Booking a hotel in an unknown location is always a hit or miss. The food might subvert expectations, the bedsheets might not be clean… Or, for those extremely unlucky, the experience might leave them scarred for life. Reddit users have come together to share the WORST locations ever visited, and how years later they still haven’t recovered. Proceed with caution because some of these stories will leave a bad taste in your mouth. Stayed in a B&B in Pennsylvania that seemed cute enough. They did have a wall of antique dolls in the main room but otherwise no signs of weirdness. That's until we were settled in the room.
I noticed some scratches on the floor near a bookcase and after some inspection realized it was a secret door. When I asked the owner, who gave a creepy vibe if it worked he said yes and showed me that it opened to their office (which was a cluttered room with a computer and piles or stuff). It had a lock on their side and when I asked if there was a lock on my side he smiled and said "no". When I showed some concern that there was an unlockable entrance to my room that was camouflaged that they didn't tell me about, he just kept smiling. So that night I barricaded the door and barely slept. Ghost-Farter
I arrive at a secluded, coastal hotel south of Marmaris, Turkey around 2 AM. It had been a long day in Istanbul followed by a flight and long bus ride into Marmaris where I haggled with non-English-speaking taxi drivers who were not even aware that this small resort exists. When the taxi pulls up to the hotel... It's on fire. When the owner, standing out front, sees us he opens the taxi door excitedly, “You come. I have a nice room for you!” I point out that the hotel is on fire but he simply gestures and says “Small fire. No problem. You come.” I. Am. Utterly. Exhausted. I find myself following the owner into the hotel, stepping over fire hoses, waving away smoke, passing fire fighters as they run up and down a very nice staircase.
We pause at the second floor landing and the owner tells me, “See. Fire only on this side of the hotel. This side has no fire. You come.” My exhaustion removes every ounce of common sense and I follow him to a room down the hall. The room is indeed fire-free. I quickly scan the in-case-of-fire message on the back of the door, check the window escape, and promptly pass out with my gear and boots on. In the morning I awake [alive] wondering if I dreamt the entire thing. I go down the smokey stairs past the charred other side of the hotel. The owner is so happy to see me [still alive] that he eats breakfast with me. I went back a few years later and the hotel had fully recovered. neverpennyless
When I was 12, I was staying in a motel with my mom on a road trip. We were in the middle of nowhere in Texas at a motel that had a decent rating in our guidebook and was really cheap, so we went for it. In the middle of the night, the owner knocked on the door and told us we had to leave because he wanted the room for someone else?!!! My mom was outside arguing with him while I was gathering our things, and I was terrified because I heard him start yelling. I looked out the window and saw about half a dozen bikers in vests appear out of nowhere (maybe a nearby room?) and start confronting the owner. My mom came inside quickly and we watched them start harassing the guy, things like “she’s paid to be here.
You’re gonna let her stay tonight! We don’t want to ever hear stuff like this from you again!” And the owner was saying things like “I don’t want any trouble!” Everybody left fairly quickly and we didn’t ever hear anything about it the next day at checkout. We weren’t able to sleep very well because we were so shaken up, but it was better than getting in the car again. Thank you, anonymous biker gang. sweetrhymepurereason
When I was 12, my family took a vacation to Europe. At our hotel in Rome, there was this amazing indoor pool. Being a child of my age, I would have spent the entire vacation there if I could. During one such swimming excursion, some random gentleman, I think probably around 40-something, comes over to me and starts tickling my feet. My mother is with me, but is preoccupied with one of my other siblings.
He speaks English as well and starts teasing me for being ticklish and telling me how I’m “simply adorable.” Through my giggles, I keep shyly asking him to stop. He doesn’t, and just keeps teasing me and touching my feet and lower legs. This went on for maybe 2 minutes tops before my mom sees what’s happening and goes into super protective mode and tells him to back off. roseofhammerfell
My mom was traveling for work and sat next to a man (fellow business traveler) on the plane. They had a casual conversation and exchanged business cards. Later that evening she’s in her hotel watching TV and gets a phone call from the front desk that her husband is here and they want to know if they can give him a key to the room.
Turns out the creep on the plane was pretending to be her husband to try to get into her room. Mmmannino
I was traveling out of the country right after finishing up a huge 5-day work event where I had about 10 hours of sleep total during the 5 days. I got to the motel, which is kinda run down and the carpet and blankets are damp but I’m so exhausted I don’t even really think about it. I fall asleep pretty much immediately at like 8 PM local time. At maybe 11 PM or so, I get a call from the motel phone saying there’s been a complaint about noise. I tell them that’s impossible, I’ve been sleeping. They ask me if maybe it’s someone else in the room and I tell them nope, I’m here alone so there’s definitely no one else making noise. They ask me again if I’m sure I’m by myself and not causing any noise. I say yes again.
Fall back asleep immediately. When I woke up and thought about it some more, I realized how weird the entire interaction was. There was absolutely no noise I could hear anywhere nearby and I don’t know why the motel staff would need to clarify so many times that I was alone. Apparently, they never called. So I assume it must’ve been someone calling the different rooms to see who was in the rooms and how many people. I’ve never been so glad to always always use the extra latch chain lock. Dontthinkdontthink
While in the isles of Scotland, we stayed in a B&B. It was owned by a couple. The bedrooms were extremely well done and beautiful, but on everything there were signs to not "touch". To use the shower, you would have to ask the couple and the Internet ended at 11pm. The woman would also check on everyone at random times in the night, we would hear creeping in the hallway to make sure "everyone was sleeping" and not doing any illegal things like using the Internet.
When we checked out of her B&B, she came into our room and said that we "stunk", and opened the window to prove this and demanded money immediately. Another traveler was kicked out of the B&B because the checkout time was 10am, and they were forced to stand outside (she wouldn't even let them stay inside) in the thunderstorm while their taxi came. Another traveler had to go check (we were in an isolated place) to pay for the room and she took their bags and wouldn't give them back. But on the way out, she asked everyone if they enjoyed their stay! Commonvanilla
I found a hotel in Yangon (Burma) the day we got there for pretty cheap. They mentioned the rates were low because maintenance was being done on several floors. We sleep fine, wake up and head to breakfast. At breakfast, we met some Germans who had also stayed the night in our hotel. They said they had not slept well because during the middle of the night someone woke them up to move them from the floor they were on.
We (us and the Germans) found out later that they had been moved because they were on one of the levels reserved for maintenance, and part of the maintenance included gassing the rooms for bugs. During the middle of the night they were just going around the rooms shoving the gas nozzle or whatever under the doors and letting them run; wound up killing the two people next to the Germans before they realized they’d accidentally booked people on that floor. We weren’t on that floor thankfully but it has always stuck with me how seemingly easy it could’ve been to have gotten mixed up in that. Chiefkhump
I once stayed in a B&B which had a shared bathroom. The first night I got up at probably like 2am and I was bursting for a pee. The bathroom was down the hallway, not too far but seemed like such an effort in my tired state. I get to the bathroom and open the door and there was this guy just standing in the bathroom, dressed head to toe in a mime costume. Face painted and everything.
He was squatted down on the floor but his trousers were still up. I looked at him for a second, he gave me a wave with a smile and began just silently pushing. I just ran back to my room, locked the door and decided to pee in a bottle. I'm still not sure if I was just really tired and seeing things or something, it's seriously the strangest thing I've ever seen. Jam-Polo
In Mexico, my girlfriend and I stayed a night in a hut in the jungle. No running water, no electricity. As we are from Central Europe, we are not used to dangerous wildlife (spiders, scorpions, etc.). There was a beautiful cenote nearby and at some point it rained like crazy. The daytime was amazing. The night not so much.. In our hut was a bed with a mosquito net with huge holes in it.
It was pitch black in the hut as we laid down and got comfortable trying to sleep. I felt a bit creeped out and decided to check the hut for insects with my phone's flashlight. Bad idea. There were hundreds of big spiders all over the walls and ceiling. Not the nights sleep I had wrapped up like a mummy every piece of clothing we had with us. Ragnathegreat
I did the couchsurfing.com thing with a friend a few years ago. We are both big guys so typically feel safe everywhere we go. Showing up at the house, 60year old guy opens the door while on the phone. He's only wearing sweatpants. He signals for us to enter. He continues his conversation and ends with an I love you. He turns to us and says welcome, and apologizes for being on the phone. He starts talking about his GF, who he was talking with, and how she lives overseas. He mentions he has several GFs and boasts about being a ladies man. He then starts to show us pictures.
These girls looked like they were 14, while sliding through the pic he accidentally showed us one of their passports. This weirded us out a lot. We were in our early twenties and didn't really know what to do, so we said we were tired and wanted to sleep. He walked us to the room while rubbing his belly. Told us he would make breakfast in the morning. We decided to sleep at night, but left before he woke up. My friend slept on the bedroom door so he couldn't sneak in. We got up super early and bolted. We got super weird vibes from the guy and just felt gross/weird about the whole thing. Besidemyself300
We were on a family vacation. At 1 am, my brother and I had just finished watching The Shining on TV. Neither of us had seen it before. We heard someone trying to open our door. No one else was supposed to have keys. Someone tried to swing open the door, but the hotel lock stopped them.
They kept trying to open it multiple times, banging the door against the lock. After a few tries, they gave up. The hotel desk clerk accidentally entered the wrong room for their keycards. It was probably the best way I saw The Shining. I can't be scared more than that from that movie. Helpicantchooseauser
A friend and I once stayed at a pretty fancy B&B for the night. The lady who owned it was absolutely lovely, but would appear out of nowhere. We’d be sitting alone in a large room with one doorway and suddenly she was in the room with us. Either this joint had secret doors or something really creepy was going on.
She seemed to know things that we’d said or done as well. The thing that tripped us out the most was hearing someone trying to open our door during the night. She was super lovely and the building was beautiful, but we were relieved to check out the next morning! Redraymus
I was staying in Birmingham, AL at a Hyatt. Nothing crazy. Nothing obviously creepy. One night around 2 am I woke up to a man screaming. Like, stabbed in the heart scream. I sat there in a panic, wondering if I should call someone, but when I didn't hear anything else I chalked it up to a dream. The next night I woke up around 3 am, and had this horrible feeling that someone was in my room.
I rolled over and there was an old man, sitting on the AC (it was boxed in), smoking, looking away from me. I stared at him for a few seconds and he turned to look at me. So I shot up out of bed, ready to run, and no one was there. I don't have lucid dreams. While I have vivid dreams, they are not THAT vivid. I can describe that man to a T, and yet he was never there. Graiid
A chalet in the state of Maine Vermont with three others. The lady at the "front desk" was approximately a billion years old with cloudy eyes and her "front desk" was a small table next to a recliner in a room full of knick-knacks and china dolls. The actual room was what I imagine a hotel room in the 40's would look like, and obviously, it had never been remodeled. The bathroom had a metal claw-foot tub. The worst part, though, was the door at the back of the room. I assumed it would be another closet but we opened it and there was nothing but cold and darkness.
We used the flashlight on our phones and discovered a long, wide, cement-walled hallway. I assumed it was used to travel between rooms when the weather was bad but the vibe it gave off was making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The night went smoothly and nothing ever happened but I still feel like we survived a night in a boring horror movie. I've tried to look for it again but with no results, I'll have to ask my grandma who booked the trip. MickeyBear
I once witnessed a thief breaking into cars in the parking lot from my hotel room window. I called the front desk and they had security go outside with a big stick. We had the bird’s eye view as this security officer was searching for the thief and the thief was evading him.
Unfortunately, the thief got away in his vehicle. Han-tyumi666
It wasn't ghost creepy, but just a little PSA for you jittery folk out there: If you're going to Japan and booking with AirBnB, make sure it isn't one of those tiny post-war era homes. I booked one like that last year when I went to Kyoto. Quietest neighborhood I've ever been to, and it was the 2nd home that the owner leased out so I was the only tenant for my 3 night stay. EVERYTHING was plywood, and because it was in a quiet little neighborhood it felt like there wasn't anyone else for miles around.
My room was lit by a single lightbulb haphazardly hanging from a ceiling that flickers occasionally like in a cheap b-horror movie. Any movement caused creaks and bumps, and the cold air made those happen constantly around me as the plywood expanded and contracted through the day. I'm just lucky the grudge didn't come out of the TV during my stay. Marcuschookt
I guess I was the cause of a creepy hotel story. We had a class trip where the 'hotel' we were staying at was actually a small collection of cabins in a woody/grassy area. Apparently, a great majority of my classmates had agreed to go on a run to a convenience store one evening, but there were maybe 6-7 of us who were unaware of the plans. So suddenly from our perspective, everyone was suddenly gone and we were all alone. We were going around looking for people, and we had split up.
I went up to my cabin which had a balcony on it, and decided to try and survey the area to see if I could spot a teacher or one of the staff there. I saw my friends on the ground and waved at them just to say hi, and let them know where I was. What I didn't realize was that I had just washed my hair so it was long, dark, hanging down, and kind of stringy-looking, and was wearing a white nightgown, and from the perspective of my friends on the ground, I was backlit by the light coming from inside the room. So picture a Ring-esque girl waving down at a group of pre-teens in the woods who suddenly think that everyone vanished. [deleted]
I was on a trip around southeast Asia in 2012. I was staying at this hotel/guesthouse in Cambodia with my traveling companion. It was the middle of the night, and both of us woke up to the sound of our door handle jiggling. Then the door opened. My friend said "what?" In a confused just woken up state, and this scared the person off.
We heard him/her running away, and we asked each other if "that really just happened?" To make things even stranger, I got up and locked the door, and both of us just went back to sleep as if nothing happened. I wonder what would have happened if we hadn't heard the person come in. As I said, the door was locked, and we heard the person trying to pick the lock, or do whatever he/she did... And knowing people are home doesn't seem like a smart time to rob someone. Razor787
I checked into a hotel on vacation. Everything was going okay. Until I woke up one night to erratic movement of the door handle as if someone was trying to get in or break the door down. Always happens in the dead of the night when in deep sleep. As soon as I woke up it would stop.
I spoke to a hotel manager about it and he told me it was a patient who was recently released from a mental institute who does this as he still thinks he is locked up in the institute. A combination of not taking his medication and sleepwalking makes him randomly try and kick doors down within the hotel. The family was very wealthy and connected and the manager didn't want to kick up a fuss for chucking out someone who can shut his business down very quickly. I left after a week because it got worse. wwantid7