The Shroud of the Courtyard Raleigh North (Not the Shroud of Turin)
 

I checked into this property a couple of years ago, dropped my bags next to the bed, pulled out my laptop headed to the desk and there it was in all it's glory on the vinyl clad chair the Shroud of the Courtyard Raleigh North.

It was not exactly the shape of Jesus' face, but it was very clear what it was.

There on the vinyl clad chair was the dried shape of a woman's private parts. This woman must have sat on the chair after some of the activities witnessed by some of the folks on this thread, seen while walking into an occupied room.

I called to the front desk and asked the MOD to come up to my room to look at a problem, I did not tell him what it was. When the MOD arrived, I asked him to look at the chair and tell me what he saw. Well I must say he had quite a religious experience when the Shroud of the Courtyard Raleigh North revealed itself to him.

Needless to say I got another room and ALWAYS place a bath towel on the hotel room desk chair from that day forward.

He/she probably suspected that was your body fluid...lol

At the Crystal Gateway in Arlington, VA (Dec. 7th), upon checkin, I found 2 water bottles half full on the bed stand, the pillows from both beds were on the floor, and someone left their toothbrush on the bathroom counter.

I called housekeeping and they came by and cleaned up the room and apologized for the inconvenience. Overall my experience with this hotel has been excellent, so I will be returning soon.

Marcell

um, try this one. How about a naked man laying on the bed flipping channels!! Stratosphere Hotel in Vegas New Years 1997.

not too exciting . . .
 

just a used bathrobe in the bathroom and an uneaten sandwich in the refrigerator. this was the Hapuna Prince hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii just a few weeks ago.

Welcome status!
 

My first stay after earning status with any hotel, I indicated that I wanted the fruit/cheese/food option of the time. Get to the room and there is a substantial spread of candy bars, fruit, cheese, several bottles of beer, bottles of wine, crackers and much more. I was REALLY impressed by what it meant to have status!! Turns out there was suppose to be a party in the room but it was changed -- I got to keep all the goodies though. Needless to say that while I'm happy to get them, I've never looked at the two bottles of water & pack of cookies quite the same way:D

I've had a hotel accidentally send me the wrong "welcome basket" as well. I was travelling with my family at the time and when we arrived in the room, there was a really big basket of all sorts of fruits and candies. The kids went to town. Unfortunately, the hotel staff called a couple of minutes later and mentioned that the basket was supposed to be for a different party and they wanted to come and pick up the basket. I told them no problem except that the kids have already picked through the basket. :eek: The hotel staff decided that they would let me keep it as well.

Pizza and Denver Broncos
 

1) Found a pizza box with just stale crusts inside, on top of a bar refrigerator inside a cabinet. They were practically petrified...no telling how long the box had been there.

2) Found a genuine Super Bowl ring belonging to a Denver Bronco. It was easy to ID the owner as it had the year and jersey number. The GM confirmed the player had been a recent guest at the hotel (they were somewhat acquainted) so I let the GM handle the return.

Checked into the Courtyard Schoenbrunn in Vienna last August, and found a lady's passport in the room safe. The safe was up on a shelf, and the passport had a dark cover and was not easy to see (particularly if the person looking was not tall), so I could see how it could be overlooked.

Still, you'd have thought the lady would have missed it by then (it wasn't Austrian or Schengen), but the desk manager said no one had called about it.

The Orlando- Lake Mary Marriott has got to be the worst. I had about 14 stays there in 2006 and was never happy with the cleanliness of the room.

The worst: upon check-in, I set down my bags and prepared to stretch out on the bed for a minute before catching up with my co-workers, only to find streaks of blood on the coverlet. It did not look particularly old and it wasn't a ton of blood; made me think the room's previous occupant had a pretty nasty papercut that morning and wiped it on the coverlet. Since the coverlet is *white* it was kind of hard to miss!

It would be either really fun, or really scary, to do the full CSI Miami workup in that hotel.

Has anyone had any strange items or experiences in their hotel rooms this year?

A cat.
Ground floor room in Agadir, sliding door out onto garden was slightly open and a rather attractive young grey cat was sunning herself on a chair. We became quite good friends over the next few days and I really enjoyed her company, although I suspect she was making up to other guests as well as me. Made me think that for those travellers who miss their pets when away from home, perhaps optional cats or other small pets could be provided as part of the amenities (like TVs and minibars).

There are a couple of B&B's that do that. Interesting concept.

I stayed at the FS Marriott in Birmingham, Alabama two years ago during a PGA Seniors event. Besides seeing Curtis Strange and Ben Crenshaw up close and personal, I had a surprise waiting for me in my room.

I had a 'welcome back' for the tournament that included lots of food, wine, bottle opener, books, magazines, golf balls, and other stuff.

I remember reading this post, or one similar, a few months ago, and someone said that you can find all sorts of interesting things under the drawers or above the tiles in a drop-down ceiling. Well, being the curious person that I am, I've been checking the drawers and above the false ceiling in a few dozen hotels now. Nothing interesting to report.

Last November I checked into a Courtyard in NJ and when I went to use the restroom found someone had dropped a deuce without flushing.

I wasn't able to get another room and ended up relocating to another Marriott. I haven't been back to a Courtyard since.