La Quinta Inn, Dallas Texas: Hotel Review

We recently had the need to stay in a hotel in Dallas, Texas and wanted a location with easy and convenient access to the major highways in the area. After doing some price comparisons and reading travel reviews, we chose the La Quinta Inn located at 7815A LBJ Freeway.

I've stayed at this chain before in different parts of the United States, and had both good and bad experiences. Here is my review of this particular site located in Dallas off of LBJ Freeway.

The parking lot was small and the parking spaces were narrow and cramped, making it hard to get luggage in and out of the car without banging the doors into the car next to you.

This is an older hotel and we weren't expecting a resort atmosphere, and were pleased by the first impressions as we entered the lobby. The décor was modest but not ratty looking and the reception area was clean and smelled fresh.

We had booked the reservation online so the check-in process was smooth. The front desk staff was very friendly, checked us in quickly, and answered all our questions.

We requested a non-smoking room. With this being an older hotel, I was a bit leery about how the room would smell. Older hotels often just repaint or try to mask the stale smoke odor in the carpet, drapes, bedding and mattresses. So we get off the elevator to go to our room and instantly smell the tell-tell smell ... the floor we were on might not be a smoking floor now but it definitely used to be! But much to our surprise, our room smelled nice and fresh with no hint of stale smoke. I was very glad because I don't think I could have spent the night smelling stale cigarette odor.

The carpet was a bit worn in a few places and there were some minor stains, but there weren't any rips or tears in it.

Our room had plenty of lights on every wall and a couple in the ceiling, so there was plenty of bright light when we wanted it. When it came time to go to bed, the drapes kept out the light from outside. Our room faced the parking lot but the drapes were heavy enough to block out the streetlights and parking lot lights at night.

The beds were very comfortable, nice and soft just the way I like them. I would have preferred to have more blankets, and probably could have gotten extra had I requested them. The sheets were a soft sateen material and the pillows were stuffed with a thick and fluffy down-like material. There were also plenty of pillows, three per bed. I like to have a lot pillows and usually have to ask for extra, but we had plenty.

Free high-speed internet connection (either wireless or Ethernet) was available. The speed was actually quite fast. I was using a wireless connection and it never dropped the signal.

There was a large desk with plenty of electrical outlets for plugging in a laptop and other accessories. The television had a great picture and nice selection of channels. It sat on top of a large dresser with plenty of drawers.

The heat and air conditioning unit worked adequately. The built-in thermostat kept the room nice and cozy. I like a unit that produces a strong amount of white noise, and this one was sufficient.

The room itself was a bit cramped with two queen beds and all the other furniture. But is wasn't so cramped that we were uncomfortable or felt claustrophobic.

The standard amenities were included such as a hairdryer (that worked quite well), iron & ironing board, alarm clock (with a nice big display), and coffee maker. I was glad to see they had included decaf coffee as well as regular. But we didn't realize until the next morning that there was no carafe to catch the coffee ... so we had to wait until we went downstairs for breakfast to have our coffee.

There was also a refrigerator and microwave in the room, which was convenient. I like having a fridge in the room for keeping drinks cold or stowing away leftovers from meals in case someone wants a midnight snack.

The bathroom had a large mirror, a fair amount of counter space, nice clean toilet and shower. The tile on the floor was clean as well. The complimentary bar soap wasn't impressive and didn't smell very good, and the small bottle of shampoo didn't smell very good either. There were no complimentary bottles of conditioner or lotion. The massage-type shower head and was in excellent condition and the water pressure was fantastic. The water in the shower and sink area heated up quickly. There were plenty of fluffy towels and washrags available and they looked fairly new. There was extra toilet paper and facial tissue tucked away in a little compartment. The only major complaint I had about the bathroom area was the lack of an exhaust fan. The mirror fogged up with moisture after anyone showered.

The room had several large heavy framed photos tastefully displayed on the walls, giving the space a bit of homey décor.

This particular hotel is located right off a very busy expressway and we could hear the traffic noise if we turned off the AC unit, but the soothing white noise from the fan blocked out the street noise. We also didn't hear any sounds from the guests on either side of us, and one of those rooms had 4 teenage boys in it!

There were plenty of vending machines on each floor for sodas, water, or snacks ... and the snacks were actually fresh. The ice machines were conveniently located and worked like a charm.

The free breakfast was fabulous with a wide variety of food such as waffles, sausage, biscuits and gravy, fruit, 4 types of bagels, 2 choices of cereal, several different flavors of muffins, donuts and pastries, 2 kinds of juice, milk, and coffee. The breakfast area was very large and had a nice layout. It was also very well maintained and clean.

I took a peek at the room service menu and the prices were surprisingly within "real world" prices. It's scary when the rising cost of food and dining out is so expensive that the comparison between every day food prices and hotel room service prices is not such a shocking difference anymore.

The hotel also has a swimming pool, spa, and fitness center but I didn't use them and can't comment on their condition.

The price for a single room with two double beds was a little less than $70.00, which isn't too bad for this area.

I give this particular La Quinta Inn 3-1/2 out of 5 stars. I would definitely stay there again.

So if you're ever traveling in the Dallas, Texas area and need a reasonably priced hotel, you might want to consider this location. Just log into their main website at http://www.lq.com/lq/index.jsp to make a reservation.