Econo Lodge Inn & Suites Albuquerque East I-40 Eubank Exit — Hotel in Albuquerque

This place is years away from higher star status, but that said, it's not a bad place to stay for a night or two. The drawback, however, comes in the form of the weirdly dictatorial staff that oscillate between lackadaisical and obsessive.

Also, as it seems with any motel or hotel in this discount stratum, there are the bizarre fees and deposits stacked on top of the per night costs. This place had a fee I've never seen before: a $5 charge per key card not turned in at the time of checkout. And it would turn out that those keys, and their functionality would cause me a nontrivial amount of heartache during my one night stay.

My buddy and I checked in around 8pm, and after getting our two keys, we parked and used the external stairwell to access the second floor. This is where we learned that only one of our two keys were working. Once we got to the room, we confirmed that yes, only one of the two keys gave entry to the room. I called the front desk and asked them if they could simply make a new functional key ready for me to trade out for the nonworking key. I was told no, I'd need to come down with both keys. So I did.

A woman (who did not check me in) took both keys, unsmiling, wordlessly and swiped them through a device, then handed one back to me. "You can use this one," she told me. "It works." "Yes, however, I need two keys." She sighed heavily and used body language making it clear this was a burden, but she then handed me a second key. "Here you go," she said, sliding the key to me and retreating from the glass portal over the front desk.

I took the internal stairwell back to the second floor (no elevators here, btw). When I got to my room, I tried first one key and then another, and now neither key worked. I tried multiple times. Luckily my buddy was there and let me in. I was somewhat irritated, and decided I would take a video of both keys not working. So I wedged a shoe in the door to keep it from locking closed, then my buddy and I stepped into the hallway. He used my phone to film while I slowly rubbed each key all over the entire surface of the door lock. Both keys rapidly triggered the blinking red lights and the soft triple buzz sound that is the universal signal for THAT KEY WON'T WORK.

Satisfied, I looked at the video to make sure it captured the experience, then my buddy and I went into the room. There were things I needed from my car, and my buddy wanted sodas, so I went back downstairs.

The man who checked me in was back, along with another gentleman, perhaps maintenance staff. I told them now neither key worked. They said I was mistaken and that "your woman" (I'm not kidding) probably just had the deadbolt on, as it would cause the KEY NOT WORKING red light & beeping.

I explained it couldn't be the deadbolt every time b/c "we were both outside the room when I filmed both keys failing." I offered to show the video, but the man who checked me in grew strident. "No video. We will go upstairs now and I will show you both keys work."

It sounded like an order. "No, we won't go upstairs right now. I came downstairs to get stuff from my car, and to get sodas. After that, if you want to follow me to my room, that's OK."

I reentered the lobby with my car items to find the men glaring at me. "We went to your room. The keys work fine. That fellow up there had the deadbolt on."

"I'm sorry. You went to my room? But we just talked about what I wanted you to do."

"Yes. It was the deadbolt. We told you this."

It wasn't the deadbolt. Not recommended.

Also, 2 old sodas in fridge. Ich.

UPDATE: (1) Of course the other occupant had the deadbolt on. Any guest would. That doesn't explain keys not working while we were both outside the room, without the deadbolt locked. (2) My main issue is with you ignoring my clear instructions to wait and go to the room with me, after ordering me to work on the keys with your staff. I'm a customer, not...

Do not pre-book at this hotel and ask to see your room first. You can hear everything in neighboring rooms, very thin walls!! ||||We pre-paid online for a king size suite and after check in around 10pm, our neighboring room had 6 very loud teenagers partying (it looked like they were occupying 2 rooms but decided to hang out next to our room). We asked the hotel clerk to be moved to another room that wasn't directly next to this rambunctious group (we didn't care that they were loud, we just didn't want to share a wall with that room). The hotel clerk said yes she would change us to a different room with 2 queen beds upstairs and we said great, that's perfect... then after waiting a few minutes for her to check other room availability, she said she wasn't authorized to switch our room!!! Instead, her solution was to call the adjacent room (after we told her that wasn't necessary and we just wanted a different room) to tell them to be quiet. ||||At this point, we didn't feel comfortable staying next to the loud group, especially after they watched us unload our car directly into the room next to them and clearly knew we were unhappy with their noise level. We're still working on getting a full refund for a room that we never stayed in (we did receive partial refund but we're currently out $100 because of this fiasco). We just wanted a good nights sleep and to save a few bucks by booking here but instead wasted an hour of our time and had to find another place last minute. ||||We ended up booking at Nativo Lodge... only $50 more per night with excellent rooms, very safe and VERY quite. Save your time and book somewhere else and avoid a...

First of all the staff is very friendly and accommodating! We had a complicated stay that they were able to take care of. The outside looked freshly painted and in good repair although you could tell it was an older building. The inside had an off odor but not totally disagreeable. Our room was on the 2nd floor, no elevator, has interior hallway. Breakfast was a subset of your standard serve yourself hotel breakfast-2 cereals, muffins, milk, juice, coffee, bananas, make your own waffles and obligatory tv tuned to a am news show all in a small crowded room. The hallway was FREEZING but the room was comfortable. Seemed like the a/c was turned to blizzard even when it was 65 deg outside. The room was big enough for the 3 of us but not much maneuvering room. No closed. They had a small rack with clothes hangers about 3 feet above the desk, Very awkward place to hang clothes that were ironed with the supplied iron and irong board, which by the way, was hung on the wall next to the desk. The sink area and bathroom/shower areas are separate and very small. The bottom of the tub made noises while walking in it. The light took a few minutes to "warm up" to full brightness. There is an included microwave and mini fridge for your use. The beds have a metal skit that moves around and makes noises also when you move around on the bed. Hope it didn't transmit to the people...