The Cottage Inn at Mount Shasta

The Alpine Lodge looks charming and vintage from its photos online, but in real life it is dingy, old, smelled bad, and looks as though there hasn't been any renovations since the 1980's. My bus was late arriving to town, (I arrived at 3 AM) and incidentally there was a forrest fire nearby that caused a power outage all over town. When I got to the hotel, the owner (I think Andy), whose English was difficult to understand, insisted that I pay with cash because his credit card machine was not working due to not having electricity (why didn't he have a mobile app to take cards?). When I told him I didn't have any cash but could find an ATM first thing the next morning, he said "no cash, no room" despite it being 3 AM and obviously a tough situation. My taxi driver was kind enough to pay my hotel fee in cash so that I could have a place to stay for the night. Overall, my rate was $166, but this hotel is worth $25 a night at best. There are plenty of other, nicer places to stay in town at the same price. I wouldn't waste my money staying here again.