Vacations are supposed to be relaxing, but sometimes the places we stay turn into total nightmares. One woman thought she was on a romantic getaway until her boyfriend’s card got declined at checkout—she paid, and the receptionist quietly warned her he’d pulled the same scam on other women. Another traveler opened the curtains in his hotel room only to find a man hiding there, fresh from a robbery.

In Vegas, faulty wiring kept setting off the fire alarm all night long, while someone else checked into a motel with stained sheets, hair in the shower, and a receptionist who admitted, “I don’t blame you for leaving—this place is gross.” One woman booked a hotel that turned out to be halfway converted into a senior residence, complete with medical pull cords and diabetes workshop flyers in her room.

Others weren’t much luckier—like the guest whose clerk randomly called occupied rooms at 4 AM to “find an empty one,” or the couple who splurged on a Valentine’s stay only to be treated rudely and stuck in a boiling hot room with no AC. Some families faced actual horrors, like the kids who watched hundreds of baby spiders crawl up the walls and ended up sleeping in the bathtub.

There were fridges swarming with ants, creepy late-night towel deliveries that felt like stalking, bathroom doors that jammed shut, hostels crawling with bugs, and even an Airbnb owner who burst into his guests’ bedroom at 2 AM after they covered a “security camera.”

These weren’t just bad vacations—they were hotel horror stories no one will ever forget.