That Was In My Hotel Bed
There’s no better feeling than coming back to a freshly cleaned hotel room. After a long day attending a conference or sight-seeing in a new city, we take off our shoes, turn on the TV, hop up on the bed, and… catch something scurrying across the sheets. Wait a minute.
A dreamy hotel can easily turn to a nightmare, and luxury accommodations are no exception. For the stout of heart, here’s a list of the grossest, creepiest, and oddest things ever found in hotel rooms.
Blood
This one is surprisingly common. Bedsheets are a popular place for mysterious stains, but unlucky travelers have also encountered blood covering the walls or even filling the ice buckets of hotel rooms. At least it’s not from a crime scene! (We hope.)
Poo
Another fairly common welcome gift from seedier hotel rooms. Usually unearthed by those investigating an unpleasant smell, number two has made appearances smeared on the walls, clogging the toilet, or stashed in a tissue box or a drawer.
Spiders and Cockroaches
These are the stuff of nightmares. They’ve been spotted in the bed, on the ceiling, and even infesting the walls. Truly disgusting, but they’re probably less dangerous than their more exotic cousins (below).
Scorpions
While staying in Mexico, Reddit user Triseult found a scorpion under the sheets on his bed. He’s probably not the first, but he may have had the most resourceful help: “The maid chased it from the room, immobilized it with the tip of a broomstick on the balcony, ripped off its stinger, then imprisoned it in a Nescafe bottle to give to her mother to make medicine against arthritis.” Now that’s customer service.
Bed Bugs
The gift that keeps on giving. We mostly associate these guys with urban apartments, but they’re increasingly common in hotel rooms as well. Not only can they ruin a vacation, but if they’re not caught in time, they can consume the next several weeks at home as well. To avoid having to call the exterminator, check out these great tips from Hipmunk.
Drug paraphernalia
People like to use hotels for a “good time” without the cleanup consequences, and sometimes the evidence remains behind. Crack pipes and needles show up in hotel rooms pretty regularly, and a quick sweep of the drawers might turn up some weed as well.
Sex toys and used condoms
Under the mattress and under the bed are common hiding places for dildos, porn, blow-up dolls, and discarded prophylactics. Repeat guests at motels have even been known to leave their stash so they don’t have to lug it back and forth. Condoms may also show up in creative places like under the pillow and hanging from the fire alarm.
Fifty Shades of Grey
According to an annually-released list, Fifty Shades of Grey was the most discarded book of 2012. Over 7,000 copies were found in Travelodge rooms that year. So on the bright side, a trip to a hotel room may yield some reading material! They’ve also found some pretty strange items, including a prosthetic hand and Porsha, a Persian Chinchilla kitten.
It’s not all bad, though!
Laptops are some of the most commonly forgotten items in hotel rooms. A jackpot may even await lucky travelers. A winning EuroMillions lottery ticket was found in a vacated room, as well as $6,000 in cash. The maid who found the money did the right thing and turned it in. It’s a good reminder that the vast majority of hotel stays end up being overwhelmingly pleasant!
