Hallmarc Inn

This is a small and old two-story motel with exterior corridors. It's cheap and well located so it does fill up. However, the overall condition of the property and the fact that reservations are tentative at best here means this is a place I'll avoid in the future. We had planned to stay here for a quick overnight on a drive from Minneapolis to New Orleans. I had called and made a reservation several days in advance, and had given our expected arrival time as 10pm (the hotel has 24 hour check in). We were late getting on the road, so I called the hotel in the early evening on our arrival day to tell them we'd be getting in a little later than 10pm. I was glad I called -- they told me that tornado relief workers were staying in all available rooms and that my reservation had been cancelled. The woman on the phone confirmed that they did often cancel reservations without notifying guests and that this caused frequent problems. No matter -- stayed in a different hotel that night. On the drive home, we needed to make same-day hotel arrangements and the Hallmarc lined up well for our needs, so I called and asked if they had rooms. They did. I made a reservation, gave our expected arrival time when they asked, and double checked that the room was fully guaranteed based on my previous experience. They said it was. An hour or two before my arrival time, the hotel called me to ask if I was really coming, because they wanted to give the room away to someone else. I said that I was indeed coming and asked them to hold the room for me as they promised. When I arrived at the time I had originally told them, they said they were full but then did find my reservation and did have an open room for me. The woman working at the desk was sour about the whole situation, saying "You're lucky my manager wasn't here or we'd have given that room away hours ago, we never hold any room open past 8pm." The room itself had several issues: spilled liquid on the nightstand that had not been cleaned, a comforter pockmarked by burn holes and nicotine stains (in our "non smoking" room), a bathroom door that someone had clearly kicked a hole through which had been clumsily repaired with putty, stains and grime everywhere, a big spider lurking in the bathtub, an unidentified brown glob in one of the bath towels... the list goes on, but you get the picture. Some websites list this hotel as offering free breakfast, but that has been discontinued and the former breakfast room is being used as a storage area. I would think that the hotel might take down or cover up the "Free Breakfast" sign on their main sign pole, but no, it's still up and brightly lit at night. This hotel is an example of what happens when the property owner stops investing money back into the property and just tries to profit while things deteriorate. There aren't good excuses for the amount of disrepair we saw. I'd drive at least an hour further to stay in a different hotel in the future. We did sleep well