# Tell me about your hotel/motel horror stories!



## jacks'thunder (Feb 16, 2014)

Well this is my sons birthday weekend and we thought we would go and stay at a fun hotel with an indoor water park for a gift for him and a buddy. It's been cold and yucky and to stay in a warm place sounded like fun!

Not so much!

Here is my review of this joke of a place!

"I have to say my son and his little buddy were so looking forward to this nice over night get away because it was my sons birthday. First thing is if these people are getting over $140. a night they definitely are not putting it back into the hotel. When you drive up the place looks run down and is not in a very nice neighborhood. The lobby was filthy but we continued forward to have a good time for the kids. We drive over to building 2, I look at hubby and he said lets go see! The cleaning ladies are there so that's a good sign right???? No I guess not because the hallway and stairs were filthy with salt and mud and smelled like pee. (I get the salt on the floor, it's that time of year but the rest no excuses) On to the room. It was VERY tiny.. which was doable because we planned on spending most of our time at the splash park so it would have been strictly for sleeping. BUT NO WAY was I going to let these boys sleep in this pig sty! First the floor was all stained up, the wall had something spilled on it(who knows what but it was gross! check between the dresser and the desk ON THE WALL!! It's DISGUSTING!!!) The 1 queen bed had pretty bedding but it was not made up nice and crisp. It was messy, like someone else had slept in it or someone did not care about the appearance. This room was suppose to have a queen pull out bed. Well that was definitely a stretch for your imagination! I'd say a large single or a small double. So I grabbed the cushions to pull it out and see if their were sheets or if we had to go get some. DISGUSTING! The cushions were all stained and they just flipped them over so some of the stains were under instead of cleaning them. The more I looked the more I was grossed out buy this couch. Once I pulled the bed out( as things fell to the floor, like crumbs and a nickle) the only thing it had was a yucky old mattress cover. Do I dare explain the bath room, ok I'll try. The toilet had stains and scratches, I thought it was poo but it was just age(I think..). The tub had black mildew under the faucet. The door chain was broken and just hanging there on the front door. We left and got our money back Now this was a room for OVER 140.00 bucks PLUS 100.00 dollar cash security deposit. ABSOLUTELY NO WAY way this room worth that! The owner of this hotel should be embarrassed! The manager obviously does not care one bit how this place is taken care of! If someone cared it would show!!! What a shame.... and a waste of time. We drove over and hour 1 way to celebrate my sons birthday based on the website photos and fox 2's rave review. Obviously they, at fox 2, did not stay in building 2! The pictures are deceiving of this place DO NOT BELIEVE THEM! What a very disappointing birthday for a young boy! Thanks XXXXXXXXXX(I didnt want to give the name just in case it was against the rules) for ruining my sons day. You should be proud! "

I'd love to hear your horror stories!


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## MindyLee (Feb 16, 2014)

My dad's wife's daughter is a stripper in northern Michigan... I don't claim her as family...

However my dad was tellin me a story of her staying at a hotel one night and stashed $1400 cash under her mattress. She left hotel to go back home and forgot the cash. Thinkin all was lost she moved on. The following weekend she ended back at same hotel and same room. Took a gamble and looked under the mattress and to her surprise the cash was still there. At 1st she was super happy but then realized how well they clean there if that cash was still there....

That's pretty darn nasty!


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## KanoasDestiny (Feb 16, 2014)

For my 21st birthday, we went to Vegas and stayed in a very popular casino. Everything was nice until the next morning. I was getting out of the shower when the room went completely dark - like pitch black dark. I tripped over the toilet and banged up my knee and leg pretty bad. The back up generator came on as I was trying to get dressed. My mom was upset and called the main desk to complain that her daughter had gotten injured. I was sitting on the bed when I looked down and noticed blood spots all over the sheets. But I wasnt bleeding! You could tell that the sheets had been washed/bleached since the blood was splattered all over them, but it looked really bad. Of course they were put on at the foot of the bed, so we hadnt noticed them until after we slept in the bed and ruffled the sheets up. The people who came to make an incident report of my injuries, got a lovely surprise when my mom went off on them about the bloody sheets too. Lol. We got comped a free night's stay, they promised to throw the sheets away, and I had some lovely bruises and a heck of a story to share with everyone. Gotta love Vegas!


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## amysue (Feb 16, 2014)

I stayed at a holiday inn in new jersey a few years ago. My husband and I were traveling to pick up our black filly, velvet. We got our room key and headed up to our room to find every door on that floor had been kicked in! Obviously management had no idea or they wouldn't have given us a room key. We went back to the desk, got a different room and when we got inside we found a dead bloated rat floating in the toilet bowl. Wanna know the grossest part? The toilet seat had the paper house keeping seal on it with the lid down. You know they never even looked at it. Needless to say we got our $ back and slept in the cab of the truck in their parking lot. So I guess we didnt actually stay at the inn but we were on the property.


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## chandab (Feb 16, 2014)

Ok, so not quite a horror story, but... November 2012 we went over night when we sold our calves, coming home the U-Joint went out on my pick-up, so we had to stay over in small town... We got the last room in town, it was the last week of hunting season, so everything booked up. We got one of their hunting "cabins", which was basically a glorified storage shed. It did have a little private bathroom, but you have to be pretty skinny to use the toilet that was crammed in a corner and pretty much blocked by the sink. It had a bed (may have been two beds) with a TV and a phone. Rough out lumber on the walls, didn't want to bump up against them or you'd have splinters (RE, watch the walls using the toilet, yes it was that tight). Upside, walking distance to two the bars in town.


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## Minimor (Feb 17, 2014)

Once a long time ago we were driving across ND--stopped late that night at a little motel that didn't look too bad. Walked into the room and the bed was jumping with fleas. We slept in the car that night.


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## Jill (Feb 17, 2014)

I don't really have any bad ones and I do actually LOVE to sleep in hotels! I've stayed and some really nice ones and it's the only thing I like about business travel (which is the only kind of travel I do, because my favorite place is at home -- I know, I'm so exciting). The worst thing I had with a hotel stay was on a business trip to Cincinnati and it wasn't too bad, just creepy to my over active imagination. Now I don't remember the name of the hotel, but it was built apparently in two different shifts and for sure styles. There was like this very long, 3 story section, then a court yard with pools and gardens, and then a big like 10 story or so (maybe quite more) that was closed for "remodeling". Maybe I'm weird, but it felt creepy knowing this huge looming building was completely empty.

My least favorite state to visit (I won't say it at the risk of offending) actually had my favorite hotel. It wasn't super fancy, but it was very clean and well run. It had rooms like little efficiency apartments with small kitchens, work desks, living rooms, and a separate bedroom. When I was traveling to that location (3x), I was there for a week or so each time, and I really liked that I had what felt like real living space and rooms and when you got there, you would put a grocery list on the outside of your door and when you got back, your groceries were put away. They had their own room service as well, plus this service that would bring you food from a huge selection of local restaurants.


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## Mona (Feb 17, 2014)

I think Michigan sounds to be the state of crap motels!! That is where my story brings us as well. LOL!

Several years ago when I was breeding and showing Chihuahuas, we were made a trip to Michigan to pick up a new puppy I purchased. On the way back home, it was next to impossible to find a motel room. It seems the UP of Michigan is a VERY popular place, and it was very late, and we had stopped in many towns looking, and found nothing. FINALLY, we came upon a dumpy looking little camp motel. They had a room in a building with a shared bathroom, or they had a cabin. We chose the cabin, paid for it, and went to it.

When we got there, it was pretty dumpy looking. The first thing we noticed upon going in, was there were big mud prints from what looked like a work boot/bush boot, tracked across the main area floor. The floor also sloped badly in one direction. I looked in the closet...it was sooooo gross with the floor tiles all loose/lifted up and just laying in there, and loads of dust balls...HUGE dust balls! I just couldn't bring myself to stay the night, so we packed up the ex-pen and suitcases and went to ask for our money back. They didn't have it...they had already spent it!! HOW ON EARTH could that be...we had just gotten there 20 minutes (if that) prior! They likely had to reimburse others! We finally had to go to the bar that was at the camp and get it from there. I guess "Rob Peter to pay Paul" applied there. We laughed so hard on the way home thinking about how they had spent our money so fast...what a GUNGE-HOLE!!!


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## romewhip (Feb 17, 2014)

I've traveled across the country and been in some really backwater roach motels and some nice big city hotels, but my favorite story is a funny if nothing else.

Friend and I went to Atlanta to pick up a couple of whippets and her keeshond who had just been bred. We borrowed a friend's truck as neither of us had big enough vehicles. Truck broke down in back of beyond Alabama on the way home. Town had a little Howard Johnsons, and a Chevy dealer to fix the truck. Mind you it's two women, and five dogs total. We got the very last room- the honeymoon suite! Jacuzzi tub and everything. We'd been on the road far longer than our supposed day trip, were hot and filthy, and needed to clean up. Yep, we both got in that hot tub in our undies to wash! Then slept in that big round king size bed. We were past caring, and thankful just to have soap, water, and towels.


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## Minimor (Feb 17, 2014)

I just thought of something I could share....and this really grossed me out when I learned of it.

Shortly after we moved here my mom got a job housekeeping at one of the better hotels here. Not one of the better ones--this was the best hotel in the city at that time. Now it has more competition, but it is still one of the better ones in town.

You know how sometimes you find a glass--actual glass, not plastic--wrapped in paper in the bathroom? I always assumed that when you check in the glass you pull out of the paper wrapping is a clean one, fresh from the motel kitchen? Not so. Mom was shocked when she was shown what to do--and when it came to the glass in the bathroom you just took the dirty glass, rinse it out in the bathroom sink, dry it off with a towel, and wrap a fresh piece of paper wrap around it and put it back on the shelf for the next guest to use. No dishwasher, no hot water, no dish detergent. Just a quick rinse and that's it. Ewww.

So--anyone that tells a story of a dirty toilet with the nice paper cover stuck on it--doesn't surprise me at all.


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## MindyLee (Feb 17, 2014)

I agree Mona!

I live here and grossed out by all that I stayed in with the exception of 1 in Houghton Lake. Otherwise ewwwww!


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## bevann (Feb 18, 2014)

Several years ago our members of Delmarva Miniature Horse Club were participating in the MD Horse Expo near Baltimore.We always stayed at the same motel(name has changed several times so not sure what is was called then.)there was a water main break in the area so no water anywhere.No bathing,no toilets in the EXPO buildings.It was not fun.Didn't even get a refund since it was not hotel's fault.


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## susanne (Feb 18, 2014)

A few years back, I entered Mingus in a show in Spanaway, Washington. We would normally haul in, but Keith had to work, so Mingus and I decided to make a weekend of it -- just the two of us 

I went online to find an inexpensive, no-nonsense hotel -- just a safe place to sleep. All hotels in Spanaway were booked, but looking online I found what looked like a decent place with small "studio" rooms in Tacoma. The website was well-done, the rooms in the photos looked tiny but nice. So I booked two nights. 

After setting Mingus up in the show barn, I droe to the hotel. First bad sign: the manager saw that I was alone and moved me to a second floor room close to the office. On my way to my room, I noticed almost a party atmosphere. Lots of young military guys calling out to girls and their friends. Lots of slamming of doors...I was decidedly uncomfortable, but it was close to a military base and I didn't want to be judgmental. I got into my room, only to find the website had been a bit overly optimistic, to say the least. I could barely squeeze past the bed to get into the bathroom. Outside I heard fights breaking out and cars racing in and out. I surmised that "studio hotel room" was code for "off-base brothel". Too exhausted after a long day to go anywhere else, I wedged the desk chair under the door knob (although it would probably have fallen apart if someone had tried to force the door open), spread my coat out on the bed and dozed off. At 3am, the party was still raging and I had had enough. I called and woke the manager -- I wasn't about to leave my room without a witness -- and checked out. 

Mingus was utterly delighted to see me return, and the next night I slept in the van, feeling much safer and much more comfortable than I had the night before.

....................

Speaking of round beds...once for our anniversary, Keith and I took our two small dogs camping on the Oregon coast. A friend insisted that we go to his favorite state park on the southern coast -- a less-familiar part for us. We drove until late in the night searching unsuccessfully for this particular park; finally admitting defeat, we started checking motels along the highway. The very few with vacancies did not allow dogs, and I was ready to return to Portland. Finally we drove past a place that had no "No dogs allowed" sign, and Keith went in to inquire. He came back with a big smile and a key for their one remaining room We bundled our stuff, picked up the dogs and went in, only to find an enormous round bed with mirrored headboard and a mirrored ceiling! We felt like degenerates staying in a room like that with our sweet, innocent dogs, and it was a far cry from our planned campout...


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## paintponylvr (Feb 18, 2014)

Wow, all these stories make me very appreciative of some of the places I've been. I'm a fan of CSI and after watching just a few episodes, you get grossed out about being in any hotel room anywhere.





In the last 4 years, I've stayed in some pretty decent ones, but have been happy and pleasantly surprised by the fact that the less expensive and in several cases, no name back of nowhere places have appeared to be the cleanest and have the hottest water (I like HOT water for a shower...).

The worst two places I have stayed were both well known, high priced hotels. One was many, many years ago - when I was traveling across the states with just me and our 2 daughters - I was pregnant with the 3rd. I think I was in OK (can't remember - but was headed "down" from MT to TX), major city right on the interstate. It was hot and "sultry" - in April. No breeze, no wind and miserable... Several "no vacancies" and then finally came across one with vacancies so I stopped and checked in. I was put on the 2nd floor and even though a well named hotel - the stairway to the area I was in was outside w/ the room doors on the balcony. I managed to get both babies upstairs and went ahead and stripped them and got them ready for bed (it was late). I only used cool water and didn't check the hot. I tried to get the air conditioning going - it weezed! A puff here a puff there. Not cooling at all. I then tried to call the main desk, this was before I had a cell phone (by years!), and the room phone didn't work (so I couldn't call family to update where I was either). Finally, I decided to lock the room and walk down (praying that nothing happened to me) and the office manager took forever to answer the buzzer for the office. When he finally showed up, he stated they didn't have any other rooms and "...the air was working this morning..."... Yea, right. I moved quickly upstairs to check on the girls - felt bad! to help keep them cool, I wet washcloths and laid them over their bodies like a sheet. I locked and bolted the door & put the chair under it, too. Then took a shower. Big surprise - no hot water, but then again, this was one time I really didn't need it. Got out and got fully dressed again... and opened the door and sat out on the steps where I could get a "breath" of moving air into the room and I could watch it... Stayed up most of the night that way - before finally becoming too tired to stay awake. The door fixed again - I didn't sleep long before the girls' fussing woke me up. We got to eat breakfast (didn't even try the "buffet" in the hotel) in a restaurant that was thankfully COOL! I didn't make it far that day before had to pull off and get another hotel - I simply couldn't function and the girls' were too hot and fussy (we also didn't have air in the car - drove with the windows down)... Skye had just turned 3 yrs and 'Dira would have been 6 months old.

The 2nd one was years later - and was during a "pony trip". The room was gross - dust on some but not all surfaces, slanted flooring, beds rumpled like they'd been slept in, cracks in the bathroom walls (no bugs and no mold that I could see, thank goodness), dirt on the floor (I was supposed to go barefoot??? NOT). Dirt is OK - when I track it in (& when watering ponies in the trailer out of our hotel I usually take shoes off at the door when getting water for them so I don't track anything into the room), maybe. BUT the worst was the SMELL... Let's just say that it may have been a high dollar hotel and high priced room, but I do believe it was used by the hour in that area and sure hadn't been cleaned to anywhere close to my standards! I was more than a little green when I returned to the Office and demanded my money back... Went down the road - and paid less than 1/2 at a smaller MOTEL and had hot water, a decent (& clean?) bed, clean room, no cracks for the bugs or boogie monsters to visit thru and a decent restaurant right next door when I got up in the morning!!

Vicki can't stand it if we go somewhere together and the room smells of bleach or it's really strong bleachy smell on our bedding (separate beds) - but I prefer the bleachy smell as at least I can think the room is clean...


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## jacks'thunder (Feb 19, 2014)

We have traveled quite a bit and by far that was the worst hotel room. From here to Florida a few times, and all over Michigan. The only other really bad one was in the U.P.. We went for our honey moon 14yrs ago. I remember the room was dark and dingy and smelled like mold. I cried, hubby felt bad so we left and went right next door and the room was great. Bright, pink fluffy towels, huge jacuzzi tub, beautiful view of the lake! That trip had A LOT of ups and downs! LOL! We towed a camper and were going to stay at the Porcupine Mts. camp ground. We had a spot reserved right on the lake, and we were going hike and be outdoors. Yeah not so much. They gave our site away( We were not late! an hour early actually!) and gave us a site mid camp ground between 2 different campers with screaming kids on both sides. No trees, no quiet spot, blazing hot. I cried again, and off we went. We drove across the whole up and half way back in one day! I won't even tell you about the camp ground right by the rail road tracks!



Now I'm not usually a crier but that was my honey moon and I had a vision for something.... different. It turned out alright though. We stayed in some beautiful places and saw some of the most beautiful things! The waterfall hunt in particular was amazing! Highly recommended!!!! The whole trip was definitely memorable, I guess that's the goal, right....





Mindylee and mona I think your right...

Love to read these stories!!


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## minimomNC (Feb 19, 2014)

I have stayed in a lot of hotels because of a past job and because of horse shows. But the worst was for work in Jacksonville, NC. There were two of us there but had separate rooms. I had gone to my co workers room because we order dinner to be delivered there. The rooms were ok, nothing fancy, worn is more the word. But it was as clean as it could be I think. The bad part was while we were talking, someone knocked on the door really loud. There had been a lot of construction workers around but this didn't sound like one of the workers, more like a drunk not knowing where he was. I called the office and had them come up to make sure this person was gone and to escort me to my room so I could collect my things and move to the co workers room as she was afraid to stay by herself. My supervisor heard from me big time the next morning. From there on I found my own rooms when I had to travel.


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## MindyLee (Feb 19, 2014)

That's funny jacksthunder!

I stayed at porcipine mnt campground for my honeymoon too!

Stayed by the water and went fishing all over the stateland up there for a week. We was there in July 2008!


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## Marsha Cassada (Feb 19, 2014)

I went to a button show in Phoenix with 3 friends. We were overconfident about finding a hotel and so did not book in advance. We scoured the city and finally find a room with one bed (there was a soccer tourny going on). I had packed a cot. One friend said she coudln't possibly sleep with anyone, so she got my cot. I got into bed with the other two women. It was queen, but the women were, um, generously sized. One snored. I ended up sleeping on the floor with a part of the bedspread wrapped around me.

The next night, we refused the offer of the room and thought we'd have better luck finding a room. NOT. We drove and drove, all the way to Apache east of Phoenix. Thought of stopping at a motel or two but after driving up, they looked too sleazy. Finally stopped at one that had a vacancy. It had two beds. The friend who couldn't bear to sleep with anyone got a bed to herself. The other two (mother/daughter) slept together. I got the cot.

My car. My gas. AND I paid full share for the rooms.

I learned my lesson--I don't travel to any city now without a reservation. I'm still friends with those three, but I haven't taken another trip with them!


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## jacks'thunder (Feb 20, 2014)

MindyLee said:


> That's funny jacksthunder!
> 
> I stayed at porcipine mnt campground for my honeymoon too!
> 
> Stayed by the water and went fishing all over the stateland up there for a week. We was there in July 2008!


July for us too! My anniversary is July 29th and we were there in 2000. LOL! Great minds MUST think alike! LOL!


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## romewhip (Feb 20, 2014)

Another memorable dog show trip, another memorable hotel... I think we might have been staying on the west side of Little Rock AR but I'm not sure. We weren't staying at my favorite Motel 6, that's for sure. Got our room, got checked in, went and had dinner, exed dogs, ready to settle in for the evening. Toilet stops working. Call front desk, finally get it fixed. About 2am the dogs are barking, there are whippets and keeshonds in the room. The kees are boofing quietly, something is bugging them. We hear loud voices outside, then someone starts barking back at the dogs from outside. Call front desk, tell them to get someone here ASAP and get these drunks quiet. Volume outside gets louder, I look out and the front desk guy is out there partying with them. I got a mad on, and while my friend kept telling me I was going to get killed I pulled a coat on and flung the door open. I unleashed a tirade and went all redhead on the drunks, who laughed, then got quiet, and sort of filtered away. Shut the door and went back to bed, got a little more sleep.

I worked for another hotel at the time, wrote the manager a letter on my hotel's letterhead, and got a full refund.


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## Performancemini (Feb 20, 2014)

LOL! I can't get the little icons up-but here's a couple of the little rolling around laughing guys invisibly!!!!!! Letterhead!!!!!!


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## Margo_C-T (Feb 24, 2014)

Good for you,Romewhip!!

How times have changed! Back in the '70s, when we showed every year at the NM State Fair, driving up from 80 miles away…my 'horsey'friend from our town and her kids, and I with mine(at least after they got old enough), would stay in some '40s-era motels on East Central Ave.(AKA part of the original Route 66) in Albuquerque). They were inexpensive, and VERY basic, but then, still clean and safe, and we never had any problems. By the time we moved up here, that had changed…and now, both of the ones we used to use have been demolished, after garnering bad reputations for both their clientele and state of increasing disrepair…kinda sad, really.

Margo


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## ohmt (Feb 26, 2014)

I work at the front desk of the largest hotel in ND....my hotel horror stories are of a different kind.

Be easy on us, our days are filled with undue yelling and a lot of ridiculousness. I've been in the service industry since 16 and this is by far the most mentally taxing position I've had. I get to meet a lot of wonderful people as well, though!


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## Mona (Feb 26, 2014)

ohmt said:


> I work at the front desk of the largest hotel in ND....my hotel horror stories are of a different kind.
> 
> Be easy on us, our days are filled with undue yelling and a lot of ridiculousness. I've been in the service industry since 16 and this is by far the most mentally taxing position I've had. I get to meet a lot of wonderful people as well, though!


ohmt, this thread is nothing personally against you. If the motel that you work at is nice and clean and accommodating, then you have nothing to be worried about, but if it rents rooms that are like these mentioned in this thread, I will side with the patrons every time.


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## Flyin G Farm (Feb 26, 2014)

My story was from a hotel in Tulsa while we were there for nationals. We brought our LQ trailer and stayed on the grounds, but because we have a FULL 3 day (14-16 hr days) drive to get back to Washington State from Tulsa, I wanted to make sure we had a GOOD night's sleep, so the last night we decided to get a hotel room. We don't generally care if it's super fancy, just clean and safe. So we went to I *think* a Super 8 not far from the grounds. We checked in just before dinner and were only in the room a few minutes before heading out to have a nice dinner and celebrate a great nationals. The room wasn't super clean and I was fairly certain that there were dead bugs in various places on the floor, but for whatever reason, we didn't want to deal with it right at the moment and left. We had a great evening and came back. The hotel was 2 floors and the entrance to the room was on the exterior of the hotel (rather than going inside to get to your room), and our room was on the 1st floor. So as we are coming around the side of the building, we see several cop cars, not good. But as we pull up in front of our room, directly above our room on the 2nd floor, there are 3 police officers, 2 on 1 side of the door and 1 on the other, with GUNS DRAWN, clearly about to go into this room. As we pull up with a look of horror on our face, the officers motion for us to leave...um NO PROBLEM! So we of course head straight to the front desk and tell them we want our money back. There is NO WAY we are staying in that room that we can't even get to right now with police activity directly above us. We are in no way feeling safe and the whole point was to get some sleep, which was not going to happen there. The manager refused to give us our money back because they were "just looking for someone" and it was "no big deal". Yeah, I don't think so. So once we could get back in our room, we promptly grabbed our things and left. Fortunately, the hotel on the show grounds had a room available and was clean and SAFE.


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## ohmt (Feb 26, 2014)

I know, Mona, thank you! I thought I'd throw it out there just in case


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