Review of EconoLodge Inn and Suites, Wilmington, NC

Wilmington, North Carolina is a great city to visit, with proximity to several beaches and lots of cool places to visit -- just be careful where you stay. A place I would NOT recommend is the EconoLodge Inn and Suites at 5025 Market Street.

I booked two nights at this hotel online and received a rate of $70 per night. That's budget-friendly, but we will avoid this hotel in the future, as the Squick Factor definitely outweighed the reasonable price. When we arrived at the EconoLodge, the front desk attendant was friendly and courteous and had our reservation in the system, so we were off to a decent start. However, when we got to our room, it did not smell very good, and this might be because the air conditioner was turned off (although it did work when we turned it on) and the refrigerator was unplugged, which we did not discover until later when we tried to use the microwave, which was also unplugged. Also the only clock in the room was the one on the microwave, and although the microwave did work (mostly'"the turntable did not turn and it was not very powerful), the clock didn't. We went for a swim in the pool, which was not very clean'"the water was somewhat yellowish and the pool tiles were encrusted with algae. We had to shower immediately after swimming.

After spending our first night in the hotel, we were a little unimpressed with the complimentary breakfast'"one of the two juices in the dispenser was empty and just pouring water, there was no milk for the dry cereal, and other than that missing milk there was no protein to be had'"no meat or eggs and not even any yogurt. My breakfast consisted of a muffin and a banana. When we returned to our room we could not get back in, and the front desk clerk determined that although we were staying two nights, for some reason they'd issued us a key for only one. She gave us new keys that were correctly programmed, but forgot to give us a "do not disturb" doorhanger, which I had also requested.

We left for the day and returned to discover that although the room had been cleaned and our dirty towels had been taken, they had not been replaced with clean towels. We called to ask that someone bring some but were told by the clerk that she was alone and that we could come to get them. We did that. The bed was comfortable and the air conditioner functioned well and was not very noisy, but the walls were terribly thin and we could hear our neighbor's toddler crying for what seemed like ages. Last but not least, I had to kill a large roach that made an appearance as we ate breakfast in our room before we left in the morning, vowing never to return!