Motel 6 may be known mainly as a hotel chain that is able to provide customers with basic inexpensive lodging for the night, but thanks to its newest property in a Dallas suburb the company is proving that economical and environmental can in fact go hand in hand.
The new Motel 6 in Northlake is the first economy hotel in the nation to gain LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. This award is given by the US Green Building Council and is seen as a coup for both parent company Accor and also the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Building a cheap hotel with environmental standards high enough to make this certification possible have taken the companies design team years to accomplish, and makes this Motel 6 a hotel you should definitely consider for your next Dallas vacation.
This is not your standard Motel 6 by any stretch of the imagination, and marks the first step in a major rebranding effort. The hotel features technologically-advanced heating and cooling systems, fluorescent light bulb and battery recycling program and water conservation measures including green showerheads. The building also has high-efficiency laundry equipment with computer-controlled dryers and environmentally sensitive laundry and cleaning products. Even the building itself is environmentally friendly with a location selection and property design that was based on minimizing exposure to the western sun so the hotel would stay cooler during the summer months.
The rooms themselves are what make this Motel 6 stand above the rest. Remodeling efforts at over 70 of the company’s locations nationwide have seen the ‘Phoenix’ room design incorporated into newer buildings, and Northlake shows them off to their finest. Designed by London based Priestmangoode the rooms feature 32 inch flat-screens, wood effect flooring, and a seating area complete with comfortable couches. All in all it is much more European apartment living than it is your grandfathers Motel 6. Indeed the design is so highly thought of it won Travel & Leisure Magazines 2010 Design Award for “Best Large Hotel Chain”.
The hotel offers standard amenities like free internet and a large outdoor pool, but also adds a 24 hour food and beverage marketplace the kind of which you do not often see with cheap hotels in this price bracket.
When you think of hotels to stay at many people would dismiss Motel 6 as simply not being somewhere they would stay. With this new design, and with their forward thinking approach to green technologies however, the company is trying to alter that view. Located only 1 mile from the Texas Motor Speedway the Northlake property is ideally placed just outside of Dallas for both gear heads and people wanting a cheap hotel from which to base their Dallas vacation. With rates from under $50 a night the Northlake Motel 6 my just be the perfect stop for the budget traveler.
http://www.motel6.com/reservations/motel_detail.aspx?num=2014
Photo via AnnaleeBlysse
