MO Branson Econo Lodge

[AlSleet]

Had a winning bid of $35 for the Branson Econolodge in July of 2004. I was surprised to get this hotel as I was bidding on 2* hotels.

Overall this is a clean hotel with more amenities than I expected out of an Ecnolodge. They offer a free continental breakfast, a swimming pool with a deep end of 6ft, hot tub, laudry facilities and a game room. The room key comes in a folded map of the Branson area that lists the access roads so you can avoid the heavy parking-lot type traffic on the main drag of 76 Country Music Blv. The room key itself is a coupon for The Track Family Fun Park and gets you $5 off the Go-Card Fun Pack. The offer Mini Golf, Go-Carts, Bumper Boats and Kids Rides.

The location is convenient to many of the shows in Branson and several restaurants. It is located just off one of the access roads and offers an easy drive to a Walmart and a Jubilee grocery store.

The free continental breakfast didn't appear to offer to much and I saw no one in the lobby enjoying it when we checked out. It did not look to me like the lobby was set up for this and it was maybe an after thought to compete with other chains offering it.

There were 3 floors to this hotel and as with many in Branson, it's built into a hill side. If you are in one of the rooms on the 1st floor, it's possible that you will get car headlights shinning directly into your room when they park their cars at nights. Portions of the first floor are below the level of the parking lot.

Our room was on the third floor and was typical of a 1* hotel room. There was a small table with two chairs, a wall unit heating/cooling system, a dresser with a 19 inch TV, tub/shower unit and a single sink vanity that was seperated from the toilet and tub/shower by a door. The room was typical of a small hotel room. Our room had two queen sized beds with uncomfortable cheap mattresses. We both awoke with sore backs. With the table and chairs in the room it was very crowded from the wall to the bed. They actually had the table pushed right up to the wall AC/Heating unit and then came the bed. There wasn't enough room to walk between the bed and the table on that side.

Overall it was a fair room for the price of $35 for a chain hotel in this area. The listed price was around $52/night had a I booked directly through them and many others in the area were higher including Motel 6, which wanted $45 for two people for the night. It is not a hotel I would want to stay at for more than one night and will be sure to bid on only 3 star hotels or book my own room if I'm staying more than one night in the future.