FREEBORN SUITES — Hotel in Albert Lea

Very nice and accommodating staff at this locally owned motel I would happily stay at again as long as it continues to beat or closely match the rates of their competition.

They do allow pets. There was a $10 nonrefundable cleaning fee (they asked for cash if possible because the $10 goes directly to the additional room cleaning costs they pay to the cleaning company). Whatever they are doing with that $10, it is working because when I walked into the room, I couldn't tell if a pet had ever stayed in there.

While I can see how some may feel the motel could use updating for decor reasons, it was very clean and I really thought it was cute. It looks dated, but everything is well maintained so I loved the feel of the place. You'll see what I mean if you go to their website and look at the rooms. I had a single bed, so my room was more spacious than the double (at least from the look of the pictures). It seems like a single is the same size room without the extra bed, which was great for the dogs to run around a bit as they had been stuck in a car for SEVERAL hours with only a brief potty break when filling up for gas. The website barely shows the carpet and doesn't show the bathrooms at all in their room pictures, which I know makes me nervous and skeptical about any place I'm considering, BUT both the carpet and bathroom were very clean and well maintained too. The were no odors to the room, and the Google description as well as information on the website are all accurate.

The rooms are non-smoking, but they will give you an astray for smoking outside of your room. They even encourage you to leave the astray outside so they can tend to it for you and to keep any tobacco product remnants out of the rooms.

The only negative I have that is also mentioned in a a previous post was that a train goes by at 2 AM. If you look at Google maps, clearly it goes by all the hotels, but I think the tracks run by Motel 65 more closely than any of the other places.

While this last paragraph is a bit of a story of my night, it is important to convey how special this place is because this paragraph is another reason why I would happily stay at this place again. The appropriately named storm system "Goliath" was forcing several vehicle off the roads (literally as well as figuratively) in the Iowa/MN area. My car got stuck in the entrance way of this motel trying to get into the parking lot (I almost got stuck at a couple of stop signs/lights as well as in a couple snow drifts on the interstate, so it was NOT because the motel wasn't trying to maintain their lot. The motel was trying its best as everyone was that night, but everything basically was shutting down due to the severe weather.). There were two people from the motel working on the parking lot when I tried to pull into the lot. When they saw my car wasn't able to move, they came down and literally dug my car out. I was just out of the street when I was stuck, but with so many people running off the road and/or getting stuck, the motel wanted to be sure to help get my car out to get it to a safe place where I could easily get out in the morning. I was so appreciative of this and can't thank...

I cannot give a good review, and cannot describe the condition of the room due to never making it to a room. As I'm speaking with the seemingly nice lady at the front desk I let her know I'm traveling alone with my dog, no problem as the Google said pet friendly. She immediately asks what kind of dog I have, I tell her an old English bulldog. Her demeaner then changes and asks if it is a "Pittbull" which I respond no. She then asks if it "Looks like a Pittbull" I say no, at least I don't think so. She then states that she doesn't allow pitt bull or any dogs that resemble them. I love all dogs and that mindset pisses me off but I continued with check in. As I'm filling out the info card I hand her my CC to help speed things up. She runs my card for the amount of the room and then proceeds to write my name and CC number down in that big calender book that old school places still use. As I'm watching her do this, in disbelief, I ask her why shed writing not only my card # but expiration date and the 3 digit code off the back. She says that's standard for all guests. I look around the guestbook and see CC numbers all over the pages. It was then I asked her to refund my money and I need to see her cover my info up before I leave. I travel a lot and I have had to do this a total of twice. She asks why and I tell her I'm not good with my name and CC info sitting out in the open. She tries to say that no one but her has access to the book, not even the police, I then started reading off other people's info to her. Obviously anyone within eyeshot of that book can steel my info. Again she tries to defend herself stating, someone like her would never steal info for bad purposes. I'm sure she is an honest person but I'm certain not all...

Starting off by saying the owner is going to make it seem I was the problem this place is a complete disaster the manager has no idea how to run it she is a drama queen she loves yelling at her guest the rooms are fifty dirty water leaks windows are broken but the transits that come and go it was scary thank god I was only there til I found my apartment they throw the sheets n towels out on the ground go to Facebook I have pictures Please DO NOT STAY HERE keep going on. Everyone in town WARNED me get OUT as soon as you can , it’s NOT SAFE if you need to stay somewhere there is a motel next to Perkins good luck remember Kathy baits the motel looks pretty it’s not no towels nothing it’s empty cold but dirty oh so dirty NO just keep driving oh and I forgot the train it’s heavy it’s loud and it blows it’s horn LOUD just keep going happy travels. Now today I got a restraining order against me stating I harassed threaten her she is forgetting I have every picture of everything that happened she is running scared have every text w John there has been no threats but true statements please don’t stay at this hole every conversation has been recorded last attention travelers I have shared my experience traveling why wouldn’t this be...