Bendemeer Hotel staff were left "baffled" after they found flipped fans, ripped carpet and dirt scattered around room eight of the hotel on Sunday morning.

To the naked eye it would appear a guest had enjoyed a big night and forgotten to clean up in the morning.

But, the problem was the room had not been rented, the door was locked and the key was still hanging downstairs in reception.

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Hotel owner Leanne Summers said she just "couldn't understand" what had happened.

"I had been phoning around all the staff to see if anyone had let the room out, but didn't record it in the book, to try and piece together who could have trashed our room," she said.

After the discovery was made on Sunday, cleaners Robbie Lee and Alison Smith fixed up the room and locked the door as it was not suitable for guests due to the carpet damage.

But on Monday morning when the door was unlocked to let some air in, the room was found with knocked over bins and an overturned bedside table.

It was at that moment that Mr Lee looked under the bed to find a huge echidna had made itself at home.

"Straight away this solved the mystery," Ms Summers said.

"No one in a million years would think that we'd expect to find an echidna."

Ms Summers said she still couldn't work out how the echidna managed to get inside the room, but her best guess was it could have "slowly" made its way up the back stairs, and was waiting on the verandah for the door to be opened.

"We didn't think it was a ghost, but we couldn't pinpoint it," she said.

"I honestly thought a dog had been locked in there and was trying to scratch its way out."

Room eight will now be officially known as the Echidna Suite and will feature a framed photo of the unique guest.

Ms Summers said the echidna had set the hotel back about $3500 for room repairs.

"The little bugger has cost me a fortune," she said.

The echidna was released into a paddock near the hotel and will not be charged for the damage.

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