Motel 6 rooms were $6 per night when the chain originated in 1962.
And worth every dollar.
IIRC, In 1961 I was renting a nicely furnished two bedroom apartment on Siesta Key FL for $65 a month on a yearly basis, and it was only about a 100 yard stroll from the beach recently judged by a national survey to have the whitest sand in the world. So one year later when Motel 6 came on the scene it would have cost me about three times that much per month plus tax to live in a tiny Motel 6 room with no cooking facilities by the side of a noisy dirty highway if there had been one in that area back then. Something seems slightly out of whack about that comparison.
I haven't lived down there for quite a few years but I'm guessing that same apartment, if it's still there that is, would probably go for a couple of thousand $ a month now. Or maybe more, I understand that Siesta Key has become a high rent area now, and I'm way out of touch with rental costs anyway now that I'm a homeowner.