7 hotel red flags that should make you run in the other direction

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Most of us have had hotel experiences that haunt us still. The close encounter with a cockroach. The closet-size room. The hallways full of trash. The visibly ill front-desk worker who may or may not have given us covid.

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If only there were signs. Like, bright red flashing signs that could warn us we were about to make a mistake.

Often, hotel experts say, the signs are there. You just have to know where to find them. We spoke to hospitality professors, consultants, current and former industry insiders, and writers to find red flags when booking or checking in to a hotel.

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Off-kilter booking sites

David Eisen, vice president and editor in chief of Hotels magazine, recommended scrutinizing the booking site before submitting your payment, checking the spelling of the hotel name and the web address. You don’t want to fall prey to a fraudulent business that will steal your money and leave you without a hotel reservation.

“There are nefarious elements out there who will slightly tweak the actual website name or hotel name,” he said. “But it’s a totally fake website set up to ensnare people.”

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The problem could arise even if you think you’ve done a proper search for the hotel online, said John E. DiScala, founder of JohnnyJet.com.

“Never Google the hotel name and just click the ad, because a lot are scammers,” he said.

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Too many bad (or effusive) reviews

Hotel reviews can tell you a lot about the place you’re considering. But it’s not enough to simply look at the overall rating.

Mychal Milian, a lodging professor at Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, said alarm bells go off if he doesn’t see recent reviews, if he sees only extremely positive reviews or if the hotel doesn’t reply.

Recep “Richie” Karaburun, a professor at New York University’s Tisch Center of Hospitality, said he pays special attention to the number of substandard reviews and what they say. Are they from disgruntled customers with isolated bad experiences? Or do they point to a negative trend?

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He also looks for complaints about things that are outside the hotel’s control, such as construction, smells from the area or loud traffic.

“That means they can’t do anything about it,” he said, and might be a reason to stay away.

Susan Barry, president of hospitality-focused Hive Marketing and host of the podcast “Top Floor,” said she wants to see how hotel workers respond to guest reviews.

“Are they clearly doing cut-and-paste robot work?” she said. “Are they super repetitive and weird sounding? Are they really taking time to address the comments, and with a sense of reality?”

She said it’s a bad sign when a hotelier responds to a mixed review and comments only on a positive element.

“If a hotel is doing that, they’re very much not going to take you seriously if something does come up,” she said.

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Unbelievable pictures

If a hotel is displaying stock photos, unprofessionally shot pictures or random images of breakfast trays, beware, Milian said. Hotels should display photos that show what the property actually looks like.

“I do want to see some exterior pictures, some pool pictures, some interior pictures,” he said.

Chekitan S. Dev, a professor at Cornell University’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration, said in an email that potential visitors should do some digital hunting to ensure photos reflect reality.

“Look for pictures in reviews or articles about the hotel to corroborate what you see on the hotel website,” he said.

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Too-good-to-be-true prices

Found an unbelievable deal? Take a few beats to make sure it’s legitimate. Milian, general manager of Marriott and AC hotels near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, said that if he sees a hotel listed online for significantly less than one nearby, he questions why. Some fees – including for WiFi, parking or other amenities – might not be showing up in the search.

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“What’s the catch, what are the hidden risks?” he said. “How crazy is your resort fee, or how bad is your service, or how outdated is your property?”

A low price might also suggest a hotel is in a higher-crime neighborhood. Dev said he would advise against staying in such areas, but if it’s unavoidable, make sure the hotel has safety measures in place.

“Be sure to check for strict controls on entry and exit, 24/7 presence of security, and elevators that require a room key to access floors,” he said.

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Shoddy lobby

Take stock when you walk into a hotel: If the lobby is messy, smells like too much air freshener or has obvious maintenance issues, that could be a red flag, Milian said.

“If your lobby is a mess, what do your rooms look like?” he said.

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Karaburun said he once had a boss who advised using the lobby restroom as a gauge for the rest of the property.

“If the lobby restroom is clean, that means the hotel is clean,” he said. “If the common restroom is not clean, that means they don’t care about the hotel.”

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Bad real-life interactions

Dev said he always tries to call a hotel to assess the professionalism, responsiveness and expertise of the staff.

“If it takes a lot of time and navigating a complicated phone tree to reach a human, if they don’t seem to have basic phone etiquette or if they are not polite and enthusiastic about answering your questions, that’s not a good sign,” he said.

After arriving at a hotel, if it takes “an unreasonable amount of time” for someone to address a problem, that could be a sign that you’ve picked the wrong place, Barry said.

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“If, for example, the AC in your guest room isn’t working and it’s hot,” she said. “If there isn’t someone there attempting to repair it quickly, that’s because it can’t be repaired quickly. So just go.”

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Dirty room

Dev said guests may want to ask for a new room if they are assigned one that has dated furniture, unresponsive lights, malfunctioning temperature controls or noisy air conditioning.

Karaburun, who inspected sites in a previous job, said he takes off the duvet and looks at mattresses and under beds to make sure rooms are properly cleaned. Old furniture and TVs strike him as bad signs, too.

He said it might be too late to abandon a hotel stay at that point – so it’s important to also check on policies around canceling a reservation and getting a refund for the rest of your stay.

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