The ‘Unlucky 7’ Worst Hotels in the World
Finding the perfect hotel can be one of the most labor-intensive parts of planning your trip.
Should you read reviews from other travellers? If so, from which websites? And how can you be sure the reviews are authentic and can be trusted?
Sometimes it’s easier to take the opposite approach and simply find the worst hotels around; in other words, the ones you absolutely, positively shouldn’t stay at.
While the world is most definitely filled with crappy hotels, these unlucky 7 seem to make the grade as the ones to avoid at all costs, based on traveller's reviews.
1. Boulevard Hotel, Miami Beach, U.S.A.
The white sand, neon signs, and thumping nightlife of Miami Beach were not enough to make up for the chards of glass one traveller found in his bed at this hotel.
After climbing into bed and being effectively stabbed by glass particles that had been tucked inside the sheets, this TripAdvisor reviewer spent the rest of his Miami adventure in the ER.
2. Hotel Namaskar, New Delhi, India
In order to gain entrance to New Delhi’s Hotel Namaskar, you have to pass through what appears to be an open-air public toilet where men are relieving themselves.
Nothing says ‘Welcome home’ like a group of strangers staring at you while peeing a foot away from your luggage.
3. Whiteleaf Hotel, London, England
A TripAdvisor reviewer from Ireland gave the Whiteleaf hotel two big thumbs down when her husband woke up with red hives all over his arms after sleeping there.
The culprit? Live, white maggots that had infiltrated the room, his bed, and – ew! – his skin.
4. Hotel Carter, New York City, U.S.A.
Voted the Dirtiest Hotel in America three years running, it’s amazing that NYC’s Hotel Carter is still in business.
Guests of the hotel will enjoy, in no particular order: bedbugs, stained toilets, no toilet paper, used soap, dirty sheets, and oh – the occasional murder or suicide.
But the prices can’t be beat!
5. Dunollie Hotel Isle of Skype, Scotland
Guests of the Dunollie are welcomed with dirty toilets, tasteless food, and the chance to be screamed at by the angry hotel clerks who guard the buffet like a fortress.
If that’s not enough to send you running for the hills, how about a complete lock-in every night, where no one is allowed to leave the hotel - fire codes be damned!
6. Balmoral House, Brisbane, Australia
Sometimes it just takes one traveller review to convince you that a hotel should be avoided at all costs.
When an American TripAdvisor reviewer stayed at the Balmoral House in Brisbane, he was greeted by a “sink full of vomit.” What’s more, said sink remained full of vomit for the duration of his stay.
7. Club Aqua Gumbet, Gumbet, Turkey
Sometimes hotels take the idea of personalized attention to a whole new (inappropriate) level.
The staff of Club Aqua Gumbet has been accused of everything from making sexual advances to minors to exposing themselves to female guests.
I guess that’s one way to make a lasting impression.
Bad hotels don’t get much worse than these unlucky 7. What’s the worst hotel that you’ve ever stayed at?
Rebecca Anne Nguyen is a freelance writer and the Founder of TheHappyPassport.com, an inspiration site for solo female travellers.
