I traveled to Florida from Michigan with plans to buy a vehicle that I found on autotrader, and drive it home. The first night, we stayed in the "Sunset Suite" at "Shepards" on Clearwater beach- a $300 room and it was worth every penny.
The next day, we looked at the Land Rover and it wasn't what we wanted, but by the time we got back to the Tampa airport, there were no more flights back to Detroit.
So, we booked a morning flight, and I called several hotels and found the Sailport to have the best rate. The man on the phone was VERY friendly, and he even had the hotel's shuttle service (which had just closed) come pick us up for free. Through check-in, the man was incredibly friendly.
Here's where the nightmare begins.
The walk to our room was like a walk through a prison. The hallways are carpeted, though the ends of the 75-yard long hallways was totally exposed to the weather, so the carpet smelled of mildew and musk.
Not to mention there were no other people in sight.
When we arrived in our room, we were actually impressed. For less than one hundred dollars, it was quite big with it's own kitchenette and everything. But the more I got looking, I did notice a few things. The couch, TVs, and TV service were all poor quality, and seemed to have been rarely cleaned. The carpet through the room had a few large stains, which just added to the overall look and feel of dinginess.
I had a bit of business to do, and was disappointed to find that the internet was very, very slow (500 bytes/sec down)- but, it wasn't important- we just needed sleep.
When my wife and I laid in the (small) bed, we noted that it was very squishy. Even most cheap mattresses these days allow you to move without shaking the whole bed, but not this one.
We then realized that our mid-sections were sagging quite a bit more than normal, even though we're not heavy... I am 150 pounds and my wife is less than that.
I grabbed my flashlight and looked under the bed....
I then realized that the sagging was because the bed frame was broken in the middle. But... the worst thing of all was that there was old popcorn kernels, a ratty looking children's toy, an empty coke bottle without the cap, and a bunch of scraps of paper all under the bed.
It was the most disgusting thing I had ever seen at a hotel.
We then began wondering if the room might be infested with roaches or bed-bugs or something... it was very musty smelling, and could possibly have been caused by mold.
Now for the worst part.
After about an hour, I talked myself into being okay with sleeping in this nasty room. Just ONE more night and I can leave the state.
Well, beginning at about midnight, my wife and I were jarred awake by a loud crash out side our door and down the hall. I didn't have any means of self protection with me, so I didn't get up to investigate.
From that point forward, there was an almost constant (every few minutes) noise of some kind- whether it was a clunk, crash, bang, or what sounded like someone was slowly dragging a dumpster or something across the floor.
The last time I was awaken by a really loud crash was at 2:30am. I was either too exhausted after that, or the noise stopped.
Well, that's my nightmare experience.
I must say though- the staff the next morning were very friendly, though we didn't mention our experience to them.
PS- I am not accustom to a luxurious hotel- that is not why I perceived this as being so horrible. I am used to a $100/night Country Inn or something similar. Trust me, this one was REALLY bad. Do not bring your family here.