16 Of The Worst Hotel Experiences, As Told By The People Who Survived It

Article created by: Justinas Keturka

Hotels can be surprisingly hard to get quality sleep in. There can be plenty of reasons for it – unfamiliar environment, loud neighbors, city lights beaming through the curtains... But as you are about to see, these examples are nothing compared to what some people had to go through on their travels.

To remind you to do your homework the next time you're booking a place, we at Bored Panda put together a list of the absolute worst hotel experiences we could find online. From roaches to broken appliances and irresponsible staff who refuse to take care of those things, continue scrolling to check out the things that lurk behind the registration desk.

• Read More: 30 Of The Worst Hotel Experiences, As Told By The People Who Survived It

#1

I paid like $300 a night to stay at a fancy hotel for work in Park City, UT in the summer for a conference. They put me in this room with a kitchen and a living room and so many doors. Like four closed doors. So I go to open one and it’s locked. And the next one is locked. All of them are locked. And then I realize there is no bed. Not even a couch bed. Just a couch. They literally gave me a room that didn’t have a bed. It was the adjoining living room for other hotel rooms. And I checked my reservation and it said I booked a room with a bed. I felt like I was in the twilight zone when I went to the lobby and asked where was my bed at my hotel and they didn’t see the problem. It took almost three hours to get it sorted while I’m arguing that paying for a hotel is for the bed.

Image credits: RainbowZebraGum

#2

A cheap Comfort Inn in Kingsville, TX. Went to use a blow dryer... pointed it towards my head and turned it on, and then an object blew out of the dryer, slapped against my forehead and bounced into the sink. Took me a moment to realize it was a live cockroach.

Image credits: rs37982

#3

My dad went to a hotel once and checked in to a first floor room. He went in the room, put his stuff down, opened the curtains...and a man was hiding there.

My dad went “excuse me”, closed the curtains, got his stuff and left. Went to the front desk to explain that a man was hiding in his room. Turns out the guy had just robbed a place and somehow got into the room with an open window.

Image credits: arcant12

#4

I needed to find a hotel in Dayton, OH because of my daughter’s gymnastics competition. I read online reviews and the Travel Lodge there got good reviews. The price was good too, so I booked it.

I had difficulty finding it because it was dark and their sign wasn’t lit. Parking lot was pitch black. Just outside the entrance there were 2 sketchy guys that looked like they were negotiating a drug deal.

Inside the motel lobby was dimly lit with flickering lights. The room was no better. Stained sheets, holes in the bedspread and hair in the shower. The fitness room consisted of a stair stepper that was broken and an old tv on the ground that was also broken.

I told the front desk that I wanted to cancel our reservation. She said, “I don’t blame you. This place is gross. I had an I interview at Kohl’s & hope they hire me so I can quit this place.”

Image credits: DareWright

#5

In Fresno (the worst town in history, way worse than Jonestown). Clerk is like, "You don't want to stay here. Seriously, here's the key, go check it out." Door wasn't locked, light wouldn't turn on, but I could see the cockroaches crawling on the mini-fridge. Yeah, ok, nope.

Image credits: ryleyg

#6

Happened over Christmas time in China. Came back to the hotel after dropping my boyfriend off at the airport so was clearly not in the best mood only to find a lot of my belongings moved around the room and items missing... including my passport...

There was food that she moved into the bathroom, my deodorant was in the shower and my shower gel was on the tv cabinet, things were taken out of my suitcase and other items were put into my suitcase, jewellery was on the floor etc. Just really random stuff had been moved.

I had to go to reception and try to speak Mandarin (I was studying) and explain the situation. My passport was the main issue and I managed to get it back but I had gifts from my mum that were thrown out.

Turns out the cleaner had taken my passport with the sheets to the laundry room which is crazy as it was actually in a cupboard (no safe available). Checked out 2 weeks early and got a refund for all the missing items as she admitted to throwing them away but she wouldn't say anything about why she had gone through my things or why she had moved anything.

Image credits: mao64

#7

Probably not the worst but hilarious -- I checked into the Delta in Ottawa, pulled back the sheer curtains to admire the view of the river / Parliament, and there were BIG RED LIPSTICK KISSES all over the glass doors.

I got upgraded to a suite!

Image credits: Kara_S

#8

Mine was so bad we left. I was about 6-7 and we got a late start on the 8 hour drive to Orlando, so my parents decided to make a stop at a hotel. Well, we get to the room and everything felt off. They brought in a folding bed for me and the blankets and sheets looked faded from age and disuse. Look in the bathroom and there was 4 spider webs in the shower and roaches all over the place. Parents checked the main bed and there was bugs and hair under the blanket. We noped out of there in less than 30 min and got our money back. 97 was a wild time apparently.

Image credits: col-fancypants

#9

There's a hotel in the north of England calling itself a "Castle Hotel" like that's a genius piece of marketing that is so bad it's almost comically good. It used to host some events I went to, so staying there was more simple but it really was a lottery every time you stayed there. I'll compile a small list of just some of the issues.

1) "Seaview" room, where the sea could be seen, just over one of the towers if you pressed your face against the window at just the right angle.
2) Twin room with skylight. Skylight turned out to be very thick white plastic and was the only source of light in the room other than a bedside lamp. The skylight also leaked directly onto one of the beds.
3) Triple room, except the third bed overhung the bathroom door meaning you either propped it shut and had to move the bed every time you wanted to go in or just leave it open the whole time.
4) Bed bugs experienced in various rooms.
5) Breakfast included food I'm fairly certain was formerly on display in a kitchen furnishing store.
6) The area near the bar hadnt had its carpet changed in what seemed like 40 years, so smelt of stale beer regardless of the time of day.
7) To take advantage of the sea views, there were glass (plastic) hallways. As it was plastic and poorly fit it leaked and stunk of mould. It was also freezing in those parts.

It's just a bizarre place. It's like stepping back in time to the early nineties in the least positive way possible.

Image credits: CKIDefianT

#10

Some seedy place in Montreal: the whole place stunk of cigarrette smoke, but the icing in the cake was that someone came into the room and switched on the light during the night, waking me up. I was sleeping naked and was too scared to move (I was 20 and spending my first night in Canada) so I just stayed perfectly still while the person stood at the door. After probably 20 seconds, the light went off and they dissapeared. Left on a bus to Quebec City early the next morning so never found out what it was to do with.

#11

Stayed at a Motel 6 outside of Chicago. Room was kinda dirty (dirty walls, bathroom not entirely up to par, etc) but didn’t think much of it. Shower didn’t drain either, but whatever we weren’t there long. What really got us, though, was when we were going through the drawers before checkout and found a waist trainer, some loose unused diapers, a little bit of cereal, and a full French loaf of bread. If I had to guess, I would bet the hotel just doesn’t even employ housekeepers. Safe to say our next vacation will have a bigger hotel budget.

Image credits: jaimartin

#12

Drove halfway across Florida and collapsed into bed in an Econo Lodge in Crystal River. Noticed a funky smell coming from around the headboard. I lifted the mattress and found a used condom.

Image credits: DarthContinent

#13

Motel 7 in El Paso had a software problem, lost track of occupied rooms. Rather than checking, they issued keys to possibly occupied rooms and waited to see if anyone complained!

I twice opened my new hotel room door to find other guests in there. Jesus.

#14

On a work trip I was put in the most disgusting hotel room, to the point where I didn't feel comfortable and couldn't sleep. A pile of dirt and dust in the corner that I imagine would take years to accumulate, brown stains on the lampshades, food under the bed, water damage in the pictures in picture frames, the whole room smelt moldy, the hairdryer was sticky, tv remote was stickyand covered in food, stuff all over the walls, hair in the shower, the toilet bowl was stained red, everything felt gross and grimy. Hot water didn't work in my room (cold showers anyone?). I felt like a walking zoombie that work trip, it felt so disgusting I really couldn't sleep.

My coworker in the next room over, his room door didn't fully shut. And he used the latch at the top to close it. The door was still open a couple inches and he put a chair in front of the door, and didn't sleep at all that trip either.

Edit: The hotel room on my last work trip was much nicer.

Image credits: boopydooploop

#15

Had a reservation booked @ a hotel in KY before TripAdvisor was a thing.

We got there, and the motel (so, doors open to the parking lot instead of an inside hallway) room we were assigned had a door with a broken/no lock. When we went back to complain, they tried to refuse to give us a refund. Luckily they changed their minds after a firm discussion.

The worst part? The parking lot had a lot of people “lounging” at 2 in the afternoon, and they perked right up when we pulled in and parked. It was unnerving. I don’t want to think about what would have happened if we’d stayed the night there.

Image credits: _forbidden_jello_

#16

H syringes under the bed and the complimentary bible in the night stand had schizophrenic type post it notes littered throughout it's pages. For $35 a night I couldn't complain.. I slept in my clothes though haha.

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Image credits: Eidolon_Alpha