Holiday Inn Barnsley M1, JCT.37 by IHG — Hotel in Barnsley

I have been staying at various Holiday Inn’s up and down the country for years, long before I joined the rewards scheme. The good thing about most Holiday Inn’s is you expect a reasonably even experience across the board.

Well that image has now been completely shattered, this was one of the most unpleasant experiences I have ever had at any hotel let alone a Holiday Inn.

Let’s start with the good, the food was nice, I had a roast dinner and my boy had chicken and chips. That part was good although it took a while for the food to come (they were busy due to a wedding) and although I was under the impression kids ate free, we were charged.

No major issue about being charged, they were quite busy so we just paid and went up to settle for a nice sleep.

The room wasn’t the best, no shower cubicle just a hole in the floor and a shower on the wall. Not that this was a major issue but as you can imagine we ended up with a fairly wet bathroom. Next the bed, despite the fact I was clearly staying with my son I was allocated a small double (4ft 6) with no other option.

So despite a fairly poor start we were still excited about the morning ahead and then the disco started……oh my god!

Now I should point out at this stage that when checking in the staff did mention a wedding event and that there might be “a little bit of noise”

In the IHG awards for understatement of the year there is just no contest…..

That “little bit of noise” was anything but, we may as well have slept in a nightclub. I tried to settle my boy but honestly no human (unless completely deaf) could sleep in that. I went down to ask what was going on to be told that the disco was going on till 1am and that there were no other rooms to move to but “if you like you can come back and talk to the manager in the morning”

I was more than ready to pack up and come home but my son was desperate to try and salvage something of our now ruined trip.

Going back to bed we soon realised we weren’t going to get any sleep until after 1am (really not ideal for an 8 year old guys) so we decided to watch a film and try to settle that way.

The party downstairs was so noisy we couldn’t even hear the film! I could give you the full playlist but let’s just have some highlights,

At 11:30pm “Alice who the F is Alice” belted out, my 8 year old son really loved the family friendly lyrics to that one

At 12:30am the beat from Born Slippy echoed round the room

At 12:45am things starting to wind down with a classic rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody

You get the idea.

Finally at 1am the DJ said goodnight and the music finally stopped, at this point I tried to settle my boy again only to have a load of fairly well oiled party goers stomping up and down the hall way by us.

So my question is this, if the room you sold us (104) was over the room with the party (I am assuming it was) then why on earth did you sell it?

This is way way below what we expect from a Holiday Inn, I have been to many hotels with Weddings and events going on and never experienced anything like it.

I even invited the staff to come and have a listen, their faces told me everything I needed to know.

I am absolutely appalled at this, if you are going to have events as noisy as this then at least talk to people when they book, or better still just don’t make the room available on those nights.

I will be writing to Keith Barr and I can say with quite some confidence that we will not...

I have been a loyal IHG Diamond Elite (formerly Spire Elite) member for over 12 years, with more than 1,000 nights stayed and an average of 100 nights per year. Across countless IHG properties worldwide, I’ve always felt welcomed, valued, and at home—until now.||On the morning of 5th September (between 9–10 am), I encountered what was without doubt the worst staff experience I have had in all my years with IHG. The woman on duty at reception was dismissive, unhelpful, and openly rude—completely at odds with the IHG service standard.||As a Diamond Elite member, I am entitled (subject to availability) to check in from 10am. Arriving early, I politely asked if a room might be ready. I was told the hotel was fully booked the night before. This was demonstrably untrue—I had personally checked the website at 2am and saw availability. The explanation then shifted to “I just sold those rooms now.”||When I asked if she could simply contact housekeeping to see when the next available room would be ready (a normal courtesy at other IHG hotels), she refused. Instead, she insisted—absurdly—that all rooms magically become available at the same time, 3pm. Any experienced traveler knows that rooms are released as they are cleaned, and in my years with IHG the longest I’ve ever waited was an hour.||What shocked me most was not the refusal itself, but her attitude. She was unprofessional, unfriendly, and dismissive from the start. There was no recognition of loyalty or status, no attempt to accommodate, and not even a simple gesture of hospitality—when I asked where the toilets were, I was told they were “only for guests.” I was, in fact, a guest.||This behaviour goes far beyond poor service: it was needlessly hostile, obstructive, and showed complete disregard for both IHG values and basic courtesy. It cost me dearly—I missed an important meeting because of her unwillingness to help.||For 12+ years IHG has been my hotel brand of choice, because of the professionalism, warmth, and consistency of its staff worldwide. To encounter such negativity and discrimination at one of your properties is deeply disappointing.||To fellow IHG members, especially those with elite status: do not expect the signature IHG welcome at this property. For me, it has tarnished an otherwise impeccable loyalty experience. To the individual in question: friendliness and helpfulness cost nothing. What you put into the world comes back to you.||With a heavy heart, I can only recommend that those considering this hotel make alternative arrangements. No guest—especially one who has given over a decade of loyalty—should have their day ruined by...

This was our 4th visit here in the past year, but whereas before all was fine, on this occasion the standards were unacceptable.

On arrival, we were greeted warmly by the lady on Reception, who checked us in, and gave us the key card to our room, number 230.

On entering the room, and the bathroom, unbelievably we saw that the toilet was soiled. It hadn't been cleaned, as we saw that someone had been to the toilet, (not urine), not flushed, let alone cleaned it! I immediately took a photo of the toilet bowl, went down and showed it to the lady on Reception. She was embarrassed, as I was, and apologised. This gave us doubts throughout our stay as to the cleanliness and hygiene of the state of other surfaces in the bathroom, such as the toilet seat, the floor and elsewhere. This is unacceptable in any accommodation, let alone a hotel where we were paying £226.98 for a two day stay. We stay regularly in hotels throughout Europe, and have never come across such lax standards of cleanliness.

Another problem during our stay concerned the Hisense television. Once settled in our room, we could NOT switch on the television. I went down AGAIN to reception to inform the lady, and she again apologised and sent up, a few minutes later, a member of the maintenance staff. He tried to switch on the television and failed, but several minutes later he returned with a replacement remote control, and succeeded in switching on the television. However, the following morning we could not switch on the television; it was unresponsive to any input, and I had to call again to Reception, who sent up a maintenance person, who tried and finally succeeded in switching it on. However, on our final morning, the television became erratic, switching off channels at random. By now we had become fed up, switched off, and resigned ourselves to its failings.

Finally, on the Saturday morning of our stay, I was woken up at around 7:10 by the noise of what sounded like a loud vacuum cleaner. We then discovered it was very probably the noise from the shower in the adjacent room, yet again a problem to be addressed.

To sum up, a stay very far from worthy of the £226.98 we had paid, and far from the standards we expect from hotels in the IHG. A restful stay?...