This seems to be a glass half-full, glass half-empty situation.
The Motel 6 chain is looking for “Open Road Correspondents” this summer to journey down several classic highways, including Route 66 from Amarillo, Texas, to Santa Monica, Calif. The catch is these road reporters will have to stay at Motel 6’s throughout the trip.
From the news release:
In honor of its 50th Anniversary, Motel 6 is issuing a call for three “Open Road Correspondents” to travel and report on some of the best stretches of American highways. Honoring Motel 6’s commitment to sustainability, Correspondents will travel “green” by using environmentally-friendly vehicles and digital map applications to help conserve fuel and energy. Winners also will stay at predetermined Motel 6 locations, several of which have been updated with earth-friendly features, like 80-percent recycled material flooring, low-flow toilets, high-efficiency heating and cooling units and energy-efficient lighting.
Winning Correspondents – and one companion each – will embark along one of three classic routes, each approximately 1,000 miles long with four to six city stops, including:
- Route 66 (Amarillo, Texas, to Santa Monica, Calif.)
- The Pacific Coast Highway (Tumwater, Wash., to Santa Barbara, Calif.)
- Southern Route (Austin, Texas, to Destin, Fla.)
Each prize package is valued at $6,000 and includes two third generation, 64GB, Wi-Fi enabled iPads.
Entrants must go to Motel 6’s Facebook page here by June 21 to enter. Readers will choose the winners by early July.
On one hand, the eventual winners of the Route 66 trip will provide nice publicity for the road with their reports. On the other hand, these folks — and their readers — are going to miss out on wonderful motels on that stretch of Mother Road.
I’ve got mixed feelings about this. What do you think?
I think the unique accommodations along Route 66 are one of the most interesting part of the journey. It’s getting away from the chains, whether restaurants or motels, that make the trip unique and memorable. It’s not just Route 66, either. The roadside America that many of us grew up with is rapidly vanishing, and too many people are completely unaware of what treasures lie just a mile of two off the interstate ramp.
Motel 6, whatever their motives, are part of the great homogenization of America.
I think the glass is mostly full. Motel 6 is my first go-to chain when an independent is not available or at least not known. It’s basic, affordable, and clean.
They’re not exactly the same, of course, but this contest made me think of the Hampton Inn Roadside Attraction campaign of several years ago. That campaign seemed to be fully embraced by much of the Route 66 community and they certainly weren’t putting up signs in front of lots of mom & pop motels.
https://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/post/2012/05/hilton-owner-blackstone-buys-motel-6-from-accor/699019/1 start with this news first! Other than Hilton for some reason, Blackstone has a history of buying bundles low, breaking them up into pieces, and selling high later. Time will only tell, but that’s what they’ve usually done?
When the refreshed “green” properties are mentioned, there are very few of them out there. And that’s not necessarily the direction Blackstone will maintain. Iconic or not, Motel 6 is one of the oldest and tiredest brands out there, still with some of their original properties that were just $6.00 per night in 1962. As well as many still in undesireable locations…
And yet we go back to Denny – as long as it’s positive publicity for Route 66, and it doesn’t put down our unique independents along the way, why not? Maybe like Hampton, they’ll do some kind of charity that benefits some Route 66 preservation projects or otherwise, and that’s always a good thing! We need to embrace new things along the route too, if we only pay attention to the same old hand full of Icons, then our beloved road may once again slip into a period of decline. There has to be a balance of new growth, along with all the old growth, or we wouldn’t have things like Pop’s and Russell’s, which represent our potential bright new future…
Motel 6 is doing this to promote people using their OWN business–Motel 6. I want to see promotion for the struggling refubished old school Motels along 66. And help those souls who made financial sacrifices to refurbish the places and are still struggling financially.
https://themotelsofroute66.com/ well then this one’s for you! We still need to be open to other new things along the road, as long as they don’t have a negative impact. Instead of putting one down, just raise the other one up? We don’t have to like it, but if it has any positive publicity for Route 66 in any way, we need to welcome it!
We happen to own, have spent a small fortune on and continue to do so – an old school motel. However, we’re seeing an increase in business because of it, and Motel 6 is not a factor in our town. If they want to advertise a Route 66 trip, that’s just fine, because we don’t see very many tourists that are interested in Motel 6, nor believe their properties are anywhere near as nice as ours?
Our primary tourist comes from overseas, is always looking for an authentic experience, and despises the tour company or agents that keep sending them to chains. They also drive every inch of the original road they can, even when on dirt. If we could translate that more frequently on a domestic level, there would be a lot less people out there struggling?
Thank you for answering me! Which Motel is yours?
And I meant to say refurbished above!
Let’s see;
1. We stay at Motel 6 pretty often
2. We are traveling to California this summer on 66.
3. My wife was a journalism major and can write.
4. We always navigate with a laptop, GPS and DeLorme software.
Oh yeah, there is an issue with the big 4 wheel drive SUV that we travel in. Guess we are not eligible. 🙁
Looks like we will be staying at the Wagon Wheel, Blue Swallow, La Posada and Wig Wam this trip. 🙂
very cool. Have fun!