In 2022, Lisa Lennox was visiting a friend in Stephenville, Texas, when she stumbled upon the Interstate Inn. The motel, on a highway an hour west of Fort Worth, had seen better days. The building was notorious with the local police, and rooms rented for $40 a night. The property needed new plumbing and wiring, and asbestos had to be removed.

But Ms. Lennox immediately felt a connection to the property, with its funky design, including a giant sloped roof that screamed Space Age.

“These motels are very Americana,” she said. “They’ve got a really unique design. But they’re all in disrepair, and a lot of them are being torn down.” Ms. Lennox had no real experience in hospitality, but she’d traveled widely and knew what made a good hotel room. She bought the motel that year, took an online hotel management course at Cornell and plans to open a renovated 35-room Interstate Inn, as well as another motel, with her siblings by the end of September. A third opening is planned for next year.

Ms. Lennox and her siblings are not alone: Motels are having a moment. Kimberly Walker, managing partner at Nomada Hotel Group, which owns three motels in California, says she sees a rise in what she calls “motel culture.” It includes people who are interested in owning and renovating motels, as well as travelers — especially young people — with an affinity for them.