Travelers Share The Red Flags In Hotels That Make Them Say “Nope” Immediately (48 Answers)
Staying in a hotel is definitely different than being at home. At home, you’re the master of your castle. In a hotel, you never know how the management takes care of the rooms. And there’s always the mystery behind what the previous guest might have been doing. Don’t know about you, Pandas, but I, personally, try not to dwell on that too much, or I would probably never stay in a hotel again.
And some answers to this Redditor’s question might make me do exactly that. The netizen Traditional_Dirt_788 asked: “What is an immediate red flag in hotels?” And the commenters came through with flying colors. People shared all kinds of disturbing stuff, from blood on the walls to bullet holes covered with tape.
This only applies to larger hotels:
When all employees are really young. Not a single employee over the age of 20-23 in view.
This in my experience means that who ever is managing the hotel is only hiring the cheapest possible employees, that generally don’t know their rights. In every occasion like this, service has been completely absent.
This is true for restaurants as well, actually: check behind the toilet to see how well they clean there. It’s a really great indicator for how they handle the cleanliness of other not-so-immediately-visible surfaces. If it’s grungy, probably a lot of other things are neglected, too.
An easy red flag is when you’re looking a place over online and there are absolutely no photos of the exterior or street / neighborhood, just generic-looking photos of beds and the breakfast room.
I went to a travelodge last month and when checking in someone came up to reception in front of us and we overheard “I don’t like to complain, but there is a used condom in our room”. Immediate red flag!
I worked at Booking (dot com) about a decade++ ago and our data scientists always said: “Avoid hotels with a rating lower than 8.3”.
It was some kind of conclusive point of no return or something. They knew something that they couldn’t share, but I’ve always applied this rule since that day, and I’ve never been disappointed. And I’ve traveled a LOOOOOT.
Red flag: rating lower than 8.3 on Booking.
Stayed at a hostel in Granada Spain one time that in their description on some hostel website said ‘420 friendly, bring your iPod, and no fat people’.
We were so curious that we went anyway, and apparently it was because the building was so old the doors, stairways, and shower just couldnt accomodate larger set people that had come in the past.
It was actually a cool hostel, although weird at the same time. Lots of stories about that place.
Did a job up in Blythe (UK) a while ago. We asked the customer where to stay and their nearest recommendation was about 20 miles away. We said “really?” and they said “yes, really.” A guy from another company also working on the project stayed in a hotel in Newcastle. He collected his key and went to his room to find the door had been kicked off the hinges. He called reception and told them this. They misheard (to be fair he was from somewhere near Fort William) and said, “Oh, can’t you make the key work?” “No, the door is lying in the middle of the room and the hinges have been torn off the wall.” “Oh, no worries, come back down and we’ll give you another room.” Like this was perfectly normal.
When the wall ac unit is making horrible noise and you pull the filter and it has so much dirt and hair on it that it looks like a cat died in there.
I have a good one: front desk (or someone with access to it) stole my credit card details less than 1 hour after checking in.
I’m not a frequent traveler, but I have worked in hotels for around 15 years, several of those years as a supervisor. I am also a travel agent in addition to my other job
When you go to a hotel, put your bags down in the bathroom on the tile. Do not just put your bags on the bed!!!!! Or the carpet. Or the couch. Stop it. **bathroom tile.**
Take your phone flashlight and inspect the following things:
* the mattress seam. Make sure you really, really look for any black/dark red spots
* The baseboard/headboard. Again, flashlight, look for any black or dark red spots.
* Check the couch for the same. Look under the cushion. Look at the back of the couch.
* anything else with a seam – check it. The curtain is an easy place to check since you can just walk right up to it. Check the bottom of the curtain – if you see any dirt, that’s a red flag.
Don’t just haphazardly look. Get up close. Don’t rely on the lamp in the room, or natural light in the room. You really do need to use the flashlight on your phone.
This takes around 5-10 minutes, but it’s worth it. A good sign is if the sheets and everything are stark white and there’s no marks, even better if there is a protective cover around the mattress.
Before you check in, call the hotel and tell them you have dust allergies and you will need the room deep cleaned with all new sheets, all new comforters. They will have to accommodate your request and they will have to have freshly cleaned everything.
Bring a tiny thing of dawn dish soap. If you’re going to use any cups etc in the room, you can clean it. If there are disposable cups in the room, there should be plastic on it.
Lastly, do not expect an early check in. Early check in means that the staff are going to scramble to get your room clean faster. Not only can this disrupt workflow, and stall other rooms being cleaned in time, but it can also lead to a haphazardly cleaned room. Know the check in time and plan accordingly.
I just want to stress that hotel rooms are not gross because the staff are lazy, or because the hotel isn’t nice. It’s not going to matter how much you paid to stay there – because the issue isn’t the hotel, the issue is other guests. They are trifling. They want their rooms cleaned right this second, and they bring bugs with them. Often times, the bugs are not anyone’s fault, you never know when someone picked up bedbugs in their suitcase while they are at the airport. To avoid problems, check the room for black/dark red spots, and do not contribute to the problem of rushing hotel staff.
When you leave, put all your clothes in a plastic bag, and tie it. You want it closed. When you get home, dump it directly into a washing machine.
I used to travel internationally A LOT for work, so I have quite a few hotel horror stories.
Anyway, the most immediate red flag was when I checked in and asked what time breakfast was served:
“Breakfast starts at 9am”
“9am? That’s pretty late. I have meetings in town before then.”
“Oh, do you want it now?”
It was around 8pm at the time. It didn’t get any better from there. There were hookers in the lobby and the bed smelled so bad that I slept on a hard wooden chair.
I’m ambassador for Marriott, travel probably more than everyone here
The only thing that is 1-1 and is true every time is the smell. Like if the lobby/hallway smells like a*s/mildew/bad, 100% chance the room is a*s too
I stayed at a hostel once in London where I was in the “middle bunk.” I learned that middle bunks exist that day.
When the Uber driver looks at my girlfriend and I and asks if we’ll be OK.
Happened to us in St Louis. We didn’t even stay for 10 minutes before getting the hell out.
The cockroach smell – its a musty, powdery smell
If the room smells like a gas leak. I had a hotel room that was the “last one available” while passing through a different state. I opened the door and could smell the gas. The heater was also set to over 80 degrees. The room just felt like a swamp. I laid down on the bed and instantly began to feel sleepy. I wasn’t sleepy before entering that room. I just could not stay there with that smell. I checked out immediately and asked for a refund. Being female and traveling alone, the manager hassled me over refunding my money. He was foreign with a heavy Indian accent and asked me where my husband was. I reminded him that I checked in alone, and was traveling alone. He asked to speak to with whomever I was staying. I explained again that I was staying alone. I had to threaten to call the fire department about the gas leak before he would refund my money.
Poorly kept car parks- overgrown landscaping, trash, broken bottles, people loitering etc. The landscaping in particular is a big one for me.
No wifi. It’s 2024, wifi should be present in any hotel and free for those staying at the hotel. I don’t get why I need to pay for 24 hours.
When the lobby vending machine sells panties… The old Corktown Inn used to sell more weird stuff right next to chips and candybars.
I once had brown water coming out of the faucet at a hotel in Romania when I wanted to freshen up after checking in. It didn’t get any better from there.
I travel the midwest often and stay in mid range hotels for work. The first thing I look for is the age of the decor. If it hasn’t been renovated in a decade, it’s gonna be gross and unclean. The other red flag is price. If it’s way cheaper than similar hotels in the area, there’s a reason for that.
You can get out of bed, stand up, and pee into the toilet (toilet’s in the same room). Yes, I saw this hotel room in France. I asked to see the room before checking in. I left.
An unusually high number of people just hanging around in the parking lot and lobby area. Turned out this Holiday Inn was leasing out their available rooms to the city as a homeless shelter. I picked it because it was near the airport for an early morning flight but damn if that wasn’t the scariest night at a hotel I ever stayed at.
I will no longer stay at Holiday Inns.
Window frames not secure. I kid you not. Did an exhibition in London and the company put us up in a presumably cheap hotel. We arrived at 2100hrs. The place looked like it was a hastily renovated derelict building in the middle of a building site/unpaved car park. Got to my room on the 4th floor, it was boiling hot, despite being the middle of winter, so went to open the window to get some fresh air in. The entire window frame fell outwards 30 degrees, only loosely attached at the bottom. Couldn’t get it back in place, went to reception to change rooms – none. Had to stay. They did give me another blanket…
If there is nobody at reception, particularly if it’s advertised as a 24 hour service, that’s always a bad sign. It suggests that the receptionist is either super busy doing the work of 3 people and the place is understaffed or a lack of discipline in the staff. Understaffed means extra wait times for everything and a lack of discipline means that nobody gives a flying f**k so everything from breakfast to bar service will be a major challenge.
No mattress protector. Any hotel worth its salt, no matter how cheap, should have a mattress protector for bugs and liquids.
Many of them advertise it even. But when you show up, nada. I travel for work frequently and I won’t sleep on a bed that has no mattress protector.
The key is still a metal key and not a card access key. It suggests there have been no updates to rooms, aircon/ventilation, plumbing, etc.
But sometimes, you can be pleasantly surprised even if the hotel is ‘on the wrong side of the tracks’ literally.
Hotels in a certain aren’t cheap. Except one. It’s quite a bargain, or is it? In my experience the cheap one is cheap for a reason.
I did this on a trip to Denver (was going out to see the Rocky Mountains). Honestly, I didn’t care if the hotel was kinda bad since it was just me on the trip when I booked the hotel. My dad joined me last minute, and I warned him that I went cheap on the hotel because it had just been me. The bed was so bad he took his chances with the floor. Lol.
When you arrive and get handed a pair of pump pliers at reception to turn shower on
When the bathroom fan only works when the keycard is in a slot in the room. Happened to me in Beijing where the lights, AC, and fan were all connected to a slot that needed the keycard in it. There was a constant smell of mildew and it was super warm and damp.
We “forgot” our key in the room every day and by the end of our stay it might have dropped slightly below 100% humidity.
Linoleum floors in the guest rooms. And I don’t just mean the bathroom… the entire room. Especially if you are staying in a colder climate, your room is going to be freezing no matter how high you turn up the heat (if they let you).
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Staying in a hotel is definitely different than being at home. At home, you're the master of your castle. In a hotel, you never know how the management takes care of the rooms. And there's always the mystery behind what the previous guest might have been doing. Don't know about you, Pandas, but I, personally, try not to dwell on that too much, or I would probably never stay in a hotel again.
And some answers to this Redditor's question might make me do exactly that. The netizen Traditional_Dirt_788 asked: "What is an immediate red flag in hotels?" And the commenters came through with flying colors. People shared all kinds of disturbing stuff, from blood on the walls to bullet holes covered with tape.
This only applies to larger hotels:
When all employees are really young. Not a single employee over the age of 20-23 in view.
This in my experience means that who ever is managing the hotel is only hiring the cheapest possible employees, that generally don't know their rights. In every occasion like this, service has been completely absent.
This is true for restaurants as well, actually: check behind the toilet to see how well they clean there. It's a really great indicator for how they handle the cleanliness of other not-so-immediately-visible surfaces. If it's grungy, probably a lot of other things are neglected, too.
An easy red flag is when you’re looking a place over online and there are absolutely no photos of the exterior or street / neighborhood, just generic-looking photos of beds and the breakfast room.
I went to a travelodge last month and when checking in someone came up to reception in front of us and we overheard “I don’t like to complain, but there is a used condom in our room”. Immediate red flag!
I worked at Booking (dot com) about a decade++ ago and our data scientists always said: "Avoid hotels with a rating lower than 8.3".
It was some kind of conclusive point of no return or something. They knew something that they couldn't share, but I've always applied this rule since that day, and I've never been disappointed. And I've traveled a LOOOOOT.
Red flag: rating lower than 8.3 on Booking.
Stayed at a hostel in Granada Spain one time that in their description on some hostel website said '420 friendly, bring your iPod, and no fat people'.
We were so curious that we went anyway, and apparently it was because the building was so old the doors, stairways, and shower just couldnt accomodate larger set people that had come in the past.
It was actually a cool hostel, although weird at the same time. Lots of stories about that place.
Did a job up in Blythe (UK) a while ago. We asked the customer where to stay and their nearest recommendation was about 20 miles away. We said "really?" and they said "yes, really." A guy from another company also working on the project stayed in a hotel in Newcastle. He collected his key and went to his room to find the door had been kicked off the hinges. He called reception and told them this. They misheard (to be fair he was from somewhere near Fort William) and said, "Oh, can't you make the key work?" "No, the door is lying in the middle of the room and the hinges have been torn off the wall." "Oh, no worries, come back down and we'll give you another room." Like this was perfectly normal.
When the wall ac unit is making horrible noise and you pull the filter and it has so much dirt and hair on it that it looks like a cat died in there.
I have a good one: front desk (or someone with access to it) stole my credit card details less than 1 hour after checking in.
I’m not a frequent traveler, but I have worked in hotels for around 15 years, several of those years as a supervisor. I am also a travel agent in addition to my other job
When you go to a hotel, put your bags down in the bathroom on the tile. Do not just put your bags on the bed!!!!! Or the carpet. Or the couch. Stop it. **bathroom tile.**
Take your phone flashlight and inspect the following things:
* the mattress seam. Make sure you really, really look for any black/dark red spots
* The baseboard/headboard. Again, flashlight, look for any black or dark red spots.
* Check the couch for the same. Look under the cushion. Look at the back of the couch.
* anything else with a seam - check it. The curtain is an easy place to check since you can just walk right up to it. Check the bottom of the curtain - if you see any dirt, that’s a red flag.
Don’t just haphazardly look. Get up close. Don’t rely on the lamp in the room, or natural light in the room. You really do need to use the flashlight on your phone.
This takes around 5-10 minutes, but it’s worth it. A good sign is if the sheets and everything are stark white and there’s no marks, even better if there is a protective cover around the mattress.
Before you check in, call the hotel and tell them you have dust allergies and you will need the room deep cleaned with all new sheets, all new comforters. They will have to accommodate your request and they will have to have freshly cleaned everything.
Bring a tiny thing of dawn dish soap. If you’re going to use any cups etc in the room, you can clean it. If there are disposable cups in the room, there should be plastic on it.
Lastly, do not expect an early check in. Early check in means that the staff are going to scramble to get your room clean faster. Not only can this disrupt workflow, and stall other rooms being cleaned in time, but it can also lead to a haphazardly cleaned room. Know the check in time and plan accordingly.
I just want to stress that hotel rooms are not gross because the staff are lazy, or because the hotel isn’t nice. It’s not going to matter how much you paid to stay there - because the issue isn’t the hotel, the issue is other guests. They are trifling. They want their rooms cleaned right this second, and they bring bugs with them. Often times, the bugs are not anyone’s fault, you never know when someone picked up bedbugs in their suitcase while they are at the airport. To avoid problems, check the room for black/dark red spots, and do not contribute to the problem of rushing hotel staff.
When you leave, put all your clothes in a plastic bag, and tie it. You want it closed. When you get home, dump it directly into a washing machine.
I used to travel internationally A LOT for work, so I have quite a few hotel horror stories.
Anyway, the most immediate red flag was when I checked in and asked what time breakfast was served:
"Breakfast starts at 9am"
"9am? That's pretty late. I have meetings in town before then."
"Oh, do you want it now?"
It was around 8pm at the time. It didn't get any better from there. There were hookers in the lobby and the bed smelled so bad that I slept on a hard wooden chair.
I’m ambassador for Marriott, travel probably more than everyone here
The only thing that is 1-1 and is true every time is the smell. Like if the lobby/hallway smells like a*s/mildew/bad, 100% chance the room is a*s too
I stayed at a hostel once in London where I was in the “middle bunk.” I learned that middle bunks exist that day.
When the Uber driver looks at my girlfriend and I and asks if we'll be OK.
Happened to us in St Louis. We didn't even stay for 10 minutes before getting the hell out.
The cockroach smell - its a musty, powdery smell
If the room smells like a gas leak. I had a hotel room that was the “last one available” while passing through a different state. I opened the door and could smell the gas. The heater was also set to over 80 degrees. The room just felt like a swamp. I laid down on the bed and instantly began to feel sleepy. I wasn’t sleepy before entering that room. I just could not stay there with that smell. I checked out immediately and asked for a refund. Being female and traveling alone, the manager hassled me over refunding my money. He was foreign with a heavy Indian accent and asked me where my husband was. I reminded him that I checked in alone, and was traveling alone. He asked to speak to with whomever I was staying. I explained again that I was staying alone. I had to threaten to call the fire department about the gas leak before he would refund my money.
Poorly kept car parks- overgrown landscaping, trash, broken bottles, people loitering etc. The landscaping in particular is a big one for me.
No wifi. It's 2024, wifi should be present in any hotel and free for those staying at the hotel. I don't get why I need to pay for 24 hours.
When the lobby vending machine sells panties... The old Corktown Inn used to sell more weird stuff right next to chips and candybars.
I once had brown water coming out of the faucet at a hotel in Romania when I wanted to freshen up after checking in. It didn’t get any better from there.
I travel the midwest often and stay in mid range hotels for work. The first thing I look for is the age of the decor. If it hasn't been renovated in a decade, it's gonna be gross and unclean. The other red flag is price. If it's way cheaper than similar hotels in the area, there's a reason for that.
You can get out of bed, stand up, and pee into the toilet (toilet’s in the same room). Yes, I saw this hotel room in France. I asked to see the room before checking in. I left.
An unusually high number of people just hanging around in the parking lot and lobby area. Turned out this Holiday Inn was leasing out their available rooms to the city as a homeless shelter. I picked it because it was near the airport for an early morning flight but damn if that wasn’t the scariest night at a hotel I ever stayed at.
I will no longer stay at Holiday Inns.
Window frames not secure. I kid you not. Did an exhibition in London and the company put us up in a presumably cheap hotel. We arrived at 2100hrs. The place looked like it was a hastily renovated derelict building in the middle of a building site/unpaved car park. Got to my room on the 4th floor, it was boiling hot, despite being the middle of winter, so went to open the window to get some fresh air in. The entire window frame fell outwards 30 degrees, only loosely attached at the bottom. Couldn't get it back in place, went to reception to change rooms - none. Had to stay. They did give me another blanket...
If there is nobody at reception, particularly if it’s advertised as a 24 hour service, that’s always a bad sign. It suggests that the receptionist is either super busy doing the work of 3 people and the place is understaffed or a lack of discipline in the staff. Understaffed means extra wait times for everything and a lack of discipline means that nobody gives a flying f**k so everything from breakfast to bar service will be a major challenge.
No mattress protector. Any hotel worth its salt, no matter how cheap, should have a mattress protector for bugs and liquids.
Many of them advertise it even. But when you show up, nada. I travel for work frequently and I won't sleep on a bed that has no mattress protector.
The key is still a metal key and not a card access key. It suggests there have been no updates to rooms, aircon/ventilation, plumbing, etc.
But sometimes, you can be pleasantly surprised even if the hotel is ‘on the wrong side of the tracks’ literally.
Hotels in a certain aren't cheap. Except one. It's quite a bargain, or is it? In my experience the cheap one is cheap for a reason.
I did this on a trip to Denver (was going out to see the Rocky Mountains). Honestly, I didn't care if the hotel was kinda bad since it was just me on the trip when I booked the hotel. My dad joined me last minute, and I warned him that I went cheap on the hotel because it had just been me. The bed was so bad he took his chances with the floor. Lol.
When you arrive and get handed a pair of pump pliers at reception to turn shower on
When the bathroom fan only works when the keycard is in a slot in the room. Happened to me in Beijing where the lights, AC, and fan were all connected to a slot that needed the keycard in it. There was a constant smell of mildew and it was super warm and damp.
We "forgot" our key in the room every day and by the end of our stay it might have dropped slightly below 100% humidity.
Linoleum floors in the guest rooms. And I don't just mean the bathroom... the entire room. Especially if you are staying in a colder climate, your room is going to be freezing no matter how high you turn up the heat (if they let you).
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