I’m writing this as a top-tier member of the IHG loyalty programme for nearly 30-years, who has stayed at many Holiday Inn Expresses - in all their iterations - over the years. Guessing the age of this property, I did have low expectations, but even so this was a disappointing stay. Check-n was fine, but when I got into my room, I soon realised that the electric radiator wasn’t working - a faulty thermostat. So I popped back to the reception and they gave me a portable heater to use. Later, I realised that the water around the base of the toilet bowl wasn’t the sign of a floor that had only just been cleaned, but was instead a leak. So I went back to reception. When they went to enter the issue in the maintenance logbook, they noticed the same problem had been reported the day before by the previous guest. It seems the maintenance guy doesn’t work weekends, hence why it had yet to be fixed. So why was I given that room? Surely a leaky toilet would have meant the room was taken out of service? And given how early I’d arrived, they could have easily allocated this Diamond Elite member a better room. I was also told that unless I could accept a different room type, as they were full that night, I would have to wait till the next day for a room change. I was happy to wait and asked for an extra towel to soak up the water. Unfortunately when I got back to the hotel the next day, I learned that the leak had not been fixed as the maintenance guy had called in sick. When I asked about the room change, I was told they were full again and that there had not been a handover from yesterday’s team, so they’d not been told to get me a new room, before the final rooms were sold. Again, I could accept a different room type now, or wait to see if a room became available as the evening went on. I chose to wait and was lucky. An hour later, they had found me a new room. Now I’ve had a few room changes over the years at IHG hotels, where you collect the new key, move your stuff over, then return the old key. But I was told that wasn’t allowed and I’d have to pack every up, go down to reception and collecting the new key. So I did that, only to be given the key to a room just four doors away from my original. Other disappointments were the free breakfast, that was very lacking in continental items, and you’d be poorly served as a vegetarian. And although it’s only in recent years that Holiday Inn Expresses have started to offer evening meals, the menu here was pretty sparse, and I ended up eating out each evening. So all in all, not a good stay and if I return to Inverness, I will stay elsewhere. I should say that they gave me two vouchers for a drink and snack for the inconvenience, though I’d have rather had a room that was bettter maintained.…
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.