I have stayed overnight at this hotel the past 3 years while traveling to Myrtle Beach with my elderly parents. We stop in time to shop at Columbiana Centre Mall and rest for the night before continuing our trip. Hotel is just off I-26 one exit south of Columbiana Centre Mall with easy access. It is a lot less expensive than the hotels right next to the mall, still very convienent, and I get Choice Privileges reward points.

The rooms are large and are almost as nice as the rooms were at Holiday Inn Express and Wingate Inn when we had stayed at those hotels in prior years. The bedding was updated last year and is very comfortable. The bedspread is a new lightweight style and is not too heavy to sleep under if you needed the cover; it can also be easily rolled down to the end of the bed. Most hotels have heavy comforters that are heavy and uncomfortable if you sleep under them, and they are too big and thick to roll down to the end of the bed; I usually end up taking them completely off the bed. I liked the bedspreads at this Quality Inn. The mattresses are also very comfortable.

The outside of the hotel is all newer-looking brick and looks very neat. I have not noticed a problem with the location. We were always there on a Sunday night; perhaps the gas station is busier on a Friday or Saturday. It is just a normal convienence store; we bought Krispy Kreme doughnuts to enhance our breakfast. They sell beer like all convienence stores do, but it doesn't look to me like a place that would attract an overly wild crowd. It is right off the interstate and would be a good place for travelers to stop for gas. We ate supper at the Mexican restaurant just across the street and it was very good. There is also a Hardee's and a Waffle House nearby.

The hotel does have a decent continental breakfast with mini-muffins, danishes, and other items. They have a nice room for serving and eating breakfast. We were somewhat late getting to the breakfast area and only had about 10 minutes before they were to stop serving. Some hotels do not put out more breakfast items for latecomers, but this one still had a decent selection of food. We were given all the time we wanted to finish eating and she even asked if we wanted anything else before she put the food away.

We arrived on a Sunday and saw a number of huge dead roaches on the walkway. The staff should have swept these up - someone did on Monday morning because they were gone. But they should not have been there even on a Sunday. I didn't think a whole lot about them because they were dead and it was pretty obvious that work had been done to kill them. However, later that evening I happened to look down and see a huge live roach crawling across the carpet. Fortunately, I was able to chase it down and kill it with a shoe. This was the only live roach I saw. But it made me wonder if there were any more hiding inside the room.

The room looked clean at first glance, but later I noticed that the coffee maker wasn't as clean as it should be. The pot looked clean but the base was dusty and it also had a large spot that looked like some sort of creamy stuff had been dripped or sprayed on it; it may have been shaving cream. It also may have been a damaged place in the plastic; I didn't touch it to find out. We didn't want to make any coffee in our room so we didn't let it bother us. I just wondered if something wasn't clean that was attracting the roaches.

When checking out on Monday, the lady asked how everything was and I said it was ok except for the roach I had to kill. I also mentioned seeing all of the dead ones. She just shrugged it off and said that the exterminator had been there, and she said they try to get rid of them but they keep coming back.

I had not seen any roaches when we stayed there the previous two years. I believe I had read some old reviews on here that mentioned roaches but they seemed to be from earlier years before this became a Quality Inn. We liked the hotel and I had thought the change to Quality Inn had probably brought some improvements. Now I think we may have just been lucky before.

I wonder if the need to close the hotel for a few weeks and REALLY exterminate for the roaches and then give it an extensive cleaning. Perhaps they haven't found the nesting area??? And aren't roaches attracted to places that aren't all that clean?

I did receive a Choice Privileges survey for my stay and I commented to them that the hotel management needs help in eliminating the roaches and then preventing them from coming back. Choice seems to be a good company which cares about quality, so I hope they will look into this problem and see that it is corrected.

I would have given this hotel higher ratings if it wasn't for the roaches. I'm not sure if I will stay there again if I make this same trip next year. I may give them one more chance, since it's only one night. I have marked "yes" I would recommend; however, I would do so with reservations and let others make up their own minds whether to take a chance with the roaches.

Pros: Clean linens, Friendly Staff, nice looking pool, and continental breakfast. Along with free wireless access and decent size rooms.

Cons: Located in a rough area, next to a 24 hr. gas station that had quite a bit of activity going on at all hours, and rooms that were a little dated. Also there were cockroaches that were outside the building at night but did not see any inside the buildings. BTW the television cards in the rooms read 499 Pinly Grove rd instead of 499 Piney Grove rd .

I would probably recommend for business travelers and people looking for an inexpensive one or two night stay. I would probably not recommend for families with small children or people looking for an extended stay. For families I would probably recommend the Hyatt Place located at Exit 102B off I-26. See the link below.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g54281-d103154-Reviews-Hyatt_Place_Columbia-Irmo_South_Carolina.html

We booked this hotel for 3 nights but left after the first night. The rooms were dirty -stains on the carpet, dust and dirt on the bathroom floors. Plus, it wasn't that cheap, $79.00. Stay someplace else.

We would not recommend this place to anyone. Plumbing problems, burnt out light bulbs, roaches, stained carpets and the thinnest, scratchiest towels I've seen in a long time. This is an older facility and it shows it.. Some rooms had a microwave and refrigerator and some did not, but the price per room ($72 ++) was the same. One of the ice machines was not working. Taking a shower was interesting. The water temp. would change from cold to very hot and back in seconds. The shower head was half stopped up, producing a very unusual spray pattern. It's our fault for staying here however. We should have recognized from the previous review that this place could be a problem.