The Worst Hotel Rooms in the World

Think that slightly scummy motel room is bad? Feast your eyes on these hotel room abominations.

We know, we know. Not every hotel in the world can be a multi-starred paradise of luxury and upscale living. Here’s a look at the opposite end of the scale—the top five downright terrible rooms travelers have stayed in. Special thanks to TripAdvisor users across the world for providing these spectacularly bad reviews.

1. Shangri-La Hotel at The Shard, London

The hotel itself is luxury, but with one caveat—at night, guests can see into other rooms because of a design flaw that makes reflections appear in different rooms. TripAdvisor reviewer Mrs_D_Tricker says: “Firstly we were given the incorrect room, we were then given a room which when darkness drew in we were presented with many reflections of other rooms. WE COULD SEE A LADY BATHING & A COUPLE ON A BED!! Reception’s solution – close the blind!”

2. Town House Motel, Tupelo, Mississippi

Older reviews of this motel talk about drug deals in the next room and a puddle of blood in front of the door. The most recent review shows that things haven’t really changed. Gary A says: “Bugs everywhere both alive and dead. The bed was gross. The carpet was filthy. Lamp cords were spliced together and taped. We were awakened in the middle of the night by police lights to see 3 police cars tending to something…don’t know if an arrest was going on or what!!”

3. Hotel Tampiarto, Probolinggo, Indonesia

This hotel apparently has a bug problem—one that an anonymous TripAdvisor user experienced firsthand: “Room dirty and full of mosquitoes. Sprayed room and opened backpacks. Went into bathroom five minutes later and a HORDE of huge flying ants had poured out of hand basin drain, crawling everywhere, like an insect horror movie. Demanded to change room, next one smelled like something dead, one after that had dead cockroaches on floor. Asked for best room and my friend and I given double as no twin rooms clean. Stained sheets, dirty pillows, filthy walls, ancient toilet, blocked drain full of hair. My friend and I stripped the bed to check for bugs, and put our bags on the tables in case there were bedbugs in the soft chairs. We covered ourselves in Deet and dotted Deet all the way round the bed against bedbugs.”

4. Balmoral House, Brisbane, Australia

Despite a great location and close proximity to bars, Balmoral doesn’t have a single positive review on its TripAdvisor page. Cliff R provided the latest review: “Shockingly dirty and badly infested with enormous cockroaches and bed bugs; I was covered in over 100 bites by the second morning. The kitchen facilities are home to a large army of very large cockroaches, while the communal toilets and showers are filthy and covered in mould. While I was out on two occasions someone else managed to enter my locked room…how do I know? The first time they left a cup of tea on the table (I’ve never drunk tea in my life), and the second time they let the property cat in which proceeded to urinate on my clothes and defecate on the bed. Complaints to Sue – the site manager – about all of the above were met with a very curt “So what?”. Do yourself a favour and sleep in the gutter rather than stay here.”

5. Golden Beach Hotel, Blackpool, England

A beachfront hotel with a karaoke bar and a roller coaster next door—what could go wrong? TripAdvisor user claytonwen has an idea: “This hotel should be shut down; it isn’t safe and clean enough for a pig to stay in, let alone adults and children. It was filthy, nothing like the pictures, which I think was taken over 20 years ago, the bathroom door wouldn’t close as there was a massive piece of wood on the floor, when my mum moved the wood the floor was completely caved in and very unsafe.”

[Photo: TripAdvisor]