Michigan Radio & TV Buzzboard

Since I’m currently in a shithole at the moment on vacation (Howard Johnson in Benton Harbor), it inspired me to ask around: what’s the worst hotel you have stayed at?

This one takes the cake by far, for me. The hotel literally stinks, they have TUBE TVs (with only 8 channels!), and most if not all of the amenities this hotel promised on various booking websites are not provided. For example, the pool, which they claimed was open and functional, was actually closed by Berrien County before COVID started, and STILL hasn’t been fixed! I wouldn’t stay here again, even if you paid me.

So are there any hotel horror stories you’re all willing to share?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The old Holiday Inn on M32 in Gaylord (was known as a Holi-dome in the 70’s and 80’s) then known as the Aspen Inn IIRC. Stayed there about 4-5 years ago. Walking into the hotel was like walking into a morgue as it was so dark and quiet. Room was atrocious as there was mold in the bathroom and paint and wallpaper peeling off the walls. Mattress needed to be replaced. Breakfast was stale bagels. Had been put up there by my employer. Told them to take them off of our list of acceptable motels

Downtown Motel in downtown Chicago, the cheapest in town at the time, at least in the AAA Guide, with multiple floors and interior indoor hallway room doors. It was the mid-1980s, around Halloween -- I was trying to get a job interview at one of the ad agencies. Ever see the movie Barton Fink? Same general experience, at least psychically.

Motel 6. Motel 6. Motel 6.They're all bad

Stopped at one in Atlanta. After a long day of driving, the first thing I do when I get into the room is grab a beer from the cooler. While I was enjoying my beer my wife was busy unpacking the things we would need for the night. Suddenly she let out a yelp. The room was infested with cockroaches.

She pulled down the blanket to check in the bed. There weren't even any sheets on the bed. Just a filthy, stained mattress.

We repacked our stuff and went down to the desk to ask for a refund. The clerk said he would have to send security up to check the room first. The security guy came back and reported that it appeared we had already used the bed (a quicky?)

After I made enough noise in front of other people waiting to check in, he gave me my money back just to get us out of there.

Turkeytop wrote:Motel 6. Motel 6. Motel 6.They're all bad

Stopped at one in Atlanta. After a long day of driving, the first thing I do when I get into the room is grab a beer from the cooler. While I was enjoying my beer my wife was busy unpacking the things we would need for the night. Suddenly she let out a yelp. The room was infested with cockroaches.

She pulled down the blanket to check in the bed. There weren't even any sheets on the bed. Just a filthy, stained mattress.

We repacked our stuff and went down to the desk to ask for a refund. The clerk said he would have to send security up to check the room first. The security guy came back and reported that it appeared we had already used the bed (a quicky?)

After I made enough noise in front of other people waiting to check in, he gave me my money back just to get us out of there.

My fiancée was tempted to start raising hell when the Howard Johnson refused to refund us. They had this bullshit policy where you cannot get a refund after 10 minutes after check in. 10 minutes is not enough time for even a surface inspection, let alone a deep, thorough inspection of a room.

Luckily, we are at a better motel now that actually has decent rooms, and for a hell of a lot cheaper.


moldyoldie — it’s been a while since I’ve last seen Barton Fink. My room was more akin to something from The Shining. Just needed Jack Nicholson to break through the door with an axe to complete it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Some chains you can count on to be decent. Hampton Inn, Fairfield Inn, Best Western, Holiday Inn Express.

Others' you can count on to be dumps. Motel 6, Ramada Inn, Howard Johnson.

There are others that may or may not be OK. You just have to ask to check out the room. Quality Inn, Comfort Inn, Day's Inn, Red Roof Inn

Worst for me:
Crowne Plaza in Madison, WI. Hotel was adjacent to their major shopping mall.

Most uncomfortable bed I've ever slept on. Mattress was an extremely cheap piece of dung. Could feel springs in my back. Damn thing made noise whenever I adjusted my sleeping position.

The facility was clean and restaurant decent, but that bed ruined it.

Second worst:
Hilton outside of downtown Tampa. Rooms were very dated looking with old carpeting, old wallpaper, and old drapes. Very tired looking facility. I stayed there autumn 2006.

Co-workers booked the reservations for each of those two hotels...I think I would've chosen better.

Best:
I've never had anything but a great experience at any hotel in the Marriott family I've ever stayed at going back 25 years. Ditto Sheraton.

Hyatt Place is also very good.

Had to attend to some business in downtown Toronto. There was some major event going on at the time and he hotels were all booked up. I got what must have been one of the last rooms in town at the Howard Johnson.

The room had a bed and a TV. That was it. No desk, no chair, no bedside tables, no radio, no lamps. The only lighting in the room was from a dingy 60 W bulb on the ceiling.

The room had only one electrical outlet, on the wall opposite the bed, behind the TV. There was no outlet in the bathroom. If someone had wanted to use a hair dryer or electric shaver, they would have had to kneel down on the floor beside the TV.

Going down in the elevator the next morning, I commented to another guy on the poor state of the hotel. He told me that on the seventh floor, where his room was located, there was still the chalk outline of a body on the floor in the hallway.

Realist wrote: ↑

Fri May 27, 2022 10:26 am

The old Holiday Inn on M32 in Gaylord (was known as a Holi-dome in the 70’s and 80’s) then known as the Aspen Inn IIRC. Stayed there about 4-5 years ago. Walking into the hotel was like walking into a morgue as it was so dark and quiet. Room was atrocious as there was mold in the bathroom and paint and wallpaper peeling off the walls. Mattress needed to be replaced. Breakfast was stale bagels. Had been put up there by my employer. Told them to take them off of our list of acceptable motels

That's a shame. I remember staying in there in the late 80s on a snow tubing and skiing trip. They had nice little conference rooms for birthdays, 3 different pools, and a hot tub under the dome.

As far as worst hotels, I would have to say when we stayed at the Ramada Inn as a family in Orlando during the 90s. Dimly lit and dirty pool.

And if AirBNB's count....
Second worst was probably the AirBNB in Holly that I attempted to stay at last year. The motif was a tree house theme. First, I had a problem before I even got there. The owner informed me Thursday that she was having 50 people on the property for a big party by her house(the tree house was a little ways away). My stay was supposed to be Saturday night there. Fortunately, I was able to extend my existing stay in Freeland through Saturday night. When I got to the place in Holly that Sunday, it was steaming hot. None of the reviews mentioned an issue with the window fan, but it actually made the stay harder. The steps to get up to the tree house were very thin ladder rungs. It was difficult to see as a problem in the photos because it was taken far away. I nearly slipped several times going up and down. They had an outhouse that was "#1 only" a few feet from the tree house awith a walk to the main house for bathroom and shower supposedly 500 feet away. What she didn't stay it was up a very steep hill.

Best hotels:

Three way tie:

1. Hilton Americas Houston, Texas. Location, location, location! This place is located right by Discovery Green downtown which has tons of green space. The Toyota Center where the Rockets play is directly across the street. Minute Maid Park is about 7 blocks away for Astros games They have conference rooms, gift shop, Starbucks, two restaurants (one with a full bar), and full bell hop service in the hotel. It's so good that the NRA decided to have their convention there this weekend because it connects to the George R Brown convention Center by skyway. Very easy to secure with the logistics of the 10 floors of the hotel, and the Convention Center has 4 of its own with dozens of small rooms perfect for breakout sessions. I stayed here for the Gay Christian Network Conference in January 2016, and we felt very safe.


2. Homewood Suites in Pigeon Forge, TN. This is tucked away off the main highway that goes from Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Their two room suites were spacious, super clean, and very new when we stayed there in '96. Dollywood is 3 blocks away. Tons of gift stores within walking distance. Not sure if it even exists now but was great.

3. AIRBNB in Metamora, MI. This particular place was almost 1 mile east of M24 and about 2 miles south of I-69. The place had 6 acres and was so quiet with a pond in back of the two story rustic like cabin. It's pretty much you and nature. You have the whole place to youreelf. Very peaceful at night. Only downside is no internet, but it was a good place to unplug from work when I was there in 2019.

1. Hilton Americas Houston, Texas. Location, location, location! This place is located right by Discovery Green downtown which has tons of green space. The Toyota Center where the Rockets play is directly across the street. Minute Maid Park is about 7 blocks away for Astros games They have conference rooms, gift shop, Starbucks, two restaurants (one with a full bar), and full bell hop service in the hotel. It's so good that the NRA decided to have their convention there this weekend because it connects to the George R Brown convention Center by skyway. Very easy to secure with the logistics of the 10 floors of the hotel, and the Convention Center has 4 of its own with dozens of small rooms perfect for breakout sessions. I stayed here for the Gay Christian Network Conference in January 2016, and we felt very safe.

I've stayed there!

I agree; it was very nice.

We actually saw a baseball game at Minute Maid Park and walked there from the hotel. Not my favorite ball park by a long shot. Closing the roof doesn't do much good on a hot day; was quite hot inside in the seating area (concourse wasn't too bad).

Knight's Inn in Greensburg, Pennsylvania (40 miles from Pittsburgh, PA) because the toliet overflowed in August of 2017 while I was visiting relatives from Latrobe, PA but also the last night there!!!

The old Imperial Palace in Vegas was pretty bad for a strip hotel. We used to call it the Imperial Ashtray because it stunk like cigarettes. But rooms were cheap and it was in a perfect location (it's The Linq now). One visit I took a shower, and the water would not turn off at the end of it. I informed front desk as I went out, and when I came back to the room many hours later, the shower was still going full blast. It stayed that way the entire weekend.

Now, we just about always stay at Hampton Inn because you can rely on them to be good clean rooms. A couple of years ago we stopped at one in Kentucky. The room was up to standard but, oddly, there was no waste basket in the bathroom.

The next morning, when I went in to shower, I found the waste basket. It was in the tub, behind the shower curtain, with puke in it I set it out in the hallway and called down to the desk to report it.

When I went to the desk to check out, he refunded our money for the night. I'll bet the maid was in trouble over that.

MWmetalhead wrote: ↑

Sat May 28, 2022 7:04 am

1. Hilton Americas Houston, Texas. Location, location, location! This place is located right by Discovery Green downtown which has tons of green space. The Toyota Center where the Rockets play is directly across the street. Minute Maid Park is about 7 blocks away for Astros games They have conference rooms, gift shop, Starbucks, two restaurants (one with a full bar), and full bell hop service in the hotel. It's so good that the NRA decided to have their convention there this weekend because it connects to the George R Brown convention Center by skyway. Very easy to secure with the logistics of the 10 floors of the hotel, and the Convention Center has 4 of its own with dozens of small rooms perfect for breakout sessions. I stayed here for the Gay Christian Network Conference in January 2016, and we felt very safe.

I've stayed there!

I agree; it was very nice.

We actually saw a baseball game at Minute Maid Park and walked there from the hotel. Not my favorite ball park by a long shot. Closing the roof doesn't do much good on a hot day; was quite hot inside in the seating area (concourse wasn't too bad).

We got a full stadium tour there including a viewing of their wine cellar, behind the manual scoreboard in left field, and press box upstairs. We also briefly walked the edges of the field(non grassy areas). Beautiful park! My aunt and I had a good time there.

Turkeytop wrote: ↑

Sat May 28, 2022 11:31 am

Now, we just about always stay at Hampton Inn because you can rely on them to be good clean rooms. A couple of years ago we stopped at one in Kentucky. The room was up to standard but, oddly, there was no waste basket in the bathroom.

The next morning, when I went in to shower, I found the waste basket. It was in the tub, behind the shower curtain, with puke in it I set it out in the hallway and called down to the desk to report it.

When I went to the desk to check out, he refunded our money for the night. I'll bet the maid was in trouble over that.

I highly recommend the Country Inn and Suites locations if stopping in Kentucky. We stay near Corbin there. The whole chain is well run.