Holiday Inn Express & Suites Albuquerque-N. Balloon Fsta Park by IHG — Hotel in Albuquerque

We stayed here with our grandchildren on May 30 to May 31, 2021. I had called the hotel about a week before to see if we could stay on the ground floor near the washing machine/dryer, since I had polio as a child and now have trouble walking very far. I also asked if it would be possible to check in a little early if our room was ready. The lady I spoke with was very pleasant and assigned me room 127 right there and then and said to call the morning of check-in to see what time room 127 would be available. We got in ABQ about 10 AM to go to the Botanical Gardens and Aquarium, which I rented a wheelchair there, since I have trouble standing and walking and I called and talked to Danielle, the rudest lady ever encountered at a hotel. I told her I had talked to another lady about a week before and she suggested I call to see what time our room 127 would be ready and if we could check in early. She bluntly said NO, check-in is at 3 PM, but never commented that the room wasn't ready.. After the Botanical Gardens, we thought we would stop by the hotel around 1 PM or so to see if our room was possibly ready. My husband and I went in to see and Danielle bluntly and rudely said NO- it won't be ready until check-in at 3 PM. I tried to explain our situation how I had talked to a gal earlier that week and she quickly just cut me off interrupting, saying I had talked to her.....yes, I talked to her that morning, but it wasn't her I talked to a week ago, but I didn't even get a chance to explain anything....couldn't get a word in. We left and went to Subway to have lunch in the hot car. We decided at 2:30 PM to go back to the hotel, and my daughter and I went in and sat in the lobby. Danielle asked my daughter the guest's last name and my daughter told her. She then disappeared into another room for awhile and came back out and wiped down some tables where people (employees) were taking a break the last time we were in there. Then she walked around the area for awhile and then about 5 min before 3 PM, she called my name to check-in. I was very nice to her, but steaming inside, knowing that the rest of my group was waiting to check-in, so they could get going to Cliff's Adventure Park, which I was not attending, due to not being able to walk very far. It was starting to get cloudy by the time we were unloading our suitcases into the room. This was our very first trip to NM and to Cliff's, which was the highlight of the trip for the grandchildren. Danielle, the Front Desk Clerk, ruined their trip to Cliff's Adv Pk, because almost as soon as they got there, it started raining and got so winding, they closed down some of the rides. We paid a high price for admittance into that park, which our group hardly got their money's worth. If we could have checked in when we first arrived at Holiday Inn, just an hour or so early, they could have ridden those rides and had a great time before the weather turned bad. I stayed in the room, but since we were going to use the sofa bed, I checked, no sheets, pillows or comforter for it in the room, so I asked the maid for them and she brought them to me right away.. I found out the room was cleaned before the first time we arrived there. I don't know if Danielle was told to turn guests away if they tried to check in a little early or what her problem was, but she lied to us, ruined our stay and caused a shortened time the rest of our group had to spend at Cliff's. I know the weather was not her fault, but her rudeness and attitude was unacceptable. I've worked in Customer Service for several years and know that her attitude toward us was uncalled for. My daughter said maybe Danielle was having a bad day, but that's no excuse to treat the guests rudely in my opinion. Of all our eleven days of travel and staying at 10 different hotels (five which were Holiday Inn Expresses) we were always greeted with a friendly front desk employee, except at this hotel. At least the washing machine worked for the one load of wash we had and our room was very close to it. I noticed the pool looked ready, but was told it was closed, as was the exercise room, but then saw a man exercising in there that same day. The breakfast was a Grab & Go Breakfast, nothing to brag about and not as good as the other Grab & Go Breakfasts at the other Holiday Inn Expresses. The rest of the hotels were great as was the rest of our vacation....all except this one day!!! My husband never complains about anything, very easy-going and always thankful for everything,, but he did remember this gal's name (she had no name tag, so I asked her name) and also thought she...

Their shuttle to the Balloon Fiesta was NOT free. Ridiculous and a slap in the face. First of all, this info should be made available at the time of making a reservation, not WHEN CHECKING IN. Very inconvenient, especially for someone with limited mobility and/or someone having to stick to a budget. Secondly, there was a similar establishment right next door that didn't charge their guests to use their shuttle so why was Holiday Inn Express charging their own guests 5 dollars PER guest, PER day?? Why not just one amount for a guest's entire stay, if not free?? Or just make it free since you're already charging 100%+ increase for subpar rooms?

Our room had a lovely view of the next door building's wall and an empty trash can right outside our window. Literally. I could probably reach my hand out the window and touch the trash can. At least it was empty, right? There was also a very loud humming/buzzing noise constantly going throughout our room. I don't know if this was because we had the room right next to the pool and washer/dryer or what, but it was intensely annoying! Also, A PREVIOUS GUEST'S LEFTOVERS WERE STILL IN OUR FRIDGE and there was no hand soap (during Covid variants, too) which they said was due to supply chain issues but some more effort would've been appreciated, especially with the Fiesta prices they were already charging. There were only two measly, individually-wrapped little hand sanitizing wipes in the bathroom. Seriously?

The room's door was not sound proof in the least and the walls are cheap. We could hear every child screaming and running down the hallway and every loud adult like they were right in the room with us. We could also hear the people in the room above us stomping around. . . loudly.

The gentleman who took care of the breakfast area was friendly and there was one older lady behind the desk that delivered more towels to our room but the rest of the employees seemed dead inside and apathetic about everything.

Elevator was also broken down, which fortunately didn't affect us since we were on the first floor but I felt bad for anyone who had to tackle the stairs with luggage.

Also, it's been a week and I'm STILL waiting for this hotel's 'deposit for incidentals' of my 50 bucks to come back to me. They ALREADY charged me twice with some BS $2.00 'Sundries-F&B' 'incidentals' on the day I checked out (I didn't even buy anything so what's this Sundries-F&B all about? or was I charged simply for the lady delivering towels to our room?!?!?) so what's the hold up on my deposit???

In conclusion: To justify your price-gouging, you must also do some gouging of your customer service so guests don't feel quite so swindled. Make the experience worth the inflated pricing, like all good businesses do. The employees at this hotel weren't outright rude but they definitely didn't give off a warm and inviting vibe in the least. The breakfast was decent though and location to Fiesta was great but THAT'S IT. Everything else about this hotel was half-*ed and lazy, especially at those ridiculously inflated prices. The entire stay at this Holiday Inn Express felt like completely shameless highway robbery with mostly apathetic employees. As someone who's stayed at a lot of hotels, this experience was truly disappointing and one...

I travel for work and have stayed at a couple of different Holiday Inn Express locations in the Albuquerque area and will never stay here again and have warned my colleagues as well. The hotel is old which is fine but it desperately needs to be maintained, cleaned and updated. My hotel door knob didn’t work so after trying unsuccessfully to get in I had to go back down to the front desk where I was told “the trick” on how to move the door knob a certain way to gain entry. The bathroom door had brown liquid splattered dried on it which was as gross as it sounds. The ac in the room made a horribly loud rattle periodically - loud enough to wake me up each night as well as the refrigerator made a loud sound all of the time. Front desk staff was not friendly and wears no uniform so I was never quite sure if I was asking an employee or a guest for assistance. The fitness room was not adequately signed so I had to ask where it was located (inside the enclosed pool area) then it too had a “tricky door” so I needed assistance from the staff to even open the door to get in the fitness room. The gym options were limited to a treadmill, bike and elliptical (which wasn’t fully functional) with free weights starting at 15lbs. The wallpaper was stapled to the wall, dust and grime covered the baseboards and the floor perimeter. When I used the yoga mat bugs ran out from the area and several strands of human hair was on the mat. It was 5am when I got to the empty gym so it wasn’t as if it had been well utilized for the day yet. A sign requested users to wipe down equipment but yet there were no disinfectant wipes nor towels which typically are in gyms. The breakfast area was kept stocked and clean despite it being packed with work crews staying in the hotel. When I checked out I requested the receipt be emailed to me, still...