Weekly rates for contractors and crews working in Clayton County

Clayton County runs on freight and construction. Supply chain and logistics account for roughly 35 percent of every job in the county — close to 40,000 people — spread across the warehouses and distribution centres between Forest Park, Morrow and the cargo area. Work here arrives in weeks rather than days, and the people doing it need somewhere to sleep that costs less than a nightly rate multiplied by seven.

This is a practical guide to how weekly motel rates work, written from a property on US 19/41 in Jonesboro that books a lot of them.

A weekly rate is not seven nightly rates

That is the first thing worth understanding. The nightly rate on any motel website is what you pay for a night or two. Stay seven nights or longer and the front desk quotes a weekly rate instead; stay 28 nights or longer and there is a monthly rate. The gap between the two is the whole reason a crew stays somewhere rather than driving home at weekends.

Weekly rates are generally not published, and there is a reasonable explanation. The figure depends on the room type, the season and how long you are staying. A published number that turns out not to apply to your job helps nobody, so the desk quotes it on the phone with your actual dates in front of them.

What it gets you beyond the price

• The same room for the whole stay. Nothing is packed up and shifted every seven days, which matters more than it sounds after week three.
• Payment weekly at the desk. Not the whole period up front.
• No lease, no credit check, no notice period. If the job finishes early, you tell the desk.
• Extending is a conversation, not a new booking. Jobs overrun. Tell the desk before the week ends and you carry on at the same rate.
• Housekeeping. Rooms are serviced daily. If you work nights, tell the desk once and they will skip your room for the whole stay and leave fresh towels instead.

Getting a crew into one place

This is where property size actually matters. A twenty-room motel cannot take six rooms from Monday at short notice; a property with 90+ rooms usually can, and can often put them adjoining. If you are running an install, a shutdown or a construction job, that is a phone call rather than a negotiation.

Two things to ask on that call. Whether there is a crew rate — that is a separate conversation from the standard weekly rate. And whether double rooms suit you: two double beds sleep up to four on one room rate, so two to a room halves the cost per head without anyone sharing a bed.

If the booking needs arranging through an employer rather than paid individually, say so on the first call. It is a normal request and the desk will tell you what works.

How the sums usually work

We are not going to publish figures that may not apply to your job. What we can describe is the shape. A weekly rate is generally more economical than paying seven separate nightly rates, and a monthly rate more economical again per night. Exact pricing depends on the room type, the season and how long you are staying.

The bigger saving, for a crew, usually is not the rate at all. It is occupancy. A double room has two double beds and sleeps up to four on one room rate, so two people to a room roughly halves the cost per head without anyone sharing a bed. For a crew of eight over a month, that decision matters more than the nightly figure.

If you are working nights

A good share of our long-stay guests sleep during the day, and there are three things worth doing on the first morning rather than the third week.

• Tell the desk you are on nights. They will note it for the length of your stay and housekeeping will skip your room, leaving fresh towels instead of knocking at eleven.
• Ask about a quieter room. The desk will do what they can with what is free. Ask on arrival rather than after a bad week.
• Know the quiet hours. 10:00 PM to 8:00 AM, enforced rather than posted. If something is keeping you awake inside those hours, ring the desk — that is the policy working as intended.

Groceries, laundry and food

There is no kitchen and no guest laundry here, so this is the part worth planning. La Morena Supermarket on Tara Boulevard, a little over half a mile away and open until 9pm every day is the closest full grocery shop and where most weekly guests do their shop. Shree Coin Laundry on Tara Boulevard, about a mile and three quarters south and open 24 hours is what people use for laundry, and the 24-hour opening suits a shift pattern that does not fit ordinary trading hours. a 24-hour Waffle House about a hundred yards up the road handles the nights nobody wants to cook, and delivery drivers are welcome to bring orders to your room door or the front desk.

A pharmacy sits about a quarter of a mile away, with a larger one roughly three miles south. For anything else, the Tara Boulevard corridor runs south from the property and carries most of the everyday retail in this part of the county. More on what is along the corridor.

Parking and vehicles

Parking is free surface parking on the lot beside the rooms, lit through the night, and there is plenty of it for cars, pickups, vans and crew vehicles. Tools and bags come out of the vehicle and go straight in rather than crossing a car park.

What it is not is a truck facility. There are no dedicated tractor-trailer bays. If your crew is arriving in anything larger than a van, ring the front desk before you set off and they will look at what is on the lot and tell you plainly whether it works.

Check-in, cancellation and pets

• ID at check-in. Every registered guest shows valid government-issued photo ID, every stay. No exceptions, including on employer-arranged bookings.
• Cancelling. Nothing is charged in advance for a direct booking, so there is no cancellation fee. If the job finishes early, tell the desk so the room can be released.
• Deposits. A refundable deposit may apply depending on length of stay and payment method. The desk confirms it at check-in.
• Pets. Welcome in designated pet rooms with restrictions. Call before booking with the dog’s size. Pet-Friendly Rooms – Two Double Beds, Smoking.
• Accessible rooms. Limited in number — call ahead so the right one is held. Accessible rooms.

Full detail is on the hotel policies page.

Weekly motel room against a short-term rental

A rental wins on space and on having a kitchen. That is worth saying plainly. Where it loses for a working crew is commitment: a term you cannot shorten, a deposit up front, cleaning that is yours to do or pay for, and nobody on site when the boiler stops at eleven at night.

A weekly motel room is the opposite trade. Less space, no kitchen, but you can arrive tonight, extend a week at a time, walk away when the job ends, and there is someone at the desk at every hour if something goes wrong. For a job with an uncertain end date, that flexibility is usually worth more than the square footage.

What a long stay here actually lacks

Being straight about this saves everyone a bad month. There is no kitchen — a mini-fridge and a microwave, but no hob, no oven and no sink outside the bathroom. There is no guest laundry on site. There is no restaurant, bar or breakfast service.

What there is nearby: La Morena Supermarket on Tara Boulevard, a little over half a mile away and open until 9pm every day for the weekly shop, Shree Coin Laundry on Tara Boulevard, about a mile and three quarters south and open 24 hours, and a 24-hour Waffle House about a hundred yards up the road. Most guests on a weekly rate cook in the microwave and do the laundry on a day off.

Questions worth asking any property

• How many nights before the weekly rate applies?
• Do I keep the same room, or get moved?
• Do I pay weekly or the whole period up front?
• Is there a crew rate if I need several rooms?
• Can rooms be adjoining?
• What happens if the job overruns by a week?
• Can housekeeping skip my room if I sleep days?
• Where is the nearest laundromat and grocery shop?
• Is parking free, and is the lot lit at night?
• Is the front desk staffed overnight?

If a property cannot answer those quickly on the phone, that tells you something before you have committed to a month of it.