Hotel Hell Vacation Story Contest on HomeAway

I grew up with the Griswolds Vacation movies. In fact I sometimes thought we were the Griswolds, especially when we set off on our annual family vacation. Now that I’m a parent, I see the humor in travel with kids as we’ve even had our own travel mishaps, just like the recent Hotel Hell Vacation by HomeAway.com.

I’ve been to Grand Bahama Island on a family vacation where we ended up in an ant filled hotel room. In fact, that one particular trip set me on the travel writing path so that I could help other families avoid these types of situations.

My husband and I purchased one of those travel agent specials for a romantic getaway to Cancun. You know the trip I’m referring to – the last-minute too-good-to-be-true-because-you-can-actually-afford-it package. I even once traveled on a comped media press trip that turned out to be the worst hotel in St. Louis, MO. In fact, a fellow writer threatened to take an early flight out because the lodging was so unacceptable.

Do you have a similar “hotel hell” story to share?

HomeAway – the world’s leading online vacation rental marketplace – is asking travelers to share their stories of hotel horrors in the form of a text, photo or video entry between now and March 2 for the chance to win one of four $10,000 family vacations at a private, spacious HomeAway vacation rental.

Contest entries will be voted on by the general public, and finalists will be judged by the king and queen of travel mishaps – Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo, who recently reprised their roles as Clark and Ellen Griswold from “National Lampoon’s Vacation” for a new HomeAway advertising campaign. Watch the full episode below.

Be sure to visit http://vacation.homeaway.com to enter your travel mishap story.