Stratford House Inns

This place looks really suspicious from the outside but once you get into a room, this place actually isn’t bad. The beds were made nice and looked clean. The A/​C blows cold. The room did have a little weird smell, but it wasn’t bad or anything. The thing I didn’t like was the shower head was pretty dirty with, I’m guessing calcium from the hard water or maybe something else. Also I couldn’t connect to the WiFi, even with the given password.

It’s time to admit defeat. I want to support local businesses, but when it comes to independent hotels… at least in Temple, TX… I must say ‘no mas.’ At the very least, I’m 0-​for-​2 in this town.
Things started off rather well. The Innkeeper was extremely personable and polite. (Since he was going back and forth with pizzas and children I’m pretty sure it’s his residence; hence, he’s The Innkeeper.) He asked me if it was just for me, and when I said it was he immediately lowered the price from $ 60 to $ 52. Ok, good start. See my superior negotiating skills, which are so evident that all I have to do is look intimidating and prices start dropping. «I’ve got a great room for you. I’ll put you in 2xx: king-​sized bed, Jacuzzi tub.» Great. I should have been a bit wary when he handed me the TV remote that apparently went to my room, because why are you rounding up the remotes? But whatever.
Side note: they were running a loop of some sort of weight-​loss infomercial on the lobby TV. Not sure what that was all about.
Open the door to my room… well, I wasn’t expecting the King Leisure Suite, but it was a bit dark in the décor. Otherwise, it didn’t look too bad. Flat panel TV, new refrigerator & microwave, a bit sparse, but otherwise ok. Threw my bags down & headed to set up at the Mayborn Center.
It was only when I returned to shower pre-​gig that I started scrutinizing. First, the sink was cracked. Not like a chip out of it, but actually cracked into 3 separate big pieces. It worked, it held water, but don’t you think you it might be a good idea to actually change it out?
The ceiling was coming down in the bathroom over the shower. Again, not in any danger of falling on my head, but there were big holes where the «popcorn» had separated from the drywall. I half expected a mouse to poke it’s head out.
Excuse me, Mr. Innkeeper? Can you not afford to hire a maid that understands that mildew should be cleaned off the tub? Is bleach prohibitively priced?
The «jacuzzi tub»? A normal tub with some blowholes the size of small howitzers. Might be fun if you’ve never experienced one, but I don’t think there’s going to be much comfort here, and a massage might be more like a pummeling. Especially fun amidst the mildew, I’m sure.
At 2am (or so), the couple conveniently next door to the head of my bed decided to give new meaning to headboard banging. With vocals. And bodily noises. I know all of this, because I might as well have been in the room with them.
Breakfast was only served until 9am, so after getting in late and the night’s «entertainment» I kind of missed it. Who stops serving breakfast at 9am on a Sunday?
2 stars only because The Innkeeper was über-​nice and it was under $ 60. I hope they use it to buy some Clorox.