103 Times People Were So Surprised By Their Hotel And Airbnb Fails That They Needed To Take Photos

These days, you can never be too careful. Even if you do hours of research beforehand, there's always a small risk that the room or apartment you eventually end up in won't be what you expected.

According to global surveys, roughly 1 in 5 travelers (around 20%) have reported arriving at a hotel or apartment that immediately looked worse or different from the photos posted online. It's never nice to feel like you've been catfished or essentially scammed by misleading pictures, but unfortunately, it happens more often than you'd think.

You may think reading reviews will shield you from disappointment, but that's not always the case.

On platforms like Airbnb, the review system heavily skews positive. According to the website's quality reports, 85% of all guest reviews receive a full five stars, while one-star reviews account for less than 1%. So it's not necessarily that all these accommodations are great. Instead, the platform's review system may make negative experiences harder to spot,

But actually, when you think about disappointing hotels, a few things immediately come to mind: location, hygiene, and space (or the lack thereof).

How spacious a room is can be hard to judge before you arrive. And well, there's a reason for that. Real estate photography often uses ultra-wide-angle lenses with focal lengths of 16mm to 24mm. Studies show that extreme wide-angle shots like these can distort depth by up to 40%, making a tiny crawlspace look like a full-sized mansion in online photos.

Then there are some quirks that may seem like fails but are actually intentional differences you’ll only find in hotels. Think phantom 13th floors and missing room numbers.

You may have noticed that when riding a hotel elevator, the 13th floor is sometimes missing from the button list. The same goes for room numbers, with some hotels skipping room 13. This is due to triskaidekaphobia, the intense fear of the number 13. Many hotels, and even some commercial airlines, do this because of a superstition, and well, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Of course, many of these issues are just disgusting, while others stem from genuinely unexpected problems. After all, any reputable hotel should follow the regulations that apply worldwide, including fire and building safety codes, as well as public health and sanitation standards.

Unfortunately, we all know that's not always the case. So tell us, Pandas, what's your hotel horror story? What have you seen that no one should ever have to experience? Let us know!