The spot of blood we found on a bed sheet at the Econo Lodge in West Yarmouth, Mass.

A short while back my wife and I were looking for a cheap hotel to stay in near Hyannis, Mass. We were arriving late at night and then heading out early the next morning to take the ferry to Nantucket. We didn’t need anything fancy, just a clean bed and a clean bathroom. So we booked a room at the Econo Lodge in West Yarmouth.

When we got to the hotel, however, the room looked and felt disgusting–we weren’t expecting much, but the condition was even worse than what we anticipated. Almost every hostel I’ve stayed in was cleaner.

Before we went to bed, my wife examined the sheets (and no, not to check their thread count)–she found two spots of blood on one of them (pictured). We decided to check out of the Econo Lodge and find some place else to stay that night.

At first the woman at the Econo Lodge’s front desk was understanding and refunded our money (we’d been in the room for about 10 minutes). While at the new hotel, however, she called my wife back and accused us of having “used” the room and that we “know what she means by ‘used.’” The woman at the front desk then put the charge back on our credit card.

We disputed the charge with our credit company and it was taken off. I also forwarded the info about the bloody sheets to the Hyannis health inspector.

Yes, there is a time and a place for cheap hotels, just check the sheets first.

Econo Lodge
59 Route 28
West Yarmouth, MA 02673
508-771-0699

Photo: Zach Everson