Howard Johnson

Helping put a friend up for two weeks over Xmas/​new year, he was looking for bottom-​line budget and I was looking to avoid a Tom Waits video. This seemed best for the price, which starts at $ 42/​night on the weekdays – over fourteen days, after *all* taxes and weekend/​holiday upcharges, it averaged $ 72/​day. That’s where most basic places START in this town before taxes and weekends.
It was safe, very quiet (except for 30 minutes of one late night/​early a.m. hour with drunken students at the very end) and extremely convenient to the highway and local town. Most nights were totally silent so we were frankly shocked to walk out to an early-​morning parking lot that was packed full almost every sunrise.
Basically clean with consistent housekeeping while rough around the edges (chipped door, patched paint, scratched appliances). For the price, it was roomy enough and the sofa bed/​microwave/​fridge/​wifi were convenient. The hvac got a chance to swing both ways after a cold front arrived, and worked well when switched on.
Complaints: tv volume twitchy, fluctuating on its own from barely too loud to inaudible. Hvac noisy when set to off. Would appreciate more frequent toilet paper refills. Last is the only one that truly impacted.
Given the overriding price concern, he was very satisfied.
Plus, they posted a list in the office of restaurants open for Xmas eve/​Xmas day meals which I thought a kind and helpful gesture I have not received at much more expensive places.

I Cant say enough bad about the condition of our room and treatment by the management. But here it goes. We arrived around 7;00 pm checked in after being on the road for 7 hours in ice, I noticed heater was not working, so I called office and told the girl there. The room was about 50 degrees when we checked in. She came over and asked me to crawl under heater and jiggle power cord. I did this and we left and went to dinner to give room time to warm up.
When we returned we started to notice condition of the room, furniture etc. We called the clerk because we knew we wouldn’t be staying another night but they said it had to be cancelled by 4:00 pm earlier that day. As we endured the night we noticed the following in addition to the heater.1) Walls were stained. 2) Door frame coming out of wall. 3) Furniture stained, marked and broken. 4) Bath tub had a Jacuzzi that didn’t work which was fine we didn’t expect one but the tub was stained and the old parts had yellowed. we weren’t about to use it there was stuff stock in the jets. Looked scary. 5) There were three lamps and all the shades had cracked, holes and stained yellow (they were old plastic shades).
6) Hair dryer was falling out of wall. 7) All electrical plugs were loose in side walls .
Small fridge was old and thermostat corroded couldn’t figure out how to set it to get it to cool.8) Microwave was old and yellowed inside. 9) Bathroom vent light cover had yellowed and the filters were dripping filth. (didn’t look like they had ever been cleaned.10) The sink stopper pulled out and didn’t work. also when you turned it to cold it came out hot and when it was turned to hot it came out cold 11). Mystery stains on coach arm.12)Room Décor was not welcoming, orange bathroom and orange bedroom. The list can go on and on. I wish I could submit pictures, we took a lot.
I have contacted customer service and I am in process of filling formal complaints but to top everything off they charged me for the 2^nd night we didn’t stay there and had left around 10;30 am. Another customer comments said he paid $ 46.00 they billed me $ 149.00 for a room we were never in and refused to refund me my reward points I used for the first night. The $ 149.00 wasn’t even the price we had accepted when we made the original reservations. What a scam artist. I doubt we will ever stay in a Howard Johnsons ever again.
I would strongly suggest the manager contact the TV show «Hotel Impossible» to get some help with this situation, so no one else has to endure a night in This Hole.

For what we needed, I have to say this hotel delivered on what we expected. Low cost and clean. The room was maintained well enough and for what we paid ($ 46 for one night) it wasn’t a bad bargain. That said, there were some issues that made our stay less than perfect.
First, is the highway noise. The hotel is right next to I-​35, and we knew that going into the night but still the room didn’t seem very insulated, so the noise levels were bothersome. Just be informed that if you are sensitive to noise in the night, you’ll be affected by the highway proximity.
The other was the bedding was fairly low quality, so informed travelers might do well to bring their own extra pillows and check the condition of the insulating blankets.
That said, the hotel was a safe respite for a one-​night required stay and fit our criteria for low cost. We likely wouldn’t stay again just because of the noise issue, but if you need a low-​cost, no-​frills, clean stay, this hotel fits that bill.

After spending the afternoon in Austin, I was looking for an inexpensive place to stay that was close to Wimberly. This place was perfect! I ended up paying around $ 60 after tax for a room with flat screen tv, microwave, mini fridge, desk and couch with pull out mattress. The room was very clean and the AC worked perfectly. I definitely recommend this hotel for anyone looking for a hell of a deal on a super clean and comforting place to stay. I would comment on the breakfast but I was so tired from the night before that I woke up late… Again this is a highly recommended place to stay and only about 45min from Jacob’s Well!

I agree with the other reviewers. It’s not very nice, but it clean and safe. Our room was $ 70 a night, as it was family weekend so supply and demand got the best of us. Still worth it though.
My only annoyance was that you have to get on the feeder and drive pretty far down to u-​turn and come back around. I remember the days when the feeder used to be 2-​way right there and you could get there a lot quicker.

I could pretty much just copy and paste what the last reviewer said.
Basically it’s a clean comfortable place to stay for $ 40 bucks a night. Can’t really beat that.
Comes with a breakfast, room is clean, bathroom is nice enough with a fan that works (take THAT fancy Marriot in Washington DC).
Comes with a fridge and microwave.
Really close to town and that’s rad.
Free WiFi… can’t beat that.
Cons…we got in at 1am and my GPS couldn’t find the address. And the gal working the front desk did not answer the phone cause she was sleeping. YOUR GPS WILL NOT FIND THIS PLACE. Apparently this is a common problem. Get directions first!
Every time we leave the room they turn off the AC so it’s hot as balls when you get back in. I guess they’re trying to save money? But the AC does work really well, and fast, so it’s more just weird rather than a problem.
The water in the room never really got cold which was sadpants when I went to get a drink at 3am. Also the water tastes like ass in this town, but that’s not really the hotel’s fault I guess.
Building is obviously older and has seen much wear.
But for $ 40 bucks a night… well it’s A LOT nicer than most $ 40/​night places I’ve stayed at.

The upside: My hotel room was $ 40/​night. There was a free continental breakfast with waffles, cereal, juice, and coffee. The room was clean and bug-​free. The AC worked great and the bed was comfortable.
The downside: The room was outdated with peeling paint. There was a baseball-​sized hole in the bathroom door.
The bottom line: My hotel room was $ 40/​night and I slept well and safely.