Holiday Inn Gainesville-University Ctr by IHG — Attraction in Gainesville

My husband and I recently stayed at your Gainesville, Florida property located at 1250 W. University Avenue. We stayed Friday, September 6th and Saturday, September 7th.

We have stayed many times and love the location and convenience while attending Gator Football games.

Upon checking in I inquired about the newly renovated rooms. We were told they were not ready; they were having electrical problems and not being rented out at this time. We were given room 408. I must express our concerns regarding our room and why we feel a full refund is warranted given the issues described below.

Odor: There was a horrible smell in the hallway, it smelled like sewage.

Heat: The heat and humidity in the hallway was awful.

Mold: Our room was dark and dingy. We had mold on the ceiling and under the bathroom sink. Saturday morning we both woke up with horrible headaches. I’m guessing due to the mold

AC: The AC ran all night and was extremely noisy. Filthy beside the unit.

Bathroom: There was a huge stain on the floor, mold on the wall under the sink, the ceiling tiles looked like they were going to cave in. Rust around toilet paper holder.

Pictures are attached.

On Saturday, my sister and I were riding the elevator and over a guest say they were staying on the sixth floor, which is where, the newly renovated rooms were located. This was extremely upsetting to us since we had been told that the renovations were not yet completed.

I immediately contacted the front desk to request a room change. I was directed to come down and speak with a manager. I explained that I had overheard another guest say they were staying on the sixth floor, which is where the newly renovated rooms were located and asked why we were told they were not ready at our check in? The manager informed us that the newly renovated rooms just came into inventory at 1:00am. While the staff was courteous and moved both of our rooms to the sixth floor, the resolution was far from ideal.

New Room 617, was still under renovation, not suitable to be rented due to the issues listed below;

Incomplete Renovation: The room lacked proper finishing touches such as moldings around the entrance door. Plastic coverings were still on the TV and some pictures, and there were visible imperfections in the new shower, paint all over floor at entry and bathroom floor.

No Refrigerator: When we were transferred to the new room, we were not made aware that there was not a refrigerator we had bottled water that could not be refrigerated.

Safety Concerns: The moldings were not properly sanded, leaving splinters that caused discomfort when touched.

To say the least we are very disappointed with Holiday Inn and the lack of concern for the rooms that we stayed in. Mold is a huge concern and can cause severe health issues.

Secondly, the fact that we paid the same amount for room 408 (an old room with mold) as we did for room 617 (new room still under renovation) is appalling.

Again, the conditions of either room did not meet the standards we were expecting nor the value.

The worst part is nobody from the property has reached out!!!

Customer Service passed it on to the property manager regarding refund and we have heard nothing!!

Will...

To say the rooms in this hotel are disgusting is an understatement.

I arrived an hour early hoping to check in but was told I needed to wait until 3:00. Fair enough. At 3:00, still no room available so I sat in the lobby for 2 hours while numerous guests came to the front desk to report no water in the room, toilets wouldn’t flush, etc. They were told it was due to renovations on the top floors.

Also, guests were warned that between the hours of 8AM and 8PM there would be loud jackhammering! Seriously? People come to their rooms to rest at a hotel. I felt sorry for the front desk employees, but they were very polite to every guest. I finally got a room at 3:30. We have stayed at this hotel dozens of times in the last 8 years. We knew it is old and has NEVER been updated.

The room was just gross. Everything metal was rusted and the bathroom floor was stickier than a movie theater floor! I turned around and went back downstairs and told them I just couldn’t stay in that room. They didn’t even act surprised! After waiting another hour (and hearing numerous complaints from guests) I decided to give up the convenience of the location and try for another hotel. The front desk manager was very polite and made several calls to other hotels in the area, but they were all booked! Finally at 5:00, they were able to find a room. (I guess it is impossible for the cleaning service e to clean rooms without water so they were delayed). The manager walked me to my room to check make sure it was clean. The first room we went to was on the 3rd floor. As soon as the elevator opened, there was a revolting smell of mildew. The manager mentioned that the 3rd floor had flooded the previous week. When she opened the door to the 3rd floor toon, it smelled so offensive, she didn’t even let me in! We then went to a small room on the 4th floor. It was not as smelly so after 3 hours of waiting on a room, I agreed to stay there. There was nowhere to put luggage (no way I am putting on the nasty carpet). The sheer curtains had a nasty stain I don’t even want to think about what it could have been.

As noted, the construction started at 8am. Drilling right about our room. Tiny black specks were falling from the ceiling onto the towels. It sounded like the ceiling tiles were the only thing between our ceiling and floor above (you could actually see light above in the cracks and we could hear the workers yelling).

Why not close one end of the hotel at a time during construction, or better yet, just close it until completed??? Also, maybe designate one elevator for construction and the other for guests. Dust everywhere — walls, floors, etc.

Only good thing was Savanna at the front desk and breakfast. Otherwise, AVOID...

The entire building needs full gutting and renovation.

the wallpaper is peeling and stained

all the in-room furniture is damaged

the a/c unit in the window is not sealed, constant inflow of humid air and small insects

rust on bathroom fixtures

the bathroom exhaust fan has no switch to activate and never came on

cigarette burn on the window drapes

there are posters ON and IN the elevator promoting the hotel's breakfast - we found out the hard way that there is no breakfast and hasn't been since 2019

the hallway carpets are worn/dirty

there is visible wiring and layers of old paint in the hallways

one of the elevators was out of order for the entire stay (3 days)

We woke up early to have breakfast (according to the times on/in the elevator signage), went to the location advertised (level 2) only to find an empty room and no one present. Assuming we had the wrong location, we went to front desk to ask where to go and the man behind the counter handed us each a bag containing packaged/processed snacks (fyi, a cumulative 85g of sugar, 625g of sodium, only 2g of fiber and 13g of protein is precisely why there is an obesity epidemic in this country). When I asked why there were signs promoting “made-to-order” breakfast, his explanation was that they haven't offered breakfast since covid - meaning they've been misleading guests for over a year. I asked why the signs weren't taken down and he said he believed they were "plastered on". I could plainly see that the ones on the elevator doors are decals, and the ones inside the elevator are framed posters. By this point we did not have time to go elsewhere for breakfast and started a long day hungry.

The in-room humidity was worse than it was outside. If you normally style your hair, allow extra time in the morning because your products will be noticeably less effective with all the moisture in the room. I believe this was due to the combination of no exhaust fan in the bathroom and the window-mounted AC unit not being sealed (you can see light through the gaps where it’s mounted). I asked the man at the front desk if all the rooms were in this condition - he said they were, and that no other configurations were available.

As for cleanliness, in-room at least the linens and surfaces appeared to be clean, however there was a piece of cereal on the carpet from a previous guest and several months’ accumulation of dust behind the bed and nightstand (could be problematic for allergy sufferers).

I had made several advance bookings here for the next year because of the convenient location, but after this first stay I’ll be canceling all of them. I would rather be farther away than deal with all...