“Do not disturb?” More like, “I couldn’t be more disturbed.”
Typically, when you arrive at a hotel, you’ve been traveling and, after a long day, you just want to rest. So, you approach the check-in desk, they give you the key to your room, you put it in the door and as you stroll in with your suitcase, you spot something that’s…off. Hairs in the sink? Giant roach on the wall? Someone literally in your bed? Recently, we asked our readers—“What’s the grossest thing you’ve found in a hotel?” After acquiring more than a few responses, we decided to compile some of the most notable answers and present them below. Viewer discretion is advised.
Creepy Crawlies
We’re willing to bet you’d prefer to choose who enters your hotel room. We’re also willing to bet an insect of any sort would not receive an invitation. Bruce Jerde says he encountered bed bugs at an airport hotel in Seattle. “It was a nice, renovated hotel, so I was shocked when I woke up with hundreds of bites. They gave me free breakfast. Never went back,” he says. Similarly, Lori Sieber found ants swarming her room in Lake Garda, Italy.
“Roaches on Maui in our hotel bathroom,” says Karen Busch Jacob, “and a very dirty carpet at an Anaheim motel.” In a nightmare turn of events, Monika Elizabeth says she came across “a rat in my hotel suite in NYC.” And, mysteriously, Micky Funk reveals he found “a box with a biohazard sign on it and it was oozing liquid in New Jersey.” It’s not clear if anything emerged from the box, but hopefully, Micky didn’t stick around to find out.
Recommended Fodor’s Video
No, No, Not the Bed
Ah, the hotel bed—a mattress (complete with box springs?) that all guests hope offers the capability to provide a good night’s rest. Occasionally, as seen here, though, it can also be a literal hotbed of substances that should not be present. For example, Nita Losoponkul says she found, “Blood-stained sheets. And better yet, when I called, they said housekeeping had left for the day and the hotel was sold out so I couldn’t switch rooms. So, ‘couldn’t I just sleep on the other half of the bed?’ Um no.” Marilyn Mac Leay Giambrone, no doubt unnerved, remembers a time when she woke up to something rather unpleasant: “[We were staying at] a brand new hotel and in the middle of the night, I realized there was only a twin sheet on sideways so the lower half of our bodies were laying directly on the mattress. So gross.” Kathryn Stewart encountered something that’s arguably a little more shocking to the eye: “a used condom under the bed [that was hidden from view] where the spread hung down,” she said. “Glad I found it before my toddlers did!” Sandy Voss Halley claims she found “puke on the carpet right next to the bed!” And, horrifically, Erica S Plaisance said she discovered “pee on the mattress and sheets after I got into the bed.” Disheartened guest Matt Tabakman remembers when he found “a bed full of dog hair (and I’m a devoted dog dad!).” Ayesha Hafeez says: “Someone’s underwear in a made bed.”
“What…What Are You Doing in Here?”
Beth Kostic Fenton more than likely asked this same question. “Not necessarily gross, but creepy: someone else was in my hotel room! I started to go into my room and heard (and saw) another guest in the room, going about his business. Freaked. Me. Out! The hotel staff gave me a new room and comped my stay, as they should have,” Fenton said on Facebook. Rondah Rietveld revealed a comparable experience: “Two people were in my bed when I came into the room.”
Excuse Me?
Bill Jordan responded: “my one night stand.” Another user, Christina Monk, encountered something of a cinematic parallel, yet the not-so-sentient guest was not invited in: “A glass dildo and a broom handle in the drawer! So gross!!!” Another unexpected and not-so-sentient intruder, Zameer U. Baber claims they found “Olive Garden.” Fodor’s editor Teddy Minford weighed in as well, as she recalled encountering an unexpected substance: “I checked into my hotel room on the Dead Sea and it was covered in tiny globs of mud—on the pillows, on the bathroom mirror, on the door handle, everywhere!” In an arguably smellier turn of events also involving droppings, Jeanette Renfro had an unfortunate discovery: “Some little dog pooped (dribbled diarrhea) in corners all around my hotel suite at a five-star hotel in Philadelphia. The hotel said it must be wine; sure, adults take their wine glass to room corners when they’re tipsy, right?! I will no longer stay in hotels that don’t separate rooms for humans (only) and people who are accompanied by their pets. It was gross!,” Renfro said. In Bangkok, Gary Ray says he discovered “a broken toilet bowel that sloshed into the shower.” And last, but certainly not least, Michelle Roberts informed us of an unexpected surprise: “Me and mine stayed in a hotel and got moved to another room, turned the ceiling fan on, and off flew a used condom straight onto the bed.” No thank you. Oh, wait, one more: Stuart Strickland says he found “a half-eaten chicken leg in a dresser drawer.”
All responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.
Found a used tampon in the room's trashcan.