12 People Who Just Wanted a Vacation—but Got Nightmares Instead

Vacations are supposed to be relaxing and fun, but for some travelers, they turned into total nightmares. From creepy strangers to shocking surprises, these real experiences show what can go wrong when you’re out on a holiday.

• My boyfriend surprised me with a romantic weekend at a fancy hotel. Everything seemed perfect—until it was time to check out. His credit card didn’t go through, and I could see the embarrassment all over his face. Trying to ease the tension, I smiled and covered the bill myself. Just as we were leaving, the receptionist quietly pulled me aside. In a low voice, she warned, “Be careful with him. I’ve seen this happen before—his card gets declined, and the woman ends up footing the bill. You’re not the first.”
  I brushed it off. We were still in the early stages of dating, and I genuinely trusted him. But as time passed, patterns began to emerge. He’d conveniently forget his wallet or suggest shopping trips where I always ended up paying. Eventually, he tried to get me to put money into a sketchy investment idea. That was the breaking point. I ended the relationship. Still, I can’t forget that moment at the hotel—it was the first red flag, and I wish I had listened to the woman who tried to warn me.

• I stayed at a hotel in a big city where construction messed up the wiring. Alarms kept going off all night, and a voice on the speaker said to stay in our rooms. I barely slept—and had to work all day.

• My dad once booked a hotel room on the ground floor. As he walked in and opened the curtains, he saw a man hiding behind them. Calmly, he said, “Excuse me,” grabbed his things, and went straight to the front desk. Turns out, the man had broken in through the window while sleepwalking.

• I booked a night at a hotel that looked nice online. When I arrived, I realized it was mid-renovation, turning into a senior living center! My room had emergency pull cords, medical signs, and the most uncomfortable bed ever.

• I arrived at a fancy hotel at 4 AM after a long flight. The front desk guy had no idea what rooms were available. He started randomly calling guests to ask if the room was empty. At 5 AM, someone tried to open my door. Turns out, he gave out my room by mistake.

• For Valentine’s Day, I splurged on a nice hotel for me and my wife. The reviews were glowing—but the moment we walked in, the staff looked at us like we didn’t belong. The room was tiny, boiling hot, and the air conditioning was broken. When we asked for help, they just ignored us.

• I was a kid staying at a hotel with other children while the parents went out. Suddenly, we heard a strange noise—and then hundreds of tiny spiders started crawling up the walls. We ended up hiding in the bathroom all night.

• While vacationing in Florida, my family found a mini fridge in the hotel room. We opened it, and ants came pouring out. Someone had left open soda cans inside, and now the fridge was crawling with bugs. We packed up and left the next day.

• At a Philadelphia hotel, I went down to get towels late at night. A strange man started talking to me in the elevator and followed me down the hallway. I thought I was being stalked—but it turned out he worked there and was just delivering towels. Scared me half to death.

• While staying at a motel with my ex, I got locked inside the bathroom after a shower. The door wouldn’t budge. Maintenance had to take the doorknob apart to get me out. At least they gave us a free room upgrade, but I was definitely done with that place.

• I arrived at a resort at 3 AM. The receptionist immediately panicked when I said I was there to check in. He then began dialing room numbers, saying “sorry” whenever someone picked up. It took me a minute to realize he didn’t have a proper record of which rooms were actually taken, and he was calling random ones at 3 AM to see if anyone picked up.
  
  Eventually, he handed me a key to a room he thought was empty. I went up, closed the door quietly, and tried to squeeze in three hours of sleep before the day started. Just to be safe, I unplugged the room phone. At 5 AM, someone was at my door, trying to open it with a keycard. Turns out, the clerk still hadn’t figured out which rooms were free and which weren’t responding.

• I was shocked to find a hidden camera in our hotel room. It was past midnight. My husband quickly threw a scarf over it. Just a few minutes later, the door burst open. A man stormed in, yelling, “You idiots, this is a camera for outside security. Why did you cover it???” He was the front desk guy and revealed to us that there had been a few cases of items going missing in the hotel, so they put out cameras that were aimed at the entrance of the room. The staff has been asked to monitor it 24/7. The whole thing was too weird and uncomfortable, and we checked out as fast as we could.

Every family has its secrets, but some are so shocking they have the power to change everything. Here is a letter from our reader, who shares the difficult situation she’s in, asking for help. Read about it here: I Checked My Daughter’s Phone and Now I’m Furious at My Husband