I found myself unexpectedly stuck at the Phoenix airport last week and asked a cap to take me to the local Days Inn, thinking that this was a name I could trust to provide me with a decent room for a reasonable rate. We pulled up to the ultra-classy Days Inn Airport on Van Buren and I was a little worried, but again... I trusted the Days Inn name. I wasn't expecting a fancy hotel, just a clean place I could get a few hours of sleep.

The girl at the front desk gave me my room key (204) and I walked into the room to find an unmade bed and crap all over the sitting area table. I'm lucky someone wasn't actually IN the room, so I went back downstairs and waited fifteen minutes to be issued a new room. She gave me the room right next door to the room that was obviously either occupied or had not been cleaned.

I asked for a non-smoking room. It was obvious people had been smoking in my room for years, the room totally reeked, and there were cigarette burns all over the bathroom counter. The bathroom window was wide open and had NO latch on it, and the bathroom light flashed and flickered without stopping... it was like taking a shower in a rave. The bath mat was really small, like 12''x12'', and the towels were cheap and ratty.

The 'continental breakfast' was horrible -- a few pathetic pieces of fruit and cold cereal. Not even a bottle of water! I used to think Days Inn was a name I could trust... clearly I was very, very wrong. I emailed their customer service a week ago and have yet to hear anything back.