Holiday Inn Express & Suites Aiken by IHG — Hotel in Aiken County

The Holiday Inn Express had been my favorite hotel in Aiken and 2 years ago, I wrote a review stating how they were the cleanest hotel in the city. This year it was a different story. We stayed there the night of Hurricane Helene. The power went out at 4AM. In the morning, we could not get any breakfast. And the elevator did not work. So we had to carry a lot of bags we had because we were moving... we carried them down one flight of stairs in the dark. The generator for the stair lights malfunctioned apparently. They did give me my money back for the second night... but REFUSE to return my money for the first night of the storm. As with a lot of businesses... they cite their POLICY. They did not deliver the service I paid for... no breakfast.. no elevator... not lights... and somehow. the stay was magically supposed to have ended at midnight... they say that day was not affecte.... AND everybody who stays in a motel knows the stay goes thru the morning of the next day. Worse, they think they did me a favor by refunding the second day because normally there are no refunds for "and act of God." Why? Policy? Which in my experience is one of the greatest destroyers of customer loyalty. How can you resolve this? Can you go to corporate IHG? Worse, for this hotel chain, they have no power over the participating individual hotels. They can just lodge your complaint. And does this hotel really need my $ that bad. I don't think so because when the power went back on Sunday, they were booked in every room by insurance adjusters and first responders... so they actually made money off the hurricane, not lost it. Does it get worse? Yes... the hotel did not return my calls twice and made no response to my second formal complaint to IHG. Bottom line... they did not deliver the service I paid for and will not refund my $. Needless to say, I cannot recommend this hotel to anyone. If TripAdvisor would allow to post a negative review... we would be...

I loved this hotel! They do things the way it used to be. I got in Late due to a delay in Atlanta. Sam Greeted me and informed me that i had been upgraded based on my Diamond status. After the expensive taxi ride from the Augusta Airport. This was a great way to end the day. I got an executive room with a view of the back of the carport which i didn't mind. Kept people from really being able to see in. It was a nice 2 room suite. Not a fan of the new chairs they have in the HIE's but at least the lock worked on this chair so i could stay upright. Pros: The water was always hot and plenty of water pressure. The bed was sinfully comfortable so i never had problems sleeping. Speaking of sleeping. This was one of the few times i almost never woke up all night long. I was even able to arrange my late checkout a couple days in advance. Oh and they slipped the bill under the door early in the morning. I had forgotten that was even a thing. But that was the thing i liked most about my stay. Oh they had shredded cheese and french toast in the fridge. Bonus points for that.

Cons: Not many but i do have a couple. I can't stand the omelets and they had them too much during my stay. I get that they have to cater to vegetarians and people who don't eat pork. (This is a corporate nitpick) Not one for the location. But i was really hoping for a day with scrambled eggs pork links and the potatoes that they only put out once the 4 days i was there. At least make scrambled eggs too. Other than that they had a HUGE selection of different things. There were only 2 towel sets instead of 3 like at most IHG hotels. I think that was it.

I am trying to make excuses to come back and...

I’ve already conveyed everything related to this stay to the general manager at the hotel. See below…as per her email to me: Mrs. Kopec, Thank you for noting your concerns about your recent stay. As per our website, our pool is closed due to an ongoing renovation. Our lobby is also under renovation currently. This is all noted on our website, and I am aware of guest relations relaying this information to you as well prior to your arrival. As for our coffee machine being out of service, I do apologize. The machine did break overnight, and due to the holiday, the company that does the repair will not be available until Tuesday. Our team is doing what is necessary by providing another coffee machine in the meantime.

With that being said, I am aware you have stayed with us multiple times throughout the years. Each issue is still logged with us internally for our own record keeping. While I understand the inconvenience these issues can cause, we have always handled them to the best of our abilities.

We have deposited 20,000 points into your account for any other issues you may have moving forward.

I have logged this and other previous issues with our corporate office, and someone will be following up with you in the future regarding further stays with us. Please reach out with any further questions or concerns.

Warm regards,

Samantha...