Holiday Inn Express & Suites Arlington (I-20-Parks Mall) by IHG — Hotel in Arlington

Imagine arriving to check in on Christmas Day with your whole family and being told, your reservation is different than originally booked with IHG & would not be honored at this location?! We felt embarrassed & humiliated, treated as liars that needed to Prove our booking made with their own reservation line because they would Not! Also imagine going on vacation and having to fix the known internal issues of this Hotel for Free because of its mismanagement!

BEWARE!!! This was our experience as IHG rewards members & healthcare professionals arriving with our young children for a 1 week stay at this location!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our original booking in which IHG called this location (with us on the other line) & repeatedly confirmed 2 interconnected rooms with a set price, was Changed at this location into 2 separate rooms with different prices for each and Not connected with our kids. And we would not know until we arrived!

They instead filled the inter- connected rooms with other single room guests even though the one offered to us was available for use, claiming they don't promise connected rooms, ...even though it is Clearly stated as Available upon Requests, on their website; & they gave us 2 different full prices for each room that would Not be together. So we declined the separate full- priced room & waited patiently for this hotels staff to figure it out (with which Jenny noted on our check-in notes to the manager). However, after speaking with their manager, Paula, pleading our case, and replying to their intermittent texts concerning our stay, we were even more disappointed! Paula stated she was aware of previous reservation issues with IHG and their hotel and supposedly could not get any information from IHG (their own reservation provider, even though they had received our original reservation). Paula stated guests have to call IHG and complain & do the detective work of finding "the reservation recordings" and that she would do nothing but be "waiting right there" for them to let her know. IHG did in fact resolve this matter in less than 24hr, as promised honoring our booking, after we called them, opened a Case and filed a Complaint against this hotel. But Paula Never called/texted us back, thanking us for managing the reservations of customers at this location and resolving the discrepancy that this hotel has with their reservation services, IHG, Nor did she or the staff apologize & offer us the 2nd room as reserved for the original total price. They basically went quiet after this point and we received only the stated prices but Not the second room, at check out! Additionally, hotel staff recalled a history of previous cases of mismanagement of reservations at this location and even the customer behind us recalled her Same experience aloud and how they would do Nothing, all while we were pleading with Paula. It seems, Paula was content with us managing and resolving their hotels reservation issues, as she would not be managing anything about it but tossing it back to their loyal customers to figure out!? She would also not disclose the owners, Ramakrishna's or her supervisors name or how to overstep her that day to immediately resolve. Lastly, during our stay, a huge cockroach ran through our room to the bathroom as we notified the front desk. On our check out day, Housekeeping knocked on our door at 0800 to wake us up and get us out before check out time. They then ran off, despite the sign & us immediately jumping up and opening the door!

Pros: the kind, caring, helpful & friendly Breakfast Staff.

Cons: Stressful experience - Despite being IHG rewards members & following the proper procedures for reservations, we were treated as liars; Reservations would not be originally honored as booked at this location. Had to file a complaint to resolve what they Can't or Won't figure out by now!

Be Warned: READ all the Reviews! This is written so You don't have to go through our experience. Learn and Know what we didn't, because you may Not know until you get there & have to go through...

Review left on behalf of my parents, who recently stayed at this establishment

My wife and I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites at 1721 Pleasant Place in Arlington Texas for five nights in August 2023.

Upon entering our room there was a dead cockroach laying on the floor and part of another cockroach lying in the same area. In the bathroom, there were urine stains on the back of the toilet from the previous occupant.

The refrigerator did not work when we arrived. This was the first five minutes after entering the room. The toilet had to be flushed two or three times to rid the bowl of all substance. We had to go get more toilet paper upon arriving as they did not leave enough to make it through to the following morning. Our room access key was to work on exterior doors, but did not. We had to return to the front desk on three separate occasions to have our room access card reprogrammed as it consistently failed. They stated that cell phones will erase the card.

Of the two phone charger ports in the room only one worked. A baseboard tile was broken and had fallen off the wall. We were told that pets were not allowed in the motel, yet on two separate days there was a dog barking in an adjacent room. On one of the days we left our room at 9:45 a.m. and returned at 3:45 p.m. (6 hours later) to find that our room was not yet cleaned. I asked if we could get our room cleaned, but was told that they would not clean it until we left the room. I asked the front desk person (Linda) why this was so and she merely restated that they would not clean the room if anyone was in it.

We are both senior citizens and my wife has rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. I explained that my wife needed to apply topical medication to her hands and legs and use an electric massager on her hands. I asked the person at the front desk again (Linda) and she would not acknowledge any thing I asked and just sat there texting on her cell phone, ignoring me. They refused to clean the room unless we vacated it. I asked to speak with a manger and was told that there was not one available until the next morning.

The next morning I asked to speak with the manager and was told by the person at the front desk that he was the manager. When I provided the name of the assistant manager that was on the business card that I had, the man at the front desk said “oh, she’s the general manager.” In speaking with the assistant manager (Paula Ulett), she apologized and said she would notify upper management. She stated that due to “safety and security” reasons that no one can be in a room when it was being cleaned. She regurgitated this twice. When I mentioned that we pay for a room for 24 hours per day, she did not have a response.

We paid over $1000 for five days for a suite (which was merely a couch next to the bed). We will never, repeat never stay here, at any Holiday Inn Express, or any Holiday Inn ever again. Their apathy...

Absolutely avoid this hotel if at all possible. I booked an accessible room two weeks in advance for a family vacation. One of companions needed wheelchair accessible room. I stopped in today to just ensure that room was available and that we would have no difficulties around 3. Mrs. Gutierrez, the GM on duty, assured me room would be available shortly. She supposedly contacted housekeeping. I told her we would return at 4:00, the guaranteed check in time. The room was still not available and the young man working front desk was unapologetic. I wanted assurance from him that I would be able to get checked in within an hour due to heat advisory and our guest’s need to rest. His exact verbiage was “I don’t know what you are going to do, maybe by 9pm”. Keep in mind the suite is already paid for. We were left throwing our hands up, confused and upset over the treatment by one of IHG facilities. I filed formal complaint with the company, however Mrs. Gutierrez has not gotten into contact with me. The young man verbalized that the hotel was understaffed and housekeeping is only performed once every five days upon request. Please be aware of problems facing you if you choose to book with this Holiday Inn Express. There are a lot of other hotels in area that look great, such as Hilton Garden Inn and a newer La Quinta, Marriott. By the time I finished trying to get the employee to assist me, the hotel lobby was filled with angry guests. At this point, they had all become rowdy and aggressive. It was not a great experience and do not ever want to experience again. Hope this...