Serbia Unhappy with 'Decrepit Dump' of a Hotel

Remember how England was raving about how it loved its World Cup accommodations?

Serbia ... is at the other end of the spectrum.

According to the Johannesburg Times, the travel agency charged by the Serbian federation with finding lodging for the 2010 World Cup, is unhappy with the hotel first offered.

How unhappy?

Well, a Belgrade newspaper used the words "decrepit dump" to describe the place. (I wonder how "decrepit dump" sounds in Serbian. As awful as it does in English?)

The agency didn't like the size of the rooms, beds or bathrooms, and the agency also complained of an "odor of staleness" outside the hotel.

The place is considered a three-star hotel. Most of us who have traveled on a budget would consider a three-star hotel something of a splurge. But we're not world-class soccer players, are we.

England, remember, is staying at a royal retreat.

Anyway, it occurs to me that it wasn't all that long ago that posh accommodations were not considered the divine right of World Cup soccer players. The theory being, as I recall from some spartan U.S. camps, that they were in country to play soccer, not to luxuriate in plush rooms.

So soccer players have come up in the world. And the Serbians want their four-star accommodations, too. Make that "five-star".