Anyone who has taken a weekend away knows that lodging can make or break your travel. Get a bad hotel and the entire experience can become unpleasant.
Good: Siem Reap, Cambodia
We took a chance and followed the advice of our hotelier in Phnom Penh. We booked with his buddy hotel, $25 a night for a triple. “It’s a bit outside of town,” he told us. “There’s free shuttle service.” Needless to say I wasn’t holding my breath but low and behold there was a tuk-tuk waiting for us at the mini-bus stop. We arrived at the hotel, which was gorgeous, but definitely a bit outside of the tourist area. It was quiet, peaceful and all together perfect. Looking off our balcony we saw rice fields and the luxurious swimming pool. The place was five star by backpacker standards, and the nicest place we’d had stayed in a long time. We were treated to a delicious made to order breakfast and spent the afternoons relaxing by the pool. When we booked a car for Siem Reap, our driver ended up being the owner and our car was a Lexus SUV. The place was heaven and it didn’t blow our budget!
Bad: Marsabit, Kenya
This would have taken the cake until we got to SE Asia. Off of what little backpacker trail there is in Africa, there exists only two kinds of accommodation: first class and…local. Driving on the “road” from Kenya to Ethiopia we pulled over in the largest town, Marsabit and headed to the local place recommended by the guidebook. The basic cement rooms had seen better days, and the electricity was intermittent. Sometimes there was “hot” water, but the only food available was abysmal. Excellent. Unfortunately the shared toilets were squatters and our friend was sick, a bad combination.
Ugly: Don Det, Laos
Our bus was late to arrive at the turn off for four thousand islands in Southern Laos. We arrived at the turn off after dark, meaning it was well past dark by the time we got to the dock and took the boat across to Don Det. We were frantically searching for a place to sleep in the dark. Thankfully the island was a bit deserted, but the accommodations were abysmal or outrageous. We spent one night in a cruddy little hut and “got the heck out” the next day. Unfortunately that also back fired and we ended up spending the next night (for free) in a crummy hotel room at the bus station. Dirty sheets, walls and floor. It was gross and the buses started rolling in at 6 a.m. We had of course arrived around three, because sometimes a four hour bus ride does take 12.
This column of ishouldlogoff.com aims to answer those questions that we always get asked. What was your favorite this, or your worst that. Every week we aim to highlight a new topic and will do so until we run out of ideas. If you have an idea for a Good-Bad-Ugly post, feel free to tell us in the comment section below or send us an email. To read all of them, click here.
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inka says
Oh, oh, that last one surprises me by even standing upright (sort of, I guess).
Debbie Beardsley @ European Travelista says
The “ugly” was really kind of scary! Did you have to pay to stay there? LOL But have to agree, accommodations can make or break a trip.
Jillian says
Unfortunately yes. That isn’t a picture of the exact hut we stayed in, but it’s pretty similar. Thankfully we weren’t the only ones who wanted to “get out of dodge” the next morning, so we had company waiting for the bus!
Jeremy B says
Nothing worse than a crummy hotel experience. Luckily, I don’t have high expectations but the more remote your destination, the more you have to worry about a bad experience. Of course, bad experiences can happen in good locations and expensive cities as well. However, because my expectations are typically lower, I don’t worry about those too much.
I will have to look into the hostelbookers contest!
Jillian says
Crummy hotel experiences are the worst. Generally my expectations are rather low, and to be fair we only paid $4 for a double in the hut. I would prefer to camp though!
Good luck with the hostelbookers contest!
Renee says
I’m definitely bookmarking this for whenever I make it to Cambodia….but thanks for the other warnings, Jillian…..yuck!
Jillian says
Renee, if you go to Cambodia and Laos let me know! I can steer you away from some rather unsavory places all over the region! 🙂
John in France says
I’ve got spoilt after many years of travel! I like very good hotels (I deserve them!!) but I like to get a bargain. There are good bargains to be gained by looking around. As for the last place you stayed!!! Ew.
Roy | cruisesurfingz says
A four hour bus ride taking 12? Gosh, what a nightmare…
Jillian says
To be fair, the bus was 5 hours late when it finally showed up at the bus stop!