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My wife and I once stopped at a Motel 6.

Upon entering the office, I immediately saw the desk help was stationed inside a barred cage.

That was all I needed to see.

We did a prompt about face and found a much higher scale motel to spend the night in.

I'll never darken a Motel 6 door again...

One time I was driving across the US from Los Angeles to Ft Belvoir VA. For various reasons I had to leave LA late in the afternoon rather than early in the morning, so I planned to stay in El Paso later that night when I got there about 8pm. However a snow storm (this was January) chased me across Arizona and New Mexico, closing the I-10 behind me. I did not want to get stuck in El Paso in a blizzard, so I kept going. It took awhile to outrun it, so I was in Pecos at some wee hour when it looked safe (weather-wise) to stop. There wasn't a lot of anything out there, and the only motel that seemed to be in sight was a Motel 6. It was relatively inexpensive, but carpet looked horrible and the bedding not a whole lot better. Plus the rooms open on to the parking lot. I jammed a chair under the door handle, threw a blanket I carried in the truck over the bed, and slept the rest of the night uneventfully. But that place did give me the creeps for all kinds of reasons.

As I got older and possibly mildly wiser, I tended to put a little more thought into where I would stay when I travel, and I try to remember to select alternates if the first place doesn't work out. Kind of like a pilot having an alternate field planned if the first one is weathered in or something.

Motels/hotels that have rooms that open directly onto the parking lot or street are just more risky -- and usually cheaper -- than others. I try to not go to those any more.

ELB wrote:

bmwrdr wrote:

ELB wrote:And I thought it would be the round count that would generate comments...

800+ visits from the police in 5 years does seem like an awful lot of activity. The actual lawsuit complaint or whatever you call it notes that the police also made regular expeditions to that particular motel to grab people with outstanding warrants.

Yeah, 6 rounds of .380 make a weak talk compared to .44 magnum.

Did you find some info that it was a .380 or are you just generalizing?

I haven't run across what kind of handgun it was. The news stories say six rounds, the wife is quoted as saying "until he ran out of ammo" and the lawsuit fudges a bit and says "approximately seven rounds".

The event happened several month ago and there was a more detailed artyicle published on the internet and there is another post on this forum somewhere. I remember it because of the description. Black belt, fomer service man, both reporters,...
And here is the article, it states a .35 caliber and not a .380 or .38.
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/20 ... -shootout/

She should never have gone out in that, or any other motel's, parking lot alone at 11:00 PM. Even if you had a rapid fire bazooka, would you let your wife do that?

Oldgringo wrote:She should never have gone out in that, or any other motel's, parking lot alone at 11:00 PM. Even if you had a rapid fire bazooka, would you let your wife do that?

Exactly...that and we don't stay in externally accessed rooms. Hard to blame others when you don't do your own form of due diligence.

IIRC, they chose that one because it would allow pets and none others would. They were traveling with a dog.

bmwrdr wrote: ....And here is the article, it states a .35 caliber and not a .380 or .38.
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/20 ... -shootout/

.35? hmmm. I'm going with a typo on that.

JALLEN wrote:IIRC, they chose that one because it would allow pets and none others would. They were traveling with a dog.

That is correct. They had dinner with friends in Albuquerque, then intended to drive on afterwards, but decided it was better to stop for the night so she searched for a pet friendly motel close by.

I would not have gone out into that parking lot at 11 without my handgun, and I think I would have been more alert and more wary than she was, but that does not make it her fault, and it does not relieve Motel 6 of their security responsibilities. Whether their security was up to snuff and this was just a one-off or not remains to be seen. The complaint -- which is one side of the story -- does seem to indicate that Motel 6 was a popular place with the criminal crowd.

This was a nice gesture: Ex-CNN reporter thanks first responders for life-saving help

ELB wrote:

bmwrdr wrote: ....And here is the article, it states a .35 caliber and not a .380 or .38.
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/20 ... -shootout/

.35? hmmm. I'm going with a typo on that.

JALLEN wrote:IIRC, they chose that one because it would allow pets and none others would. They were traveling with a dog.

Agreed, most likely a typo. It actually doesn't matter, he and she is alive and the robber is not.

Haven't stayed at a Motel 6 in years. Too many bad experiences at them. It's also been years since we've just spontaneously popped into a motel. We can usually find nice motels at good rates via Hotwire, etc. We also check out the reviews and ratings. The motel's policy for firearms is somewhat irrelevant for me. I carry...period. If something is needed I always go in and out of the room, my wife stays inside. I always have my carry gun on me when I do.
I would be interested in knowing the caliber and type of bullet he (the victim) was using.

Anybody here old enough to know how Motel 6 got its name?

Oldgringo wrote:Anybody here old enough to know how Motel 6 got its name?

Because it was originally $6.00 a night.

Pawpaw wrote:

Oldgringo wrote:Anybody here old enough to know how Motel 6 got its name?

Because it was originally $6.00 a night.

WINNER! Give the man a cigar, Bill. No, not that one. Give him a new one.

Suing the motel is stupid as can be. How is the business owner responsible for the criminal acts of thugs? That makes as much sense as suing a Macy's because you get robbed walking in from the parking lot.

Jumping Frog wrote:Suing the motel is stupid as can be. How is the business owner responsible for the criminal acts of thugs? That makes as much sense as suing a Macy's because you get robbed walking in from the parking lot.

That's what I was wondering. Are they just supposed to close down if they can't afford to be in a part of town with a lower crime rate?

Remember, they are media personalities. Their sense of right and wrong is likely not much like ours.