This motel used to be a Ramada Inn.

The place is FILTHY! A dirty bath towel was put on the towel rack for us to use (it looked like someone wiped the floor with it). The telephone was sticky - filthy. The bathtub was cruddy (it really couldn't be cleaned well after maybe 20 - 25 years of use).

Carpeting was stained and dirty (my bare feet were black in the morning after walking on it).

The furniture was really very old and worn. The mattress pads were old, worn, and didn't fit the beds.

The sheets were twin sized (on double beds) - that really doesn't work well.
The blanket must have been 15 or 20 years old - pilly - and the wrong size for the bed (twin blanket on a double bed).

The refrigerator-freezer didn't work right and it didn't refreeze the water bottles we had with ice still in them.

The bathroom door - equipped with a 'button lock' - managed to lock itself in the middle of the night (2:45am) and we needed to get the night clerk to come to the room at 3:00am to spring the lock with a wire hanger to have access to the bathroom during the rest of the night. Lost an hours's sleep! Be sure to bring your own wire hanger if you stay here!

The 7:00am wake up call didn't happen.

The 'hot breakfast' was less than appetizing with an overflowing garbage pail situated between the place where you can make waffles and the steam table with the overdone eggs and greasy, underdone bacon.

The seating area for breakfast was also dirty - crumbs all over the place - smeary table tops - and something the Germans would call 'Schmutz'.

Windows and doors to the lobby weren't clean. They too were loaded with smear and fingerprints.

When entering the room, we had to give the door a pretty good kick before it would open - just pushing on it didn't work.

When checking out, I was asked if everything was all right, and when I let them know of the above items, I was given a very surly "have a nice day" from the desk clerk.

As a word to the wise, my opinion would be to never go near this place!

We used a coupon book in South Carolina and arrived in Florence ready to stop for the night. After checking in several hotels that had no more rooms we saw the Howard Johnsons and decided to try it. The woman on the desk was abrupt and bordering on rude. We paid more than what the coupon advertised but she insisted it was the regular rate. This is a complex of buildings, many of them far from the office. First there was no remote control for the television. We found a maintenance man in the parking lot who got one for us. The wifi did not work at all. The phone did not work and we could not call the office. Going to the office to see about the internet service did no good as the woman working had no idea why it didn't work and the issue was not resolved. We never got the phone to work either. At breakfast they were out of most choices and didn't bring any eggs or meat in until we were done. Poor selections and terrible service. The bed was fine. We travel through Florence twice in a trip to Florida each year. Next year we will remember not to stop there at all. I will not try another HoJo either.

My wife and some friends decided to go to the darlington race, and I found this place on the internet and found the rooms to be less expensive then the other hotels in the area, and did not have a 2 night minimum. We are glad we stayed here, the rooms were spacious, comfortable, and clean! We checked in very late after the race and Christina the night auditor was very pleasant and accomodating. Earlier that day we had called to see if could switch our rooms from smoking to non smoking (did not have any when I booked) but did not have any available. Brenda remember my wifes request and was able to switch us to non-smoking when she got a cancellation. Wonderful staff, wonderful service, at a very nice property. We will definently stay here whenever we are in the area. Thanks to everyone at the Howard Johnson.

I reserved a room at this hotel for my annual/Fall "snowbird" trip from New Hampshire to Florida. I selected the hotel because of their pet-friendly policy. The pictures looked really nice online, and they claimed to be recently renovated. The front half of the hotel has undergone some renovations, but the back half is like living in a war-zone. Of course wouldn't you know that all the "pet friendly" rooms are in the back.

We drove around back and I immediately got concerned once I saw the "walking dead" (I assume locals without housing) who were living in many of those rooms. I went to inspect our assigned room and found it to be filthy and there was a large section of carpet that was just torn out from the floor (about 3-foot in diameter). I went back to the front desk and she assigned me another room. As I walked to this next room, I noticed many of the nearby rooms were paddle-locked shut and void of any furniture. I got to the new room and found a door with a huge crack wide enough to see daylight (you could stick your fingers in the crack). I returned again to the front desk where they told me "sorry, we have no other pet rooms". They had a newer room up front, but they wouldn't allow me to use it even if I kept my dog crated.

I told them "no thanks", and asked if she could check for rooms at the HoJo at the next exit. The manager told me they have no affiliation with that hotel and I would need to call them myself. I left this place as fast as I could escape and went to another HoJo located one exit south (also in Florence SC). The manager of this other HoJo hotel was extremely courtesy, sympathetic, and helpful.

I've never just drove away from a hotel where I had a reservation, but this place was like the Little Shop of Horrors. If you have pets, stay away (unless you enjoy spending the night in a total dump surrounded by the living-dead).