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What to do if your accommodation sucks

Introduction

How do you react if your accommodation sucks?

Imagine this: you’ve been dreaming about this destination for months or even years. The entire experience is built up in your head and then finally, you book the trip and start the mental countdown.

You can already see yourself there, exploring and getting immersed into the local culture. The food, the music, the people… it’s lovely.

On the day of travel you wake up early to catch your flight and you’re dashing through the airport excited like a child on Christmas day. No airport security lines to stop you in this dream!

After a long flight you arrive at the hotel, tired and a bit dehydrated but still excited to start exploring. One problem though. Your hotel room, which is supposed to be home for the next few days, turns out to be a massive disappointment.

Far from the nice pictures you’ve seen advertised and even further from the mental images you’ve been building.

This happens much more often than you think. My first advice is to stay calm and don’t think this only happens to you.

It can happen even in the fanciest hotels out there. But there are things you can do to improve your experience or at least mitigate the damages.

The more you travel, you tend to develop a nose for these things. You can spot risky accommodations by doing better research next time.

Here are the steps I take to stay away from nasty places and what you can do if you end up in one.

Step1: The Research

Reviews

Start by going through online reviews. When you do that, be mindful of their date. If the good reviews are old and all the new reviews tell bad stories, that’s a trend you want to be aware of.

Don’t focus on the reviews posted on their own website, those can’t really be trusted as it’s very easy to manipulate them.

Compare the photos from real customer reviews and social media posts with those available on their website and listings from travel agents and aggregators. If their photos seem too beautiful or “manicured”, that’s a bad sign.

Another useful thing to look for is the reactions to bad reviews. If the owner/management of the place reacts impolitely to negative feedback, that’s a very bad sign.

If you’re booking through a travel agency and going for a package holiday, don’t just rely on the reviews from the agency website. Take the name and address of the hotel and look it up on other platforms such as Booking.com or Google.

Be mindful of sponsored listings from travel aggregators. They are normally clearly marked as such and sometimes use pressuring techniques to say “only 1 room left on our site” or something of that manner.

You can also check discussion boards, forums and YouTube videos.

Reviews are a very good source of information and I always rely on them as my first step in the research process.

Terms of cancelation

I know most of us very often click yes and move on when it comes to agreeing to terms and conditions.

This is one of those times when you should actually look very carefully at the policies regarding your travel purchase. The most important one being the cancellation policy.

Having the right to cancel for a full refund is very important and useful not only if the accommodation proves to be rubbish but also if something happens and you can’t travel anymore.

The best policies will allow you to cancel before a certain hour on the day of your reservation. This means that you can walk out if you arrive and you don’t like it and still get a full refund.

Other hotels will ask for a 24-hour notice to cancel, or simply give you the ability to cancel at will before the first day of your stay. In this case you may have to pay for at least one night in order to cancel.

The third scenario is hotels that don’t have a free cancellation option or that require days or even weeks notice. Unless you have really good information about the place, I would not recommend staying in these places.

In many places you will have to pay extra to have a good cancellation policy but it is well worth it, especially if you’ve never stayed there before.

Speaking of paying, make sure you use a credit card. It’s not just about collecting the all important points/miles but this might also come in handy later if you have to dispute a payment.

Check the place using Google Street View

Is it really two minutes from the beach? Or near a subway station? Does the area look safe and clean?

It’s never been easier to check these details from the comfort of your home, well before you spend a penny.

Google mapped the entire planet for us, all you have to do is search the address and toggle Street View.

Have a look around the building and the neighborhood. Make sure you feel comfortable and that all the details they provide match what you find in your research.

Step 2: The Stay

Once you arrive at the place, the first indicator of good vs bad service will be the attitude of the staff.

Depending on the type of accommodation you chose, this will vary from full valet service to self service check in. So be reasonable, if you pay for the cheapest hostel in the land don’t expect a red carpet welcome.

Once I get to my room, especially if the place I’m staying at is new to me, I always prefer to be a little bit skeptical so I start documenting everything.

Hopefully you won’t need to use anything but just in case you do, the more details you have the better.

Take pictures and videos of any issues before you even unpack. I know you might be tired but just take 5 minutes and go through everything in the room quickly and assess the situation.

Here’s a quick checklist I use on my trips:

Firstly, does the room smell ok? If there’s dampness in the air, if I spot mold or if it smells like cigarettes (unless you somehow like that) I simply leave the room and find someone to talk to.
What is the state of the carpet? The carpet is one of the best witnesses for the general attitude towards hygiene. An old carpet doesn’t mean it’s ok for it to look dirty and ragged. That just shows a low standard of maintenance and cleanliness on their side.
Does the room have everything it should have: proper room size and category for what you paid, bath/jacuzzi if you paid for one, amenities, working desk, minibar, kettle and any drinks or snacks etc.
Does everything work as it should? Door properly shuts, the room key or card, lights, windows.
If there’s an interconnecting door, is it locked and safe?
Is the bathroom clean and stocked? This is an important one and I’ve had many surprises in the past.
Inspect the bed. Make sure it’s clean and there are no nasty surprises. Bed bugs are a major issue even in some big name hotels in the US for instance.

All the checks above should take you about five minutes and remember to document clearly any issues you find. This is very important in case you need to make any claims or disputes.

Step 3: The Resolution

Speak to the hotel staff

I must remind you that everything you do from this point onwards needs to be carefully documented. People you speak to, times, context, pictures, videos, receipts – keep all the originals and create a paper trail.

Give the hotel a chance to fix things. Speak to them in a calm but firm manner.

The first step you should take is to speak to staff, usually at the reception. Some hotels will have a customer service manager or liaison during working hours.

Stay calm. I know this might be difficult after a long trip and after all the anticipation but this is important. Be clear, concise, polite and firm.

A calm approach to the situation is firstly beneficial for you, there’s no need to cause yourself any stress. Moreover, hotel staff will surely listen and treat you better if you show the same attitude in the first place.

Give them the chance to fix it, in most cases they will listen and do their best to make things right.

Smaller problems can be fixed right away by most hotels. Such as a TV that doesn’t work, or blinds that are stuck. They might send an engineer to have a look.

If matters are worse than that, in my experience they will move you to another room.

No matter what, speak to the staff immediately, don’t wait until later during your stay or even worse, after you leave the accommodation.

Escalate to the next level of authority

If speaking to the staff doesn’t get you anywhere, then the situation gets a bit more complicated.

Depending on where you are and how you booked your stay, there are different steps you can take to solve your issue.

If you booked a package holiday then your tour operator is liable under the law if the hotel fails to provide the services you’ve paid for.

Your travel representative will have to make everything necessary to solve your problem as soon as they are made aware of it. So call them right away if the hotel staff didn’t help.

Ask the travel representative to register your complaint and keep track of it. If they still can’t fix this for you, you’ll have to get back to them when you’re home by sending a recorded letter in which you provide all the details of your trip and what you want as compensation.

An extra tip is to ask your hotel for an official complaint form. Fill it in and get it signed by the hotel staff or the travel representative if they have one onsite. Keep the original.

If you booked through services like Booking.com or Homestay then you have the following options.

If the accommodation is part of a chain, you should call their customer services line or corporate office. This might solve your problem. If it still doesn’t work, remember that we spoke about the cancellation policy?

If you booked through Airbnb that could be even more complicated. I’ve written before about what to know before booking on Airbnb.

If the host can’t solve your problems, contact their Support and provide all the documented information. They should be able to find you a similar accommodation or compensate you otherwise.

Leave the place

Once you followed all the steps above and didn’t get a solution you’re happy with, just leave. Don’t stay in a horrible place and be miserable the entire time.

Invest in your happiness and move to a better place. Keep your documented experience in the bag for now and get back to it when you return home.

Write a review providing all the details so future customers can be aware.

Making a claim after your stay

To sum up the most important actions you can take when you return home:

Contact the customer support team of the hotel or tour operator.
Have your file at hand with every single detail of the trip: booking details, photos, videos, the signed complaint form, notes of conversations and people involved. Keep the originals.
Know what you want as compensation.
You could also dispute the charge on your credit card.

Conclusion

A really bad hotel can seriously bring you down when you travel and if you allow it, this can ruin your entire experience.

As we’ve talked quite a lot before on the blog, preparation is key but with all the research it can still happen that you arrive and the place gives you a tummy ache just walking in.

Remember that etiquette is critical – be firm but polite. Document everything and follow the steps and if nothing works at that moment, just leave.

Also remember to act with kindness towards the employees, they may not be able to do much more because of internal policies. And they are much more likely to listen and help a polite customer.

What to read next:

Do you have any bad memories from your past trips? I sure have quite a few of them 😊 Share in the comments below and let’s chat.

Do please share this post if you found it useful and remember to always seek personal growth by exploring the World responsibly.