By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

Beginning in 1986, Tom Bodett said in advertisements for Motel 6: "We'll leave the light on for you."[2]. It was a warm, welcoming, feel-good message from a large American business that began with its first motel in Santa Barbara, California, where I went to school.

Marty Groebli had been the Dean of Men at the University of California, Santa Barbara; and his wife Betty was a TV personality, who later was a force behind the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.  When I left the U.S. Senate and joined a law firm in Washington, D.C., Marty sublet office space from us.

Betty was working in Washington; and Marty was setting up limited partnerships to establish new Motel 6 franchises.  Fast forward to years later, and I met a Motel 6 executive in California who told me that his job was the sell off the motels.

The properties were old; and many were in need of essential repairs.  Indeed, I stayed in one in San Luis Obispo, California where the ceiling literally collapsed on the bed next to mine.  There was a hole in the roof, and rain water had accumulated; and all of a sudden, the ceiling came down, and I might have been killed.

Motel 6's location in Napa, California and one in San Luis Obispo have been turned into homeless shelters.  However, I was told that the homeless in one location had so desecrated it that no applications were being accepted.  Years ago, the SLO location and one near the beach farther south were "meccas" for prostitutes, who were plying their trade.

Next, I was almost killed at a Motel 6 in Fairfield, California, where the assailant shot through a car window at a woman who had parked in front of my room on the ground floor.  He shot at other guests too[3], while one of the motel's managers cowered behind the front desk.

The Fairfield Police Department dispatched an armored vehicle and probably forty officers; and they were brilliant in convincing the assailant to give himself up.  Later that night, tenants above me made noise into the wee hours of the morning.

Yet, Motel 6 has not refunded my night's stay, much less "comped" additional nights.  Put bluntly, the chain's motto—"We'll leave the light on for you"—is being turned into the lights being shut off completely for the chain.  Why would anyone stay at a Motel 6?

___

© 2025, Timothy D. Naegele

___

[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6  and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/   He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at The Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service).  Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/articles/ and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/articles/), and studied photography with Ansel Adams.  He can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2]  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motel_6 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motel_6#:~:text=Since%201986%2C%20the%20chain%20has,of%20its%20real%20estate%20business. ("Motel 6")

[3]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2025/03/14/god-saved-me-again/ ("God Saved Me Again")