What Makes a Hotel a Dump?

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“That hotel was a dump!” That’s what I hear when someone disses a hotel. But what exactly makes a hotel a dump?

Earlier this year, my family stayed at a hotel in Denver that qualified to be called a dump. First of all, we were given a room in the basement. Say what? Yes, we had to take the elevator down a floor to get to our room. That was a first.

This was our view (with an escape ladder):

Since we were staying at a Residence Inn, we had a 2-bedroom unit that was essentially like a small apartment with full kitchen and living room. However, being in the basement, it was very dark.

One of the bathrooms had a light that flickered like a strobe light. It seriously made the place look like a haunted house. Since we were so tired and it was late, we didn’t bother calling to have it replaced. And thankfully, the room had another bathroom to use.

The ceilings were low and were popcorn ceilings. The sofa had a downward slope. The carpet was ripped in spots. While my kids didn’t seem to care about any of this, my husband and I agreed that this place was a dump. Sure, the outside looked great, and maybe the upper-level rooms were better. But, we never want to stay there again.

Somehow, the hotel has 4 out of 5 stars on TripAdvisor.

Cultural Differences

Staying at that hotel in Denver reminded my husband and I of another terrible hotel experience we had. (I’ve mentioned this experience on the blog before, so it may sound familiar to long-time readers).

Our worst hotel experience was in Nakhodka, Russia. This was before we had kids. Our adoption agency gave us only two hotel options: a cheaper hotel closer to town, or a nicer hotel just outside of town. We opted for the “nicer” hotel.

After we dumped our stuff in our room, we headed down to dinner before the restaurant closed. We were the only ones in the restaurant. Right after we got our food, the lights went off and a DJ started spinning tunes. The place had turned into a disco! We felt awkward, it was just so unexpected.

Back in the room, we tried to get some sleep. Now I know that Europeans like hard mattresses, but this mattress was like sleeping on a hardwood floor. Our backs were hurting. We tried to take cushions from the sofa and place them on top of the bed, but that didn’t work out very well. We tried placing sofa cushions on the floor, but we just couldn’t get comfortable.

Aside from the mattress, we also couldn’t sleep all night because of some noisy roosters. The hotel backed up to a hill where chickens and roosters were roaming. They were so noisy, all night long!

Somehow, we managed to laugh our way through the experience. I don’t know how. But, we were never so glad to move on to a different hotel.

I looked up this hotel the other day, and I saw that it gets very good reviews. I’m guessing the mattresses don’t bother the Russian guests. But I can’t believe nobody else was bothered by the roosters.

Have you ever stayed at a “dump”? What made the hotel a dump for you?

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