It’s a hotel so terrible that it even shocks hardened globetrotters.
Officially, it’s called Muranyi 50 City Rooms, but it’s known locally in Budapest as ‘Alcatraz’.
And Alfie Watts, the winner of BBC1’s Race Across The World, was left in a state of shock when he checked in there, as an eye-opening video he posted to his Instagram profile shows.
In the clip, the 21-year-old states to camera, as he stands in his room: ‘I think it’s happened. I think I’ve found the worst hotel in the world.’
He then gives his 191,000 followers a tour of his shocking accommodation, for which he paid eight euros (£6.65).
He trains his camera, first of all, on a pile of flatpack furniture lying alongside a wall, points out that guests are expected to roll up a thin duvet to create a pillow and highlights that there is a table – but with no chair.
The duvet, meanwhile, is splattered with orange stains and the bedsheet with a big white stain that Alfie believes to be semen, alongside several ‘unnamed stains’.
‘Yummy!’ says Alfie.
Is the worst over? No. Alfie then finds a knife down the side of the bed. Not a piece of cutlery, but the sort of weapon you’d expect a hunter to carry or a chef to cut meat with.
Alfie holds it to the camera to show the stains on it, which he’s convinced are formed from blood.
The travel content creator told MailOnline Travel that the hotel was so awful that he didn’t stay the night.
He said: ‘The knife down the side of the bed pushed my cameraman over the edge. I insisted on staying for the content but then the locals – who I assumed owned the property – started playing insanely loud music and were smoking in the corridors.
‘The rest of the hotel was just as bad. It had six rooms in hostel-like variation with two shared bathrooms.
‘There were cigarette packets in the bathrooms, the Wi-Fi didn’t work and some people were sleeping on the floor in the corridor.’
Was there anything good about the hotel?
‘Absolutely not,’ said Alfie. ‘Maybe that it had an exit? It was the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in – by far.’
He added: ‘A local we met outside said it’s known in the area as the “Alcatraz of Budapest” and didn’t know how it was still legally a hotel.’
Alfie’s assessment of the hotel’s credentials is mirrored by lots of other reviewers on Booking.com, through which stays can be booked.
‘Palwasha’ from Hungary gave the hotel one star out of five, describing it as ‘extremely untidy and completely different from the pictures’. They added: ‘The staff were unprofessional, and the atmosphere was unpleasant, with many guests drinking and smoking indoors. The door locks were broken, the entire place was filthy, and there was a strong, unpleasant odour. As soon as I arrived and saw the conditions, I immediately cancelled my booking.’
Maurice from the United States was similarly unenthusiastic.
He said: ‘This is the absolute worst place I have ever been to. We didn’t stay and found other accommodations. I travel all over the world often, and have been to over 60 countries, and this is by far the worst place ever.’
The hotel, located 2.6km from the city centre, has a 2.1 rating out of five overall on Booking.com.
In light of Alfie’s experience, Booking.com said: ‘This is not the experience we would want for anyone booking a stay on our platform. To help ensure that travellers have a stay that meets their expectations, we always encourage guests to read reviews left by previous visitors, which provide valuable insights.’
For more from Alfie visit his TikTok and Instagram profiles.
