Dirtiest hotels in Canada and the U.S. to avoid - annual list from Tripadvisor

[alexmst]

From Tripadvisor: 2010 Annual Dirtiest Hotels List by region

Where to find the world's dirtiest hotels

Before you flop into that bed after a long trip, you might want to take a closer look at just what you might be jumping into.

Based on traveler reviews, TripAdvisor has just released its annual list of the world's dirtiest hotels, highlighting the horrors – from bed bugs to mould in the bathroom – found in 10 hotels each for seven countries around the globe, including Canada.

Here at home, after being labeled as “too dirty to be a pig sty” the Arkona Motel in Niagara Falls tops the list, followed closely by Toronto’s Bay Street Motel – the spot, according to one disgruntled visitor, where all those nasty people end up when you tell them to "go to hell."


In the U.S., the Heritage Marina Hotel in San Francisco took the top spot while the Grosvenor Hotel, in Blackpool, U.K., was the worst in Europe with one visitor giving it a one-word rating: Alcatraz.


Dirtiest Hotels - United States
(based on TripAdvisor traveler reviews)
1. Heritage Marina Hotel, San Francisco, California
2. Days Inn Eureka/Six Flags, Eureka, Missouri
3. Tropicana Resort Hotel, Virginia Beach, Virginia
4. Super 8 Virginia Beach/At the Ocean, Virginia Beach, Virginia
5. Quality Inn, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
6. New York Inn, New York City, New York
7. Parisian Hotel & Suites, Miami Beach, Florida
8. Capistrano Seaside Inn, Capistrano Beach, California
9. Desert Lodge, Palm Springs, California
10. Continental Oceanfront Hotel South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida

Dirtiest Hotels - Canada
(based on TripAdvisor traveler reviews)
1. Arkona Motel, Niagara Falls, Canada
2. The Bay Street Motel, Toronto, Canada
3. Gordon's Lodge, Gore Bay, Canada
4. Howard Johnson Inn & Suites - Toronto East, Scarborough, Canada
5. Drumheller Inn, Drumheller, Canada
6. Hotel Eureka, Montreal, Canada
7. Admiral Inn by the Falls, Niagara Falls, Canada
8. Howard Johnson Hotel Edmonton, AB, Edmonton, Canada
9. Howard Johnson Express Inn Barrie Ontario, Barrie, Canada
10. Battery Hotel And Suites, St. John's, Canada

Dirtiest Hotels - Europe
(based on TripAdvisor traveler reviews)
1. Grosvenor Hotel, Blackpool, United Kingdom
2. Villaggio Club Porto Ainu, Budoni, Italy
3. Park Hotel, London, United Kingdom
4. Boston Court Hotel, London, United Kingdom
5. Cromwell Crown, London, United Kingdom
6. Dam Hotel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
7. Corbigoe Hotel, London, United Kingdom
8. Earls Court Gardens Hotel, London, United Kingdom
9. Blair Victoria & Tudor Inn Hotel, London, United Kingdom
10. Minster Hotel, York, United Kingdom

Dirtiest Hotels - France
(based on TripAdvisor traveler reviews)

1. Hotel Baudelaire Bastille, Paris, France
2. Hotel Bristol Republique, Paris, France
3. Hotel de Hollande, Paris, France
4. Abotel Hibiscus, Paris, France
5. Hotel Altona, Paris, France
6. Hotel Darcet, Paris, France
7. Le Havane, Paris, France
8. Le Huitieme Hotel, Marseille, France
9. Garden Beach Hotel, Juan-les-Pins, France
10. Hotel Merryl, Paris, France

Dirtiest Hotels - Asia
(based on TripAdvisor traveler reviews)
1. Phi Phi Don Chukit Resort, Ko Phi Phi Don, Thailand
2. Raj Residency, Chennai (Madras), India
3. Goldkist Beach Resort, Singapore, Singapore
4. Mahkota Hotel Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia
5. Centaur Hotel, IGI Airport, New Delhi, India
6. Tatami Hampton Hotel, Hong Kong, China
7. Pearl of the Pacific Boracay Resort & Spa, Boracay, Philippines
8. First Hotel Bankok, Bangkok, Thailand
9. Seri Costa Hotel-Resort, Melaka, Malaysia
10. Royal Peacock Hotel, Singapore, Singapore

Dirtiest Hotels - Italy
(based on TripAdvisor traveler reviews)
1. Villaggio Club Porto Ainu, Budoni, Italy
2. Repubblica Hotel, Rome, Italy
3. La Pace Hotel, Tropea, Italy
4. Hotel Nizza, Rome, Italy
5. Hotel Center 2, Rome, Italy
6. Villaggio Gioca in Birdi, Aglientu, Italy
7. Hotel terme parco eco, Forio, Italy
8. Rubino, Rome, Italy
9. Park Hotel Blanc et Noir, Rome, Italy
10. Concorde Hotel, Florence, Italy

 

[S.C. Joe]

Great info, thanks for posting.

 

[alexmst]

The one in Blackpool won for worst in the UK and worst in all Europe - quite an accomplishment lol.

From Tripadvisor, referring to this Blackpool hotel, here are some guest comments:

Have got to the Hotel on Saturday 7th November 2009 was shown to the family room were the ceiling had fell down onto the bed!!! Was shown another room which was filthy. The Hotel smells and is UNSAFE. Refused to stay but management would not refund any monies. Currently dealing with Blackpool Trading Standards as the pictures shown on the website do not refer to this Hotel.

Spent one night at the Grosvenor Hotel and one hour would have been enough. The room was small for a family room, Thought it would be ok for one night till we looked around. The furniture was ready to fall apart. The windows were so dirty you couldn't see out of them... the curtains were hanging off. Don't even get me started on the bathroom, I have seen cleaner public toilets and thats saying something! There was a hole in the wall and the room was so hot without the radiator on! Our top window was painted closed with a small gap so every noise was louder. Couldn't sleep at all and couldn't wait to get out in the morning. You have been warned, DO NOT STAY THERE even if it's the only hotel available!!!!!

Worst hotel I've stayed in in 20 years of travelling. Right from the start of booking in we knew we had made a big mistake opting for this place, the staff couldn't care less and only spoke English when asking for money. The room we stayed in was a minger - room hadn't been cleaned for ages, curtains / sheets were scruffy, tv didn't work, shower was covered in mould and ceiling tiles were collapsing (stay out of room 115). Couple we travelled with had to change room because smell was unreal (manager suggested buying a new air freshner). Best thing about this stay was checking out.

Dont go you have been warned.Filthy run down in need of a major revamp.Bed like a park bench when i went down after no sleep in the morning someone was laid on the sette in the lobby [instead of sleeping in his room] wise choice. Whoever rates this as 3 star is having a laugh. I paid £90 for 2 nights only stayed 1. The lift/elevator is an accident waiting to happen as it goes up you can see the walls doors etc as there is no internal door on elevator.

 

[alexmst]

Not to leave out the top of the list in Canada, the Arkona Motel in Niagara Falls:

Reviews:

The worst of all motels along Lundys Lane. The toilet did not work and was unflushed when I walked in my room. No shampoo, towels, internet. Didn't look like the room had been cleaned at all. Looks above average from the outside but inside is an absolute dump. Smells bad and is a nightmare.

Unthinkable filth, blood, and squalour. Blood in the bedding, spatter across the walls, carpet saturated with black filth, empty beer bottles piled outside the door, discarded rotting furniture at the bottom of the stairs, disgusting odour. Run.

Don't Stay Here - Protect your Health. Stayed here for one night in August. Pictures looked great but different when we got there. Rooms were not clean, bathroom walls dirty and moldy. Window screen broken so bugs could get in. Microwave full of last customers dinner. Asked for a fold away bed, received a cot like a lawn chair, no mattress, pillows or sheets. Just a bedspread. Found a bug in my bed in the morning, a bed bug and killed many other types of flying insects. Blood streaks from the bites I received on my sheets. Headboard was off the wall and lying behind the bed. On drive home started itching and turning red. Spent 2 days in hospital due to approx. 500 BED BUG bites!!! Severe allergic reaction to the bite. This Hotel should be shut down, cleaned up and many repairs done. Cement steps were falling apart and had wooden planks nailed in their place. STAY AWAY find another hotel!!!! Bad thing about it, paid online so burn for the cost of the room. Board of Health has been notified and the Better Business Bureau, the manager refuses to return my call. Keep your health, do not stay here. Been four days now and I am still blotched up with bites and taking several meds to get better. Nobody stay here, petition to shut them down and clean it up!!! OMG what are they doing running a business like this!!!!

Can't believe this motel passed inspection for anything. Never have seen such a diry,smelly and broken down rooms in my travels. Owners are rude and money hungry. Charged our credit card one night when we didn't even stay there.

 

[alexmst]

Miami Beach. Not far from me. Yet it has two properties on the top ten list of worst U.S. hotels. Let's have a look at reviews for the Parisian on Collins Ave:

I could not even stay there! Checked in, went to the room after riding in the smallest,nastiest elevator ever, looked at the room and bathroom and RAN out! People doing drugs everywhere! All you can hear is banging on the walls and people screaming at each other! The room was GROSS, the bathroom was even worse! Nothing was even close to clean! Complete SMUT HOLE!!! I have never never seen a hotel like this! It needs to be condemned! NOW!!! DO NOT NOT NOT STAY HERE!!! Spend a few more bucks and find something else...don't waste your time and $$$ here!
---
Room sucked. Old, shower didn't work right, dirty, bed was old and dippy, sink 6 inches into the mattress. Only five channels on the tv, one sports, one spanish. Not enough lighting, even bugs would not stay here! Poor wash cloths for towels. It's no wonder we were one of two quests registered here. Good points, ummmm, the coffee was good and free. Advice, drink, get drunk, then go to the hotel when you don't care.
---
Upon inspection, the room was as we expected for the area and price. The curtains and bedspread were something from a dump, and we decided immediately not to sleep under the covers. That night I was bitten by bead bugs, and too make matters worst I had on a long sleeved jacket and pants night set, as well as ballet flats for house wear. I had been bitten on my chin several times, my hands, forearms, legs and feet. At least 15% of my body was covered in red, burning, bites.
I went to CVS to purchase some RID (for bed bugs) and Cortisone ($18) for my bites. Told the receptionist and they moved us to the Geneva next door. For fear that, I may have bed bugs in my luggage; I went to the Laundromat to clean everything ($20). After walking around in flip flops, I discovered two blisters that had formed from at least two bites. The next morning the swelling was unbearable and the cortisone was not doing anything for me, so I went back to the CVS and went to the Minute Clinic. The Nurse Practitioner said that she could write me a prescription ($14) for something stronger and verify again that they were bed bug bites ($64).
So in addition to the $500 for the room I had to pay an additional $116 for an inconvenience they had caused. I went to ask to speak to the manager to be reimbursed for my medical expenses, they told me to wait and someone would call. I explained I was leaving the next morning for an early flight and needed to speak to someone that evening so they said someone would be on later. Called 2 hours later, still no response and although it was 3 in the afternoon, I was assured a manager would be able to help me outside of normal business hours. Went back to the hotel, waited in the lobby for 3 hours after being told to have a seat and wait for the manager he was busy (Jay). Finally, my patience had been dissolved and I demanded to speak to the manager quite loudly because he said loud enough for me to hear at least 10 feet away that he was too busy to see anyone that was waiting to see him. Too make a long story short, he told the receptionist to call the police, but they had no grounds to have me removed. They kicked us out the hotel, but not before cursing me and my friend out as well as someone suggesting that their customer service sucked. They called him names that should never be repeated. Don’t stay here, I think the place is a money laundering place, besides the cops operate like they are in a 3rd world country, and I am surprised the city, hell even the state is apart of the United States. Go to the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint against them!

---

OMG..The health department should be notified! Why on earth this facility is allowed to operate as a hotel, motel or a holiday inn is beyond me. The nightmare began when we arrived at this dump in the atrium as we were told that a $50 security deposit would need to be collected before check-in as in the event there is damage..WTF?! [--] they should've paid us for staying there! Are you serious this should've been a red flag as the atrium looked like a dumping ground for any loner or transient that needed a place to stay.
1.) The elevator was raggety and questionable as it took less time to carry our 50lb bags to the 2nd floor via the stairs! No help by the two able body male employees, thank you.

2.) We arrived to the urine soaked [--] which was our room unfortunately for the next 18 hours, when the room was booked we specifically told Hotels.com that the room would've been occupied by 4 adults, so why did they only have 2 wash cloths and 1 towel? We had to call and then after no one came we had to go downstairs and demand extra towels!

3.) The water was frighteningly cold, it literally took .45 min to an hour to get luke warm water, we called again to inform them of the issue to which we were told there is nothing they can do as no one was available to assist us..lol What?! Almost another hour later, some strange man (no badge, uniform, he never addressed who he was) came to our room dressed as if he was either coming or going to the nearest club stated he was there to repair the water...Yeah right in dress shoes and a polyester shirt. Needless to say his services were no longer needed as the water in the filthy port-a-potty/bathroom warmed up enough for the rest of us to tolerate a quick shower.

4.) The room was damp and cold and the temperature gauge did not work, when attempts to turn it off just made the room colder. The windows were just as old as the building and the room reaked of body odor, smoke and a hint of urine in the hallways alone.

Needless to say we all were uncomfortable, exhausted, just overall highly disappointed at the conditions to which we were subjected to, the service was very, very poor. The room was very much overpriced even if it was minutes from the beach, I feel I would have been less likely to need a tetanus shot by sleeping on the public street in front of that [--]! The only thing was missing was a few roaches to add to the ambiance. Perhaps even the Parisian was too low class for them as well.

I awoke after finally falling asleep to the couple in the next room sounding as if they were in our room seeming as though the walls were paper thin. I would think if you are looking for 10 minutes of fun that would be the place to do it in as it is not intended for anything else. We all slept on top of the covers as getting under them would really have been a death wish. Where was Chris Hanson with that U/V ultra violet light to expose the many nights of passion that have been done on those beds.

We nearly left everything we owned trying to get the [--] out of there hours later. I should've known from the 2.0 mega pixel picture that they display on their website at a side angle was a joke. Horrible, horrible experience, again I plead with anyone who is looking to visit southbeach miami to reconsider as this is not worth it. A bit of advice for the owner and proprieter of the Parisian hoe-tell either invest in some much needed upgrades or bulldoze it to the ground and start from scratch or check out Hotel Eva next door as they have really nice rooms and wonderful customer service. You are not ready nor are you prepared to run, own or operate as a hotel. They should consider adding a [--] NO button as an option.
---
Nasty Ghetto dump. I've stayed in crappy hotels before but those were when i was younger & looking for a place to get my groove on for an hour and for $20.The floors under the carpet were warped & made noises every time you walked. The carpet made my feet black. The rooms set up looked worse than a poor single college guys dorm room. There was no cable. The shower head wouldn't work right & the water was either too hot or too cold to take a shower. The towels were small and thin scraggly things you'd probably use to wash your car with. Forget wrapping yourself in one. I couldn't and I'm small. We couldn't get the A/C to a comfortable setting. The dial didn't tell u which was on or off much less what temperature it was at. It was either hot or too damn cold. The walls are paper thin. I cud here the neighbor sneeze. The elevator only held 3 people at a time. The place was over run with ghetto garbage people who were constantly yelling and screaming, making noise, banging on doors, running up and down the hall ways at all hours of the night. Some were even hanging out in the hall ways sitting on the floor. It looked and sounded like the freaking projects. NEVER EVER AGAIN!!! U couldn't pay me to stay at this place ever again. The place should be condemned.
---

 

[Alex_Ontario]

I'm surprised the Bond Place hotel and Strathcona hotel in Toronto weren't on the list. When I first arrived in Toronto and not knowing any better, I went on a call to the Strathcona and it was a dump. I left.

 

[Don]

The Bay Street Motel? Noooooooooooo (lol)

Surprised that the Waverly (sp?) didn't make the list...

 

[jiiimmm]

I've stayed in three of the ones listed for Canada, but they forgot the Tropicana hotel in N Falls. A popular stay for some of the dancers in N Falls. A genuine shit hole.

 

[jaycam]

Im proud and ashamed to say that I stayed many times in my youth at the Acorna in Niagara. It was walking distance to the Sundowner and a dirt cheap place for me and the SO to stay after her shift.

 

[DDDebbie]

I stayed at the Howard Johnson in Scarborough years ago. It was so bad I had to go to Walmart to buy cleaning supplies, towels, and bedding quickly before a guest arrived. I didn't even have my French maid outfit with me....lol

Come to think of it I haven't been back to Scarborough since

Looks like the HO JO chain is a good one to stay away from....3 in Canada

wonder if the one on Avenue Road is a dump too?

 

[IAmNotSoVanilla]

I'm surprised the Bond Place hotel and Strathcona hotel in Toronto weren't on the list. When I first arrived in Toronto and not knowing any better, I went on a call to the Strathcona and it was a dump. I left.

I have never stayed at the Bond Place and to look at it I'm quite certain I won't but I've had to stay at the Strathcona a couple of times with work and have found it to be tidy though the rooms were very small (in my case it was a room with two twin beds).

I am shocked to see that I've stayed at one of the worst places too - well not really shocked as I realized when I arrived that it was horrible (Stroudsburg PA). I had little choice though as I'd booked with Hotwire from an internet cafe after a very long day at Great Adventure in NJ and a bit of shopping in Tannersville and sleeping was overdue. The room was non smoking but smelled as though an entire carton had been smoked in the room during the last week, the windows did not operate and the air conditioning was mildewy/smelly making me seriously question the air quality that my poor kids were going to be exposed to. Something to add to the vacation scrap book, my homemade bumper sticker announcing "We stayed at one of TripAdvisor's worst US hotels, Summer 08!"

 

[DDDebbie]

I wasn't Scarborough bashing .....LOL (I don't want my PM box full of angry messages from Scarberia-ites)

Just the SCarborough HO JO bashing....lol

and it was about 4 years ago but obviously hasn't changed much if they made the list

 

[Scarey]

I actually stayed at the Drumheller Hotel.What a dump.I took some pictures.I could not believe my eyes.The Elevator on our floor literally had a "F&CK YOU" carved into the wall next to the down button with a knife.Mattresses with piss stains.....ashtrays in non smoking rooms,dirty toilets,We paid ......A stink that I'm still not sure what it is.We had them change our rooms 3 times before we got into one that was not a hazard(The rest of the town was booked and next nearest hotels were in Calgary).

The next morning after a shitty sleep and drunken hillbillies waking us at 4 am outside the door we checked and my Wife FUCKING LOST IT!!!.....She's in the hospitality business and tore the manager apart in front of about 15 people(Alot of the out of province guests could not believe the shape this"hotel" was in).She said she was reversing the CC card charges and that she would sue(we had pictures)if they attempted any legal action...LOL I just went to their website....They newly renovated in 2009.Looks nothing like it used to.

 

[Steve Harper]

Not a very up to date list..

The HJ Scarborough has been closed for at least 7 years. It was turned into the dorm for Centannial College.

And the Bay Street Motel has been closed & boarded up for some years. I drove by it today. It still looks like a shithole.

 

[alexmst]

Update

DANIEL DALE, SAN GREWAL AND BRENDAN KENNEDY

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/757439--toronto-takes-two-spots-on-dirtiest-hotel-list?bn=1

STAFF REPORTERS The nightmare off Elm St. has closed.

So that leaves a sometimes-horror of a Howard Johnson as Toronto’s dirtiest hotel — at least according to an unscientific list released last week by TripAdvisor..

Users of the influential travel website gave the lowest cleanliness marks to the famously unkempt Bay Street Motel, located at the intersection with Elm St., which mercifully shut down in late 2009.

The next Toronto hotel on the Dirtiest Hotels in Canada list, however, is the still-open Howard Johnson Inn and Suites on Metropolitan Rd. in Scarborough, where Sudbury’s Dee Krolick spent mere minutes on Thursday before returning her keys to the front desk in disgust.

“We didn’t even take our coats off,” said Krolick, whose family came to Toronto for a funeral.

“There was a hole in the quilt on the bed, the carpet was all dirt. One of the two beds, when I sat down, the mattress sunk in the middle. The bottom of the chair was all broken. The centre of the bathtub, the bath mat was dirty. The light switch was all dirty. The wallpaper is peeling.”

Star reporters posing as innocent guests checked into the Howard Johnson, ranked the fourth-dirtiest hotel in Canada, and the Arkona Motel in Niagara Falls, ranked the very dirtiest, on Thursday afternoon. Though TripAdvisor reviewers had few kind words for either establishment, our incognito investigators found them acceptable given their prices.

At the Howard Johnson, the carpet, bed and bathroom were clean, furniture and wallpaper in good shape; the $89 room was devoid of smells. At the Arkona, located on the Lundy’s Lane tourist strip, the guest who paid $44.86 including tax found a drab room with a carpet coming up at the edges, two lottery tickets behind the bed, suspicious reddish-brown wall stains in two locations, and 12 holes in the wall where the screws for his headboard used to be. The headboard sat on the ground near the lottery tickets.


But he had paid $44.86 including tax, and the bed, carpet and bathroom were clean.

The Star’s observations may illustrate the shortcomings of lists such as TripAdvisor’s, which was based solely on customer reviews. Guests who have had negative experiences are more likely to post reviews online than guests who find their stays acceptable; travel websites give disproportionate influence to the most vocal of displeased customers. The Arkona’s No. 1 spot, for example, was based on the opinions of fewer than 25 people.

“If 100 families come to us and one of them is unsatisfied, he can write 100 negative comments online,” said Arkona manager Sima Chhina.

Further, the list lumps cheap motels with pricey hotels. And a hotel or motel must be moderately popular with web-savvy visitors to be reviewed by dozens of people: somewhere in Canada, surely, there is a failing motel dirtier than the Arkona.

Still, the owners of hotels and motels take TripAdvisor ratings seriously. TripAdvisor and its affiliated websites boast more than 30 million monthly visitors.

After the Star reporter disclosed his identity to Ron Chan, the general manager of the Howard Johnson, Chan said he was aware of the hotel’s poor ranking. He said he had been on the phone with Howard Johnson’s head office earlier in the day to discuss a path forward.

The hotel is nearly 40 years old, Chan said, and was purchased in 2008 by an owner who lives in China. Chan said renovations on 100 rooms would begin in a month or two, though the other 91 rooms would not be renovated.

“We’ve worked on other things first,” he said, referring to a new ventilation system, a new furnace, and renovations to the now-sparkling washrooms off the main lobby.

Chhina, who has run the Arkona for about four years with her husband Baljid, said the TripAdvisor list was “really sad to see.” She said her motel provides fair value and is regularly booked solid during the summer.

"The basic problem is that if for any reason the customer wants a refund and we don't give it, they get mad and they go comment (on TripAdvisor),” she said.

Chhina also said customers’ expectations can be inflated when they book rooms through travel agents, thus paying higher prices.

"Then they expect a room as good as Howard Johnson. But they're Howard Johnson and we're just Arkona."

 

[Alex_Ontario]

You can add Atlantic Sands hotel in Virigina Beach to the list. Stayed there only one night to crash while driving and the place was outdated and filfthy. Carpet not vaccumed with stains on it along with grime and mold in the bathroom. The only redeeming quality of this hotel is the view and you have to be on a higher floor to experience it.

 

[Natalie]

Why isn't The Leonard Hotel in St. Catharines on this list??? It would beat The Arkona by a few hundred bed bugs.