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After 50+ years of life and countless hotel stays, I can put up with just about anything for one night. For example, my wife and I used to really be into riding quads (ah, youth).
The trails in Southwest lower Michigan are a blast. But lodging is, shall we say, sketchy at best. We shared a large room with friends that was once a garage converted into a semi-divided lodge. The bed was – yuck! The bugs in the rafters kept me up most of the night. I was happy it was just one night (not the featured image above, BTW).
But really the snakes in Texas are not a big problem in comparison to the Texas tree roaches! They fly!!! pic.twitter.com/NAaq7fMGUf
— DianaOG (@Sfdog60) May 24, 2020
But there are limits. A few years back, during my wife’s “Diamond Quest” where we took her from Skymiles member to Diamond in under 6 months we had a night in Dallas, Texas. After yet another outstanding visit to Hard Eight BBQ near Dallas DFW airport, we checked into a major brand discount hotel (it was free on points). When we got to the room, we found under the sink a tree roach. We left the hotel and took an Uber to another hotel and burned a bunch more points — but it was well worth it for a “happy wife”.
Have there been other times? I was at an InterContinental that had a party across from my room. But I simply called hotel security and mentioned if they did not send someone up I would call the police. The party ended in less than 10 minutes and we stayed put. Another time, in Chicago, we walked into our room to find a family already enjoying “our” room. We quickly apologized and made our way back down for another try.
I thought I would touch on things that would or would not drive me to grab my bags and do an immediate checkout.
- Bed bugs. I admit I don’t check for bed bugs (maybe I should — perhaps with one of those lights?). But if I ever found them I would not trust the hotel to put me in another room.
- Dirty sheets. Chris had a post not too long ago that was just sick. If I found the sheets had not been changed I would again simply leave the hotel.
- I unit that has such shoddy repairs that who knows what else is wrong with the place (was there a murder there from the bullet holes?).
Those three really are about it. A dirty bathroom? Just change rooms — not hotels. Non-working whatever? Again, just change rooms. Non-flushing toilet? This is one of the first things I do when I enter a room, that is, check that the toilet will flush properly. If the plumbing does not work I am not up for waiting for maintenance to fix it – just give me another room. Heck, even if the hotel threatens to call the police on me I will still stay and make the best of it. 😉
I could go on and on with stories and my guess is many other pre-COVID road warriors have any number of jaw-dropping stories to share (and please do in the comments below!).
But what I really want to hear about is when was the time you could not stand staying the night, what was too much? – René
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Non-working A/C unit in PHX. Just change rooms. I’ve never walked out of a hotel and usually reaching out to front desk and being pleasant is all it takes.
Safety. In Vienna staying at AirBnB with my pregnant daughter. Yes, the building was a block from train station. But it was dark. Getting into building required unlocking a gate and door. No lights. Felt so unsafe. Moved to Marriott. Much happier.
@Pam – Wise move and I agree.
Only once I can recall. not exciting or scary: A Hilton (an actual Hilton, not any of the “by Hilton” brands) in Tucson, AZ had just finished renovations, including painting a floor of rooms just hours before my arrival, while shutting down and leaving off the HVAC, while the windows remained shut – so paint fumes dizzied and sickened me within moments in a room that was at least 88F, but staff couldn’t get the fan or AC back on, could only crack the window slightly at the top AND there were no other rooms available. So I said “Wow, I can’t stay here, sorry….” and then pressed on to my final destination, still hours away yet doable, though I’d stopped because I felt I needed to rest overnight before driving further. That mishap was just poor planning by someone (or some ones) and the hotel didn’t charge me, it turned out (I didn’t ask, and wasn’t worried about the $$$ at that point).
I stayed at a brand new Fairfield, at least I think it was that, in China Town NYC, there was a Asian seafood market below the property and and the hallways and common areas reaked of rotten fish..
When I tried to leave, they wanted to charge .e for leaving early, as a plat Marriott member i called Corp and they got me out without a penalty and placed me in the wall street Marriott. I was upgraded to a suite and received a fruit /cheese platter with a bottle of wine.
Very nice on Marriotts part.
Safety- Orlando- booked a room on Priceline. The hotel was decent for the full price people. The Priceline people were out in an outbuilding with a cracked parking lot, broken elevator, and street lights burned out. The room was on par as well. I walked in and called Hilton to find me a place with whatever points I had.
I changed hotels because of noise. It was 1AM and the bar on the ground floor had an incredibly wild party going on, and I could not get the the hotel to do anything about it. I was on the 40th floor and it was like they were at the foot of my bed. Their attitude is that it is a “tourist hotel” so late night noise is ok…apparently. So I moved.
I have been lucky, have not had numerous bad hotel rooms in my travels.
I appreciate the stories of yet another Marriott property. I have decided that Marriott is just a cesspool of arrogance, selfishness, laziness, and probably a few other things that results in often terrible service and bad stays. I used to think it was just me, but too many stories from others as well.
Thank God for AirBNB, which allows me to often skip the whole hotel chain / corporate ripoff nonsense as needed.
I have serious medical issues from mold, and many hotel rooms are moldy. I usually book refundable hotels for this reason, figuring the worst I am out is one night. But sometimes I take a chance on a non-refundable booking like an AirBnb. I have many, many times had to switch rooms once or twice, and several times had to switch hotels / leave AirBnB’s because it was making me sick. Other than mold I don’t think I’ve ever booked a room that was so bad I would have left. But I am pretty careful about making sure I only book newer rooms with great reviews, and not budget hotels.