Your bad Hotel Experiences.

[Arrowfoot]

Bit of generalisation. The best hotels are in South East Asia - service, efficiency, cleanliness, value etc. worst is India. Best motels are in the USA, Canada, Australia and NZ. Best BB is in the UK and Ireland. Hotels with the best security are in Joburg. Hotels with hookers all over the place including lobby, cafe etc are in Old USSR and China. Best 5 star hotel chain is the Shangri La, with its trademark equatorial gardens and water features.

• For self drive travels - west coast of USA and NZ. Great roads and ample good motels.
• Writing your memoir or attempting to writing a book in solitude, BB in the UK
• Writing a travelogue - South america, friendly small hoteliers, families get involved providing you good content
• Best theme experience - Sun City, best man made beach ever
• Best for tasting meaty stuff - Glencoe, wild boar, venison
• Best value for 5 star, meals accommodation, scenes - South Africa ( unbeatable value)
• Best majestic scenery - watching the sun rise and set from your hotel at the foothills in Pokhara, Nepal
• Reminiscent of the colonial era - old Merkles, Harare

 

[Arrowfoot]

When I was 21, I went slumming it round Mexico with a friend. One night we checked into a very cheap "hotel" in Acapulco. The blankets on the beds were a bit greasy but we were on a tight budget. About an hour after falling asleep, I woke up sensing that something was wrong so I turned on the bare bulb dangling from the ceiling . My bed was covered with hundreds of very large cockroaches which had emerged from a hole in the ceiling and were falling down into my blankets. Even after a frantic roach pogrom with a sandal, I spent the rest of the night on sentry duty.

Thats shocking and absolutely traumatic.

 

[slowmotion]

Thats shocking and absolutely traumatic.

I think that I became horizontally airborne with horror rather like a frightened cat in a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Strangely enough, I'm pretty laid-back about the odd roach. The close proximity of hundreds of them is a bit of a different matter. The sheets were actually moving.

 

[swee'pea99]

[QUOTE 3778907, member: 9609"]the room was stuffed full of teddy bears and pillows,[/QUOTE]
You bring to mind this, from a recent thread...

 

[Levo-Lon]

I obsessively check TripAdvisor before booking any hotel, so I've never had a really bad experience (certainly nothing compared to what some of you have had).

The worse experience I had (and I'll sound like a right snob here) is when I decided that all I needed was a cheap night in Edinburgh so despite saying I'd never stay in one again, I booked a Travel Lodge. Never again! Uncomfortable, dingy, and just a crap experience. But no bed bugs and everything was new and modern. Give me a Premier Inn any day next time I need a cheap room!

so do we ..trip adviser said our wales barn conversion was imaculate with a very freindly helpful owner..
it wasn't..in fact we have posted a review on it with sykes who offer it in their places to stay..but i doubt it will be on a review..they may inform the owner of our findings .
no fan in shower so mouldy ,smelly knackered couch that i thought was a sick bed..
cobwebs and spiders everywhere..windows that you cant open .
stuff for self catering not there that said they have in the self contained place ,iron iron board. Hair dryer various items you normally have.
no soaps toilet rolls as you often find..just poor attention to little make it a nice stay details ..

there ya go, it was ok but if your told its imaculate and homely you should find that.

owner greated us with oh hi keys under the plant pot...and walked off..

 

[Yellow Saddle]

When I was 21, I went slumming it round Mexico with a friend. One night we checked into a very cheap "hotel" in Acapulco. The blankets on the beds were a bit greasy but we were on a tight budget. About an hour after falling asleep, I woke up sensing that something was wrong so I turned on the bare bulb dangling from the ceiling . My bed was covered with hundreds of very large cockroaches which had emerged from a hole in the ceiling and were falling down into my blankets. Even after a frantic roach pogrom with a sandal, I spent the rest of the night on sentry duty.

Your story has been selected as the winning horror of this competition. I'm off to put some duct tape in my travel bag just in case I ever end up in a room with a hole in the ceiling.

 

[Globalti]

I once had the misfortune to stay at the Terminus Hotel in Aba, eastern Nigeria. The rooms were in bunglows going down the hill to the river Niger and completely open, with no security. There was green slime running down the wall from the air conditioner, the basin was broken and only one tap working, with brown water trickling out. When you opened the bathroom door you heard cockroaches scuttling for cover. There were African body hairs in the bed like curled up watch springs and the pillows stank of dirty hair. I was just staring at all this aghast when there was a bang, the lock flew across the room and there was a man with his leg frozen in a kicking-in posture, obviously surprised to find me in the room. He made an excuse and went and fiddled with the broken AC and left without the suitcase he had come to steal. I slept with all the furniture piled against the plywood door and a waste paper bin on top with an ashtray on top of that, balanced so it would fall off if disturbed.

On another trip to Aba we endured shocking traffic and a burst tyre and arrived exhausted and thirsty well after dark at the "B&B". I asked the barman for a cold beer and he replied: "There is no beer, this is a Christian guest house!"

 

[swee'pea99]

"There is no beer, this is a Christian guest house!"

You bring to mind the time I turned up to my pre-booked B&B-type place in Auckland to discover that it was not only Christian but vegan, my evening meal consisting largely of spinach, filo pastry and sesame seeds. Yum.

 

[Dayvo]

I asked the barman for a cold beer and he replied: "There is no beer, this is a Christian guest house!"

Should have said 'Jesus made wine, didn't he? I'll have a bottle of wine, then.'

 

[slowmotion]

You bring to mind the time I turned up to my pre-booked B&B-type place in Auckland to discover that it was not only Christian but vegan, my evening meal consisting largely of spinach, filo pastry and sesame seeds. Yum.

We have a clear winner folks. That's simply gross.

 

[GGG]

Many years ago stayed in a B and B when working in middlesborough. My colleague and I shared a room. He asked the owner for an alarm call in the morning which we duly received. Not as expected though with a phone call or perhaps even loud knock on the door.... We awoke with a fright finding the owner had let himself into the room and shook my colleague awake. Left us wondering how long he had been there before waking him! Thankfully he was in the bed closest to the door.

 

[Piemaster]

A hotel in Brasil, best viewed with the lights off. It was however air conditioned, giving 2 choices:
1. A/C off and no sleep due to the heat
2. A/C on and no sleep due to the A/C unit sounding like a Massey Ferguson

 

[Dave7]

Repping around North Wales............young and inexperienced/naive (spelling).
Got to the hotel on Anglesey very late so booked in and had a pint.
I went to go back to the car for my bag but the door was locked.........I was told "sorry its 10:40 so if you go out you can't get back in".
"Bollocks...thought I" and went for the bag.
Sure enough........he had re-locked the door and wouldn't let me back in !
I ended up driving back to Warrington at 02:00 in the morning.

 

[NorthernDave]

Two spring to mind...both fortunately for one night only

B&B in Blackpool - can't remember the name (possibly subconsciously erased from my mind). To be fair a spur of the moment decision to go and with nowhere booked we were a bit lacking in options. Finest polyester sheets, a window that was cleaner on the outside and only opened half an inch (in August) and a very suspect stain on the carpet. One toilet / shower room on each floor for 4 rooms - the one on our floor had no lock and the extractor fan wasn't working. A Scottish couple in the next room argued like it was going out of fashion from arriving, then went out still arguing all the way down the stairs and up the street. They came back in the early hours absolutely spannered, still arguing.
At breakfast the next morning, I was served half an inch of warm value brand OJ straight from the carton and toast which was oddly burnt on one side, yet virtually untoasted on the other. The "full English" consisted of one solid fried egg, one burnt sausage, one hard slice of fatty bacon and a teaspoon of baked beans. Credit where it's due though, the mug of tea was the highlight of my stay

The other one was in France, on an industrial estate / retail park on the main road just outside Tours in the Loire Valley. It looked like their version of a Travelodge when we arrived, but was the smallest room I've ever stayed in. The double bed touched the walls on 3 sides, meaning that the only way to get into bed was to climb in from the end. The bed had the thinnest mattress I've ever encountered and had clearly served the hotel owners well as it creaked and groaned with the slightest of movement - even breathing. Getting out of bed meant repeating the wriggle to the end meaning it was impossible to do without making enough noise to wake the dead. Oddly, the bathroom was quite large and had a full sized bath which had a full sized tide mark all the way around it, matching the sink. The hotel definitely had at least one cleaner though, as she woke us up at 5.30am hoovering the room next door...

 

[ColinJ]

You bring to mind the time I turned up to my pre-booked B&B-type place in Auckland to discover that it was not only Christian but vegan, my evening meal consisting largely of spinach, filo pastry and sesame seeds. Yum.

That sounds yummy, but I wouldn't fancy having to pretend to join in when they said Grace.