When To Leave a Gross Hotel Room
I have left a hotel room that was booked in advance exactly two times. One was a time I had booked the room myself for personal travel. The other was a hotel room that my co-worker had reserved for a work trip. The first time I decided to abandon ship, I was traveling in Vung Tau, Vietnam, alone. I had booked a hotel near the beach and arrived on New Year’s Eve, excited for a relaxing afternoon of lounging in the sand followed by a dinner in town and a quiet night to myself. When I arrived at the hotel, which I had secured through Booking.com, I spoke with the young girl at the front desk, received my room key, and I proceeded up the stairs. As soon as I opened the door, I immediately noticed the stained bed sheets and the dirty tile floors, and I walked right back out. I went to the lobby and patiently told the receptionist I had just spoken with that I was leaving because the room didn’t feel sanitary, and I started walking down the street without knowing where in the world I was going.
Thankfully, it was still early enough in the day, and the town was small enough for me to not feel panicky, but I did feel urgency in determining where I was going to end up. Mostly, I wanted to feel comfort — I had already been traveling for a week and a half alone, and after a bus ride from Ho Chi Minh City, I was eager to put down my belongings and explore a little before sunset. I found a quiet stoop to sit and determine what I was going to do. My first thought — notify Booking.com about the incident. I started chatting with a representative through their app and, within minutes, after explaining that the room description did not match what I saw online, I was told to go to any hotel on the Booking.com app that I could find close by, and they would match the price to what I had paid for the hotel I just left. I was so moved by this gesture of hospitality. Not only would I be in another hotel room within the hour, but I would be upgraded to a better hotel at no cost. From then on, I have been a very loyal Booking.com user because of the impeccable customer service and willingness to help me in a sticky situation. It was so nice not to lose out on the money from the hotel that I left, and because of the turn of events and the feeling that I was being taken care of by a stranger, I enjoyed the rest of my time in Vung Tau immensely, in a lovely hotel room with an incredible view of the ocean.
The second time I refused to stay in a hotel room, I hadn’t been in charge of the booking, so there was no company to call in distress—so I made the decision, with the encouragement of my husband, whom I called crying about the filthy room—to leave a very gross hotel in Monterrey, Mexico, and find solace in another hotel. In the end, it was worth every penny of our money to do that. Instead of falling asleep to cockroaches crawling on walls, I opted for a hotel a few blocks away with a rooftop restaurant, pool, and clean sheets. I know it’s a privilege to be able to afford an extra two nights in a hotel on a whim, but the moral of the story is to be prepared in case you get a hotel and find it is not up to your standards of cleanliness, if you can. When budgeting for a trip, consider a few extra hundred dollars for this type of emergency situation. And always—always—feel good about leaving a bad hotel because when traveling, the last thing you should be thinking about is whether your place of relaxation is clean enough for you to rest. So, the short answer to the question, “When should you leave a gross hotel room?” As soon as you can.
The view of my New Year’s Eve sunset in Vietnam after I checked into my new hotel.
