We stayed two nights and really liked the motel. Manager is very friendly, and I was charged correctly for two adults/one child. My guess is Mr 'bait and switch' was hoping to get away with not paying the extra FOUR DOLLORS a night per child, or did not read that the extra person charge was not yet added onto what was showing as the total. Yes, the motel is a bit older, the pool is small, and it's on the main street (so are most of the other motel/hotels). They do have cable and Wifi, you can walk to a number of resturants, and there is a great Putt Putt golf course right across the street.
We stayed in the Annex part of the motel, I would suggest requesting the second floor, but I do that everywhere. Our room was very clean with a nice little fridge, the walls are a little thin but we were so tired we all slept well. So, if you want to spend twice as much money across the street at the newer places, do. I prefer to spend $$ on doing things.

This motel had a very friendly atmosphere. My kids enjoyed the playing in the pool every day, but as a side note we didn't know where the pool towels were until the 3rd day of our stay (when I finally asked). The breakfast was pretty much standard for a continental with an added treat of real butter! I have a N wireless card on my laptop and I was able to get a N signal which was either excellent or good both in my room and on the pool deck. My family stayed in the annex building which was for the most part quite (a few motorcycles woke me up in the morning as they were leaving). The room was clean and we got fresh towels every day...they even felt soft which kind of reminded me of home. The office had all the literature we needed to find our way around the different tourist sites. We even got a recommendation from the front desk manager to see the laser show at Crazy Horse which turned out to be one of our favorite experiences during our stay.
Honestly you can't beat the value.
Next time we are looking to stay in Custer we will look no further than the Cowboy Inn!

Booked a room directly via www.americasbestvalue.com website for the Dakota Cowboy Inn and specifically specified 2 adults and 2 children and paid for the 3 night stay in advanced.

However, when we got there, they wanted $8.00 additional PER NIGHT for my children to boost my total cost by $24.00 for my stay. Total bait and switch with no viable alternative . At that point, we were stuck with having to pay the additional fee OR incur a cancellation penalty equal to the first night's stay. The front desk clerk wouldn't budge. Nice start to my 3 night stay at a small town of 1,800.

We were sent to a room in a separate building next to the main building. It looked newer and was clean but that's about the only good thing about this hotel.

Good:
- Situated on the single main street in Custer, SD.
- Room was clean.
- Was able to park almost right outside the room door.

Bad:
- SQUEAKING and CREAKY upstairs rooms. If you're a light sleeper and your upstairs neighbor has heavy footsteps, you WILL wake up.
- Noisy externally mounted air conditioner.
- OLD, old towels that has definitely seen better days.
- Sheets weren't changed daily and no option to force a daily change (to be honest, I didn't call the front desk to request a daily sheet change option either)
- Because you're able to park right outside your room, your neighbors packing up in the morning will probably wake you up if you attempt to sleep late.

Would I recommend you stay at THIS motel? NO! There are other alternatives on this main street, including a Holiday Inn Express almost right across the street that looks pretty nice.

If you don't take my recommendation and do decide to stay at this place, try to stay in an upstairs unit or if you get stuck in a downstairs unit, request one AWAY from the stairs leading up to the second floor. This is based on MY stay in the building that's separated from the main building. Your mileage may vary if your room is in the main building.

Finally, no mention of continental breakfasts or wi-fi access that other reviewers had mentioned back in 2009.

Nothing spectacular about this hotel. Large, clean rooms - okay beds. Bathrooms could use some updating. Staff was very friendly and helpful. We didn't use the pool (because of a rainstorm) but had fun with the croquet/min-golf course on site. The restaurant next door served a great breakfast at a reasonable price.