A couple who booked a recent weekend getaway were shocked to find 'handcuffs' fashioned from cable ties attached to the bed frame when they checked into their hotel room. The pair, who had picked their destination based on the favourable reviews it had received online, said that they were both "really creeped out" by the makeshift discovery.
They also claimed that there were also traces of a "suspicious looking white powder" on the bedside table. The husband, who asked not to be named, said that when his wife complained to the front desk at The Mariners in Falmouth, Cornwall, she was told by the manager there that he'd "been away" and "this is what he'd come back to."
"Someone had clearly been having a hell of a time in that room before we got there," said the 50-year-old training company manager from Cardiff, adding things "hadn't been great" from the minute they'd arrived at the seafront destination, which bills itself as 'a modern pub with rooms'.
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"It was meant to be a fun weekend away and the online photos of the place looked fine," he said. "But when we arrived we were like, 'Oh my God, this this doesn't look like the pictures we saw at all - those made it look quite plush, with nice views of the harbour.
"Instead, we were given a room at the back with a view of the fire escape - really grimy too. The place looked like hadn't been cleaned in ages and there was so much black mould in the bathroom I didn't even want to take my clothes off in there.
"But I just thought, "Oh well, we'll put up with it - we'll just never come here again'. But when I saw the bed I couldn't believe my eyes - there were wrist restraints made from cable ties still attached to the headboard, which was really icky and creeped us both out.
"They'd obviously been left by the previous guest. And, on the bedside cabinet was all this crystalized white powder, which looked really suspicious - I can only imagine what that was.
"But by that point it was really late and everywhere else nearby was closed. So we had no choice but to spend the night there."
He described the manager as "hugely apologetic and embarrassed" when confronted about the state of the room the following morning. "He told us that he'd been away and this is what he'd come back to find, adding that the cleaner hadn't been in."
The couple, who'd initially booked to stay two nights, were then upgraded to "a nicer, newer-looking room at the front which overlooked the water." The man added, "That was a lot more like what we'd originally seen advertised online."
Mike Robinson, General Manager of The Mariners - which has a three star rating and an average review score of 4.5 out of five on Tripadvisor - said, "The couple complained that there were some cable ties attached to the bed. They made us aware of this first thing the next morning.
"They also sent us a booking.com comment about this and then replied with a thank you for moving them to another room. They really enjoyed their stay."
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