Econo Lodge Inn & Suites

We are writing to express our extreme disappointment with our stay at your hotel on June 23, 2026. Overall, our guest room was in poor condition. It was not clean, appeared to be poorly maintained, and was extremely outdated. These conditions alone did not meet our expectations for a comfortable hotel stay. Our greatest concern, however, was the room's HVAC system. We had no control over the room temperature. The property appears to operate a seasonal heating and cooling system in which guests are limited to either heat or air conditioning depending on the time of year. During our stay, the system was set to cooling only, leaving our room uncomfortably cold with no way to increase the temperature. As someone familiar with hydronic HVAC systems, I recognize that this appears to be operating like a two-pipe system. Most hotels with hydronic systems allow individual guest rooms to adjust to a comfortable temperature using the thermostat. If this property was originally designed as a four-pipe system but is being operated as a two-pipe system to reduce operating costs, that decision comes at the expense of guest discomfort. We strongly encourage property management to review its HVAC operation and ensure that guests have reasonable control over their room temperature. We also urge management to verify that all guest rooms meet basic standards for cleanliness, maintenance, and comfort. Guests should be able to expect a clean, safe, and comfortable environment during their stay. Based on our experience at this Econo Lodge, we have very little confidence in the quality of this property and are unlikely to choose another Econo Lodge in the future. We hope you will take these concerns seriously and address them promptly so that future guests do not have a similar experience.

Great experience here. We spent three nights at this location and really enjoyed the hospitality. The place is dated, but still very clean and functional as well as very central to everything in Durango. The staff have been fantastic and the owner is very approachable. We would have no hesitation in recommending this place to anyone.

Not veteran-recommended — serious concerns about staff conduct and management judgment (despite generally higher public ratings) I am a disabled veteran who travels to Durango for VA and community-care medical appointments. A VA clinic is within walking distance of this hotel, which is why I chose it. Over several decades I’ve stayed at many hotels at many price points and I try to give fair, balanced feedback. I’m used to minor problems and don’t rush to leave negative reviews. What happened here is, by far, one of the poorest management decisions I’ve experienced regarding how a guest is treated and how staff are allowed to treat guests. Before I explain what happened, I want to acknowledge something up front: this property appears to have comparatively higher public ratings than my experience would suggest. Durango is a major tourist town, and during peak season this hotel is often one of the cheapest options close to services and attractions. It’s possible that some guests rate it more favorably based on price and availability alone—especially if they have a quick, uncomplicated stay and value “a bed in town” over consistency in service. Unfortunately, my experience involved an issue that goes far beyond normal budget-hotel wear and tear. For my most recent visit (December 2025), I booked a room about five days in advance so I could attend a VA-related medical appointment the next day. After driving several hours to get there, I was told at check-in that the manager had canceled my reservation and placed me on a “do-not-rent” list. He said this was based on a report from a staff member who claimed I had repeatedly harassed her. I firmly deny harassing any employee at this property. I asked management to review video footage to verify what actually happened and was told that camera footage was not available going back to the relevant dates. I was left without lodging near my appointment and had to scramble to find an alternative, which is especially hard as a disabled veteran traveling for medical care. I can understand that a manager wants to protect staff; in principle, that is a good leadership instinct. However, when a decision is made solely on the basis of one staff member’s unverified statement, without any apparent objective review, it becomes very easy for an unprofessional employee to misuse that trust. In my opinion, that is what happened here. This is particularly troubling because of a prior professionalism issue involving what appears to be the same front-desk employee. On an earlier stay, after I submitted a routine maintenance card, I overheard a female front-desk staff member refer to me to another worker as a “crazy” military guest (seemingly in response to the detailed maintenance note). I confronted her at the time because I was within earshot. I later reported this unprofessional behavior to management/Choice, along with concerns about inappropriate personal/sexual comments being made in front of guests during morning hours. My next stay after that complaint was uneventful. The room was reasonably clean for this category of hotel; I left a tip for housekeeping and assumed management had addressed the staff-behavior issues. There were some ongoing maintenance problems across different rooms (bathtubs that would not hold water, a room heater that struggled to reach the set temperature, etc.), which I considered typical for an older budget property and not worth a strong negative review by themselves. What changes my assessment is the decision to ban me and cancel a confirmed reservation on arrival, apparently based on an unreviewed and, in my view, false allegation from that same employee. Looking at public reviews, it appears my experience is not entirely isolated. Other guests describe front-desk staff and managers being rude or dismissive; the desk staff assigning clearly undesirable rooms and resisting reasonable requests to move; reservations being canceled when guests arrive late; and management responses that come across as hostile or argumentative rather than service-oriented. There are also repeated complaints about cleanliness, temperature problems, and confusing or inconsistently applied policies—mixed in with more neutral or positive comments focused on basic value for the price (again, in a tourist city where low-cost availability matters). Based on my multiple stays and this most recent incident, I cannot recommend this hotel for veterans or other vulnerable travelers who need reliable, professionally managed lodging near the VA clinic in Durango. I urge ownership to review internal reporting and video-retention practices, retrain front-desk staff on professionalism, and implement a fair, evidence-based process before canceling reservations or banning guests in the future.