Some time ago, a Ramada Inn was built at Outer Drive and Holland Avenue in Saginaw, Michigan. It was right across from the now-shuttered Fort Saginaw Mall, which is also featured here on Forgotten Michigan.
By the mid 1990s, this motel had switched to Comfort, then Quality Inn. Later still, it became Rodeway Inn. Oddly, all three brands share the same parent company (Choice Hotels). I have no idea why it re-branded twice; maybe the amenities offered had something to do with the brand switching. (Such is the way with motel brands nowadays -- there is no consistency as names are swapped left and right arbitrarily, breaking the standards that chain motels were meant to establish in the first place.)
In the early 2000's, this motel finally closed up. The Rodeway Inn sign was painted over, and the motel shuttered. Around early 2004, it re-opened as the Buena Vista Inn (oddly listed as Best Value on many online yellow pages, although it has never been affiliated with the Best Value brand). It seems that only part of the motel is in use, though, as there is a snow fence that runs through the middle of the parking lot, severing it in half, and barring access to the back half of the property.
There are other lodging choices at this exit -- a high-rise Best Western that I know used to be a Holiday Inn; a Knights Inn that recently lost its franchise and became Saginaw Inn in early 2004 (their sign is simply a tarp over the Knights Inn sign); and a Motel 6 that took over an old Red Roof Inn in 2004. Motel 6 and Red Roof Inn also share a parent company (Accor); I sense a pattern.
I wish I had more on this motel, but hey -- at least it's my second motel addition to Forgotten Michigan.
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