Adventures in Hotel Hell

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ And with smaller hotels you're more likely to get free Internet access. I got it when I went to Minneapolis a couple of years ago (to see Target Field), but that was a smaller one; with most major chains, they charge up the bazinga for 'net access. Much easier to just read a book.

 

[CaptMurdock]

Having done more sci-fi conventions than I really care to admit, I could write a book on this subject.

Some highlights:

1. San Jose, California: I forget the name of the hotel, but we called it Hotel Wildfire because every floor was painted a different color. Our first room: the A/C was non-functional. In July. The second room's bathroom door did not quite fit in the frame. One hot shower and I was trapped in there, trying not to break either the door or my shoulder in forcing the door open because the wood had expanded.
2. Pasadena Hilton, 1989. During Thanksgiving weekend, the time of the convention, they were doing some major renovation on the hotel. That would have been liveable, except the central air was off and the corridors on every floor reeked. I mean, bad. My eyes weren't watering because I was homesick. We never figured out what it was (e.g. sewer gas?). The most oft-quoted line from Star Wars that weekend was, of course, "What an incredible smell you discovered!"

 

[Sean Aaron]

I obsessively read reviews online before I book a hotel. It can be time-consuming, but I enjoy finding awesome hotels for cheap, especially when I am planning the trip for other family members.

Ditto. Not only to check the quality of service, but there may be things about the hotel that you might object to which aren't apparent from the hotel website. The only exception is if I'm on a long roadtrip, then I just stop in whatever cheap-ass roadside hotel doesn't look like a complete dump.

And yes, as suggested by Alpha, if you go for the absolute bottom dollar don't be surprised if it sucks. That doesn't mean you need to lose money. I avoid big chains and do okay. When I went to NYC last October I stayed at the Hotel Newton - not fancy, but there was working aircon, it was in a decent area, not too expensive and included a private bath.

 

[Holdfast]

... had a few trips for work like that where I let someone else do the planning.

Never again.

Amen to that!

Worst hotels I've been in were ones where I felt lazy & so just trusted someone else to do the research and book somewhere decent. Has happened to be twice. Both times, they not only cheaped out (for no reason other than being cheap) but didn't even seem to do decent research within that range and booked a dive instead. Nothing on a par with the OP's story, mind, just the bathroom mildew, badly fitting window, broken extractor fan, untunable TV, hard bed, uncomfortable pillows, occasional bug scurrying around kind of dives...

These days, wherever I go, I book the place myself.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Having done more sci-fi conventions than I really care to admit, I could write a book on this subject.

Some highlights:

1. San Jose, California: I forget the name of the hotel, but we called it Hotel Wildfire because every floor was painted a different color. Our first room: the A/C was non-functional. In July. The second room's bathroom door did not quite fit in the frame. One hot shower and I was trapped in there, trying not to break either the door or my shoulder in forcing the door open because the wood had expanded.
2. Pasadena Hilton, 1989. During Thanksgiving weekend, the time of the convention, they were doing some major renovation on the hotel. That would have been liveable, except the central air was off and the corridors on every floor reeked. I mean, bad. My eyes weren't watering because I was homesick. We never figured out what it was (e.g. sewer gas?). The most oft-quoted line from Star Wars that weekend was, of course, "What an incredible smell you discovered!"

Hah, your story about the shower door is hilarious. Reminds me of another hotel experience I had way back. The hotel itself was excellent and it was great all around. All except for the bathroom lighting which worked intermittently. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to turn on the bathroom lighting when I knew it had worked before, so I figured it was simply not working. You know those red heat lamps? I turned that on because I figured I'd use it as a source of light. I hop into the shower and halfway through my shower, the red light turns off and I'm standing there in the dark, fumbling around in an unfamiliar environment while trying hard not to slip and break my neck and trying to finish up and get out of there. Was pretty scary.

 

[RobertVA]

I haven't traveled a lot, which may have reduced my exposure to bad hotel incidents. During a multiple night stay I returned to the room in the late afternoon to find the television running, the bedspread hanging across a chair and the sheets missing.