Motel 6
From Free net encyclopedia
Image:Thefirstmotel6.jpg Motel 6 is a large budget motel chain in the United States and Canada. It was founded in 1962 in Santa Barbara, California, when all rooms cost $6 a night—hence the company name. Depending on particular location and season, rooms now cost from $20 to $50 a night on average. Prices are typically advertised on a brightly-lit sign visible from nearby highways. Most of its locations are located near major interstate highways. In 1990, the company was bought by the French-based Accor.
Unlike many motel chains, Motel 6 allows pets, and directly owns and operates most of its locations. However, the chain did start franchising in 1994.
Motel 6 may be best known for a series of light humored radio and television ads featuring the voice of writer Tom Bodett with the quote "We'll leave the light on for you".
Popular culture
The band Yo La Tengo wrote and perform a song called From A Motel 6 that is set inside a Motel 6 room.
In the 1992 Chevy Chase film Memoirs of an Invisible Man, the characters played by Chase and co-star Darryl Hannah stay in a San Francisco area Motel 6 while awaiting a train.
In the Simpsons episode Sideshow Bob Roberts, when the family's house faces demolition for the construction of the Matlock Expressway, Lisa despairs that they will be forced to live in a Motel 6. Bart comments that Homer wouldn't be able to afford $6 a night.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor made a mention of Motel 6 in her dissent regarding private property rights in the U.S. Supreme Court's Kelo v. City of New London decision.