[crispyambulance]

  > The idea of a "motel" is to be cheap. 

Says who?

The stereotypical cheap motel is almost guaranteed to be an unpleasant experience because of the riff-raff it attracts and the extremely low level of service/cleaning. That said, they exist to serve a need, they're not going to go out of business anytime soon.

The "rebanded" hipster motels are quite nice, I stayed at one in Marfa TX and also a different one somewhere in MA. Such motels can only exist if there's enough visitors to make them worthwhile, they also serve a need.