The Rainbow Motel: Bozeman

During the few days I stayed in Bozeman, I split my time up between a more expensive bed and breakfast and a cheaper motel. I found that Bozeman was not quite what I thought it was. Its is first and foremost a college town, home to Montana State. If you go to Montana looking for rural, small town charm, keep driving past Bozeman. My husband and I found that after two days, we were ready to leave. We called the motel with which our reservations were made for our last two nights in town so that we could cancel.

I had selected the Rainbow Motel because the reviews said it was clean, the beds were comfy, and the service friendly. When I called to cancel, the woman working told me that my reservations (which were made online at the motel website) were made through a booking company, so she could not cancel them for me unless she was given 48 hours notice. I checked my email and found that my reservation confirmation did say that 48 hours was required to cancel. I asked for the number to the booking company. I was actually surprised that a booking company was involved because I made my reservations at http://www.rainbowmotelbozeman.com/. When people mention booking companies, I assume it is normally very obvious that you are using one (ie, Orbitz, Expedia, etc). The woman at the booking company told me that actually the hotel managers set the cancellation policy, not the booking company. She said that if the woman at the hotel told us to call her, she was probably just avoiding having to tell us that we could not cancel and would need to pay for the room nonetheless. I called the motel back, and the woman still claimed that she did not set the cancellation policy. She then said that she would be nice and allow us to cancel our second night, but that we would need to pay for the first. It was up to us if we were going to occupy the room. Since I couldn't afford to pay for two hotel rooms for one night, we decided to stay this one last night in Bozeman.

I will admit that she did bend the policy and allowed us to cancel our second night, and for that we were very appreciative. I did not like the aggravation of trying to figure out who sets the cancellation policies. Desite everything, the service was relatively friendly and laid back.

Now when you look at the motel website, the pictures give you the idea that despite being in a town named Bozeman, you are in a rural, beautiful area. You are actually right on the side of a busy street in town. If you are looking for something along the lines of the pictures on the home page of the website, search for bed and breakfasts or ranches outside of town.

To the credit of the motel, the rooms are in fact very clean. And the bed was quite comfortable. The rooms are very basic and small, nothing extra. The motel offers no extra features such as pool, jacuzzi, etc. This place is basically a good place to stay if you are looking for something cheap that is in town and near local businesses. They offer continental breakfast, which just included doughtnuts and danishes on the day we stayed. If I had to stay in town again, I would look around more at all of the motels in town and compare prices and amenities. Personally I prefer a motel with a jacuzzi. But if you do end up staying at the Rainbow Motel, you can expect a clean and comfortable place to sleep.