The Most Outrageous Hotel Guests of 2018

Image: Man pulling suitcase and entering hotel room (Photo via Tero Vesalainen / iStock / Getty Images Plus)
Image: Man pulling suitcase and entering hotel room (Photo via Tero Vesalainen / iStock / Getty Images Plus)
Patrick Clarke
by Patrick Clarke
Last updated: 7:00 AM ET, Wed December 19, 2018

Let's just say that hotel guests around the world weren't on their best behavior in 2018.

While we're certain most checked in and out without incident, there was a handful who made headlines for the wrong reasons, some more serious than others.

Perhaps the most despicable guest this year was a man accused of stealing from a Toys for Tots bin at a hotel in northeast Pennsylvania. The real-life Grinch who stole Christmas was even caught on camera at the Comfort Inn and Suites near Mount Pocono.

In November, a United Airlines pilot was removed from his duties and slapped with criminal charges after witnesses claimed to have seen him dancing and gyrating naked in the window of his 10th-floor room at the Westin Hotel at Denver International Airport during his stay two months earlier.

And who could forget the British couple that drunkenly agreed to purchase a hotel while backpacking through Sri Lanka on their honeymoon?

Some of 2018's most infamous hotel guests weren't even human. An uninvited bear wandered into Colorado's historic Stanley Hotel in August, climbing over several pieces of furniture before eventually checking out on its own.

Some unfortunate hotel guests were wrongly accused of outrageous behavior in 2018 and it's always important to separate fact from fiction. Despite what some headlines may have read, you can rest assured that Toronto hotel guests did not slaughter any goats this year.

Hotel employees weren't immune to the head-scratching headlines this year either with staff at a Jamaican resort landing in hot water after they created a disturbing effigy of a couple's late son on his birthday.

Hotel guests also made some weird requests in 2018.

A recent Travelodge study turned up some truly bizarre inquiries such as "Can you fill my bath with fresh goat's milk?" and "Can you make sure the sunrises outside my bedroom window?"

Only time will tell what wackiness awaits the hospitality industry in 2019.


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Patrick Clarke

Patrick Clarke

Senior Editor

A Maryland native and wanderer who has lived across the U.S. from North Carolina to SoCal, Patrick Clarke graduated from Towson University with a B.S. in journalism. He previously worked for Bleacher

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