When I'm traveling on my own dollar, I keep an eye out for Red Roof Inn. They're consistently at or near the lowest price of any national chain, and they're consistently clean and well-maintained, with courteous staff. Plus many of their locations are T-Mobile HotSpots, and I have a T-Mobile subscription, so I can get online there easily.

But there's Red Roof service, and then there's Red Roof service...

My new contract work is on a project with some pretty tight deadlines looming, so there are some long days lately. When the days are long enough or the weather nasty enough, I prefer to check into the local Red Roof than risk the trip home. A night there is $45, which is one-third the cost of a wrecker, so it's an easy decision.

Monday was a long day: 18 hours. So I decided to check in to Red Roof. I arrived around 5 a.m. (Tuesday, technically, but still Monday for me), got a room, slept, and checked out at noon.

Tuesday was a shorter day: only 14 hours. Still, that meant it was after 3 a.m., and I was tired. Another Red Roof night. I checked in around 3:30 a.m. (Wednesday, technically, but still Tuesday for me), got a room, and slept.

At just about noon, I got a call from the front desk. They told me they owed me some money, but I told them I was pretty sure we were square. Eventually I realized that they had recorded the Monday/Tuesday check-in as a Tuesday night stay with an early arrival. They said I had paid twice for one night; but I insisted that I had slept two nights and paid for two nights, and as far as I was concerned that was fair. I also said that if the unexpected blizzard continued, I would be back that night.

Well, the blizzard turned to rain, which made the slush nice and slick. And while my day was very short (only 9.5 hours), I was too tired to risk the roads. Back to Red Roof!

But when I got there, the night clerk had a note from the day clerk: if I showed up, my stay that night was already paid for. I explained why I thought I owed them money; but he insisted that their policies said I had paid for two nights and only used one so far. Finally, I decided that if they were going to insist on letting me sleep three nights for two payments, I wasn't going to argue with them. But I sure plan on telling people what good service they provide.

So if you find yourself stranded late at night in the Kalamazoo Portage area, I highly recommend Red Roof Inn West, conveniently close to Western Michigan University and other local attractions.