Red Roof Inn Columbia, MO — Hotel in Columbia

I wish I had believed the negative reviews!!! DO NOT STAY HERE!!!

TLDR: This place is disgusting and a death trap. Pay the extra money, get a better room, and keep your family healthy and safe. The review is pretty long because this place is pretty awful, but condenses to "stay somewhere else, even if it's sleeping in your car."

For context, my partner and I frequently stay at budget motels, because, well, we are on a budget when traveling. Sometimes people are expecting a 2-3 Star hotel to be "fancy-schmancy" when it turns out to be a basic, (usually) clean place to sleep that doesn't have a pool or offer breakfast. Red Roof Inn in Columbia, MO is not one of those places - it is disgusting and dangerous. It is a death trap - BOTH rooms we were in did not have working smoke detectors, in smoking rooms, among other hazards - and it's a guarantee the smoke detectors will be needed eventually.

We had been driving about 12 hours, and it was after 11:00 PM when we arrived. I was a whiny, exhausted baby but I should I have sucked it up and found another place to stay or slept in the car.

The first room we got did not have a working smoke detector, the "murder lock" didn't work, there was dirty towel left hanging on the shower rod and there was obvious BLOOD on the walls (and probably the floor, door, bed, etc.) If CSI needed to investigate a crime in that place there would be so much DNA it would never be solved. This isn't even all the negatives - this review would be a mile long if I went into the filthy linens, walls, windowsills...

The scariest part was when I turned on the microwave, which was plugged into the same outlet as the mini-fridge, and massive sparks came shooting out (not just a "click" and the lights went out. The spark was at least 3 inches from the outlet. I wish I had a video or picture of it.) And, of course, the electricity went out. We let the manager know and she simply flipped the breaker in another part of the building, assumed the power was back on, and then disappeared. She never checked with us to make dure we had power. After looking for her for over an HOUR and arguing with her that the electricity was still off, she finally moved us to a different room. She, the other occupants, and we are lucky the room didn't catch on fire instead of just shorting the circuit. Oh, and the mini fridge door LITERALLY fell off when I jumped back after the sparking.

The second room, which I was too exhausted to take pictures of, didn't have a working smoke detector, "murder lock," or working TOILET. We just didn't flush because I was NOT moving again, honestly didn't care how gross that is, and was so tired I was crying like a 3-year-old who needs a nap. Just use the pictures from the first room for cleanliness - this room was a viral/bacterial breeding ground, too.

(Oh, and as an aside: the rooms didn't have nightstands, the remotes were missing batteries, the thermostat was broken in one, the drains didn't have catches (so do NOT wear jewelry if you brave taking a shower; and be sure to wear your 'shower shoes,') and the shower heads are absolutely coated with scaling...)

This place should be shut down... Do not even hope that the reviews are exaggerated - they are not. It would be better to sleep in your car than get hepatitis or burned alive...

I wish I could rate less than 1 star. Good luck dealing with the front desk. I want to make clear, this is only a complaint with the particular Red Roof Inn. I've actually never had a problem with Red Roof Inn before, though I don't stay in one of their motels as frequently as I used to. When I arrived, I was told there was a mandatory $100 security deposit I didn't know that in advance. I looked at my booking confirmation, and it is not mentioned, but, I looking at the Red Roof Inn site, it does, and it also shows on the Hotels.com site. but, MAKING the deposit wasn't my issue, getting it back certainly was, and it was not because they claimed I forfeited somehow, because they didn't. When I went to check out the next morning. she acted like she didn't know what I was talking about, then acted like she didn't know how to do it. I was worried I was going to be late for my training in town. Eventually, she said she would find out how to do it, and would text my receipt for crediting the deposit back to my card, later, and indicated it would be in the next hour. I reluctantly agreed, and went to my training session, which was until 6pm. I checked a few times to see if the refund was texted to me, and if I could see it on my credit card. I'm going to skip some details here. I did manage to get it refunded, after driving an extra hour and a half to turn around and go back. However I do not yet see it reflected on my Discover account Until Sunday March 30, 2025. (My reservation was for Thursday March 27, 2025) When I arrived, back at the motel, there was another person having the same trouble, and was just as disgusted as I was. The person I dealt with, the female, was very condescending toward both of us, even though there was a younger man working with the woman, at the time I arrived, I filed a complaint with Red Roof Inn headquarters, complaint number 408645 so I'm hoping Red Roof Inn will continue their investigation. I'll certainly never go back, And I would NEVER give my recommendation for that location to anyone who asked. Keith Fisher Red Roof Inn responded, but Google doesn't give me an option to respond back. At issue was much more about the effort that it took to get that refund, including having to turn around, and drive back almost an hour, so that my presence would persuade them to take care of the situation, which, it finally did. Also at issue was how the person acted, and treated me. There is noting that would sugar coat that, I stand by my complaint. I will never go to that location again, and now, I may have to consider not going to any RRI...

Tracie, the General Manager was very pleasant. However, the room I was provided was 2nd floor at the very end of the building, with all other rooms between the stairs and my room having been vacant. Not a huge issue, but feel like first to check in should get closest to the stairs, just for guest convenience. Minor issue, so let me get to the real issue.

The room was musty smelling and very small. The refrigerator door was dented, scratched and rusted, though appeared to be working well. One light next to the bed didnt work at all, and there was only one bedside table, where I feel in. King room, you need one on each side of the bed. Bathroom was so small, you had to step between the toilet and tub to even shut the door. AC wasn't very cool, even though i turned down to 64 and left for 3 hours, i came back to the room being the same temp as I left. There were no vending or ice machines in my building at all, only at the office, so i would have had to walk from my corner of the building, halfway the length of the building to the stairs (in the opposite direction) down the stairs and then back past my room and then the length of the first building just to get ice or a beverage.

And the coup de grace, bedbugs. As is normal practice for me (and should be for everyone with the resurgence of bed bugs), I always check for bedbugs in my rooms before getting in the bed. I checked the piping on the side of the bed closest the bathroom, and tons of black specks. Went to the other side and checked that piping and saw only a few, but they were there. Pulled off the sheet, bugs on top of the mattress is the quilting seams. Moved the mattress and immediately saw a ton of bugs, hair, dust and other nonsense on the part of the bedskirt that lays flat between the mattress and box springs. I took photos, then packed my bags and checked out. Again, Tracie was kind and offered a different room, which I declined based on this room's state of being, and she gave a full refund. She did say that nobody had reported bedbugs. However, of the rooms were cleaned properly once in a while and the bedskirt cleaned, housekeeping would have noticed, it was bad.

I lucked out and found a vacancy at another hotel down the street...but $20 cheaper with an elevator, vending machines on my floor, cold AC, room to move, no bedbugs and free breakfast. Please do not stay at this Red Roof Inn. There are much better and cheaper options...