Holiday Inn Express Kaohsiung Love River, an IHG Hotel — Hotel in Kaohsiung

I am visiting my mom in Taiwan and decided to spend a couple of nights in Kaohsiung. I will be quite honest. I didn't have a lot of expectations staying at a Holiday Inn Express. But the stay exceeded my expectations. I took the MRT and the station is less than 5 minutes walk to the hotel. The check in process was smooth. I was offered a drink (I picked soda!) at check in for being a Platinum member. A very nice gesture. ||||My room is small, but most rooms in Asia seem small to me coming from the US. It has a tiny view of the river and the park. You can tell the hotel is pretty new. I work a lot in my room wherever I am traveling in the world. This modern room provides all the necessary electric outlets for me to plug whatever I need in. This is important to me as well as good working wifi, which this property provides.||||Oh! They also gave me a basket of snacks and drinks! That was a very pleasant surprise! ||||The breakfast selection is somewhat limited but sufficient whether you are into Taiwanese or Western breakfast. I don't travel to Taiwan often, so whenever I can have Taiwanese breakfast, that's what I eat! They even have a noodle station, but unlike most other Asian hotels I stayed at, it is a self-serve Noodle station. I don't trust myself enough to make one. I wonder if it is possible for the hotel to allocate a staff person to work the station. The service at the breakfast buffet was great! They offered to make me drinks. I took the opportunity to order some iced latte. ||||I almost gave this place a 5-star, but there are a couple of things needed work: 1) I could never get the shower head aligned to face me directly while standing in the middle of the shower. 2) The water pressure in the sink is really low when it is on cold. If I turned it away from cold, the pressure is fine. But I don't always want warm or hot water. 3) This one is more of a personal suggestion. I wish this place had a gym/workout room. That's another thing I look for when I travel. Not sure if there is anything they can do. But just thought I would throw it out there.||||I read some unnecessary harsh reviews (like one earlier where the worker had trouble finding their reservation), but my experience tells me the staff tries their best to make your stay enjoyable. I am sorry I couldn't quite give this hotel a 5-star, but I will definitely stay here again in the future when I am...

We chose this Holiday Inn because I had relatives visiting from the north and we were doing touristy things. This holiday inn is right by love river and Pier 2, two of the top touristy destinations you can possibly do in Kaohsiung.

Check process was quick and simple. They’ll acknowledge you for being a platinum elite member and offer complimentary beverages and snacks. That’s always a pleasant feeling upon check-in.

The double queen room we stayed in was okay. It was clean but just really small and lack of seating. There was only one chair. I wasn’t fond of the lighting in this room. Even with all the lights on, it still felt dim. The bathroom is a reasonable size, good shower head pressure. Not as good as Crowne Plaza in Tainan but it’s good enough. Toilet here is also a bidet.

Breakfast buffet was nothing to write home about. Was there a variety? Yes, but was it any good? Not really. The breakfast sausages here were atrocious as were the scrambled eggs. The upside? There was Haagen-Dazs ice cream.

Overall, still a good stay for a last second hotel. Location is what brought us here. We had reservations at a restaurant that was approximately 6-7 minutes away by car. We spent the afternoon in Pier 2 and that’s 5 minutes away. The MRT station is also just 3-4 blocks from the hotel. So again, great location for...

Rooms are clean, staff is friendly, location is good, breakfast could be better. The fresh fruit was good. The scrambled eggs, pasta, fries, chicken nuggets, and congee were decent. The rest were disappointing, especially the sausages (they didn't taste good at all). Not to discredit the kitchen staff. They're very efficient and everything was cooked how they're supposed to. I think it's just the selection of food. IHG if you're listening, please reconsider taking a look at the food selection and review what food could be replaced or improved.

Also before I left my room, I pressed the "Clean Up" button, but when I came back nothing was cleaned. They just left a plastic bag with water bottles and towels hanging on the door handle. I asked the front desk if anyone could clean it, but I guess housekeeping was gone for the day (it was evening at that point). They just apologized and asked me to leave the garbage outside and they'll get it the following day.

I'm really curious why our room wasn't cleaned because I'm sure I pressed the "Clean Up" button as the green light was showing. I did mention this issue via email in their survey, so we'll see what answer I get.

Other than the disappointing food and the fact that our room wasn't cleaned, everything...