Hotels; sight unseen, regrets, downright fuck ups

Not too many horror stories. If I've never stayed at a hotel, I will look at google maps and see what is around the property to get a rough idea of the area.

I've had bedbugs at the Tropicana in Vegas, a Hilton Doubletree. The most overrated and expensive hotels I stayed in were in Manhattan. The Waldorf-Astoria and Helmsley may have been nice back in the day, but they are old and antiquated now. You get a room the size of a broom closet with no amenities for top dollar.

Bedbugs can show up at even the nicest hotels so you always have to take precautions.

Years ago, I went through a period where, due to depressing memories, I did not want to stay at my apartment at all. So while I waited for my lease to end and move, I'd often stay at nearby hotels.

I went to one that a friend had stayed at before and told me was clean and had great rates. I put my suitcase and bags on the coffee table, as well as the clothes I was wearing; I always do this and sleep naked my first night at any new hotel no matter how nice it is because of fear of bedbugs.

So I get into the bed to lay down and watch TV. After a few minutes, my arm was itchy. I figured it was just a hive from anxiety/stress about staying at a new hotel. So I stayed in the bed and watched some TV for a few minutes. Then I saw a bed bug crawling across the comforter right in front of me. I leaped up, put my clothes on, grabbed my bags and got the fuck out. Took the freeway 15 mins west to the nice, more expensive hotel that I usually would stay at. The first thing I did once I got there was take a nice hot shower. When I got out, I looked in the mirror and my body was covered in bed bug bites. Dozens and dozens of different bites. I had only laid in that awful hotel's bed for like 15 mins total.

Luckily the nicer hotel I fled to was one I'd stayed in many times and never had a problem with, and none of the bed bugs from The Bed Bug Hotel latched on to any of my stuff since I had been so cautious in the first place.

I gave that hotel a horrible google review and obviously never stayed there again. It was traumatizing.

There was this one hotel that had at least one roach. Eek. It was shady but in a convenient location and I only needed it for one night. Kinda gross but I slept with a face mask on. And I only had the bare minimum of stuff in my room. I walked my dog around the property and there was some guy who I couldn’t tell if he was a thug or a regular working guy but he gave decent clearance away from us, so I did the polite thing and tightened the leash and said that it’s alright if he’s trying to get in the building. And the response was “nope, I don’t fuck with those kinds of dogs”. First time I ever heard that type of comment about my adorable lapdog 😁

The worst experience if other lodging is allowed to be mentioned: There was this one airbnb where I had parked on the street right next to the house and I got a parking ticket. The airbnb host never said anything about parking in a driveway, and generally if the hosts don’t tell me to park there then I’ll assume it’s more polite to park in the street. I called and asked why there weren’t any signs up on the street and was told “the signs are clearly marked when you drive into town.” ….??? If I had more free time on my hands, I would have driven the perimeter of that stupid place to look for the sign and possibly call them back to ask where it was. But alas, I caved, bailed out of there, and paid the thing. I won’t say exactly where the area was but that neighborhood really cares about one particular sports team and there were signs all over in huge support of them and that team alongside of the douchebags that are its fans can be deported off to Russia for all I care. F that place.

I just checked and was surprised to see it still open. About 30 years ago I got a room at a cheap motel called the Memphis Inn on America Way in Memphis, TN. I think the rate was like $19.95/night. Back in those days I was always looking for cheap.

Around 1AM I heard someone trying to open the door to my room. I had the chain lock in place so he couldn't get the door open. Through the door I asked WTF he was doing and he said trying to get into his room. We went to the office together and found out that they had tried to rent my room to another person. At least I got to keep my room.

i'll second the memphis inn. passed by one of the rooms as i was walking the parking area and the room door was open. i saw a toilet in the living room with big holes on it. it turns out that room was blasted b machine gun fire a week before.

a friend and i were looking for a motel to crash for the evening. we found one in south jersey and were shown a room. on the carpeted floor was a chalk outline.

^@Shadow. I've had the same thing happen to me with renting a room a second time. It has happened more than once. Most of the time, I'm the second person so I am the intruder. One time, I walked into the empty room and saw all of the other people's belongings in the room and they were out. I've also walked in on someone in the room.

Maids trying to get in are always a problem if you are with a woman. I always remember to use the physical lock in those instances, but the maids still try to force their way in at inopportune times.

I carefully research a place first. So don't really have horror stories. But I'm shocked at how much some unkempt places charge just based on location. Especially beach towns.

I’ve run into a few - and yet Nina’s story really freaks me out! Bed bugs are miserable.

I used to enjoy the Royal Motel for OTC - as it was filthy and right on route 3 - not far from the Lincoln tunnel. It was sketchy on Saturday nights, and there were some unsavory characters around. Back in those days, bed bugs weren’t such a well known issue.

I’ve also done OTC at Newark airport holiday inns - that had a guard house and barbed wire fencing. The rooms were non smoking, but the smoke smell was already in the walls and ceilings. The walls were so thin, you could hear the folks fart in the next room.

On one road trip south - with a buddy - we stayed in a hotel that was cash only - and there was a strip club out by the road - and a gate to drive into the hotel parking lot. I turned the lights off in the room - and sat watching the roaches run under the door.

I used to take a Reading Pa dancer OTC to America’s Best Value inn - because it was very cheap - and it was close to her club. I always would get a room on the first floor - and make her walk across the parking lot wearing only her heels. She called me a dick - but she knew I loved the show - and she loved my money! There are some odd rodents out in Pa!

Shadow - I had something similar happen to me at one of the nicer hotels in Center City Philadelphia. I went into my room, went to hang my garment bag in the closet to discover it was full of someone else’s clothes.

I immediately called the front desk to let them know that Houston we have a problem. They were duly horrified at the mistake and things were quickly made right.

And one time in St. Louis (Not really in the hood though on the Hill which is the best part of St Louis imo) I heard somebody yell somebody call the police! (It wasn’t a girl in distress it just sounded like ghetto bullshit) I should’ve took the hint this wasn’t the best place to hang a bunch of shell casing in the parking lot. Another day I tried to get a cheap hotel in in North St. Louis, the parking lot was SWARMED with crackheads. I hell no’d the fuck outta there. St. Louis is just one ghetto ass fucked up city.

And I’m just a single guy if you got a young family you really got to get it right.

Each time I go to Tijuana. The Hotel Cascadas is a very convenient place to "arriba" with a chica from Hong Kong. But it is a TERRIBLE hotel to stay in. The wifi hardly ever works. There are only about 5 TV channels on TV that are in English, and 3 of those are porn channels. The walls are extremely thin so you hear what is going on in the rooms next to you. The AC units are very temperamental. Sometimes the room is hot, sometimes its cold. Cell coverage there is very poor, even if you have international calling. The pillows are awful. In fact, all bedding, sheets and comforters are a miss mash that are hardly workable. The elevators are as slow as molasses so you end up going up stairs a lot. When you are on the 9th floor, that can be tiresome.

But it is above probably the best strip club in the entire world.

Only good things happened as I stay only in 4 or 5 star expensive hotels. One I was visiting nyc club, prior lap dance I was emptying my wallet, the dancer saw my hotel key and she was in disbelief I stay at this expensive hotel. After the dance I dropped a room key to her and said stop by once your shift is over if you want to party. She said expect by 1:30, but can’t guarantee. Leaving room key to someone met first time was stupidity as many think, but good things happens to good people.

About 30 years ago, I had to come to DC for a job. Normally, this was a lot of fun. This time, however, it was the height of school trip/cherry blossom season and there didn't seem to be any rooms available with 25 miles of Crystal City. Our section secretary search diligently and found a room in a tiny Route 1 hotel in Alexandria. I arrived at about 10 pm, parked in the tiny lot out front, and buzzed the door to go in and register. Was this a rough area?

My mind was hardly set at ease by the two-inch thick bulletproof glass at the reception (revulsion, lol?) desk. Well, it was the only room available, and the hotel did date back to rougher times....so, I registered, shoving my ID and credit card through the slot.

The room was dated, and mostly clean, and the decrepit window A/C worked noisily to keep the room cool.

I happily checked out the next morning and returned to Pittsburgh after my meeting.

Thankfully, that old hotel was leveled all the way to the basement three years ago to make room for a gentrified apartment!😁

Around 1970 I was on a fishing trip with my buddy to Lake Novillo in Sonora, MX. We spent 1 night in Hermosillo before driving to the lake. The rate was $2/night. For that you did not get a key. You simply went inside and bolted the door behind you. No heat. No hot water. Just 2 single beds with horse blanket. Good thing we had tequila with us.

Not to mention shared body heat, lol!😆🏔️❄️

These days, it's really hard to figure out what you may walk into for a hotel.

I've stayed a LOT of places, and as mentioned by others, if it's a place I'm not overly familiar, I try to map the location and go through reviews. But even in areas that appear "nice", I can guarantee there will be reviews about how water isn't hot, bed bugs all over, noisy, etc. And these will be top brands with Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, etc - granted maybe not luxury line but far from Super 8 or something unknown.

I've had good stays in the hood and bad stays in the burbs and vice versa. I've left 1 star spots thinking "that wasn't so bad" and 4 star places thinking "what did I just pay for?"