What’s the worst hotel you have ever stayed at?

[Peanut]

What’s the worst hotel you have ever stayed at? By hotel I mean an actual room with a bed that cost money to spend the night. I'm sure some of you have some stories...

Someone posted a pic of a condemned building in Louisiana. Oddly, it reminds me of a place I stayed one night. Got to thinking… I’ve traveled a lot… There have been a few very bad hotels. The kind of place you get when you have no other choice.

The worst was... a tiny village on the Louisiana coast. Nothing there besides a few docks for commercial fishing boats and oil field boats. There was a post office and the hotel/bar/diner. Bar closed at 2am, kitchen opened at 4. There were 4 hotel rooms above a bar/diner.

The hotels only redeeming feature? it was better than sleeping out side with the mosquitoes. It took Atchafalaya basin mosquitoes to make me stay in this room. But a bed was only $5 a night and I didn’t get a single mosquito bite.

The hotel area was upstairs, it had a common bathroom which was a deep sink at the end of the hall. Everything had a fine white dust on it… from the plaster walls and ceilings. The jukebox down stairs was pretty loud, vibrate the whole building. I woke up covered in plaster dust… correction… when it got light out I could see I was covered, don’t think I ever went to sleep. I didn’t mind the music… it was the draw bridge over the canal. Had a big klaxon horn, darn bridge went up and down all night.

Oh, the bar down stairs… I ordered a burger when I first got there, sat at the bar to eat. 30min went by before someone pulled a gun. It was that kind of place. No one got shot, surprising given the patrons. Fella with the gun said what was on his mind, put the gun away and left. No one seemed excited.. or interested for that matter. The burger was good though! Hey, dinner and a show!

There was no other place to stay or eat!! Just fishermen and oil guys traveled through that village, water and oil don’t mix… all those little dock towns along the gulf coast were that way, dangerous. Been to towns with no hotel. But there was always a bar where you could find trouble. Even if you weren’t looking!!!

Thankfully i only had to spend one night in that dump. The boat i was there to catch docked the next morning.

 

[Patchouli]

You've got a great memory @Peanut but I doubt I'd forget that either.

 

[Amish Heart]

Worst one, hands down, was in a tiny Colorado town. We left New Mexico going to Kansas (before we moved here). Freak snow storm, so in Dalhart, TX, they closed the road and detoured us west...a long way west. Ended up still in a snow storm in a small town in called Lamar in Colorado. The twins were with us, we didnt have little granddaughter yet. So two double beds. Shag carpet on the walls, linoleum on the floor. But it was warm. The heater kinda smelled, but it was warm. The next one was in our bigger town near here. My sis and her boyfriend at the time were staying there, and everyone was down for a family reunion. She left our place near midnight, and called me screaming about 10 minutes later. They had pulled up to the hotel, and a man had hung himself outside the window, right where they parked. Husband and I zoomed down there, I consoled sis, (boyfriend was a moron), and husband talked to the poor 20 something year old receptionist who was there by herself, until the police arrived. I called that place The Hanging Man Hotel for years. My sis is not amused.

 

[Peanut]

@Patchouli Times were bad, no jobs, about 1980. This was the only job I could find, working off shore. I was hitch hiking back and forth from alabama to texas usually. For that trip to sea i was told to meet the boat in la. If the mosquitoes hadn't been so bad i'd have found a cozy crate on the dock and slept there. Probably would have been safer. I was certainly glad i never had to see that town again...

 

[Amish Heart]

Oh hey, almost forgot. The hanging guy deadbolted his door from the inside before he hung himself out the window. That took them awhile. He was hanging 5 feet off the ground, and they cut him down and he dropped. Thud. Yes, I watched.

 

[Morgan101]

I have stayed in hundreds of hotel/motel rooms, and I could narrow the worst down to two, but for completely different reasons. The worst was in Jersey City, NJ. We should have known when we checked in and the clerk was sitting behind bullet proof glass. It was filthy, and I picked up some kind of rash. It was like catching pioson ivy from the linens.

Second was in Germany. The room was so small I thought I was going to have to stick my legs out the window to sleep lying stretched out. The bathroom was like a phone booth; a sink and commode. The shower head came out of the wall. The entire room was the shower. It was clean, but it took some getting used to.

 

[Amish Heart]

I like nice hotels. That's probably why we bought a travel trailer, I don't like yuck hotels unless it's an emergency.

 

[backlash]

When you have spent as many nights in hotels as I have you are bound to have plenty of stories.
Literally hundreds over 30 years or more.
I installed a CT scanner in Ontario Oregon. I asked the X-ray tech if there was a place close and he said yea right across the road.
The doors had been kicked in so many time they would not latch closed.
It was really old and a dump.
I would not get in the bed because I wasn't sure what else might be in there.
I should have suspected something when it only coat $14 a night.
I was complaining about it the next morning and a different tech said there's a brand new Holliday Inn about a mile away.
Another place in Hermiston Oregon had paper thin walls. At 2 AM the band started playing in the room next to mine. The entire band with drums, amps and a singer with a mic.
The next night the guy next door was snoring so loud he woke me up. I called his room, waited for him to get to the phone then hung up.
After 3 times of doing that he was pretty mad so I got to sleep before he did.
The next night there was a couple really going at it.
I was going to call but he finished before I could get to the phone.
Then there was the old hotel that was haunted.
I woke up around 2AM and every light in the room was on. All the switches were in the on position.
A coworker said the same thing happened in his room.
We checked out fast.
I checked into a room at a Marriot.
Went to my room, used the key card to open the door and there was a woman sitting on the bed. Still fully dressed.
Seems the desk guy gave us both the same room and card.
I quickly apologized, backed out and closed the door.
She was screaming at the desk clerk when I went back.

 

[Patchouli]

Even well known named hotels can be sketchy. Seemed like a lot of places we had stayed in and didn't have reservations, traveling to move or on the way to see family 1,000 miles away, those places were never "that bad" but they weren't so great. Bad smell from the AC if it worked at all, not enough blankets, too cold, heater didn't work, water barely came out of the spigot, door didn't lock properly (hello chairs), electrical outlets not working, lamps not working. And remember, they don't wash the top comforter. Super creepy. Glad I don't travel much.

 

[Peanut]

I called that place The Hanging Man Hotel for years. My sis is not amused.

Love it!!! I've never stayed at a place with a dead guy. At least not that i'm aware.

All the really bad places were when i was young and poor. Not a lot of options sometimes. Even in the military, especially the first few years. @backlash knows how bad hotels in military towns can be. I've stayed in some dumps!!! That's why i always traveled with a sleeping bag. Had and army surplus mummy bag, could roll it out anywhere. Especially on the bed, wasn't about to get in a bed at those places.

A navy buddy and i were traveling with girlfriends, stopped at a flea bag motel near portland oregon. Their room was on the end next to the dumpster. There was a homeless guy living in it. My friends said he kept them up all night talking about the various ways he intended to kill his ex-wife. Oh, punctuated with the occasional yelling at the invisible ex-wife.

Imaginary dead really doesn't qualify for a 'Hanging man Hotel'.

 

[Spikedriver]

Oh jeez. There are so many I've stayed in for work... I stayed at a place between Belle Plaine and Shakopee, Minnesota once. I don't recall the name, and if there's any justice in the world it's been torn down by now. It was dirty, and the shower mat was made of wool! Now, if you can imagine how gross a wool shower mat is...I think I put my work gloves on to pick it up and move it out of the tub.

Stayed at a place called The Park in North Platte, Nebraska. NP is a big railroad town and the Russian lady that ran it gave railroaders a $25 nightly rate. There was a pizza box with a dried up, half eaten pizza under the bed.

In DeKalb, Illinois I stayed at a mom 'n' pop place. I was sharing the room with a co-worker. When we got in, it was cold. So we went to turn the heat up, but it was broken. We called the desk and the guy said he'd be right there. He brought us two space heaters...

But the grossest on was in Buckeye, Arizona. I was new to life on the road and I booked a room at this little mom 'n' pop place for something like $39/night. The little foreign guy at the desk was friendly enough, and when I opened the door to the room, I thought it looked OK. It was old, but at first glance it seemed clean. I put my bags on the bed and sat down. The top cover on the bed was a dark colored shiny material and something strange caught my eye. It looked like somebody had shot a porn movie on top of that bed! There were huge streaks of dried up reproductive fluids all over it. I noped out of that room in a hurry...

 

[Amish Heart]

Ugh, Spike.

 

[Tacitus]

... in Germany. The room was so small I thought I was going to have to stick my legs out the window to sleep lying stretched out. The bathroom was like a phone booth; a sink and commode. The shower head came out of the wall. The entire room was the shower. It was clean, but it took some getting used to.

I stayed in one of those in Sweden. Very small, shockingly spartan, but immaculately clean. That's when I realized I don't need size, or luxury or a view or anything else in a hotel. That room had nothing to offer except for clean. Give me clean, and I will not complain.

 

[Pearl]

Nothing to compare with everyone else's, but we got locked IN a motel room in Galveston once! Went down there for fun, got a cheap motel on the beach, The Seahorse Inn! Got up in the morning and the door wouldn't unlock or open. We called downstairs, the morning manager tossed a screwdriver up to Hubby (second floor balcony) so he could remove the doorknob! We stayed FREE the next two nights, turned out great! We ate good on the money we saved!!

 

[Weedygarden]

Second was in Germany. The room was so small I thought I was going to have to stick my legs out the window to sleep lying stretched out. The bathroom was like a phone booth; a sink and commode. The shower head came out of the wall. The entire room was the shower. It was clean, but it took some getting used to.

Sounds like a place my daughter stayed in Sicily. She was so amused at how small her room was and how small her bed was that she had to send me photos. Daughter is 5' 11". She said the room was itty-bitty. I think her bed is smaller than the twin bed she had when she was a child.

 

[Weedygarden]

I haven't stayed in many hotels or motels in my life. I have zero memories of most of them. Probably the worst was in Gallup, New Mexico. We were late getting on the road and late into Gallup. We found one place with rooms when we got in about midnight. All the nicer places were full. It looked like it had been remodeled by a 5 year old. The car was full of stuff like flat screen televisions, etc. When we got out of the car, we saw a group of people standing down several doors away, watching us and they spoke to us. We were pretty sure it was a place where druggies hung out. We were tired and wanted to sleep. We fully expected that the car would have been broken into and all the valuables taken by the morning, but the car and its contents were fine in the morning.

It is a common thing that bed coverings in rooms are often nasty and have remnants of body fluids.

We haven't talked about the nicest rooms we've stayed in. I stayed in a hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, El Convento. It was originally a convent for nuns and across the street from a cathedral which had a mummified pope on display. Given that it was in a hurricane zone, the convent was built with exterior walls 6 feet thick. It had been under constant renovation with marble and granite throughout.

 

[Caribou]

I had finished several hours from Haines, Alaska, through Canada, and most of the way to Anchorage. It was still a lonely stretch of road with few businesses. I saw a bar that served food so I stopped for a meal. Very pleasant staff and patrons. I had reached the point where I was dangerous on the road so I inquired about a room in the area.

They did have rooms for rent. It was a log cabin that had been cute at one time. Rustic would have been a very generous description. Over the years the cabin had sunk a couple of feet but it was dry. The door frame was no longer square but the door mostly closed. Even a small dog would have trouble getting through the cracks. It was deep winter and I didn't want to sleep in the car, probably stuck in a snowbank. The heater worked and I was warm enough once I was under the covers. I was up early and on the road.

 

[Caribou]

I had a nice enough room in Mexico. Planning on a lot of reading I had brought a hardback copy of "Exodus". I looked over the edge of the bed to see a big spider on the floor. I positioned my hardback "Exodus" directly over and 3' to 4' above the spider and dropped it flat right on him. the spider tried to carry my book away. He could still lift it off the ground but couldn't move much with the book on him. If I'd laid it on him gently I believe I'd have lost my book.

 

[Haertig]

The Dumas Inn in Dumas TX, about 25 years ago. After a long day of driving, we ended up in this town. The kids (early elementary school age) of course took off their shoes and started running around in the motel room. Then they said, "Mom, Dad, the carpet is really gooey and sticky". Then we saw it. The sign on the wall. "Please do not clean pheasants in the rooms". So we hollered at the kids, "Quick, jump up onto the beds! And put your shoes back on! NOW!" The kids were really confused, because "jump on the beds and put your shoes on" were not words normally heard in the same sentence in our house.

 

[Magus]

A Days Inn. the only reason I hated it was because the water was worse than Tijuana and made me just as sick.

 

[Peanut]

I like nice hotels. That's probably why we bought a travel trailer, I don't like yuck hotels unless it's an emergency.

By the time i traveled for work regularly those companies paid for good hotels. Got sort of used to it. These days anything decent is expensive to me. Last time i went leek hunting on lookout mtn I had to pay $120. It was one of the new "Hotel-ina-Box' places. Just a flat sided ugly, soul less. Don't care for the way they look, room was nice.

Once i stayed at the cheap hotel on a trip up there, maybe 3yrs ago. Midnight, i'm asleep... pounding on the door. I kid you not... a Ho' demanding her fren "Kiesha" open the doe' and let her in. Just bonded out and need that money 'Kiesha owe her'! Pounds some more...

I shouted wrong room. Then she wanted to argue... 'now i was hiding Kiesha'. I had to call the cops! When they got there she was pounding on another door. Not staying there again. Hotel ina box has it's advantages, if they didn't make them so ugly.

 

[Spikedriver]

@Peanut I was working in a little town just far enough from home that I couldn't drive beck and forth every day. The hotel there was next door to a strip club. We had a 4am start at work so I wanted to rest, but a bunch of my coworkers went to the strip club at 5pm and started pounding the booze. About 10pm I was sound asleep when I hear BAM! against my door. I got up with my nerves tingling, made my way to the door, and peeked out. It was one of my coworkers. He had gotten so wasted at the club that he couldn't walk any more. He was leaning against the wall and rolling on it, banging his shoulders on every door on his way to the other end of the hall. I wasnt sure if I should help him, be pissed at him for waking me, or be impressed at his ability to figure out a way to get back to his room when he couldn't even stand...

 

[Mountain trapper]

I've stayed in a lot of crappy hotel rooms around the world over the years. But I think the most "interesting" one was in Mongolia. Most roads in Mongolia are more like trails and it's unsafe to drive at night because of bandits. So one night I pulled in to a small diner, which was more like an out door kitchen with one small table. They said they had a room for the night. They were right, one room with one bed, and the bed took up the whole room. So I got undressed and climbed in the bed. Just as I was falling asleep someone else climbed in with me, then more and more people climbed in until the bed was full. Maybe 15 people in total. Several were cute young ladies so I didn't mind too much, they'd never been so close to an American man before and were "curious".
The next morning I asked (in Russian) where the bathroom was. The guy pointed across the street. The toilet was a trench in the ground with a plank straddling it. As I was dropping a load I looked up and there was about a dozen faced pressed against the window watching.
For most of my trip in Mongolia I stayed with nomadic family's. Those are stories for another time.

 

[sonya123]

Good topic, I dislike most hotels and we used to travel a lot

Peanut , you will like this one, worst one was in Dothan Alabama on the way back to Florida from a vacation trip out west . It was really late and we had got stuck in a traffic jam somewhere so we didn't make it back to Florida and had to get a motel. All we found with vacancies was this ratty nasty place where the clerk was behind safety glass and you had to hand the credit card in through a thing like at the bank drive through. There were illegals , drug dealer and hookers hanging around, you could tell but we were so tired , the kids were so cranky we got it anyway. Room was dirty, door didn't lock, ac didn't work well. We pushed a chair under the door and slept with the loaded Glock on the nightstand

Btw most European hotel rooms are small. If you want something bigger and most of the timer cheaper and nicer, stay at a pension run by private people

Nicest hotel ever: Udaipur India, it was like something out of a movie

Most of the time on trips in the US we camped, or in winter rented a private place, but when we did stay in motels we usually stayed at cheap Motel 6. Most of the time they were clean, many have linoleum floor instead of carpet and they let you bring a dog .

 

[havasu]

My worst has to be the Rodeway Inn, located at the entrance to Carlsbad Caverns. Floor was dirty and filthy and we called the front desk to complain. The manager, in a thick Pakistan tongue says, "Sir, this is the desert, you should expect dirt in your room!"

An hour later, we watched as a scorpion crawled out from under the bedspread. I trapped it in a cup and again called the thick Pakistan manager to say that we wanted a cleaner room, and he replied "Sir, this is the desert, you should expect scorpions in your room!"

We waited for first light and got the heck out of there.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

Road trip somewhere in Venezuela in 1996. The hotel was recommended to us by one of hubbies co- workers but he never mentioned why.

We get to it late afternoon and check in. The lobby looks decent enough. First thing, we are instructed to remove everything from the vehicle and to take the vehicle to the parking lot with a designated parking attendant. The vehicle is parked inside a metal parking cubby inside a security fence. We paid extra to have an individual guard for the cubby.

We are next informed that the kids should not have a separate room. We were not to use the bathroom with the door closed and someone must be guarding the ceiling vent while the bathroom was in use.

The bathroom door was to be kept locked and barricaded at all other times. Apparently the hotel vents were large enough for people to crawl through and were used for nefarious purposes. We didn't sleep all night. You could hear the rats crawling around in the vents.

There were two break- ins and a kidnapping in other rooms that night. We by passed that town on the way home.

Next worst hotel was in China. The floors and halls were carpeted and they still had that nasty spitting habit. We had to sleep with our shoes on.

 

[Pearl]

I'm learning more and more why I am such a homebody!!

 

[Neb]

I saw one my best decline to one of worst.

I had a customer in Euclid OH that did projects for them over about 20 years. In the begining it was an upscale Holiday Inn with a nice restaurant and sports bar. Good steaks every night and never had to leave the campus.

But over time my customer scaled down and Euclid went down hill. The restaurant closed down. There was a McDonalds in short walking distance so it was OK. Time passed and it changed from a Holiday Inn to a Best Western. Changed owners and the place went down hill.

On one occasion I noticed what looked like a jelly donut stuck to the ceiling. Reported it when I checked out. A few years latter I got the same room. Jelly donut was still there. From the sounds in the hall it seemed like hookers and drug dealers were the new clientele.

Ben

 

[kenv1950]

Only stayed in a couple in my 73 yrs. The one I remember . On one of my cross country motor cycle trips cross country . I think I was somewhere in Indiana . After 150 miles in a down pour I had to find a room . Went to the local motels/hotels but everything was booked (convention there). I asked if there was anyplace else , They said yes .the Airport motel . . I got there and it was like the BATES motel and the neon sign had a couple lights out .
Got the room (musty) still down pouring , I waited till the office lights went out so i pull the bike into the room , I was the only one there. Wiped the bike down , showered ,time for some rest Couple hours late there was a horrendous noise and the room shook . Found out why its called the Airport motel. It was at the end of the runway . Morning came and continued to SD. .. normally I stay at campsites but the rain and being dark out I didn't have a choice. (I travel without a map all the time)

 

[kenv1950]

I'm learning more and more why I am such a homebody!!

I rarely leave home in the past 20yrs.. My outing are the dump once a month and grocery store (other than Dr. appointments )
I don't consider myself a homebody I say I'm content . In the mountains with no visible neighbors .