As many of you start looking at where you'll be going for your vacations this year, TWQ (The Weekend Question) asks about your previous experiences in the hotels you've stayed at.
What awful, weird and unusual experiences have you had in hotels you've been in over the years? Any really top ones that stood out?
My answers are:
A few times I've stayed in a hotel that is nothing like the internet picture; the wallpaper is peeling off and it is covered in dust.
In a European hotel, the toilet was in a separate room, about 10 feet from the door, which unfortunately had no key! Discreet coughing was needed!
An old Soviet boat (if you can call it a hotel) while in Russia was the worst I had been in. The food was uneatable, with porridge that had to be sliced and other food that made people physically ill!
The Hyatt Regency that I stayed in was one of the best; I stayed there free as it was part of a party I went to as a gift from doing so many years service at the company I work with.
Now it's over to you...
33 comments:
Popped by from Michele's, and I've stayed in many good hotels and many poor hotels, but I've always found the best to be the smaller privately run hotels where the guests impressions and feelings about the hotel really count towards the survival/sucess of the business.
My worst hotel experience story actually happened to a friend. My friend Jim was at a running event and shared a room with several of his teammates. Because there were more people than beds, he opted to take a bed spread and sleep on the floor. He had a reaction to something there and for the next several weeks he had a rash on his face, arms, and legs. It didn't itch or anything, but anywhere he had exposed skin had the rash.
the worst hotel was a tiny dive in Dusburg (Germany) the stink from the cigarette smoke frm thebar was so strong in our room that even with the window open I had to run the bathroom vent all nigh to be able to breathe. It was bad.
Been a lot of really nice hotels though and one of my current faves is the maximillian hotel in Nürnberg,each room has its own kitchenette ( I get to make my own lunch and tea when ever I please) and it's within walking distance of the old city. Great breakfasts and decent service.
The first experience that comes to mind is when I stayed in a hotel that unfortunately was also housing a high school group on tour that had been stranded there for a few days while their bus was being repaired. They were loud, obnoxious, and totally without supervision.
Michele sent me over.
I stayed in a hotel where the air freshner smelled like farts. Seriously. I asked why someone farted in my room (it was that bad, shoosh) and they said 'air freshner' and thought I had about three heads and was looney because I was so mad about it. The other was a Best Western in Indiania that was just trashed and icky. We did a stopover on a drive to Washington and everything was just ratty, old, smelling of smoke bleah.
The best two were a bed and breakfast in Snowdonia with yummy breakfasts and cool down comforter quilts and super friendly people, and a boutique hotel in Portland, Ore. where we stayed for a weekend getaway. Gorgeous place, very 20s, wine tasting, bathtub as deep as I am tall, and super friendly people.
The worst? That'd be the one that we couldn't get to. There's the sign! Where's the d** road?!" Forty-five minutes spent backtracking and getting along on our merry way before being allowed to give up.
The best? The Double Tree in CA. I forget which city off hand...
Here from Michele's.
The finest "hotel" experience we have had was at a small Bed and breakfast in Amsterdam called Maes Bed & Breakfast.
The onsite owners are what make their beautiful facility even more outstanding. Ken is a chef from America and Vlad is a professional dancer from Russia. The hospitality, friendliness and beautiful facility in a prime location in central Amsterdam made our stay there outstanding!
A Bed and Breakfast in Oxford was truly awful. Really dingy and dirty, and not at all worth the money it cost.
At the other end of the spectrum was a hotel at Cheltenham, where I stayed with some girl friends. Wow it was great, swimming pool, jacussi, and we even had our nails done. And the food was great.
In fact the weekend away was so good we are going to do it again in August with the same chain of hotels, but in a different location.
The worst hotels I stayed in were in Birmingham while I was studying last year.......
I haven't stayed in a lot of hotels, but the Marhaba Palace in Tunisia was excellent :-)
cq
Michele sent me, Jean-Luc
I think of one awful hotel in Cornwall where there were sharp nails around the carpet edging. As my son was a toddler then and there was no other room to move into, we checked out and found a much nicer hotel with its own beach for the same price. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
I haven't had too many bad experiences. The worst so far was a hotel in Corpus Christi, Texas. It was the food in their so-called 4-star dining room. My roast beef was green inside. Yuck! I sent it back of course!
Here from Michele's today :)
The wierdest hotel experience I've had was when I stayed in a small, pleasant B&B in Saffron Walden, run by a lovely old lady and her husband. Nice room. I had an interview to go to the next day. When I came back the couple invited me to have a cup of tea and some cake. Great!
"What do you think of Saffron Walden, then?", the lady asks.
"Oh, it's great, nice and peaceful, historic, and the people seem so friendly", I say.
The old lady smiled, but the husband was frowning. After a pause, he spoke his mind:
"Only trouble now is to get rid of all them bloody n*****s coming in and taking the place over! If you want some food tonight, don't you go to that curry house they've just opened down the way." And more of the same.
Suddenly I 'remembered' there was a train going to Cambridge, leaving right now, that I needed to catch...
The oddest thing that happened was at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. While I was paying the bill, my wife watched a lady in full Fredericks of Hollywood lingerie come out of the elevator and walk completely across the lobby and straight into a cab.
The most luxuroius place I ever stayed was that the Metropole in Hanoi.
michele sent me.
The only issues I've ever had with hotels I've stayed at involve decor. The Borgata in Atlantic City New Jersey was all white. I was scared to lay down on the bed for fear I would get something dirty!
my worst experience was when my husband and i were travelling, we checked into a hotel and went to our room, it was disgusting, filthy, i think it was used for "activities". we checked out immediately and looked for a best western, you know what you're getting.
our best experience was probably a B&B at niagara-on-the-lake.
The weirdest experience was in a hotel in Utah. I saw floating orbs in the room. I think it was haunted. No I wasn't intoxicated.
The best experience thus far was in Mesquite,Nevada at a spa resort. It was heaven and I felt like a Princess there. They really treat you like royalty. Oh, and it was my honeymoon also. (Wink)
After reading about places in Europe, I am afraid to visit there now. Yikes!
I guess the worst hotel was in the Alex Johnson hotel in Rapid City, SD. We were on the 4th floor and the music from the bar on the first floor was so loud I could not sleep until they shut down at 1 or 2am (depending on the night). I called the front desk and told them I could not sleep because of the loud music in the hotel and they asked me "Well, what do you expect us to do about it."
I complained enough that they finally moved us to a room on the 8th floor that was a little quieter.
The best hotel was the DoubleTree in Vail, CO. -- very nice indeed. Everything was perfect.
I haven't been to that many hotels in my life, and haven't had any experiences that were necessarily "excellent" or "awful."
However, my high school band recently marched in the 118th Tournament of Roses Parade, and we stayed at an Embassy Suites in Santa Ana. One of the nights we were there the fire alarm went off, except it was very weird sounding. A lot of students kind of wandered out into the hall unsure of what to do until the chaperones appeared and started yelling at us to leave via the fire escapes. By the time we got out the alarm had turned off. Supposedly the alarm went off again in the middle of the night, but I slept through that one; I only overheard some chaperones at breakfast the next morning talking about that one.
I remember staying in a guest house in Vanuatu and there was a dead gecko in the fridge... Bit gross.
Michele sent me.
You've all had your 'Fawlty Towers' experiences, it seems. What a relief that there are so many good ones as well.
David, Maes in Amsterdam looks a good one. If I ever go there, then that's the place I'll stay.
CQ, it's intersting that your bad hotel is in my home city!
Susan, I think the dirty hotel I went to was in Oxford as well. Maybe it was the same one? Cheltenham is a lovely place.
Here from Michele's to say I've never had a truly dreadful hotel experience, in terms of the hotel itself being miserable.
I've been in hotels with ice hockey teams that took over everything and broke the elevators. That same hotel didn't bother to put a carpet or anything over the marble entry, so you slid on slush you inevitably dragged in from outside...
I've stayed in charming non-chains and just perfuntory non-chains.
Now, I'm gunning to start staying in five-star hotels and writing it off as research. After all, I write about rock bands. They stay in those sorts of hotels and writers ought to know what they write about...
Well I've stayed overnight in one of the hotels here in Alabang, and I had a grand time. I was invited by my brother where he is a member of. It is called the Bellevue Hotel. Rooms were excellent and had lines for internet. You must of course bring your laptop with you to have access to the internet. It was just great.
Nothing really unusual springs to mind except.. When I was touring in theatre I stayed at a guest house in Birmingham. Every room was full of dolls including the guest rooms. It was a bit freaky having these things watch your every move!
Michele sent me today to say hi.
My worst was Las Margaritas in Cancun - well, actually I thought it was quite nice.....but I thankfully never heard what *all* was going on in the next room. The people I was staying with in my room couldn't even sleep becuase it was so horrible. The manager just smiled when we complained, and he excused it saying at least he got money for the room.
My best was a 15th floor Radisson in Chicago which I got for $50 online. :D:D Didn't get to fully enjoy it as we were just there one night, and had to fly out the next morning....but it was amazing and VERY comfortable!
The Day's Inn in some small Georgia town that had cardboard walls, a barely functioning toilet and a leaking vanity.
As we lay there awake, listening to the sound of freight trains in the near-distance, we vowed then and there to never skimp on in-transit hotels. Now, we pay the freight, and we sleep well at night.
i don't have any unusual "hotel" stories, just wanted to post a comment because i have not done so for so long, and also to comment on the cute little "snap" thingy i encountered when i clicked on "comment"....hmmmmm, very interesting....
You've all had great stories that serve as tpis for me and others.
Dragonflyfilly, I have stopped the validation code, as I don't think I needed it on new Blogger. The Snap is very good, and easy to insert. Just click on snap and it will tell you what to do.
I stayed in a hotel in Italy that had the bathroom down the hall. I was not impressed.
I used to clean hotel rooms as a job in college one summer. I won't even relate some of the things people left behind there.
A co-worker and I went to a conference last year for the National Academy of Emergency Dispatchers in Orlando, Florida and we stayed at the Disney Hilton. The room was nothing spectacular, just your standard room, but the bed was THE most comfortable I had ever slept in! I would have taken the mattress home in my suitcase had it fit! The feather pillows were so nice, my dispatch partner came home and bought one on-line for $75 and she just loves it.
I've been lucky to stay in pretty nice places, even ones I've found on the Internet. I prefer not to think about what could be bad/wrong. I'm not too fond of sleeping on a bed a zillion other people already have anyway, so the less I'm aware of, the better.
the one with no cable? or the one where I was allergic to the fabric softener in the towels? I don't travel much.
I stayed in hotel which was the party hotel for the local university. Things were fine until I waas redy to go to bed at about 11)00. That's when the parties started.
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