This is a clean cozy small motel. Its back behind the gettiup coffee shop making it like a safe little tucked away spot. Great people watching from the back facing windows. I can’t stress how clean the rooms were for such an affordable motel and I checkeddd everything. Its Def humble but its got good energy and coziness, also comfy bed that look clean and new when stripped. The staff rock they go out of their way for you. A man there literally dumpster dived for a costume of mine id lost because he didnt want me to have to do it. Just kind clean and if youre spiritual you can feel a much more neutral clean energy in these rooms than other motels around at a similar price point which says a lot to me. I’m grateful this place is upon garberville deserves nice things and this place in my oppinion is one of them.

Keep driving if you can. I rarely leave reviews but I have to for this place. The moment we pulled up, I had a bad feeling, but we were tired and just decided to stop. However tired you are now is no comparison to how tired you will be in the morning. The beds (room 1) were rock hard but also so old and worn down that if you went anywhere near the edge, it would collapse causing you to slide right off. Also, the heating/ac unit in that room did not work, it won’t even turn on, and a lot of the room’s insulation has been torn off (e.g. with our door closed, sunlight was coming in between the door and door jam). We were exhausted when we arrived, but still only got about 3 hours of sleep. I was sore for a good 24 hours afterward. The sheets looked and smelled like the hotel leaves them on for a few separate parties before washing them.

This leads to our next issue, cleanliness. It is obvious that when they clean, they do a very superficial cleaning. We took our shoes off for a few minutes when we arrived, and after about 20 minutes, the bottoms of our feet were black. Further, my girlfriend is very allergic to pet dander and the whole night her allergies were going crazy. Now we’ve been staying in pet friendly hotels, as we are traveling with a hypoallergenic dog, but this is the only place that really triggered her allergies. Again, because the rooms are not cleaned.

We did not have any major safety issues as other reviews have mentioned, however there are definitely people living in this motel and a large (per capita) number of homeless people, and/or people struggling with addiction, wandering around the property. There is one safety issue worth mentioning. The rooms have barely any electrical outlets, so everything is daisy chained together using outlet extenders (see my picture). This is a fire hazard and the room does not have any smoke detectors.

My real issue with all of this is the value of what we are paying for vs. what we got. I see other reviewers shaming people for their expectations here. We are exploring the Pacific Northwest and have been staying in budget friendly rooms. We paid basically $100 to stay a night in this room a couple nights after spending $90 to stay in a far nicer room at a hotel in Rockaway Beach, OR. with a private beach 5 steps out of our room (literally a hotel room right on the beach). Johnston’s Motel would be more appropriately priced at $50 a night (after taxes and booking fees). For $100 a night, it is reasonable to expect a clean, comfortable, and up-to-date experience.

The staff was pleasant and kind, unfortunately we cannot sleep on a bed of their kindness. If you’re really tired enough to be considering this Motel, just head to the nearest Rest Stop and sleep in your car. You’ll get a better night’s sleep, save $100, and it’s probably about as safe.

Room: 1 star (I’d give half a star if possible).

Service: 3 stars (Kind people, though I did not have much interaction with them).

Location: 2 stars (Immediate location is half a star, but the surrounding area and redwood forests are beautiful).

Price: $100 (2-3 times what it should cost when compared to similarly priced Hotels/Motels.