I stayed one Sunday night at a Motel 6 in Albuquerque in 1994; it looked unsafe too back then. I don’t know if this was the same hotel, but it was fairly close to Sandia Peak.
I stayed at a family-owned Motel in Grants, NM, on a Sunday night in 1976: it was very unsafe, or seemed particularly loud. We left at 4 a.m. and headed to the Petrified National Forest.
There are lots of places to stay in and around Albuquerque.
It strikes me as a little odd that two people who work(ed) for CNN would choose to stay at a Motel 6 rather then a higher end place. Not suggesting anything nefarious, but just strikes as odd.
I think the Motel 6 is on Central - only a few miles from the tram. Not really a bad part of town, but not an area I would stay in. By the airport, or along 40 or 25 are lots of business hotels.