I really wish I had initially paid attention to other reviews stating this hotel often books non smoking rooms but upon arrival will only give you a smoking room! I booked one night at this hotel months in advance for a non smoking room, planning to travel to charlottesville for the marathon/half marathon. I am glad I decided to call before traveling, as when I called to confirm I was informed I was in a smoking room and that this was 'unchangable' . The assistant manager told me that they have no way of knowing what kind of rooms they will have available until the day before. She also insisted my reservation could not be canceled or refunded due to the fact i had booked online. When I asked to speak with a manager, the assistant manager curtly told me I could not and refused to give me any information by which to get ahold of one. Thankfully my online booking company was able to change my reservation to a different hotel, but i was astounded....Be very, very wary.

I should start with the positive. The Super 8 Charlottesville is close to campus (10 min drive or so), the staff was helpful, and the cleaning people did a great job of cleaning the room, providing new soap and towels. Oh, and there was a big new TV.

The bad: The neighborhood and clientele were dodgy. The lobby was dingy, run-down and frightening, like something out of a bad movie. The hallways were lit with a sickly light and had ripped carpet and holes in the walls. The breakfast was a little pathetic, even for a motel 'continental" breakfast. The elevator stank (but was freshly sprayed with air freshener every AM). The room...well... the room had chunks missing from the floor, holes in the sheets, blanket, (note the singular), and bedspread, holes in the wall, streaks of dirt on the wall, the sheets didn't fit the bed, the old air conditioner had the cover off and it was laying on the floor, the rail with hangers on it was rusty, the furniture was chipped (more like, had chunks ripped off of it).

The sheets and bathroom did appear to be clean, but the entire place was so very run-down that I suspected they weren't - everything just felt dirty.

This place would be okay if you were passing through town and desperate for a place to crash for the night.

I was looking for a safe, clean, inexpensive motel. I checked hotel reviews and decided to give Super 8 a try. Here are the good apects of this motel: Seems to be safe, fairly clean, great rate ($50), very nice front desk staff, comfortable bed, breakfast very light with mini donuts, English muffins, coffee, tea, juice avail 6am-9am but I checked out before 6am and it was available. The not so good: noise inside and outside, even though my room was on the back side I heard loud car mufflers on Rt29 well after midnight (large street lots of traffic), conversations in the hall are easily heard in your room, towels are like thin sand paper, don't park on the back side no outside motel lights (or they don't work) just some light from other buildings, heat & a/c provided by a combined window type unit that dosen't work very effectively (I've seen these units in other motels and most work the same; not well) . This motel was about what I expected, it was OK for a night at $50 but probably would not want to stay much longer or pay much more.

I was more than happy with my stay. They had an adequate breakfast, nice TV's, and a great staff. I got lost on the way, and Stephen was able to direct me to the hotel with no problems. I will stay here again.