This article was published on March 9th, 2014

There’s a reason why hotels are rated on a star system; the higher the star rating, the better the quality of hotel. Unfortunately, some hotels just don’t care enough to pay attention to details. Frequent travellers know all to well how these types of details can make or break a hotel visit. While the hotel room may have been cleaned by the housekeeping staff, it certainly isn’t up-to-par with most hotel guests expectations. Here’s the list of disgusting things you never want to see in a hotel room:

Old or used bedding

Before you start settling into the room, take a quick inventory to see the quality of cleanliness. Pull back the duvet or comforter and investigate the sheets and pillows. Some hotels have been known to not change the sheets. In some cases you may want to throw the bed cover on the floor and put the extra blanket from the closet on the bed. The extra closet blanket is probably cleaner than some bed covers.

Hidden mysteries 

A good test of the housekeeping staff is to check behind the bedside tables. There often pieces of trash that have fallen back there that the cleaning staff has missed. While it might be fun to see what the last one, two or who knows how many guests have left behind, do you really want to sleep with their garbage?

Ragged linens

After a long hot shower there’s nothing better than wrapping yourself up in a nice, fluffy, white towel. Unfortunately some hotels think it’s perfectly acceptable to provide guests with towels that are so worn they are almost see-through. Then there are the classic hand-towel sized towels they leave, expecting you to dry yourself off. Better yet, the pool towels that are so worn that they are frayed, ragged, and tattered at every edge.

Obsolete technology

It’s shocking how many hotels still offer fax services. Didn’t the fax machine die in the early 2000’s when email went mainstream? Yup, that was about the same time that analogue phones were starting to be replaced by digital phones. So why is it that so many hotels still have the old push-button phone systems and the old tube TV’s in their rooms? Surely hotels can update their technology more than once every 25 years! It’s even more shocking when a hotel undergoes a multi-million dollar renovation and the hotel puts the old analogue phone back in the room.

Cheap renovations

When a hotel undergoes a massive renovation, is it that hard to update the electrical outlets, sand the doors and moldings, and replace broken light fixtures? Cutting corners doesn’t make the property much better, especially important details like these. Even just as ad are pain drops, spackle, and caulking dripped all over the floor after the renovation, particularly when workmen have smeared it in with their boots and housekeeping doesn’t get it cleaned up before the guests complain.

1980’s particle board furniture

As the seasons change, and the years, or in some cases decades, go by, rooms need to be updated. Some hotels see 2, 3 or more decades pass before updates are made. Bedframes, dressers, nightstands, and cabinets all need to be replaced. Unless it’s a chic retro hotel or a boutique Victorian guesthouse, chances are visitors expect furniture that’s at least from this decade.

Bathroom nightmares

Bathrooms are supposed to be the place you go to wash, clean up and get ready for a fun night out or ready to hit the day fresh and clean. But some hotel washrooms are like stepping back in time, and often not a good place in time. Over the years faucets start to drip leaving rust and lime scale deposits, tiles get cracked and broken, and plastic gets worn to the point that it’s near impossible to clean. How do you expect to get clean if your washroom isn’t sanitary?

Do you have a hotel horror story? Leave your story on your grosses, most bizarre or disgusting hotel experience in the comments below.