10 People Whose Dream Vacations Became Unthinkable Horror Stories

We dream of the perfect getaway, a place to unwind, recharge, and escape from the stresses of everyday life. But sometimes, the reality of a vacation is far from the peaceful retreat we envisioned. These stories will make you think twice before booking your next trip.

• We checked into a cozy Airbnb, ready to relax. But my stomach dropped when I spotted a faint blinking light inside the bedside lamp. Thinking it was a hidden camera, I yanked the plug. Seconds later, the owner burst in, shouting, “Are you out of your mind?”
  It turned out the lamp had a built-in sensor that controlled the heating system. Unplugging it shut off the power for the entire house. He wasn’t spying, just furious—and we had to pay for the service call to fix it. That was the most expensive “ghost sighting” of my life.

• The bathroom locked from the outside. If you accidentally shut the door all the way, you had to have someone in the room open the door for you when you were done. If you were by yourself, you were out of luck until someone came back, or you called the front desk from the bathroom to send someone up. This was pre-mainstream cell phone usage, so you may not have had your phone on you at all times.
  Needless to say, we got our stay comped. © cousin_geri / Reddit

• Last year for Valentine’s Day, I got a room for my wife and I at a really nice hotel. It was pretty expensive, but all the reviews said it was really nice, and the rooms were big.
  We get in, and the staff was extremely rude, we don’t look like the kind of people who can afford to spend a lot on a hotel room, and the staff were just really disrespectful. They made us feel like we didn’t belong there.
  We got up to the room and it was super tiny. It was boiling in the room and the air conditioning didn’t work. Asked the staff if there was a way to fix it, and they just ignored us. © sksksk1989 / Reddit

• A few years ago, I was staying at a hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, and they had construction going on. Construction-related faulty wiring or something kept causing the alarm to go off (false alarm), and periodically a recorded voice would announce there was some kind of incident and to stay in your room until otherwise notified.
  All. Night. Long. I couldn’t get any sleep, and I had to get up early and work all day. © harbac / Reddit

• I’ve only seen my husband super angry twice in our relationship. He is the level-headed one and pretty chill.
  The first time was when we drove to Oklahoma to pick up my brother. My brother didn’t answer his phone, door, nothing. We eventually found him at a party after driving around town for forever. We decided to grab a room for the night.
  This room was completely dismantled. The bed was torn apart, there were gas tanks in the room, the TV was gone. It also seemed like a storage room. My husband angry stomped to the office and was irate. I literally think this is the angriest I’ve seen him in 15 years. © Finalgirl2022 / Reddit

• One time when I was on Nebraska, the hotel we stayed at, they gave us the wrong keys and gave us the keys to someone else’s room!
  Then, when we complained, they said, “Oh well. We’ll have to charge you for another room.” Then, when we got OUR room keys, the beds were unmade and the bathroom was dirty, plus there weren’t any towels in the room either. By far the worst. © neelas23 / Reddit

• My wife and I were staying at a beautiful hotel by the coast for a relaxing getaway. Our room had an ocean view and even a hot tub, so we were looking forward to a peaceful weekend.
  It was around 1 a.m. when we heard loud arguing coming from the suite next door. The arguing escalated quickly into yelling, and it became clear that the situation was getting intense. The hotel staff arrived soon after, knocking on the door to check if everything was okay, mentioning that the police were on their way.
  The person in the other room opened the door and shouted at the staff, refusing help and making things even more chaotic. Police arrived shortly after, but we never learned what happened to the situation.
  We couldn’t sleep well that night, and to make matters worse, the hotel refused to offer any compensation for the inconvenience. Instead, they gave us a 10% discount for our next visit—needless to say, we weren’t interested.
  A few years later, my company gave me a gift certificate for two free nights at this hotel, but we never even used it.

• I was on a work trip, staying at a cheap hotel. The first night, I woke up around 2 a.m. to a strange sound, a slow, steady breathing coming from the wall behind my bed. At first, I thought it was my own echo, or maybe air conditioning vents.
  But when I pressed my ear to the wall, I realized it wasn’t. The breathing kept going, even when I held my breath. Long inhale, long exhale. Then it stopped. A few seconds later, it started again, faster this time.
  I called the front desk and explained what I was hearing. The guy said, “That’s weird, there’s no room on the other side, just a maintenance shaft.” I left the lights on and didn’t sleep after that. The sound kept moving, first from the wall, then from under the bed.
  When I checked out the next morning, a maintenance worker was unscrewing the vent near the floor. I asked what was inside. He said, “Probably pigeons. They get into the ducts sometimes.”
  He went back to work, and as I rolled my suitcase past, I heard it again. Soft, slow, steady. Breathing.

• When I was a kid, my mum booked what she called a boutique hotel when we went to New York for holidays. When we got there, the first thing we see was a sign on the door saying something like the basement of these premises has been declared a major fire hazard, with another handwritten sign next to it saying not to worry too much about the sign.
  Our room smelled bad, there was no AC, and our view was onto an alleyway. I’m not gonna lie, I was pretty happy because there was somehow free Wi-Fi (a big deal in 2009). My mum was not, however, and she marched us downstairs and demanded her money back from the concierge. She got a refund, and we ended up staying in a millennium. © heephap / Reddit

• I can’t recall the name, but I’ll share the story anyway. I drove my aunt and uncle to the VA in DC/Maryland. After hours of driving and waiting at the VA, my aunt and I were so exhausted that we left my uncle there.
  We searched for a cheap hotel, checked in, and then had to unload my uncle’s truck and make multiple trips through a strange hotel layout to get everything upstairs. We had to walk down a long hallway. Go up an elevator that one person at a time and it was a line.
  When we finally get everything to the room, it turned out to be terrible, with roaches and thin beds, but we were too tired to do anything about it except shower and sleep. © LovingWins_ / Reddit

When things don’t go as planned, it’s easy to believe that the chaos will never end. But sometimes, the most unexpected situations can teach us the most valuable lessons. If you’re intrigued by the ups and downs of well-intentioned gestures gone wrong, this story will give you a glimpse into one man’s attempt to lighten his wife’s load—and the surprising twist that followed. For more on how one simple promise spiraled into a relationship wake-up call, check out this eye-opening article.