Lately, fewer people opt to stay at hotels and go for private rentals instead. Housing platforms, such as Airbnb, Booking, TripAdvisor, etc., generally offer smaller prices for a larger space and other amenities similar to those at home. The debate about booking a hotel or an Airbnb solely depends on the experience you prefer to have. However, this post is not about the battle between the two.

It doesn’t matter if the hotel has a one or a five-star rating, we expect our room to be clean and provide all necessities for a pleasant stay, such as hot water, electricity, and perhaps a free Wi-Fi connection. It’s the bare necessities all hotels should provide for their paying guests.

However, some hotels fail to provide their guests with a pleasant stay. Many people joined this Reddit thread to share stories of their worst hotel experiences. While a hard mattress and poor Wi-Fi connection might be a huge problem for many, these people would perhaps be lucky to have those concerns rather than what they have gone through. Scroll below and read some of the most awful ‘nightmare hotel’ stories.

More info: Reddit

#1

Image source: DareWright

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.”

#2

Image source: xoriginal_usernamex

My girlfriend and I walked in after being gone all day, and felt something wet on the floor. Lights were out and it was night time so we couldn’t tell what it was. Turn on the lights to see the toilet is just broken. Didn’t overflow, the tank is just cracked and water is pouring everywhere. The entire bedroom and bathroom is soaked.

Go down to let them know and request money back and cancel the room for that night, they offer us another room instead. Okay, sure. Walk into the new room, someone is already f**king staying there. The poor woman looked horrified when we walked in. Got ALL our cash back after that and left.

#3

Image source: rs37982

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.

#4

Image source: PM_ME_UNIFORMS

Motel in Charlottetown, PEI. Our hotel room was in the basement down a long, dark hallway with half the bulbs burnt out and around two or three corners, was fully prepared to meet a [criminal] in the dark. Got into the room, whole bunch of stuff was duct-taped together. Air-conditioner duct-taped in several places and duct-taped into the window. Shower head repaired with duct tape. Duct tape holding the couch and desk together. It was like being in Red Green’s motel.

#5

Image source: mao64

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.

#6

Image source: col-fancypants

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.

#7

Image source: Flamingo_Lemon

Honeymoon in Key West. We were moved to three different rooms in the 5 days we stayed there because of “palmetto bugs” aka Giant Cockroaches. We’ve stayed in Florida many times before and rarely had an issue, so the extent of this infestation was a shock. The bugs got into our food (that was stored in the fridge) and were swarming on the sheets at night. Not sexy to wake up next to your new husband and ~30, 3″ long bugs! All the hotel did was send someone with a can of Raid at 4:00am… Not cool. They lied about comping the room too, which thankfully we checked up on and got in writing before we left. The manager also threatened to “make him (my husband) pay” if we dared write a bad TripAdvisor review.

#8

Image source: SKirby00

I was about 4 at the time, so this is mostly based off my siblings stories, even though I remember a few still shots.

We were at a hotel with some family friends and their kids (5 kids total, us included, ages 4-13). Parents put us all in the same room to chill in the evening as they went out to do adult things (probably a fancy dinner).

Was chilling on the bed watching a movie, and then all of a sudden we heard a loud noise, the floor vibrated a bit, and then, I s**t you not, hundreds if not thousands of mini spiders started flowing up the walls, in from two of the bottom corners in the room.

After a butchered attempt to defend our ground by using marshmallows and ice cubes as projectiles, we huddled up in the bathroom where we had the bottom of the door sealed with a towel. I slept in the bathtub with my sister that night. There were no phones to call for help (this was before kids/teens ever had cells) and we were very clearly instructed to not leave the room under any circumstances. We took those instructions a bit too seriously.

My parents discovered the crime scene in the middle of the night, and probably woke up the whole floor with their initial scream. We all ended up okay though.

TLDR: As kids alone in a hotel room, we got swarmed by a metric f**kton of spiders. Failed to defend ourselves. Huttled up in the bathroom where we spent the night with no way to call for help.

Edit: thought it might be interesting to note that my sister is still arachnophobic to this day because of the situation. (Also added TLDR)

Edit 2: Fixed spelling.

#9

Image source: _felisin_

My now husband and I were driving from St. Paul to L.A., and stopped in Rapid City the first night. We had reservations, but they somehow got “lost,” so they charged us more for a bigger room. We had been driving all day, it was freezing cold, and all we wanted was a hot shower and some food. There was no hot water. There was no room service after 8 PM and they wouldn’t tell us if any restaurants nearby would deliver. At checkout I tried to get them to reduce our bill AT ALL and pretty much got laughed at. This wasn’t even a seedy motel either; it’s a large chain that I’m sure could afford to take off $50 for generally sucking.

Edit: I guess I’m allowed to say the name. F**k you Days Inn.

#10

Image source: ryleyg

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.

#11

Image source: DarthContinent

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.

#12

Image source: jaimartin

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.

#13

Image source: GurleyBeTruckin

Finally a topic I have a decent story for!

Many years ago I used to be a foreman for a commercial painting contractor. We were doing a big city hall/jail/courthouse building and grabbed a room at a certain hotel chain that was kind enough to “leave the light on for us.” My boss was notorious for being a cheap a*s with hotel rooms but this place took the cake. Upon entering my room I found 3 used syringes on the floor. Of course I noped out of there and told the front desk, which to my surprise really didn’t seem to think that it was a big deal. That should of been a giant red flag. We get new rooms and after about 45 minutes someone knocks on our door. I open it up and it’s a cracked out girl asking if we want a blowjob for $20. I told her thanks but no thanks and shut the door. About 45 minutes after that I hear a long bang on our door. I open it and the cracked out woman is unconscious, bleeding from her forehead and laying against our door. I call the front desk and tell them to call the cops but they say “no no don’t do that, we will come take care of it.” Second red flag. I shut the door immediately after calling the front desk because I don’t want any part of this mess. Well the woman starts to wake up and starts screaming “he hit me, he hit me!” Now I’m thinking great, this crackhead is going to try to say I did this?? Luckily I had a coworker in the room so I wasn’t really worried about getting in trouble but didn’t want to deal with the b******t. Well turns out she was talking about her boyfriend that she was staying with at the hotel. Guy from the front desk comes and tells her to leave, they start arguing, boyfriend comes out and starts getting in the face of the employee and it’s just chaos. I stuck my head out and said “hey I called the cops so don’t go anywhere.” Immediately they all cleared out like roaches when a light comes on, even the hotel employee.

I proceed to fill my boss in on all this when we get back into town and he says “well there is a reason it’s cheap” and we ended up staying there for 6 weeks.

#14

Image source: Eidolon_Alpha

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.

#15

Image source: Kaa_The_Snake

Was in Vegas with my Mom (she likes road trips and gambling so why not?). We were sharing a room and both in our beds ready to crash when we heard definite sounds of enthusiastic f*****g next door:”oh GOD!””*grunts*””Don’t stop!*

OK, nothing that’s not to be expected, just pretty dang loud. A minute later, the deed is done. Yay, sleep time! But alas, not 30 seconds later another commotion begins: Singing, at the top of their lungs. And what were they singing? Religious songs! All about how great God is and how blessed they are.

Oh HELL no! I’d had waaaay more than enough (sex sounds being preferable to this cacophony) and I bang on the wall, telling them to to STFU, and that what they just did was a sin against everything right and holy (me being able to sleep, of course). They did quiet down, but I’ve never been kept awake before by post-fornication religious singing.

#16

Image source: arcant12

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.

#17

Image source: RainbowZebraGum

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.

#18

Image source: anon

Went to an MtG tournament in Baltimore, stayed in a Motel 6 because we couldn’t get our s**t together and get a room at a decent hotel sooner.

The place was about a block from the light rail, which went right to the convention center. That was about the highest point of the whole trip.

Apart from food poisoning and my binder worth a few thousand getting stolen, the room had a decided dip in one corner where I’m sure the floor was rotting away. When it rained, the bathroom started to leak through the light fixture, and our bonehead roommate put ALL THE TOWELS underneath it instead of, I don’t know, the garbage can. Which meant we couldn’t dry off too well the second day.

I know it was more or less our own fault for not acting faster before hotel prices jumped, but the place was a sh**hole even by Motel 6 standards.

#19

Image source: CKIDefianT

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.

#20

Image source: Kara_S

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!