THE WORST, most disgusting hotel I’ve ever had the misfortune of visiting.
That’s how one member describes TripAdvisor’s #1 dirtiest hotel in Europe, located in Blackpool, England. Other visitors agree, reporting dodgy wiring, a dumbwaiter-like elevator, filthy bedspreads, and windows too dirt-smudged to see through.
This and more comes from the site’s recently posted list of the 2010 Top Dirtiest Hotels in Europe. Eight of the 10 are in England. Ouch.
Britain’s tourism industry responded quickly, claiming that reviews on TripAdvisor (and other sites like hostelbookers, hostelworld, hostelz, bug, activehotels, and travelpod) can be posted by people with ulterior motives, who may or may not have stayed at the hotel.
They’ve got room for argument, given last summer’s scandal following TripAdvisor’s announcement that some of their hotel reviews could be fraudulent (including positive plants by staff as well as negative plants by competitors). So who is the researching traveler to believe?