Having a warm and cozy place to lay your head when you’re away from home is the top reason to book a hotel room. Hotel rooms are meant to be comfortable enough for restful and peaceful sleep. They don’t have to be over the top when it comes to luxury, but at the very least, they should be safe and hygienic.
Before traveling somewhere you’ve never been before, learning details about the environment, the culture, and the potential hotel rooms is essential. Click here to find out about 10 famous places you shouldn’t bother visiting.
To create this list of signs you’ve just walked into a terrible hotel room, 24/7 Tempo consulted several travel websites. These include Travel + Leisure, Hotel Engine, and Travel Earth.
Black smudges on the bed
If you notice black smudges on bed sheets, curtains, or luggage racks, you need to immediately check out of your hotel room. Black smudges are telltale signs that there are bedbugs swarming. If you fall asleep in a hotel room that’s already infested with bedbugs, you’ll wake up with small red bites all over your body.
Bedbugs feed off of human blood and they love coming after people who are sleeping. To make matters worse, it’s easy to take bedbugs home. They burrow into your clothing and belongings to hitch a ride.
Dark bedsheets
White bedsheets are standard practice in hotels that have standards. The reason why? You can effortlessly tell how clean your bedding is if it comes in a pure shade of white. Dark bedsheets can hide disgusting stains that aren’t easy to spot with your bare eyes.
Hotels that prefer using dark bedsheets are doing that for a reason. It allows them to reuse bed sheets that are permanently stained so they can save money without purchasing necessary replacements. This same rule applies if the bedsheets are covered in designs or patterns that are super distracting.
Reusable glasses are the only option
Everyone should have access to fresh cups while staying in hotel rooms. If you have medication in pill form that must be swallowed with water, cups should be accessible. If you’re parched in the middle of the night, a cup should be on deck in your hotel room. To cut corners, some hotel rooms don’t set out paper or plastic cups for clients to use and throw away.
They set out reusable glasses that have been sipped from one too many times by strangers. Reusable glasses in hotel rooms are risky. It’s unlikely they’ve been thoroughly sanitized and cleaned. As a way of saving time, some hotel housekeepers simply rinse them out with tap water, wipe them dry with the edge of a towel, and put them back on the shelf.
The lighting is too dim
Guests deserve hotel rooms that have good lighting. When a hotel room isn’t properly lit, it can ruin your experience. If you’re planning to get a little bit of work done in your room during your trip, it becomes too challenging to read paperwork or documentation in a room that isn’t bright enough.
You shouldn’t be forced to open your windows to let in natural lighting, either. This becomes an even bigger issue when you need your room to be well lit after the sun’s already gone down. Turn on every light and lamp in your hotel room to gauge how well lit the whole room is before deciding if you want to sleep there or not.
The faucets are leaking
Leaky faucets is another major red flag in a hotel room. When a faucet has been leaking for a while, it causes water damage. Pipes start clogging up with rust overtime when this happens. As a hotel guest, the length of time a faucet has been leaking is likely a mystery to you. This is alarming because a leaky faucet eventually leads to the domino effect of a burst pipe.
No one wants to be lounging in their room when a pipe randomly bursts in the bathroom or kitchen sink area. On top of being wildly inconveniencing, this is also extremely dangerous. Keep yourself safe by requesting a new room that doesn’t have faucets constantly dripping and leaking.
The door is obnoxiously heavy and loud
Your hotel room door shouldn’t be obnoxiously heavy or loud when you open and close it. There should be an element of privacy when you’re coming and going. Staying somewhere with a super loud door means that everyone in earshot will know you’re on your way in or out.
The lack of privacy can pose as a danger issue, depending on who you’re traveling with and where you’ve chosen to travel. The other serious problem with an obnoxiously heavy and loud door is that you can potentially hurt yourself trying to open or close it on your own. Overexerting yourself on a door that shouldn’t be such a nuisance is a problem.
Items from previous guests have been left behind
If the first thing you notice in a hotel room is that items have been left behind by previous guests, you have some reconsidering to do. Finding items left by previous guest stands as proof that the hotel’s cleaning processes are lazy and dismissive. Some common items you might come across include phone chargers, small pieces of jewelry, reading glasses, and intimate pieces of clothing like underwear or bras.
Finding toiletries like toothbrushes, makeup palettes, and hair brushes is typical as well. A hotel that truly cares about thoroughly cleaning rooms before new guests check in will make sure this type of debacle doesn’t take place. You shouldn’t be left with the responsibility of bringing forgotten items to the front desk.
Dead plants
When you step into a hotel room for the first time, a few pieces of lovely artwork or decor should be on display. If there are dead plants placed around the hotel room, this is a massive red flag. Many hotel rooms opt for fake plants that don’t require constant attention and care.
Since fake plants don’t need to be watered, hotels who go this route give off a pleasant ambiance with little effort. Hotels that aim to go above and beyond with real plants must also rise to the occasion and step up to the plate when it comes to maintaining the health of those plants. Any room with dead plants inside isn’t a hotel where you should be staying.
The AC or heating unit isn’t working
Imagine booking a New York City hotel room in the middle of winter to find out that the heating unit doesn’t work. Think about booking a hotel room in the heart of Miami during summer time… Just to find out that the AC is broken. Both of these scenarios are absolutely unacceptable.
Even if you’re choosing to stay in a hotel room that’s naturally at a decent temperature, you still deserve access to a properly working AC and heating unit. Being able to adjust the temperature a few degrees hotter or cooler is essential. Any hotel that doesn’t prioritize this should be canceled.
Peeling paint or wallpaper
Peeling paint and wallpaper in a hotel room is a total eyesore. If you notice this, it’s a sign the hotel doesn’t care about upkeep or maintaining a pleasant ambiance. Instead of investing money into the hotel rooms for much needed renovations, there’s a chance the hotel you’ve chosen isn’t allocating their funds properly.
While you might not think that peeling paint or wallpaper is a big deal, it’s a sign that there could be deeper red flags at play that aren’t easy to see at first glance. In other words, a hotel that isn’t ashamed to book rooms with visible aesthetic issues likely isn’t ashamed to book room with hidden problems.
Dusty furniture
Dusty furniture is another undeniable red flag in any hotel room. Aside from the fact that dusty furniture is unappealing to look at, dust is also known to irritate your throat, eyes, and skin. Inhaling dust particles isn’t healthy since the small-sized particles can end up deep inside your lungs.
If too much damage is done to your lungs and respiratory system, it can potentially lead to cancer. Spending one or two nights in a dusty hotel room might not sound like the end of the world, but it gets more serious if this is something you deal with on a regular basis.
The mattress is creaky
You’ve walked into a terrible hotel room if you sit down on the edge of the bed and instantly hear how creaky the mattress is. Mattresses in hotel rooms are supposed to be comfortable enough for guests to get sleep during their travels. Couples who are interested in sharing an intimate moment room should also be able to do so without hearing the obnoxious creaks of a terrible mattress.
What’s even worse? Creaky mattresses will have you waking up with back pain! The main reason a mattress will make creaky noises is if it’s old. Old mattresses that haven’t been replaced for years have been through more than anyone cares to think about. Keep in mind that hotel rooms with nice mattresses usually don’t make any sound at all.
The trash can hasn’t been emptied
Take a peek into the hotel room trash cans before setting down your luggage. If the trash cans haven’t been emptied, this means the housekeepers haven’t done a thorough job handling business. This is especially unsanitary since anything tossed out by previous guests is still crawling with disgusting germs.
This includes used condoms, used tissues, feminine hygiene products, half-eaten food, and more. It isn’t up to you to empty a trash can when you walk inside a new hotel room. Professional cleaning staffers wear gloves when doing this job, but if they’ve skipped this important step, it means they’re not doing their job efficiently.
The peephole has been poked out
The peephole on your hotel room door is designed to help you safely look outside before opening your door. Someone may knock on your door to bring you room service food, fresh towels, or something else. The peephole allows you to confirm that the person on the other side of the door is who they claim to be.
If the peephole on your hotel room door has been poked out, this means it’s possible for someone on the outside to look inside room without your knowledge or permission. Pay attention to the peephole on your hotel room door before settling in for the night. Make sure no one has the ability to spy on you during your stay.
The mini fridge has expired items
Some hotel rooms have mini fridges full of snacks and drinks to eat at your leisure. The convenience of a hotel mini fridge comes into play if you’ve got a craving, but you’re not interested in leaving the comfort of your hotel room. Hotel mini fridges have long been considered brilliant additions. They only become a problem if you find that the snacks and drinks are already expired.
Look at the dates printed on the packaging before chowing down on anything. If the mini fridge is full of expired food items, there’s a chance the hotel you’re at doesn’t care about maintaining proper upkeep. When it comes to perishable food items that are meant to be consumed, this is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Before your next mini fridge analyzation, find out about the top 10 food and drink trends of 2023.