additional guest to your room, those people might notice. In a motel, the door to your room is probably facing a parking lot. It might be visible from the street, and less private in that sense, but there’s less possibility of somebody noticing who entered the room vs. who checked in.
  - nwatson 6y ago
    In Brazil and probably many other places a "hotel" is a reputable place of lodging to which you might take your family, a "motel" is where you go for whatever you might consider "illicit amorous encounters." I just found a book [1] that purports to explore the nature of motels in contemporaneous Brazil. "..., continuam situados em um espaço liminar, associado à transgressão. Como o modelo de motel norte-americano - um simples hotel de beira de estrada - transformou-se em love hotel ao chegar ao Brasil no fim dos anos 1960?" ... "[motels] ... continue occupying the fringes, associated with transgression. How did the model of the North American motel - a simple hotel by the roadside, transform into a 'love hotel' when it arrived in Brazil at the end of the 1960s?" Might be an interesting read, I always was curious about that as a teen. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Motel-Brasil-Antropologia-Contemporanea-Portugues/dp/6581060054 https://www.amazon.com/Motel-Brasil-Antropologia-Contemporan... ... "Motel Brasil - Uma Antropologia Contemporanea"
shekispeaks 6y ago
A similar article from CA-California’s New Era of Roadside Motels http://www.californiaweekendmag.com/california-boutique-hotels/ http://www.californiaweekendmag.com/california-boutique-hote...
RaceWon 6y ago
I have Vastly different and Very fond memories of Motels from my teenage years: firstly with my future soon to be ex-wife; and later some of her "surrogates". Just sayin.
peanut_worm 6y ago
Last time I stayed at a motel there were fleas in the bed, a toenail clipper in the couch and a cigarette burn through the wall to the outdoors. It was like $80 too. Think I will pass.

49 points by ecliptik 6y ago

blt 6y ago

No Schitt's Creek mention? I wouldn't be surprised if that show inspired a few real-life motel renovation projects.

bryanrasmussen 6y ago
reading it, really does seem like Johnny Rose's business plan brought to life. And really I guess in every organization doing this someone must be familiar with the show, I would think creative marketing ideas / tie-ins might pop up.
throw0101a 6y ago
The actual motel is for sale: * https://deadline.com/2021/03/schitts-creek-motel-on-sale-for-1-6-million-but-theres-a-catch-1234723441/ https://deadline.com/2021/03/schitts-creek-motel-on-sale-for... * https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/owner-of-real-life-schitts-creek-motel-plans-to-sell-property https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/owner-of-real-life...

neaden 6y ago

There's nothing in this article about if this is a comeback, there is nothing here about year to year bookings, or sales of motels, or anything. Just that some influencer friendly motels are being renovated.

magwa101 6y ago
One word, "marfa".
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
The implication is that someone wrote up a business plan in order to borrow money, made an argument about the near future state of the market that included expansion, and this was bought by the lender(s). Not iron-clad by any means, but not absolutely nothing either.

esaym 6y ago

I remember traveling from Texas to Florida back in 1997 with my family to go to Disney World. We stayed in motels all the way and I remember the signs out front saying $25 per night. I never stayed in a motel/hotel since then until 2010 when some friends and I were planning a road trip. Trying to figure a budget, I figured if I paid doubled the rate I was familiar with for a motel ($25), that we could live like kings. So I asked everyone if our daily motel/hotel budget was around $50 per night and got laughed at pretty bad. Then I did some research and was absolutely shocked.

lotsofpulp 6y ago
Those days are long gone. Also, governments around the country recognized they could raise taxes on a certain population that cannot vote against them. So now, hotel taxes everywhere are 15%+. I laugh when Oregon claims to have no sales tax, and yet hotel room nights have 15% sales tax. Also, no government/populace is going to approve new construction of cheap motels that could invite drugs and prostitution. So the only new ones have to be ones that cost $5M+ to build. Close to $10M or more in any popular area.
- noahtallen 6y ago
  > I laugh when Oregon claims to have no sales tax, and yet hotel room nights have 15% sales tax. I mean, let’s be fair. No sales tax is extremely nice when buying almost anything, including cars, computers, groceries, furniture, etc. I think it’s pretty great! I’d rather have no sales tax across the board and then a handful of individual items with higher tax.
  - jpindar 6y ago
    New Hampshire is like that - no sales tax on most things, but there is tax on things like hotel rooms, restaurant meals, gasoline, and, in effect, liquor (since you can only buy it in state owned liquor stores). Tourism is one of New Hampshire's main industries. Is it a coincidence that these are things often purchased by tourists? I think not!

cecilpl 6y ago

Today’s new motels are often branded as “boutiques” and charge four-star rates to match that kind of exclusive service and local experience. This is ridiculous... The idea of a "motel" is to be cheap. I'm not too fond of this article. It wasn't well written. Nothing great about it. Some chain hotels purchasing old motels and rebrand them. Whatever.

ceejayoz 6y ago
> The idea of a "motel" is to be cheap. The term just means "motor hotel"; a hotel oriented at motorists, usually with an external-facing door for each room. Even in their heyday, there were cheap ones and nice ones.
throwaway0a5e 6y ago
This is part of an ongoing trend of things from the 80s and 90s being rebranded as upscale for millennials who only have fleeting memories of it or family stories about it. Millennials now have real jobs and real money now so there's money to be made by turning things from that time period upscale experiences for them to relive with nostalgia.
- Syonyk 6y ago
  Millennials now have real jobs and real money now so there's money to be made by turning things from that time period upscale experiences for them to relive with nostalgia. See TV/Hollywood. :/ Tons and tons of remakes. Some are decent enough (the 2017 Duck Tales was solid), but they're pretty clear cash/attention grabs...
afavour 6y ago
It's not really that ridiculous. Clearly the previous business model wasn't working well in the 21st century, so people are innovating.
- kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
  Boosting profit margin with price hikes isn't innovative.

mewse-hn 6y ago

Ah young people with money, surely a grand business strategy

pram 6y ago

IDK how most of these are considered motels. Lone Star Court, for example, is basically located in a Mall and it isn’t cheap in any sense. Is it just because the doors open to the outside? Really?

solarmist 6y ago
Yup. I think so. My understanding is that enclosed hallways is the differentiating factor. The other thing that goes along with that is a lack of common areas and services (except housekeeping and maybe a pool)
lotsofpulp 6y ago
Yes, no interior hallways and exterior facing doors such that you can go straight from your motorcar to your room = motor hotel = motel.

JohnWhigham 6y ago

A bunch of these (if not all) are overpriced soulless cash-ins aimed at milliennials. Nothing to see here.

at_a_remove 6y ago

Certainly in the city here, the very last motels and motor courts have a rather terrible reputation, known to law enforcement and EMT alike, though perhaps foreign to fumigators. Further out, though, along the faded remnants of Route 66, you can see any number of ghost motel properties. Some appear shockingly well-kept. Others I have watched decay until finally bulldozed into plots of dirt which hopefully await a gas station. I do prefer a motel over a hotel: less distance to travel when hauling luggage, a bit more private, which I suppose contributes to that "seedy" reputation. It's just a shame they still seem to cost almost hotel prices.

throwhalflife 6y ago
It'd be an interesting challenge to make Breezewood, PA cool again.
GavinMcG 6y ago
It's interesting that you associate motels with more privacy. In a motel I feel as though everyone knows exactly where I am, whereas in a hotel while I may run into people in the hall, they often won't be able to match me with my room. Hotels also seem to have fewer rooms with the parking lot and sidewalk right outside your window.
- fshbbdssbbgdd 6y ago
  In a lot of hotels, getting to your room requires walking though a lobby that’s attended by staff and where there might be other visitors milling about. If you bring an additional guest to your room, those people might notice. In a motel, the door to your room is probably facing a parking lot. It might be visible from the street, and less private in that sense, but there’s less possibility of somebody noticing who entered the room vs. who checked in.
- nwatson 6y ago
  In Brazil and probably many other places a "hotel" is a reputable place of lodging to which you might take your family, a "motel" is where you go for whatever you might consider "illicit amorous encounters." I just found a book [1] that purports to explore the nature of motels in contemporaneous Brazil. "..., continuam situados em um espaço liminar, associado à transgressão. Como o modelo de motel norte-americano - um simples hotel de beira de estrada - transformou-se em love hotel ao chegar ao Brasil no fim dos anos 1960?" ... "[motels] ... continue occupying the fringes, associated with transgression. How did the model of the North American motel - a simple hotel by the roadside, transform into a 'love hotel' when it arrived in Brazil at the end of the 1960s?" Might be an interesting read, I always was curious about that as a teen. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Motel-Brasil-Antropologia-Contemporanea-Portugues/dp/6581060054 https://www.amazon.com/Motel-Brasil-Antropologia-Contemporan... ... "Motel Brasil - Uma Antropologia Contemporanea"

shekispeaks 6y ago

A similar article from CA-California’s New Era of Roadside Motels http://www.californiaweekendmag.com/california-boutique-hotels/ http://www.californiaweekendmag.com/california-boutique-hote...

RaceWon 6y ago

I have Vastly different and Very fond memories of Motels from my teenage years: firstly with my future soon to be ex-wife; and later some of her "surrogates". Just sayin.

peanut_worm 6y ago

Last time I stayed at a motel there were fleas in the bed, a toenail clipper in the couch and a cigarette burn through the wall to the outdoors. It was like $80 too. Think I will pass.