Travel Research: The World's Worst Reviews

Curated Collection of Where Not to Stay

It is our job to carefully scour reviews to ascertain what a hotel, restaurant, or travel experience will actually be like, and to filter marketing noise or one-off incidents from actual problems we think might arise.

But, do we ever love a good story. Some reviews are so bad that they're great. And, having worked in the hotel world for years, we've heard of and had our own set of experiences first-hand that cement the incidents we dread and those by which we are dumbfounded.

Here are a collection of great (not so great) reviews for your entertainment. Read with caution:

Townhouse Motel, Tupelo, Mississippi - It's "just minutes to Tombigbee State Park, close to downtown Tupelo, Elvis Presley’s birthplace, (the) Tupelo Automobile Museum, Trace State Park, golfing, shopping, and more." "There was a puddle of blood in front of our door!"

Boulevard Hotel, Miami Beach, Florida - "Red-and-pink neon ramps up the Art Deco feel at this 3-story South Beach hotel across the street from the beach at Lummus Park." "DIRTY ROOMS, with GLASS in the actual bed under the sheet. I was STABBED in the butt!!! Yes the left cheek of my buttocks by a piece of GLASS that was in the bed. I could not stop BLEDDING (sic), the ambulance and police was called out."

Dragon Inn, Kowloon, Hong Kong - "Laundry was draped over every balcony, pipes leaked and groaned, babies cried from the apartments, rusty old fans shrieked and moaned, water taps dripped. It was like a horror movie. The only lighting emanated from the blue blur of TV sets flickering in the gloom of the atrium. There wasn’t another soul in sight, the only sound an incessant groaning of ancient plumbing and the drip, drip of leaky pipes and the reek of stale cooking wafting forth from some of the cheapest and smallest apartments in the world. [My] room was, obviously, a broom closet. Yes, there was a tiny bed in it, but nothing else. No window, nothing. The entire room was slightly more than a metre wide. A tiny showerhead provided a trickle of tepid water before dwindling away to a piddle. The toilet, of course, did not flush either."

Undisclosed Airbnb Description said: "View Of The Main Church From The Bedroom Window:"

Whiteleaf Hotel, London, UK (closed) -  This was "a superior tourist-class hotel located in central London." "My partner noticed red lumps on his skin on the following day – like hives, really itchy and red. He felt something 'give' and moved over to the window for a better look. There was a small white maggot on his finger tip – alive!"

Fisherman's Cove Resort, Seychelles - In one of the world's most glorious beach locations, the General Manager told me, that just after a complete room refresh, they hosted a group of Chinese tourists that booked the whole hotel. The guests had been out on the beach early one morning, digging in the sand. After they checked out, he learned what had happened: they had been digging for crabs, which had been boiled for soup in all the brand-new tea kettles in ALL of the rooms. All the new kettles had to be thrown out and replaced immediately.

Balmoral House, Brisbane, Australia (closed) - "The sink was literally full of vomit. It remained that way for two days".

Undisclosed Hotel pool in Birmingham, Alabama:

Quest Inn Motel, Springfield, Illinois (rebranded) - This property is "less than (a) ten minute drive from Abraham Lincoln's home, Lincoln tomb, downtown, Springfield Prairie Capital Convention Center, and Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, along with several other historical sites and places." "There were marijuana stems between the sheets and it appeared the sheets had been used by a hooker just before I arrived. I also found a used tampon in the dresser drawer."

Hotel Namaskar, New Delhi, India (closed) - "The journey through the alleyway to get to the hotel was an experience – an open men's urinal complete with men urinating added a certain 'ambience' to the surroundings!"

Undisclosed Hotel, hallway/room door:

Undisclosed Hostel shower in China:

New York Inn, New York, NY - "BBB and the City of NY and reported how bad this hotel was. Dirty, had to stand on the bed to turn off and on the AC, Frig had a spliced plugin. Stains on the bedspread. Show was not clean, holes in the walls with rags stuffed in them, bug or mouse sticky traps. Stay away from this hotel, it is really bad. Booked through Hotels.com. Now way they ever stepped foot in that hotel. Wrote to them about the hotel and all they had to say was that it met their qualifications."

Undisclosed Hotel gym:

Undisclosed Hotel with a "new flatscreen TV":

Photo and Review Sources: The Telegraph, Thrillist, Michael William McCarthy Medium, BoredPanda, CBS News

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