TripAdvisor has posted its 2009 Dirtiest Hotels list , which is always great fun to read. It amazes me that anyone even stays at these places considering the reputation they have. For the U.S. list, Hotel Carter in New York City is tops. It wouldn’t take you long to see what a horrible place this is considering it has 14 five-star reviews and 527 one-star ones. New York and New Jersey have 4 of the 10 worst offenders actually, but what is really odd is that all of the dirty winners are east of the Mississippi River. Are hotel managers more fastidious out west or are the buildings just newer?
There are also lists for the UK, with 7 of the 10 being in London. Fancy a bargain £50 stay at the Cromwell Crown ? Previous guests frequently describe it with the word awful, the phrase “hell on earth,” and references to The Shining.
New Delhi scores an incredible 8 out of 10 in the India list, though picking the 10 dirtiest hotels in India must take a lot of sifting. If someone expanded this to cheap backpacker places, you’d need to have a top-50 for just the Paharganj area alone! What’s bizarre though is the #1 worst hotel on that India list is currently posting a price of $148 a night! Incredible India indeed. For that amount you could stay three or four nights in a simple but clean place elsewhere in the city, complete with hot water and maid service. It gets a little better down the line. Hotel Welcome Palace may have a deceiving name and get skewered in the ratings by everyone who stays there, but at least it’s one-third the price of the “leader.”
