Holiday Inn Express

I went to complain about it to the front desk. The lady, her name was Yvonne, stated that I booked the hotel through Expedia and not through Holiday Inn and I was their guest and they (Holiday Inn) were hosting me. I showed her the page on my phone that clearly said Holiday Inn Midway Airport. She reiterated I booked through Expedia and it was nothing they could do. AND, the people who were in our room called on us to say we had opened their door! Who is this unintelligent to give free access to two rooms without a key? Someone could have been SHOT and KILLED. Still, more spin. Your fault, not ours. I am then getting and angry, keep in mind we are grieving the death and burial of our mother. She shows ZERO (0) sensitivity. She could care less. It was our fault.

We never knew we were talking to a third party booker. We asked, "Could we speak to a manager." She stated she was not there, but she would tell us the same thing. By this time I am fully enraged and cursing (less than 24 hours after putting our Mother in the ground) that the experience was horrible! Please do not go to this hotel! In addition, there were charges put on our card because we were accused of using taking items from their pantry. My wife had to physically show her the items that were brought in BEFORE we came in. Apparently there is a sensor or something that goes off when you used the pantry. "Did Expedia do that?" I sarcastically asked.

The friendly conversation grew short and she gave me my keys. She told me which direction to go. As I started to turn my wife entered the lobby with my Service Dog. She had the nerve to say to her co-worker, in front of me, "look at this." I explained that it was my wife and my Service Dog. She clearly didn't believe me as she repeated back, "That's a Service Dog?" Yep. It is. She did not ask any of the legally allowable questions about what she does for me focusing instead on the dog's size. The dog was not barking and was walking in lockstep with my wife. She was wearing her Service Dog vest.

As soon as we got to our room, I noticed that it appeared that someone had attempted to break in to the room at some point in the past. The wood was chipped off right at the door lock. Then we noticed that the room smelled like tobacco smoke. One of the Keurig cups with coffee maker was already skewered open. It had not been used but it had clearly been punctured top and bottom. Above the Keurig was an architectural design. It was like a chimney with no outlet. It created strange echoes and held in every smell. This explained the tobacco scent when we came in except that it was a non-smoking hotel. The air conditioner filters were dirty. (We cleaned them so we could breathe better.)

The tub looked dirty. We soon found out that this was because the water in the bottom of the tub pooled instead of draining. It was slippery and slimy underneath. We were forced to wear water shoes in the shower...something I don't have to do at campsites! The sink was cracked. Even the soap at the sink is inconveniently all the way past the sink. And good luck finding the hand towel while you are standing at the sink. They are below the sink, at your knees. The hotel knew that four people were checking in to the 2 queen bed room. They had provided us with enough towels for 2 people. The breakfast that Holiday Inn Express prides themselves on was nothing special at this hotel.

Response from the owner. "Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback; I am sorry you felt that our staff did not take well to your service dog. I did review the the cameras from your check in; it seemed the staff was very happy to see your dog, During review of the footage, I did time the conversations of General manager and desk agent with two of your party to about 12 min, followed by the 4 min of the admiring your service dog. After talking to our Gm and desk agent, they recall much of your conversation, about loving driving in NJ compared to MN and comparing driving in different city's such as LA, NY, MA, and how your service dog is a living crane to assist with mobility. We would have been more then happy to fix any of your issues with your room if they had been brought to our attention." Anthony **, Guest Relations Manager.

We slept in our clothes on top of the covers. My wife did not feel safe here. Bed was hard as stone. IHG offered 10k points as an apology (not enough for 1 night). I turned them down…Switching brands. Corporate responses to similar complaints are all the same and went back years, but nothing seems to have improved. Very disappointed in this brand.

I asked for access to phone so that I might call Holiday Inn 1800 to speak to someone in responsibility’s and that was denied. I asked for a card with the manager's name on it and a contact number for corporate complaints. She gruffly extended her arm in the direction of a card holder on the counter and exclaimed ‘there’. The card had his name but no 1800 number. With that she sang “have a nice day” as she turned her back.

At 4:40 pm we were given cards to room 410. In the room on the Holiday Inn scratch pad was a 1800 number. I called and after being on hold 20 minutes eventually spoke to a young woman who said she documented the above story. I reiterated that it was the delay I objected to, but the dismissive rudeness. She related, after a pause, that she called the inn and that a message would be given to the manager who would contact us first thing in the morning. No incidents number was given to me.

As we left at a bit before 10am I asked at the desk if I could speak to the manager. The young woman at the desk feigned to not know if he was in and got and walked into a nearby room, exited a few moments later and declared he was preparing for a conference call. The door slammed shut behind her. She offered no other time for us to talk. At 2 pm I called the 1800 number and opted for a call back when it suited Holiday Inn. A call back occurred at 2:30 but I was immediately placed on hold for another 15 minutes, and I gave up.

At 4pm I called again and eventually spoke to a young woman named Edwin. She said there was no record of my previous contact and I repeated the whole story again. She insisted that as I was still in the hotel the manager was obligated to deal with this. She assured me she would call the hotel and he would contact me. I informed her I was leaving in the morning. She said it was 3 pm and there was time. At that point it was actually 5 pm. I never received any call from the manager.

We got no assistance and decided to go to the emergency room. The median/island in the street outside demanded we travel miles in the opposite direction to make a U turn and come back. We were so frustrated trying to find the ER. I stopped and called 911 for directions. They said we were not far away and by then with pressure she had gotten the bleeding to stop. We were near a pharmacy, so we chose to go there for bandages and supplies. I trust the logical and responsible thing for the clerk to do would have been to call 911 and have her wait for help. They were helping with directions when we returned...but not before.

When we returned to the hotel, we were informed they would fill out an accident report which they did after we went to our room. I suggested that since my sister was quite distraught and disoriented, they could at least comp the room since they had done nothing else. The clerk was talking to management at the time. He asked my sister later for her ID to add to the report, then she asked, "How can you file a report? You were not present and do not know what happened." He went based upon what we stated. Since then, my sister has attempted to get some reaction from management as the clerk promised and absolutely no reply. Thus, she is contacting an attorney to pursue the matter. Others should know that the prices the hotel chain charges do not ensure good service.

Now, it's two weeks later, 3 days 'til the end of the month and I logged in to my home's leasing site to make a payment. Processed. Now I log into my bank and now sits two charges for two hotel rooms from Holiday Inn Express South Padre Texas. I call US Bank. Well, guess what, since those charges didn't process then, the provisional credit wasn't processed at that time. US Bank can't do anything. Nothing.

All they can do is "request" the case manager to process an expedited request that will be 24 hours AFTER the 1st since it's a holiday weekend and big fraud caseworkers don't work on the weekend, especially a holiday weekend. I thought I was doing a nice thing for this business but apparently, this business knew it was a fraudulent charge, was told it was fraudulent and not only let the thieves go but charged me two weeks later knowing it was a fraudulent charge. I called the hotel again today but the manager was not there so I could not find out why they processed this charge anyway. And US Bank, I'm closing my accounts. I can't believe a bank this large is unable to post a provisional credit for 10 business days.