Motel 6 Phoenix, AZ - North Bell Road — Hotel in Phoenix

Heavily question 1 star ratings!

Have traveled quite a bit to many cities and states for sporting events and other leasure road trips where have stayed in hotels/motels in the economy category but nothing quite like this one. Thought nothing could be worse, but this one beats others.

Stayed at this location early March 2024. Arrived very close to midnight after a 6 hour drive. Traveling as a family.

As soon as getting off I-17 onto Bell Rd, there was a noticeable amount of transient pedestrians. Some crossing the street against a red light, regardless of traffic. Had to wait for them to cross against my green light.

Pulled on to motel parking lot. Noticed female in shorts smoking right in front of lobby entrance accompanied by an armed guard. Turns out, the female is the receptionist.

Parked and noticed cars with multiple people smoking and "hanging out". Felt a bit apprehensive as we were watched getting things from my car as well as having to leave other things behind.  I felt car and belongings may be at risk, not to mention my family. Thankfully nothing happened in our stay. Perhaps thanks to armed patrol.

Checked in and got room key. Moved about the walkways heavily stained black from foot traffic and likely cigarrette ashes. People smoking outside their rooms right in front of the doors. Some hanging out with pets, bicycles parked right outside the rooms as well.

Got to room and first thing that hit upon opening the door was the immensely heavy cigarrette smoke smell impregnated in the room. We can usually tolerate some level of smell, but this was nothing we could bear. Had a caughing fit. Left door open to air it out, but forget it, no difference. To add to that, room looked like it had been ramsacked. No TV, just cables dangling and empty hanging frame.

Notified reception of room status. Was told no room should have smoke smell. As for TV, maintenance was scheduled to install one very soon.  Noticing my disappointment, was offered a refund. This is mignight and tired after a very long drive. Also, needed stay for couple of days, so not much of a choice anymore.

Was then offered to check out a different room, so I did. In the new room, the cigarrette smell was lower, but still very high. Brought and used a can of ZEP (smoke odor eliminator) which I have used in other locations where it helped. Took about 30 mins of airing out and spraying.

There was a TV on this one. Needed for entertainment as traveling as a family. Broken TV remote and no actual TV cable service. We ended up casting our own stuff to TV for entertainment. The sheets on the bed had shoe marking and burn holes in them as well as a pillow case. At this point, second room, forget it, "we had made our bed" so to speak.

Red splatter stains on the wall. Decided to just look away and ignore. Bathtub had cigarrette burn markings. Seemed someone probably smoked while taking a bath and used the tubs rim to put out their cigarettes. Purposely broken smoke alarm, probaly nobody wants to be inconvenienced with the alarm going off. The landline phone is just there only for decoration.

The next morning, the cigarrete smell was again increasing. Found cigarrette butts in sink and tub drains. Removed and sprayed again. Still didn't help much as smoke permiates the premises from residents smoking outside rooms.

Sleep was minimal. Mattress had deep hole, no padding, and broken springs.

Ended up with⁹ stuffed sinuses the whole time we were there. Left with a cough that would not go away for a long time, still remains.

Overall, this place is for "long term" residents with economy accommodations. Does not make sense why our rates were still high given the population it seems to serve.

Staff was cordial and attentive. Armed guard patrol noticeable and appreciated. We consider this our worst stay by far based on environmental factors.  Hopefully this helps in your decision to stay or not at this place. As for us, we would not recommend to anyone, no matter how desperate.

One last thing. Dont let the glossy glamourous...

Stayed here for 2weeks with my wife while we had some remodeling done at our home. We are not picky people we understand this is not the Hilton so don't expect the Hilton accommodations. However what we would have liked was to have the ACs turned on in our room. Not just our room but everyone's room. Apparently they shut the ACs off during the winter which is the most dumbest thing I have ever heard of in Arizona of all places. Upon entering the room we immediately felt the room was a bit warm. Turning the temperature on the thermostat down does nothing to change the warm air comming out of the vents. My wife and I would stand outside on the top balcony and smoke a cigarette every now and then. After chit chatting with a few other guess who pass by as we smoked our cigarette, it was confirmed everyone's ACs os shut off only the fan setting works. Called the front office several times and was told each time that a maintenance man would come by and never did. Tried to go down stairs to get some ice and lone behold one ice machine has a out of order sign and the other dose t work at all with no out of order sign on it. I walk into the office and I felt something i had not felt in days cold air. APPARENTLY THE FRONT OFFICE HAS THE AC TURNED ON AND ITS NICE AND ICE COLD WHILE HOTEL GUEST GET NO AC. I asked the young lady at the front desk whats the scoop on the ice machines. She said one hasn't worked since she started and the other one they unplugged it a few days ago and knows nothing on if it's broken or when will it work again.

The next morning my wife and I was smoking a cigarette on the front balcony getting some fresh air from the hot room. We see one of the housekeeping ladies bang really hard on someone's door on the bottom. The guest opened the door and the cleaning lady yells at them to shut the window the windows are not allowed to be opened. They then told her the rooms are hot the ACs don't work. That's when the cleaning lady told them we know the ACs don't work we shut them off, now shut the window now or check out.

This is absolutely inhumane I feel bad for the people tht have no choice but to stay here on a longterm stay. No ACs no ice from the ice machines can't open your window to try to keep cool. I sure feel bad for the people that have younger kids staying here. Rooms are so hot you sweat just sitting there watching TV. This is something I will make sure to contact the proper people to look into how this motel is being operated. Shutting the AC off in all the guest room yet keeping it on in the office, no working ice machines and can't even open your window to keep cool. I'm pretty sure. I will never stay here again. I will personally see to kt the ac for the poor guest still staying there. I understand that at night it can get a bit chilly outside however inside with no airflow it's hot. If the office e can crank the AC up front to ice cold then I don't see why paying guest can't...

We got to Motel 6 late, just before 11 pm. As I checked in, the staff was friendly enough. But when we got up to our room we were shocked. We had selected a "non-smoking" room, but it reeked of cigarettes. The door had apparently been kicked in one too many times and did not want to shut properly. The bedspreads, dotted with cigarette burns, were also covered with stains - not something we wanted to sleep in. We pulled them back to check the sheets and found them to be in similar condition. We're no snobs, but I just couldn't bring myself to force my family to stay in a room like that. My wife went immediately to the front desk to request a refund, as we were not going to stay. I took the bags back to the car as my daughter used the restroom. When I returned to the room for my kids, they told me I had to go to the front desk where my wife was. When I got to the front desk I thought for sure we were on trial. The lady that had checked us in was silent and standing in the back of the room, and the other woman was glaring at me as though I were guilty of something. The 'security' guard was standing by, as though to ensure I didn't do something wrong (instead of actually securing the property, as all sorts of strange acting people were roaming around). When I was rudely asked (accused?) why we weren't going to stay, I told her because the room stank, and the beds were disgusting. She informed me (very rudely) that we had been in the room for more than 10 minutes, according to our check in time (she had been in the office when I checked in), and that she didn't have to give us a refund - but she would do it, and they would just "never do business" with us again. That was laughable, since I could easily have just called my credit card company and disputed the charge, and we never expect to darken Motel 6's doorstep again - at least this one on W. Bell Rd in Phoenix - but we wanted to be polite and inform the desk of the conditions. After we agreed and left, my daughter discovered that she had inadvertently left her electric toothbrush ($100) on the sink when she had used the bathroom in the room, and we went back to retrieve it. The looks we received when we walked in were offensive, and we were told that there was nothing left in the room. The security guard finally went back to the room to double check, at our insistence, but he again told us nothing was there (we were not allowed to check ourselves). Worst hotel...