Holiday Inn Express & Suites South Padre Island by IHG — Attraction in South Padre Island

I stayed there for 4 nights at the beginning of this summer. I will write a detailed review, separating the pros and cons of staying at this hotel that should help everyone.

Pros:

1. They provide free breakfast which may not be common in most of the other resorts on the island. I think this is one of the biggest factors that contributes to increasing their sales. The breakfast quality could be improved a lot though. I liked their pancake machine a lot which was very easy to use. The pancakes were really tasty and you can make as many as you want by just pressing one button in the machine.

2. The pool is decent and well maintained. They provide free towels for the pool and gym. Pool water was fresh as they spend a couple of hours everyday morning to maintain the pool before it opens for the day at 10:00AM. The pool stays open at night up to 11:00PM too.

3. They have a small store to buy beach/island essentials like sunscreen, toiletries and other items on personal hygiene. I forgot to take sunscreen with me while visiting the island, but was able to buy a couple from the hotel for $10.

4. If you do not explicitly prohibit, they will do a perfect room service everyday. You will be able to get the room as new as you got it while checking in every day.

5. Toiletries in the room are all large in size and they will provide almost full medium bottle of shampoo, conditioner, handwash, bodywash and body lotion (5 different items!). This is exceptional and I liked it a lot. You will not be able to finish using all these even in a week of stay.

6. Beach access was decent, just a 4 minutes walk. they have a dedicated hallway to go to the beach with directions even outside of the building. It's not a hotel right on the beach, but provides decently quick and easy access. Even when you return from the beach through the same hallway, you will find a bathroom as well to freshen up before going to the room.

7. Front desk service was good, got chance to talk to a few employees at different times and they all were equally cordial.

Cons:

1. There are a few bugs in the rooms. I got a very large cockroach in the bathroom. I called the front desk and they took it out immediately. In the USA, most of the roaches I saw before were very small in size, but this one was huge and partly alive. However, that’s the only time I got bothered by a roach. At other times, I didn’t see any bug.

2. The shower quality is poor, in terms of water pressure. The water pressure is too low. Your showers will not be good. I informed this to the front desk and they sent maintenance person to the room but it did not improve. I think it’s an inherent problem in every room that you have to deal with if you want to stay in this hotel.

3. The elevators were super slow. Also the elevator area was highly congested and often stay crowded by staff with large carts. Often you will need to wait extra time to get a space in the elevator, among all the beach- and pool-goers with lots of items with them. Even, I found that sometimes only one of two elevators worked which made the situation worse. There was a load-shedding during my stay and even after the power was restored, none of the elevators were working for an hour or so.

4. The lobby is small, you cannot sit and relax there. The fitness center is very small with no cable workout options. Also, a couple of dumbbells were missing; for example, I found only one 15lb dumbbell instead of two!

5. They have only one drinking water refill system that is located at the gym. You need to use your room key to access the gym and then you can refill water. They should have the water refill station outside the gym or in the lobby for easier access.

Overall, it was a decent experience though, but not exceptionally good. My stay was not bad but next time, I will probably stay at...

I recently stayed at the Holiday Inn Express South Padre Island located at 6502 Padre Blvd, and unfortunately, my experience was far from satisfactory. While the hotel had one redeeming quality - its proximity to the beach, the overall stay left much to be desired.

One of the most glaring issues was the consistently cold coffee in the lobby. As a coffee lover, I was looking forward to enjoying a warm cup, especially in the evenings. However, throughout my stay, the coffee remained disappointingly cold. When I brought up this concern to the front desk person, I was met with a dismissive response, as they jokingly suggested that I should drink coffee elsewhere. This lack of professionalism and customer service was disheartening.

Furthermore, I encountered difficulties with the housekeeping service. On the second day of our stay, we had to go through a hassle to get the cleaner to come and tidy up our room. This lack of efficiency was quite frustrating, as guests expect a well-maintained and clean environment during their stay.

The breakfast offered at the hotel was also below average compared to the quality I have experienced at other Holiday Inn locations in the past. The food lacked variety and freshness, leaving a lot to be desired in terms of taste and presentation.

As I walked through the hotel's hallways, I noticed a persistent smell of chlorine mixed with a damp, musty odor. It appeared that the carpets might have been wet, leading to the unpleasant aroma lingering throughout the corridors. The management should have addressed this issue to ensure a comfortable environment for guests.

Another issue was related to the pool gate and access area. The door between the pool gate and the hotel was left open, and although the pool gate was supposed to be locked until 10 AM, my key didn't work, and I found myself stuck in the area for some time. This indicated a lack of attention to security and guest safety, and I can't help but wonder if others have faced similar challenges in the past.

Some of the hotel staff displayed a disinterest in their work, and there was a noticeable "I don't care" attitude and lack of ownership. Their lack of enthusiasm and warm hospitality made me feel unwelcome during my stay.

Overall, my experience at the Holiday Inn Express South Padre Island was far from the standard I have come to expect from the Holiday Inn brand. While its location near the beach was a positive aspect, the numerous issues and unimpressive service overshadowed this one redeeming quality. I have stayed at other Holiday Inn properties in the past and had much more enjoyable experiences. As a result, I won't be returning to this specific location, and I would hesitate to recommend it to others seeking a comfortable and...

BEWARE:They will cancel your reservation without notice and proceed to gaslight you about it.

I wish I’d read a similar review posted on here prior to booking! I’ll start by clarifying I booked this hotel directly through the hotel website, not some third party. I pulled up the reservation page just prior to check in and it loaded fine. Upon check in, Juan at the front desk took a long time looking me up, told me he couldn’t find my reservation and that I have to call IHG myself to figure it out. In the middle of my 20 minute call with them, I try to load the reservation again and it suddenly comes up cancelled. IHG then tells me there’s nothing wrong with the reservation and that the hotel staff need to call them to resolve things. Juan tells me he’s calling, but they won’t be able to fix things because the hotel is fully booked anyway. We ask to speak to a manager and are told that none are available, but they call assistant manager, Sonia, who is of no help at all. The front desk staff continues blaming IHG for the error and never apologizes, nor takes initiative to find an alternative solution. They tell me there has never been a reservation under my name, cancelled or otherwise, despite my two confirmation/reminder emails. Staff then became argumentative when I accused them of overbooking and cancelling my reservation. At this point, they refused to give me anyone’s names or be of any more help (not that they were being helpful to begin with). Seeing this is going nowhere, I decided to call IHG again and spent another 20 minutes with them while they checked to make sure I wouldn’t be charged for this “non refundable” reservation. There were no other IHG hotels reasonably close by to offer as an alternative, so I ended up having to book myself somewhere else last minute. To top it all off, Juan and his coworker threatened to call the cops on my family because they said we were yelling, which we absolutely did not do. There are other guests who witnessed this interaction. One person remarked that this same situation has happened to him too.

The whole ordeal wasted 2 hours of our time and caused us so much stress. We lodged a complaint and got a response from a corporate case manager stating that this was, indeed, the hotel’s fault. They wrote that upper management would be getting involved to investigate and we should be hearing from someone within 48 hours. Time will tell if these people will decide to own up to their mistake. This experience almost ruined our vacation and I will never use another IHG...