The Merchants Hotel - Manchester, United Kingdom 

The worst place I have ever stayed in EVER.
Posted: Mon, Jul 21 2008
Got off to a flying start after finding out that 'paying' for it by credit card and booking online only reserves the room and doesn't remove any money from your bank account, so that on arrival we had to pay by cash, a large amount of which we didn't have, so we had to trek about a mile to find the nearest cash machine and come back. The man was utterly miserable and sarcastic and the hallway had a stench of stale old peoples home mixed with urine and sorrow about it. I think the spirits of previous disgruntled travellers haunt it still. The room itself was beyond disgusting. Now, I've stayed in hostels in many places so I'm not exactly going to moan just because its basic and far from luxurious. This however, was just something else.. The room was damp, the paint was peeling off the walls. THERE WAS TOENAIL CLIPPINGS ON THE FLOOR. The bed was not made and had pubic hairs, dandruff and other unmentionables scattered about the mattress (most hotels usually have a mint or a chocolate or something but whatever I guess not at the merchants). The quilt was crumpled and tossed aside and there was spilt sugar and milk on the table!! Mysterious hairs the colour of which belonged to nobody present made their way onto everything which touched something remotely related to that room. So, we went downstairs to complain and was told that the man found it all 'VERY HARD TO BELIEVE' as he had apparently cleaned it all himself that very morning! Well god forbid hes ever forced to work as a cleaner thats all I can say. After inspecting the room he was proved wrong. He reluctantly apologised, more or less blaming ghosts (as ghosts clearly have solid visible hair and enjoy a cup of tea with milk and sugar), and we were moved to a bedroom with an 'en suite'. Yes, a bathroom where the shower constantly leaked, a cold water tap which would not work and made the sound of a dying animal when you tried to turn it on, ripped toilet paper and an unflushed toilet filled with the bowel contents of the rooms last residents. Oh, and there was yet more pubic hairs scattered on the bed this time. Room was also freezing cold and the dark alley outside was filled with someone who loved nothing better than arguing at the top of their voice on the hour, EVERY hour. Lastly, we didn't get the ?10 deposit back, as the owner/cleaner/hotel extraordinaire made himself scarce and could not be found at 8am in the morning, not exactly an unholy hour. I could actually go on and on forever if you hadn't guessed but basically, when me and my friend read the words 'suspected it was being used as a brothel' in a review of the place, our first thoughts should NOT have been 'ohhhh thats a cheap rate!'. DO NOT STAY HERE.

Warning ! Warning ! Warning
Posted: Thu, Jul 17 2008
The True Hotel from Hell! Eight of us stayed there for a couple of nights. When we got there they demanded cash up front for the entire stay, there credit card machine wasn't working they said, so alarm bells started ringing. My daughter and her cousin were given a single bed between them they are 21 and 18 respectively. My wife and I was given a room.en suite, the toilet had no toilet seat! beds had no head boards, holes in carpets and dirty, The wallpaper damp and peeling off the walls. The wardrobes are hilarious, they consist of a bit of wire stuck on the wall but you have to supply your own hangers. My brother and his wife had a room that smelled like the sewers. his mother in law shared her room with his daughter and hilarious as it sounds there en-suite consisted of a shower unit stuck in the middle of the room at the end of the bed, when one of them wanted to have a shower the other one had to leave the room. The second room I was given, the door to the shower banged against the wall so unless you were a thin person you couldn't get into the shower. Then for two nights, the pub opposite locals bellowing their dreadful voices through a karaoke up till two in the morning, what a din! Any positives? The hotel is conveniently located. My advice. Don't stay, if you do stay don't forget to take some hangers with you and take your own toilet seat!