He never leaves home without it.
Zac Jones checked into a budget hotel in the popular British beach resort of Blackpool that cost him around $16 a night, including full breakfast — but fled the premises after going over his room with an ultraviolet light.
The 27-year-old is a fan of affordable travel, but also values cleanliness — and what he found after an inspection of the premises had him racing out into the street.
Jones said he was horrified to find his bed for the night in the “worst” condition he’s ever seen.
The content creator posted a video of the shocking discovery on TikTok, where it has now snagged more than 2.4 million views.
Like most travelers, he walked into his quarters thinking he had snagged an excellent deal.
The “vintage” room may have been “a bit dirty,” he noted, but he was also happy to find a coffee and tea station, as well as a television.
“For £12.80 a night I’m impressed,” the Liverpudlian told What’s The Jam.
“[But] I’d rather drive home than stay in that bed,” he said.
There were warning signs, he said — a reportedly stained chair and a cupboard that wasn’t quite up to par.
But over all, as first glances go, he thought he was in a pretty good spot.
Then he made the mistake of stripping the bed to see what the mattress was like — on video, it appears to be visibly stained.
Then he gets the light out, at which point he is nearly speechless, calling the gruesome findings “horrible” and “atrocious.”
“Worst UV light inspection I’ve ever done,” he tells the camera.
Shortly after, he left the hotel.
Equally skeeved viewers seemed to feel he did the right thing.
“No way would I sleep in there,” one declared.
“Hell no,” another emphasized.
“For [that price], I would still sleep in the bed, even if scenes of crime had just left,” one fellow budgeteer confessed.
Beyond the cleanliness issue, Jones said that the hotel was otherwise fine, with a staff he called “friendly.”
He noted a few cobwebs and errant hairs in the common areas during his brief stay — but nothing too traumatizing.
“The room wasn’t the worst I’ve stayed in, despite the price, and I was blown away when the owner said breakfast [was included] – and that it was included in the price!”
“I didn’t want a refund — the price was justified,” the traumatized traveler said.
Blackpool is known for its wide selection of affordable, mom-and-pop owned small hotels — some of them award-winning.
In any city, hotel rooms can be a minefield of filth, it’s been widely reported — and some of it even a blacklight can’t pick up.
For example, flight attendants have been known to wash their underwear in hotel room coffee makers — the perfect spot to steam and sanitize on the fly, apparently.
Last year, a hotel housekeeper shared her do’s and don’ts for hotel rooms on TikTok, warning travelers against touching the in-room coffee pot, just in case someone’s scanties went before you.
Some insist the all-but-unmentionable tale is nothing more than urban legend — but you’ll never really know.
