It’s always nice to be pleasantly surprised by how an accommodation exceeds your expectations. You arrive at your hotel or Airbnb and realize you’ve got more than you bargained for in the best possible way, making your trip much more enjoyable.
However, things can also go the exact opposite way. This is what we’re focusing on for today, as we share photos of some of the worst rooms travelers had to endure. We’re talking about worn-out carpets, filthy, stained mattresses, and toilets next to beds.
Scroll through and see if you’ve encountered anything similar, or worse.
#1 View From My Window In My Hotel Room In Cambodia
#2 End Of The Hallway In My Hotel
#3 The Pool At My Hotel In Birmingham, Alabama. Yes, Those Are Toilets
We had the opportunity to speak with a few experts regarding travel accommodations. Ignacio Merino is currently the CEO of Freetour.com and has held a managerial position in various top hotel chains across the world for more than 15 years. In his conversation with We, he shared some hotel industry secrets that the public ought to know.
“When booking, mention a special occasion like a birthday or anniversary in the comments section, or simply write ‘special occasion, please nice room,’” he said, adding that politeness while letting hotel staff know about a special event improves a customer’s chances of receiving perks such as upgrades.
#4 Drove For 14 Hours To Sleep On This
I drove for 14 hours and had a family member book a hotel for me while I was driving. Arrived at my hotel ready to crash and it was kinda gross. Decided to check for bedbugs and found this.
#5 My Hotel Towel Had A Pair Of Eyelashes On It
It was fresh from the laundry but they were stuck to the towel pretty firmly.
#6 My Hotel Room Opens Into The Lobby Restaurant
Maybe I’m the one out of the loop but I’ve never seen this.
While accommodations have their fair share of shortcomings, travelers also commit errors that compromise their experience. According to LGBTQ travel writer and Queer Adventurers founder Lindsey Danis, one of the common errors people make is not thinking through their needs and making sure the accommodations they book match them.
“A little more foresight could’ve saved them a lot of frustration,” Danis said.
#7 A Room I Booked In Belgium
#8 Hotel Left This Upon My Arrival
I came flew in from a 4 hour flight to be greeted with this.
#9 Paid Extra For A “Tower” Room At Our Hotel And Were Told We’d Get A Nice View Of The River
Price discrimination is another issue, and according to The Broke Backpacker senior editor Aiden Freeborn, it is as real as it gets. As he explained, bigger hotel chains, most especially, track down user locations and may charge higher prices if the individual comes from a wealthy, first-world country. This is why he advises using a VPN when researching hotels and Airbnbs.
“Not only will it save you from price discrimination, but it will also keep your data private from any would-be hackers out there,” he said.
#10 Just Checked In To My Hotel For The Night And It Looks Like Someone Left Their Sock
#11 The Hotel We’re Staying At Has Bright Lights On Outside All The Time. It’s 3 AM In This Picture
#12 The Sink In My Hotel Room (Helsinki)
Still on the issue of pricing, travel tech entrepreneur and Get Directo founder Marina Guastavino says another common mistake is trusting third-party sites too much when it comes to giving the best deals. This is why she advises booking directly with the hotel or vacation rental.
“Mention the rate you found elsewhere and ask if they can offer a better price for booking direct,” she stated, adding that it works 70% of the time, especially if you are polite and respectful, or if you mention a special occasion as a reason for your trip.
#13 The Most Unsafe And Dangerous Design Feature I’ve Seen In A Hotel
That path is about 30 feet below!
#14 The Placement Of The Knobs For This Hotel Sink
#15 Hotel Room Has A Light Under The Bed That Can’t Turn Off Unless I Also Cut Power To The Sockets
So I’m staying at a hotel tonight and I go to turn off the lights and discover there is no independent switch for the light under the bed.
To turn it off I have to turn the main switch off in the room which also turns off the power for the sockets.
My choice is to now sleep with a light on or not charge my phone up over night. I’m travelling tomorrow so I kinda need my phone on full battery.
Why do hotels have the weirdest lighting setups. I’ve never been in one with a single overhead light. Instead the room is illuminated by 20 smaller wall lights each with their own switch combination.
Misleading hotel bookings have been a persistent issue for some time. According to a 2019 report by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), 23% of consumers have complained about being misled by third-party travel resellers.
Apparently, such scams have become a lucrative business. The report notes that in 2018 alone, fraudulent transactions and bookings totaled a whopping $5.7 billion.
#16 Checked In To A Hotel And Promptly Checked Out
Smelled like black mold, lights didn’t work, bathroom door didn’t even shut. I was also offered [adult workers] and [illegal substances] before I even made it to my room.
#17 The Hotel I Booked Weeks Ahead Didn’t Have A Room For Us When We Checked In. Gave Us A Sofa Bed In A Conference Room
Husband kept trying to get the tv to work, even though it was 30 feet away. Also – floor to ceiling windows do NOT block any noise and there was a fire station right across the street from us.
#18 Four Star Hotel Was Doing Electrical Work At 1 Am, When They K**led The Power The Emergency Light Turned On. Stayed On Till 5:30 Am
I’ve always slept in dark, dark rooms. Our current bedroom has blackout blinds.
Fortunately, some of the erring parties did get their deserved sanctions. In 2022, Australia’s federal court ordered hotel price comparison platform Trivago to pay 44.7 million AUD in penalties for “making misleading representations” about room rates.
The company admitted to receiving about 58 million AUD in cost-per-click fees from clicks on supposed cheaper offers for a specific hotel. In turn, consumers ended up overpaying about 38 million AUD for their featured rooms.
#19 Found When I Checked Into A Holiday Inn In Florida. Guess I’ll Get A New Room
#20 The Cleaning Staff At My Hotel Stole All Of My Prescription Medication
#21 Never Thought I Would See The Infamous Carpeted Bathroom With My Own Two Eyes
If you find yourself in a room that looks nothing like what you booked, escalating the matter would be your best course of action. However, if you must do so, make sure you’re speaking with the relevant person.
“It’s always worth asking to speak to someone who maybe a bit more senior or at least is aware of how the consumer law works and what the business’s obligations are,” said Nicky Breen, a former media spokesperson of consumer advocacy group CHOICE.
#22 This Hotel Room Has A Window Into The Bathroom
#23 Eating Breakfast At My Hotel This Morning When The Staff Quickly And Urgently Ushered Me And Some Other Customers Out Of The Lobby
#24 The Wallpaper In The Women’s Restroom At The Hotel I’m Staying At
Ripping the business apart on social media may be an instinctive reaction. However, travel expert Sally French advises a less aggressive approach: asking for a fix in a cordial and empathetic way.
“The person at the front desk is a human, too,” French told The Washington Post. “Have some level of understanding of the situation you’re in and how much power they have to fix it.”
#25 Got Bumped To A Different Room In A Seedy Motel I Hadn’t Requested. My Excitement Lasted For 3 Minutes Until I Read The Sign
For anyone wondering, this place is in Edmonton, Canada.
#26 Hotel Room Light Switch Hidden Behind Pillows, So You Wake Up Inexplicably In The Middle Of The Night
What about you, dear readers? Have you had any similar experiences? How bad were they? Share your stories in the comments below. Better yet, include photos while you’re at it.
#27 This Carpet In The Hotel Looks Like Splattered With Blood
#28 This Sign Went Up After Me And My Family Started Using The Pool At Our Hotel. Pic Two Is How Red It Made My Eyes
#29 Maximum Security Hotel
#30 At A Hotel I Am Staying At In Johannesburg. Cool Idea, But S***s For Anyone In A Wheelchair
#31 “Art” Installation Spotted In A Hotel Lobby
#32 Hotel I’m Staying In With My Mum Has The Shower Open To The Entire Room
#33 This New Hotel Carpet That Looks Like It’s Worn Out Beyond Threadbare
#34 They Way They Laid The Carpet In Our Hotel
#35 Hotel Charging Cable That Requires You To Register An Account And Sign In With The Qr Code In Order To Work
It gives you a 5-minute free trial and then requires a fee per hour of use.
#36 Hotel Shower Head Has Batteries
Checked in to my fair field hotel after work took a shower wanted to change the water coming out the shower head to a jet messed around with it couldn’t get it to changed noticed a button looking thing pressed an out pops a battery pack… im like wtf the batteries are all gross and the turn the shower head an out comes a cup of rust water. What is going on… reporting to front desk.
#37 My Hotel Sanded The Door After Realizing It Hit The Toilet
#38 Nice Idea Badly Executed
#39 My Friend Is On Vacation. His Hotel Room Has A Sliding Door That Leads Directly To A Sure-Death Five Story Fall. Who Thought This Was A Good Idea?
#40 Not Enough Space To Open The Pullout Sofa In My Hotel Suite
I was told by the front desk that this was a known issue in some of the rooms since their renovation. The phone in my room also doesn’t work- another known issue from the same reno. Staff didn’t seem to see it as a problem though? No compensation or even apology.
#41 The Size Of The Pasta Dish I Ordered At (What I Am Told) Is The Fanciest Hotel In Gurgaon, India
Literally two bites.
#42 This TV In My Hotel
#43 Marriott Hotel Night Stand LED Aimed At My Face
#44 Can’t Put My Store-Bought Items In The Hotel Room Fridge Because It’s Fully Stacked And Moving Anything Will Incur A Charge
#45 This Closet In A German Hotel Needs Several Warnings… And I Still Almost Hit My Head
#46 Hotel Mirror Blocks The Only Outlet In The Bathroom
#47 Entire Hotel Numbers With Room Numbers At Random
The host told us to search for room 22, not by the small numbers.
#48 Hotel I Stayed At Last Night Advertised “Free WiFi”. This Was That Free WiFi
This is in rural australia too, so there’s no mobile data reception to fall back on. Good thing I had some movies downloaded to keep me occupied.
#49 Finding A Pin In A Hotel Towel
So I’ll give you a little update. I am here from germany for a nice relaxing vacation in Italy in a 4 star hotel (the 4 stars here would be more like 3 in Germany) This happened on our 3rd day after the cleaning staff had already cleaned the room a few times and provided new linen. I had first dried my hair with the towel and then my body, when I noticed a scratching on my side and then saw that there was a pin stuck in the towel. Luckily nothing more happened to me as the scratch didn’t really hurt anymore.
I immediatly took photos and a short video of this and went down to the reception. They told me that they couldn’t do anything because the laundry was handled by an external company, but they would let them know. I told them, that this could be so much worse for me or other guests and this should not, cannot happen again. They then told me to send them an email with the details, the photos and my contact informations so they could take care of it. I probably should have been a bit more persistent, but this had never happened to me before and I didn’t want to go full karen mode.
This is the answer I got from the hotel:
“Dear Mr. , We would like to apologize again for this incident. Our linen is supplied by the industrial laundry. Unfortunately, we are unable to lay out all the towels to check their condition as they are already folded and ready for use. We will forward photos and inform the laundry and ask them to take more care when packing and folding. We will also ask our staff to take more care when changing linen. Thank you for your understanding. Yours sincerely”
So now i am debating what to do. I would write that this is the least they have to do. And that I couldn’t care less how they do their laundry and bring it to the rooms. I give my money to the hotel for a reasonable stay and not to the cleaning company. And if they don’t accommodate me, I would take legal action.
#50 Just Got Done With My Morning Run And Came Back To The Hotel To This
#51 My Brother Is In Berlin For A Few Days And This Woman Is On The Wall In Multiple Rooms Of His Hotel
#52 The Line For The Hotel Elevators After A Conference With 20,000+ People (The Only Stairwell Is Locked)
There’s a stadium that connects to this specific hotel, and a lot of people from the conference (like me) are staying at the hotel.
#53 Hotel Bath Won’t Turn Off
Drove 5 hours to get to a hotel at 1:30AM. Tried to take a bath to unwind before going to sleep. Handle was immediately loose and now the water won’t turn off. There’s only one person working the front desk who stated she doesn’t know what to do. She said she’ll try to page management but as far as she knows, they do not have someone on call who can fix it
#54 I’m In A Wheelchair And These Are The Only 2 Handicap Parking Spots In My Hotel
#55 The Bathroom In Our Hotel In Hvar Where My Husband And I Got Shellfish Poisoning In Croatia. At One Point The Room Service Guy Totally Saw Me P**ping
#56 Found Bedbugs In My Hotel Bed At 2 AM
2am I wake up to an itching on my finger that won’t go away. I developed 2 little welts that changed color. I strip the bed and find this little ba***rd. Show it to the front desk and they immediately throw it away. Tried telling me it was just a box elder bug baby. (Definitely not) Got my money back and moved to a different hotel at 3am. Stayed up until 6am washing all of my laundry and showering before I dared touch the new hotel bed.
#57 This Is Right Outside A Hotel Lobby Bathroom. The Painting Is Even A Wooden Bench
#58 Should I Worry About Being Electrocuted?
I am traveling for work. This is shower installation in the hotel where I am staying.
#59 Hotel Staff Took Towels Off Of The Rack They Should Be Hung On To Not Get Them Changed
We hung our towels right next to the sign promoting less towel changes but room service took them away anyway. To make it a bit more infuriating: we didn’t even get replacement towels.
#60 This Hotel Water Bottle
#61 Weird Hotel Pool Is Very Cloudy
I always assume anyways, I just took a shower so hopefully I’m not crawling with parasites or something.
#62 Impossible To Plug Anything Into This Hotel Lamp Outlet
#63 The Rustic Aesthetic Is Not Worth The Incredible Discomfort Of These Arm Rests At Hotel
#64 The Only Power Outlet In My Hotel Room And My Power Supply
Thank you Novotel. I suppose it’s one way to reduce their power bill – have a single accessible power outlet in the room that can’t be used with my power adapter/supply. Even then it’s on a bench that’s a metre high, so to use my laptop there I’d have to use it standing. There is a bench that I can sit at but with no power outlets – the desk lamp is even hardwired to the wall.
#65 Hotel Pool Expectation vs. Reality
#66 Opened A New Hotel Toothbrush And Got This
#67 Hotel Installed Tub Backwards… And Didn’t Notice Until Today (5 Years After Construction)
I had been chatting back and forth with the front desk due to an issue with the tub drain stopper. At first I thought this tub setup was some kind of modern quirk because surely you didn’t really have multiple construction workers follow through with installing a bathtub completely backwards. But I’ve been here a few days now and curiosity got the best of me so I asked… and the answer did not disappoint 😂💀
What’s wild to me is that this hotel is five years old, housekeeping visits several times a week if not daily, maintenance had literally just been in my room the day before, and somehow I am the first one to ever bring this observation to their attention. What?!?
#68 Black Specks Floating In My Hotel’s Water. I Drank Four Glasses Before I Noticed
#69 My Hotel Desk Drawer
Ok, checked out (left a note in the drawer) for a few days, now back and in a different room on a different floor in a different wing. I have stayed here multiple times and all the desk set ups are the same. Nothing “rotates” or “swings out.”
#70 What Is This? The Metal End Was Sticking Through The Bed Sheet Of A Hotel I’m Staying In And It Scratched Me
Lying down to finally sleep in my hotel and this thing scratches the c**p out of me.
#71 Badly Designed Wheelchair Ramp At A Hotel I’m At
#72 Didn’t Think We Had A Fridge In Our Hotel Room. Turns Out That These Weren’t Drawers
I just don’t use the drawers so I never check them. Now I know better I guess.
#73 Spotted In A Hotel Bar/Restaurant In Charlotte, Nc
#74 This Elevator At A Hotel That Makes No Sense
#75 Just Went To Thailand For The Holiday, Just Found This In My Hotel Room Above The Bed. Bring A Black Light Next Time
#76 Hotel Bathroom Sink With Barely Enough Room For Your Hands Because The Spouts Are Too Long/Low
#77 The “Studio Apartment” We Rented In Madrid (This Quasi Hotel Has 2000+ Reviews, 8.5 Score). Second Picture Is Midday, On A Sunny 40 Degrees Celsius Day
#78 Cigarette Burns On The Bathtub Of The Hotel I Stayed In
#79 The “Ocean View” Hotel Room I Booked
More like “95% city and 5% ocean view”. Waikiki O’ahu.
#80 I Just Noticed Neither The Mirror, Nor The Lighting Fixture, Are Centered With The Sink Faucet In This Hotel Room
#81 This Hotel Bathroom Tile Wall
#82 Hot Water And Coffee Positions Switched. Guess Who Poured Coffee Into Their Cup Noodles
The hotel I’m staying at, always had the hot water on the right side, coffee on the left. Today for some reason, they were switched, and I poured at least 20% coffee into my cup noodles. I don’t even drink coffee.
#83 This Logo In The Middle Of The Mirror In My Hotel Room
#84 This Hotel Room. The Shower And Sink Are Next To The Bed. The Toilet Is A Small Extra Room And You Need To Get Out Of The Room To Wash Your Hands
