Joy Motel

I looked at the reviews for the Joy Hotel before I booked it for 5 nights. I knew it was old and being renivated, but the price and location was perfect for my needs… I only needed a place to sleep and shower since my plans were to enjoy the sights. I was in room 8. Had a front and back door… spent evenings sitting out back overlooking the wooded area. The manager was very nice and made me feel very welcome. My bed was comfortable and room was clean… I would definitely stay again. Only downside was the pool… it had been drained but wasn’t a big deal for me.

At first I wasn’t going to review because I’m told this is the only hotel with vacancies when events come. :) I was in Eureeka Springs for my first time for the Fat Tire festival, Eureeka Springs is BAD ASS! There were only about 5 other rooms taken, all by other mountian bikers. Joy motel had just hired a new manager I thought she was the owner at first because of how invested she was, she was super sweet, nice, and helpful. Well after reading the reviews I was half expecting to find a dead hooker in my bed when I opened my hotel door… what I did find was your typical older motel. There was a TV with cable, a bed with some old but clean sheets, a clean old bathroom, so to sum it up it’s an old Motel. From what I gather talking to the manager some of the lower floors had a mold issue and that led to allot of the reviews, I thought the room was fine. Would I stay at the Joy again HELL YEAH! If you’re trying to impress a girl on a romantic weekend not the best option, otherwise it’s a cool Motel.

On my recent trip to Eureka Springs, I was saddened by the service and condition of the Joy motel. My room reservation had been changed from one of the nicer balcony pool view rooms to accommodate a bachelor party of 21… they took all 12 of the better rooms. I was then told by the manager that my husband and I plus another couple would be in a two room suite for a lower price. He also told us it would be a great set up for us and we’d have a beautiful wooded view. And! He really pimped out the pool «the largest pool in Eureka». Flash forward to our arrival… the suite was obviously very old and having stayed in one of the nice rooms 10 years ago, I knew that we were being screwed. Our TV didn’t work, phone didn’t work, no table in the room, no trash can in our room, our window didn’t have a lock… a sliding glass window mind you, our air conditioner was from a bygone era and sounded like a turbo jet engine, mattresses were compressed and floppy, shower/​bath was dirty… looked like off colored dried paint but I would not take a bath… shower only… the ash tray on the balcony had not been emptied, and there was a nasty pile of towels and sheets on the ground below our wooded mountain view. Plus, there were pentagrams drawn onto the bottom of one of the mirrors. That could be disturbing to the right person. The biggest disappointment was the pool… green and nasty! Why the owner didn’t address this head on and apologies or offer a discount, I shall never know. If you stay here, which I would not recommend, ask for a balcony pool view room and don’t accept anything else.