If you’re planning on traveling this summer, you might have already started searching for reviews of local spots, getaway destinations, and, perhaps most importantly, hotels. Planetware recently analyzed nearly 8 million hotel reviews from more than 9,000 hotels across 95 U.S. cities to determine the cities with the worst hotel reviews. 

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The team from Planetware recently analyzed nearly 8 million hotel reviews on TripAdvisor to determine which U.S. cities have the worst hotels. The reviews come from more than 9,000 hotels across 95 U.S. cities. Cities with the highest percentage of bad reviews (1- or 2-stars out of five) are dubbed the worst. Read on to find which cities you should be wary of when planning future vacations!

Key findings from worst hotel reviews

  • Myrtle Beach, SC, Atlantic City, NJ, and Virginia Beach, VA, have the worst hotels in America, with 1 in 5 visitors leaving bad reviews.
  • When it comes to bad reviews left for hotels across the country, the smell of smoke in the rooms, a lack of toilet paper, bed bugs, and thin walls were the most common.
  • Miami Beach, FL, and Montauk, NY, have the worst hotel service based on TripAdvisor reviews.
  • Tied for 11th on the list for the most one and two-star reviews at 15% is Phoenix, AZ.
  • Phoenix also ranks as the #39 city with the worst hotel service with 10.4% of all reviews including mentions of bad hotel service.
  • Three Arizona cities made the list (Phoenix #11, Flagstaff #22, and Tucson #41). 
  • Nationally the most common bad reviews left for hotels: 1. The smell of smoke 2. Lack of toilet paper 3. Bed bugs 4. Thin walls.