Hotels can be fantastic places that inspire you and help you forget about all your problems. That’s what happens when hoteliers and the staff all work in sync to provide the best possible service to their guests. However, this isn’t a guarantee.
There are plenty of horrid hotels out there that make Stephen King’s hotel in ‘The Shining’ seem like a picnic near the Seine in comparison. Some hotels are so bad that they’ll have you screaming, running away and thanking the heavens that you’re safe in your own bed. Bored Panda brings you this list of the creepiest, most horrible, most disgusting hotels ever that are a shining example of what not to do. Upvote the worst hotel pictures, and share your thoughts in the comments, and check out our other posts about the worst hotel fails here and here. And scroll down for our interview with Dr. Gabor Forgacs from Ryerson University as we talk to him about the hotel industry and what makes hotels stand out from the crowd.
This post may include affiliate links.
And This Is Why You Check The Hotel Coffee Maker Before You Use It
We Have A Really Nice Hotel Room
Don't Stay In A Hotel With Bedbugs
Hotels that scare away their customers often have a problem with cleanliness, elementary hygiene, while staff members don’t understand the rules of hospitality. These are just the basics that hotels need to get right, though. What makes hotels more than average, quality-wise, is a mix of small and large things that create a wholesome atmosphere.
The Pool At My Hotel In Birmingham, Alabama. Yes, Those Are Toilets
After A Beautiful Day At The Beach In Hawaii, My Cousin Went Back To Her Hotel Room To A Pleasant Surprise
Airbnb Description Said "View Of The Main Church From The Bedroom Window". Technically It Was Not A Lie
Dr. Forgacs from Ryerson University talked to Bored Panda about hotels, hoteliers, and analyzed what hotels can do to seem unique: “It's pretty complex and one has to master a lot of moving parts in order to achieve that distinction.”
My Hotel Room Has Such A Nice View! Wait A Minute
I Generally Gauge The Quality Of The Hotel I'm Staying At Based On The Number Of Bite Marks On The Toilet Flusher
Shower At The Hostel My Brother Is Staying At In China
“On top of the physical parts (e.g. location, size, architecture, design and furniture), the intangibles need to fall into place seamlessly and that is a tall order.”
Saw This In An Elevator Today In A Hotel. Took The Stairs Back Down
Found This Under The Sheets While Crawling Into Bed... Used Hair Extensions?
Ah, Thanks For The Remark!
“The colors, sounds, scents plus the ambiance are all perfectly lined up: what background music is playing, what designer aroma is in the air and have toiletries scented with; the choice of fabric for carpet, curtains and upholstery; the tone and level of voice of staff as they greet guests and communicate without judging requests or behaviors, etc.,” the professor highlighted the hundred-and-one things that need to all come together to form the perfect whole.
Heat Lamp Vs. Bathroom Door In My Hotel Room
The Fitness Room At The Hotel I Stayed At
Found This Under The Mattress In A Hotel
“Great hotels provide intuitive and highly personalized service, which cannot be done over 250 rooms capacity. If a guest meets 3-5 different faces behind the front desk each time versus always the same two, that makes a huge difference. You can only do this if your hotel is not larger than that.”
It's So Humid In Nola, These Little Guys Are Growing In My Hotel Room
"Quality" Hotel Room. Moscow, A Month Ago
Found This Waiting In The Bathroom Of My New Hotel Room
Dear Pandas, let us know what your worst memories from hotels you’ve stayed at are. Have you ever experienced anything similar to what’s shown in this list? What do you think of Dr. Forgacs’ analysis of the hotel industry? Let us know!
Stayed At A Hotel For Cheap This Weekend. Wasn't Quite Prepared For This Level Of Sketch
Walked Into My Hotel Room
Checked In To A Hotel And Promptly Checked Out
My Hotel's TV
My Hotel Offers A Kettle And Glasses To Use, But Has A Folder In A Drawer With Rules. One Of Them Says You Have To Pay A Fine If You Use The Kettle
What is the point of providing one if you can't use it? They obviously want to catch people out and put the fine in their bill. Shifty buggers.
In A Fancy Hotel Restaurant And Found This In The Mixed Nuts They Bring To Your Table While You Wait For Your Food
It's a Nexium 40 mg tablet.
Nexium tablets are used to treat acid reflux and similar conditions, if anybody was wondering.
Flat Screen TV Mounted To An Old Box TV With Packing Tape In A Flea Bag Motel
Sinkhole Just Developed In My Hotel Room
The Jacuzzi At My Hotel
This Is In My Hostel, Next To My Bed. Thanks For The Warning, I Guess
Has to be friable at least to get into your lungs. So don’t mess with it
This Toilet Wand My Friend Saw At A Hotel
Apparently The Sheets In My Hotel Room Weren't Changed
I Was Settling Into My Hotel Room When I Saw This Growing Out Of The Carpet
I Was Told I Didn't Have Roommates In My Hotel
My Hotel's Treatment Of Their Fish
In their defense it looks like they have those plants that are suppose to live off the sediment in the water. Their systems are delicate especially if disturbed causing the water to cloud up until settled. But natural filtration blah blah
This Is What I Saw When I Checked Into My Hotel Last Night
Nothing Screams Quality Hotel Room Like A Hole In The Ceiling With A Napkin Jammed In It
Do Not Flip Over Your Motel Matress
This Motel 6 We Are Staying At Tonight. Needless To Say I’ll Never Book Here Again
Got Excited From Far Away About The Motel Having A Swimming Pool
Kind of impressive honestly. If they really filled it in and kept it up after the dirt settled what I have to imagine a bit
My Hotel Apparently Has Complimentary Dirty Underwear Service
Mushrooms Growing Out Of A Door At The Hotel I Work At
My Buddy Went On A Trip To Atlantic City, NJ For The Weekend And This Is What He Found Underneath The Mattress In His Room
Walked Into My Hotel, And There Happened To Be A Weird Toy Hanging From The Sprinkler
This Hypodermic Needle Found In The Toilet Paper Holder At My Hotel
This Is The Pool At My Hotel
My Hotel's Water
Scumbag Sheraton Hotel Trying To Trick Me Into Paying $6 For Water. The Tag In The Front Says In Fine Print Free And The One In The Back Says In Fine Print $6
This Is The Fire Exit At My Hotel
My Lovely Motel. In Case Of Fire, You're Dead
THis looks like there was a fire here, and this did not help. It just burned. I would leave.
Breath Taking View Out Of My Hotel Window In Denver
Really Regretting Looking Under The "Accent Rug" In The Hotel Room I've Been Staying At For The Last Week
Hotels' Shower Heads...
Trashcan In A Hotel In Sweden
Flight Delayed Another Day In Little Rock. My Shower Curtain At Hotel Near Airport
I'm shocked he was barefoot in that bathroom. I always bring a pair of flip flops or other sandals to wear in the bathroom/shower.
Just Arrived At My Hotel In My "Sea-Facing Room"
Sea facing is not "you can see water". It just means "water is in roughly that direction".
Hard Boiled Eggs From The Hotel’s Continental Breakfast That I Was Staying At
On A Conference At My New Workplace. About To Share A Room With A Guy I've Never Met Before. Here's The View From The Beds To The Bathroom
There’s a roller blind at the top of that window there. Nothing to worry about.
The Water At My Hotel, Exactly How It Came Out Of The Tap
Hotel In North Carolina, And The Shower Gave Your Skin A Nice Bronze Coloring
Signed Mattress At A Motel, Which We Promptly Left After Finding This. Nope
I’m 6’3 And This Is The Bath In My Hotel Room
I Dropped My Phone In This Hotel Bathroom And Looked Over, Saw This Under The Sink. I Can’t Even Think Why Someone Would Hide These
The Toilet In My Hotel
The Bathroom In My Hotel Room Is The Public Bathroom For The Entire Floor
The Hotel's Steam Iron Spat Rust On My Shirt
S**t! I hate when that happens. Always use the iron on a hotel towel before using it on your own clothes.
Does This Belong Here? The TV In My Friend's Hotel Room (And You Have To Pay 10€ Deposit For The Remote)
Not Sure Where To Put This, But My Hotel Room Came With A Mirror That Doubles As A Table For Other Activities That I Guess The Previous Guest Used
Walked Into My Hotel Room
I’m Staying In A Hotel In Los Vegas And This Is What I Found In The Closet I Hope The Sheets Are Clean
These Pancakes At My Hotel This Morning
Moved The Couch In My Hotel Room And This Was Underneath
Found In Our Hotel Room In Marriot
What Exactly Are These Decals In My Motel Room Supposed To Represent?
Just Arrived At My “Ocean View” Hotel Room
This Light Switch Right Behind The Pillows In My Hotel Room. One Move During The Night And The Light Goes On
The Amount Of Mayflies Swarming The Door Of My Hotel
That sucks, but has nothing to do with a bad hotel. They can’t be responsible for bugs outside.
In My Hotel Room In Atlantic City This Weekend. This Is Not There Because People Want To Buy These Items
Not a sign of a bad hotel. It’s funny and yeah, people tend to steal stuff.
hotels is one of the things I would not be as frugal as I usually am, so long I will not encounter creepy s**t like these.
I travel about 30 weeks a year and always stay at a Marriott. Never have I had any issues like this. Courtyards are my go to but there is no free breakfast. Fairfield is a bit lower quality but typically has a fridge and microwave. Westin is great but expensive. I used to stay at Holiday Inn and found the quality of their hotels to be lower. All of these post seem to be from cheap motels or locations outside of America. You get what you pay for with hotels so don't skimp out.
There are definitely several severe safety concerns here, but I think a lot of it comes down to first world travelers having unrealistically high expectations for what they'll get with their money. Just by going to a low cost country, you can expect everything to be a little bit lacking - safety standards, luxury, attentiveness, even privacy. If you end up going for the cheapest option in a developing country, then a lot of what's shown here is honestly to be expected. Be prepared to make peace with these sacrifices, and hopefully you'll come back a little more grateful and understanding of what all comes along with high standards of living that we enjoy in first world countries.
I guess money can buy some happiness. Clearly people spent as little money as possible on their nights stay.
being housekeeper for years. i literally check my hotel rooms before we do anything. bathrooms toilets everything i check..
Never will I ever again complain about the cost of a decent hotel. Wow.
The amount of hotels that have mushrooms growing out of the floors and walls is crazy to me.
I don't think I am going to eat again for a week. That was truly disgusting.
Anytime you stay at a hotel or motel, especially a low cost one, do not blindly reach into anywhere. Addicts and diabetics stay in hotels, too, and they often don't take proper care of their syringes (especially the addicts, but I've seen plenty of poor handling of needles among "regular" people who need them for medical reasons). Don't think they just toss them on a floor or in a corner, either. Some addicts will tuck needles into really strange places for whatever reason and, since they can't keep up with their bills, they often bounce from seedy hotel to seedy hotel when they get evicted from wherever they had been calling home due to missed payments or bad behavior.
What is with the abhorrent amount of fungi growing in these hotels? So strange...
Damn! I'm about to travel to Italy for business for the first time in my life.. Now I'm afraid...
Such a nice blog where people get to know about the reality and usually people book a stay after reviewing sites so this blog will be helpful for people to choose a good property for their stay and it is really appreciated that they come with the reality and clear picture. They offer same information here Foreshoremotorlodge.co.nz, one must check them also.
September 2003, senior year schooltrip to Spain, and on the way back we had to spend a night in Umag, Croatia. Yellow damp cracked walls, dirt and bugs, worms on 3rd floor (!), broken window, no warm water (almost no water at all), spider web all over the place and a huuuuge spider with thick black legs in the bathroom. Only the bravest ones slept through the night, the rest of us were hanging out in the hallway and out front (I didn't want to go inside one more time, so in the morning my friends had to get my stuff). BUT, the food was the best we had during the whole travel.
The hotels can't pat down every single guest or go through the luggage for drugs. Everyone saying "RUN" needs to just chill out and quit acting like scared freaking Liberals. Report it and have them put you into another room if possible or just get the room cleaned again... maybe get a complimentary stay or something. If it's just plain NASTY, then leave and cancel the charge on your credit card.
I actually have never had issues with hotels but I always check for bad stuff I usually stay at Hilton or doubletree or Marriott if ur American try that and a tip don’t go to motels they nasty as f**k
For those people who are saying this stuff only happens 'outside the states' and if onlyif you 'skimp out' on $ for a hotel, thats bullcrap. I stayed in a hotel in Billings MT that cost more than the nice mariott we stayed in a different city, amd it was a nightmare like this. We found hair in the towels, the bathrooms obviously hadnt been cleaned, beer cans under the bed, etc. It was the sketchiest most outrageously priced craphole. It happens in the states too folks. And for high prices. We were pretty pissed.
The Stanley Estes Park Hotel, the Shining hotel, is absolutely gorgeous. Just to be fair.
i was working at hotel as maid.. and bunch of us maids went to head of housekeeping. told them there was maid was just making up beds didnt strip dirty sheets nothin.. oh yea she 1 of best housekeeper we have here. 1 weekend we had full house no rooms available. week before we had alot of rain. some of our rooms was flooded out of service.. well 1 night i got phone call to my room at 1am n morning. front desk lady wanted see me asap right now. i had get dressed n went down there. see u n my office. she came n office n asked who had that room i went looked. it was that housekeeper who didnt strip dirty sheets off beds. that was last room available. it had reservation for that room. lady checked in with husband n children. climbed in bed. it was soaked. THERE WAS PUKE IN THE BED UNDER THE COVERS.. she didnt strip the dirty sheets with puke. just made bed up. THEY DIDNT FIRE THAT HOUSEKEEPER EITHER. THEY KEPT HER.long story they filed bankrupt closed doors...
At the hotel I went to in Colorado, it was fine but the bathroom door wasnt frosted enough.
Fun fact; Researches decided to test the quality of many different hotel beds and they found traces of either urine and semen in every single one
I think most of these are in Europe. At least I hope so! The NJ syringes though...
we had lay who didnt strip dirty sheets off vacant rooms. we all complained about it. well my kids n i ewas staying at hotel i worked at. we was booked solid. rooms was out of service we had fllood week before. but we had 1 room leftf ffor reservation come in. 1am they showed up checked in. they went to room. phpne call front desk wanted see me asap. asked who had that room. same lady did strip beds. the lady tucked her kids in bed there was puke n the bed. the lady didnt change linning. she crawled n puke.. they didnt fire the lady. but company filed for bankrupt n closed up doors. about 2 months later
hotels is one of the things I would not be as frugal as I usually am, so long I will not encounter creepy s**t like these.
I travel about 30 weeks a year and always stay at a Marriott. Never have I had any issues like this. Courtyards are my go to but there is no free breakfast. Fairfield is a bit lower quality but typically has a fridge and microwave. Westin is great but expensive. I used to stay at Holiday Inn and found the quality of their hotels to be lower. All of these post seem to be from cheap motels or locations outside of America. You get what you pay for with hotels so don't skimp out.
There are definitely several severe safety concerns here, but I think a lot of it comes down to first world travelers having unrealistically high expectations for what they'll get with their money. Just by going to a low cost country, you can expect everything to be a little bit lacking - safety standards, luxury, attentiveness, even privacy. If you end up going for the cheapest option in a developing country, then a lot of what's shown here is honestly to be expected. Be prepared to make peace with these sacrifices, and hopefully you'll come back a little more grateful and understanding of what all comes along with high standards of living that we enjoy in first world countries.
I guess money can buy some happiness. Clearly people spent as little money as possible on their nights stay.
being housekeeper for years. i literally check my hotel rooms before we do anything. bathrooms toilets everything i check..
Never will I ever again complain about the cost of a decent hotel. Wow.
The amount of hotels that have mushrooms growing out of the floors and walls is crazy to me.
I don't think I am going to eat again for a week. That was truly disgusting.
Anytime you stay at a hotel or motel, especially a low cost one, do not blindly reach into anywhere. Addicts and diabetics stay in hotels, too, and they often don't take proper care of their syringes (especially the addicts, but I've seen plenty of poor handling of needles among "regular" people who need them for medical reasons). Don't think they just toss them on a floor or in a corner, either. Some addicts will tuck needles into really strange places for whatever reason and, since they can't keep up with their bills, they often bounce from seedy hotel to seedy hotel when they get evicted from wherever they had been calling home due to missed payments or bad behavior.
What is with the abhorrent amount of fungi growing in these hotels? So strange...
Damn! I'm about to travel to Italy for business for the first time in my life.. Now I'm afraid...
Such a nice blog where people get to know about the reality and usually people book a stay after reviewing sites so this blog will be helpful for people to choose a good property for their stay and it is really appreciated that they come with the reality and clear picture. They offer same information here Foreshoremotorlodge.co.nz, one must check them also.
September 2003, senior year schooltrip to Spain, and on the way back we had to spend a night in Umag, Croatia. Yellow damp cracked walls, dirt and bugs, worms on 3rd floor (!), broken window, no warm water (almost no water at all), spider web all over the place and a huuuuge spider with thick black legs in the bathroom. Only the bravest ones slept through the night, the rest of us were hanging out in the hallway and out front (I didn't want to go inside one more time, so in the morning my friends had to get my stuff). BUT, the food was the best we had during the whole travel.
The hotels can't pat down every single guest or go through the luggage for drugs. Everyone saying "RUN" needs to just chill out and quit acting like scared freaking Liberals. Report it and have them put you into another room if possible or just get the room cleaned again... maybe get a complimentary stay or something. If it's just plain NASTY, then leave and cancel the charge on your credit card.
I actually have never had issues with hotels but I always check for bad stuff I usually stay at Hilton or doubletree or Marriott if ur American try that and a tip don’t go to motels they nasty as f**k
For those people who are saying this stuff only happens 'outside the states' and if onlyif you 'skimp out' on $ for a hotel, thats bullcrap. I stayed in a hotel in Billings MT that cost more than the nice mariott we stayed in a different city, amd it was a nightmare like this. We found hair in the towels, the bathrooms obviously hadnt been cleaned, beer cans under the bed, etc. It was the sketchiest most outrageously priced craphole. It happens in the states too folks. And for high prices. We were pretty pissed.
The Stanley Estes Park Hotel, the Shining hotel, is absolutely gorgeous. Just to be fair.
i was working at hotel as maid.. and bunch of us maids went to head of housekeeping. told them there was maid was just making up beds didnt strip dirty sheets nothin.. oh yea she 1 of best housekeeper we have here. 1 weekend we had full house no rooms available. week before we had alot of rain. some of our rooms was flooded out of service.. well 1 night i got phone call to my room at 1am n morning. front desk lady wanted see me asap right now. i had get dressed n went down there. see u n my office. she came n office n asked who had that room i went looked. it was that housekeeper who didnt strip dirty sheets off beds. that was last room available. it had reservation for that room. lady checked in with husband n children. climbed in bed. it was soaked. THERE WAS PUKE IN THE BED UNDER THE COVERS.. she didnt strip the dirty sheets with puke. just made bed up. THEY DIDNT FIRE THAT HOUSEKEEPER EITHER. THEY KEPT HER.long story they filed bankrupt closed doors...
At the hotel I went to in Colorado, it was fine but the bathroom door wasnt frosted enough.
Fun fact; Researches decided to test the quality of many different hotel beds and they found traces of either urine and semen in every single one
I think most of these are in Europe. At least I hope so! The NJ syringes though...
we had lay who didnt strip dirty sheets off vacant rooms. we all complained about it. well my kids n i ewas staying at hotel i worked at. we was booked solid. rooms was out of service we had fllood week before. but we had 1 room leftf ffor reservation come in. 1am they showed up checked in. they went to room. phpne call front desk wanted see me asap. asked who had that room. same lady did strip beds. the lady tucked her kids in bed there was puke n the bed. the lady didnt change linning. she crawled n puke.. they didnt fire the lady. but company filed for bankrupt n closed up doors. about 2 months later
