I want to start by stating this hotel was very inexpensive. And I don't need much from a hotel when on the road: a dark place to sleep, a shower, a toilet.
That being said, I certainly got what I paid for. The sheets were stained - the kind of stains that survive several washes. The blanket was threadbare and had holes in it. Someone wrote I <3 U in lipstick on the mirror, and it has survived several half-assed attempts at cleaning it off. The shower, which was old-school tiled, had the tile painted over, and it is unsurprisingly peeling off and showing the tile again. The shower head is about mid-chest high. I turned on the heater, and the fan motor was intermittently whirring its bearings down to a fine powder. This would have been more annoying if I could have heard it better over the sound of the condenser in the mini fridge choking itself out like David Carradine. That would have also been annoying if I could have heard it better over the sound of the trains braking and shunting at the railyard right across the street.
If you're familiar with Barstow, none of this should come as a surprise.
If you're looking for a crash pad on an overnight trip, and your bank account balance matters to you more than relative quiet and comfort, this place is for you.