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I inspected hotels for Wyndham for 10 years and I can tell you there are some extremely nice Days Inns. Yes, the brand has its issues, but you find good and bad from most economy brands. You just have to read online reviews and look at photos as you do with all hotels.

You shouldn’t be surprised Wyndham owns the Days Inn brand. If it makes money, they want it. They also own Knights Inn - check those out if you want bad. Super 8, Travelodge, Howard Johnson, Ramada, Baymont, Wingate (their only brand that requires brand new builds and their ‘business traveler’ hotel), Microtel and Wyndham.

There are good and bad in all of the above brands, including the Wingates, although the bad is a very small percentage of Wingates.

While inspecting for them, I was home 2 weekends a month, spending every single night in a different hotel room. Believe me when I say I have seen the good, bad and ugly of each of these brands. Some were so bad I refused to ever stay at that particular hotel again and some were so nice I always stayed there while in town.

Thank you for your perspective. You're right, of course. Actually, Days Inn was considered decent at one time. There was one not far from my brother's house and out of town guests used to stay there all the time. It was later sold and now it's seedy and run down — that is, if it's still open.

On two different trips I stayed at two different Days Inns and both had issues. Now I'm not one to be that picky, particularly at budget hotels, but I will report major problems, not because I'm looking to stay for free, but so management can take care of the situation for future guests. The last Days Inn I stayed in — the key card wouldn't work properly, the shower/tub had hot or cold water — nothing in between and there was a major hole in the bathroom ceiling. What really bothered me was that when I reported the issues to the manager, I was given a shrug. No apology. No thanks for reporting the problems, no statement that he'd address the issues. That is what bothered me about this Days Inn. Indifference.

In January, I stayed in an older Quality Inn hotel on Clearwater Beach. Nothing fancy and there were a few small issues. But every employee — front desk, manager, housekeeping, you name it — all were courteous, pleasant and extraordinarily helpful. No shrugs. I could stay at some really top notch hotels there, but every time I go to Clearwater, I stay at this hotel.

You get what you paid for and I understand that, but really, every hotel should throw in courtesy and cooperation for free.

I’ve been traveling for work for the past 18 months or so, and I’ve found wildly differing levels of quality in hotels with the same name. Super 8’s seem to be mostly “ok”. The only really bad branded hotel I’ve stayed in was a Baymont in Houston. When I’m in one certain town, I stay at an “American Inn”. It’s cheap, clean, and the rooms are *huge*.