This was honestly the worst, most unsafe place I have ever stayed. The hotel staff was behind protective glass and the front desk employee told us the reason was the previous employee had been shot working there. The parking lot was poorly lit and we had to walk down an unsafe feeling alley to get to our room. When we arrived to our room it was beyond filthy. There were stains on the carpet, chairs and refrigerator; the towels were obviously unwashed, there was a drawer missing from the armoire, the phone was broken, and there was a strange odor to the room. After turning on the tv manually since the remote had no batteries we heard someone trying to get into our room with a key card for several minutes. We tried to call the front desk for assistance to find that the phone was broken. The person finally went away and we got a hold of the front desk. They claimed they had accidentally given someone the wrong room number. Either way we weren't sticking around to see what would happen to someone next so we checked out and got a reservation at another hotel. When we arrived at our new hotel they informed us that the American Inn was known around town for being extremely shady and unsafe. I would recommend staying anywhere else in Memphis. Although it was kind of cheesy, the Heartbreak Hotel up the street was reasonably priced and extremely clean and safe.