We were looking for a place to crash for a few hours on our way down to Orlando. We had stop in a previous city that was booked solid due to events in the area so we headed further south and stopped at a Super 8 - they only had a smoking room but they recommended their "sister" hotel, the Howard Johnson in Valdosta stating that it "was very clean and would meet our needs." It was very inexpensive and we didn't expect 5 star, but this was ridiculous!

Check in was quick and easy (guess when you have over 50 rooms open on a Friday night) and we got a room with two double beds. The first thing we were greeted with was the horrendous odor, which seem to come primarily from the bathroom....smelled like backed up sewage. NO JOKE...my husband walked across the parking lot to the gas station/convenience store and purchased one of the smelly pine car odor items and hung it from the bathroom rod to help mask the smell.

They still have beds with the nasty, old (and ugly but that doesn't matter) and stained bed spreads. The sheets had some stains and burn holes as well. My girls and I slept on throw blankets of our own that we placed on top of the sheets and used our own pillows.

Dust galore...so warning if you have allergies...my daughter (10, who loves watching Hotel Impossible) went to touch the top of the paintings and they were caked in dust and one of the paintings had a huge crack down the center as well. My husband moved the TV as well - tons of dust and some odd red stains underneath.

Sign on the back of the door says "Days Inn" but seems to me we were at a Howard Johnson's! (Minor detail but something that doesn't take much effort).

To avoid the smell for a while I wanted to sit outside but there were no chairs available so I took the stained chair from the room outside to sit and read and have a drink.

Pool area did look nice but the HJ store front area was a joke! According to my husband and kids, who visited the area on Saturday morning, HJ's convenience store it looked like a complete dump and looked as if someone puked in one of the areas on the floor and it was never cleaned up. They had signs hung up warning people "if you break it, you buy it..." etc. but some of the words were misspelled...funny more then anything but again the lack of cleanliness, not so funny.

In the end, my husband kept saying, "you get what you pay for." NO, NO, and NO...I have done many road trips and paid less for rooms - from mom and pop motels to chain motels/hotels, the room were basic BUT CLEAN!

This review could have been different if a little effort was put into the room, but after watching maid service for a while the next morning, I'm not surprised....a lot of standing around, smoking and on cell phones.

Right off of I75 . Front desk friendly and rooms were clean. Good value for the price. Swimming pool looked good but I did not get in. Stopped for one night on way to Florida and was great for our needs.