Tourist Mess in Sochi: Diapers, Bedbugs, and Pets Left Behind

On the New Year holidays, 470,000 tourists vacationed in Sochi, of which 281,000 stayed in hotels, reported the resort administration. There are also those who prefer to rent apartments and flats. Landlords are tallying profits and the damage left behind by guests. Our colleagues from SOCHI1.RU collected stories that shocked even seasoned ones. After some tourists, it«s necessary to renovate, call exterminators, and change pipes.

«I Exterminated Those Creatures Myself»

Yulia Kostromina manages apartments and several flats in Adler (Sochi). She was hired by the owners—she advertises, meets tourists, and tidies up the premises after eviction. And Yulia has accumulated many different stories about the state in which tourists leave rental housing. She doesn«t mince words, but we, of course, will soften them.

«I just don»t understand how they aren«t ashamed themselves. In one of the apartments, a young married couple with one-year-old twins lived. For some reason, they threw diapers behind the bed. They accumulated there for two weeks and started to smell. Apparently, it was normal for them. When I entered the apartment, it made my eyes water,» Yulia says. Despite having prepared waterproof mattress covers for all beds, since she knew the guests were coming with small children, for some reason they removed them. As a result, three new mattresses had to be disposed of. Along with the towels used to wipe the floors.

In the apartments, mattresses, pillows, and the beds themselves had to be thrown away. Bedbugs had settled in them.

«I was so ashamed. I checked people in this summer. I laid out new linens for them, we always change pillows at the beginning of the season. And in the morning, they called me and demanded their money back. They decided to move out because they were bitten all night. And they discovered bedbugs. As a result, I exterminated those creatures myself, called a special organization, but nothing helped. We had to throw away the beds and treat the entire apartment,» asserts Yulia. She doesn«t understand how insects could have been brought in; the neighbors didn»t have them.

The girl says that consistently in the apartments and flats she manages, windows, mirrors, toilets, and sinks are broken.

«Some guests clogged the toilet completely and continued to use it. Can you imagine what was going on there when I arrived? We had contactless check-in and check-out, keys were left in special boxes. Now we decided to abandon such practice. From summer, I will personally accept the property, because it»s impossible. They leave garbage in piles, all of it rotting, stinking, and they don«t care. Not all, of course, are such pigs,» says Yulia. According to her, there are also tourists who leave behind ideal cleanliness. They polish the plumbing, take out the trash, and even wash the floors. Such cases help her not to become disappointed in people.

Had to Even Find Homes for Kittens

The owner of a guest house, Svetlana Minasyan, told a SOCHI1.RU correspondent that she lives on the premises and monitors what happens in her accommodation facility 24 hours a day, yet her guests still manage to leave her surprises. Not always does she manage to accept the rooms; sometimes tourists check out on their own.

«For 10 days this summer, a family from Chelyabinsk lived with me. A mom, dad, and two girls aged 10 and 12. Room cleaning is not provided by me; all necessary equipment: vacuum cleaner, mop is provided. But they weren»t up for cleanliness; the parents drank heavily. When they moved out, I opened the door and gasped: in the middle of the chaos, a cat was giving birth. And not mine. Everything was scattered, a pillow was torn and feathers everywhere. As if they fled. Over the phone, they told me that they found the cat when they were returning from the restaurant quite drunk, and took pity. And she turned out to be pregnant,« Svetlana said.

She had to fuss with the cat, and then even find homes for the kittens. By the way, she remained living with Svetlana. She says that compassionate tourists brought several dogs to the guest house, and one family left their own. They couldn«t be reached by phone; possibly they put Svetlana»s number on the blacklist.

Several times a season, she has to call the water utility and clean the pipes; guests persistently flush wet wipes, diapers, and even towels down the toilet. And then they complain that there are problems with the sewage.

«The Most Undemanding Are Siberians»

Elena works as a maid in one of the large and expensive hotels in Sochi; airing dirty laundry is not customary there—for that, you can get fired, so we won«t give her last name. She has many stories related to trashed rooms. This New Year holidays, another one occurred that even shocked her. A newlywed suite, costing 25,000 rubles per night (about $270), was rented by a young married couple. They spent 4 days in the hotel and didn»t leave the room, refused cleaning, only ordered food from the restaurant and alcohol. At the same time, they behaved noisily and argued all the time. After they checked out, the maids were horrified.

«All the light-colored coating was flooded with blood. The entire bathroom in blood. Apparently, they not only argued but also fought. Dirty plates with dried food everywhere, garbage, empty bottles. They smoked in the room. The manager contacted them; they refused to compensate for the damage. They cursed at her and told her to go to court. How it all ended, I don»t know,« says Elena. She has been working as a maid in various Sochi hotels for 20 years. And she is sure that the more expensive the facility, the bolder the people who stay there. They think that if they paid a lot, then they can do whatever they want.

«Drunk men run naked through the corridors, yell, bring women of easy virtue, aren»t ashamed of anything. They behave rudely, and we are generally lower-class people for them—servants. Drunkenness is the best rest for them. From that come all the problems. A sober person wouldn«t behave like that. But I won»t say that this is directly mass. Many of our guests treat the staff respectfully, take care of the room,« says Elena.

According to her observations, the most intelligent guests are Muscovites, in second place—residents of St. Petersburg. The noisiest and most demanding—are tourists from Rostov, Voronezh, Krasnodar. The most undemanding and friendly—are Siberians.