Holiday Inn Express Baltimore at the Stadiums by IHG — Hotel in Baltimore

I travel 30+ weeks out of the year, I stay at my share of hotels both good and bad. This hotel absolutely trashes the Holiday Inn brand to the point where I don't know if I will stay at one again.

First let's talk about the positives: The staff.

Let's be clear - nothing wrong with the customer-facing staff. If anything the staff was the only good thing about my stay. The front desk staff and the maintenance guy were very professional and did an A+ job considering that everything that went wrong was completely not in their control.

The Bad - Let's work from the outside in:

First Impression: Whoever designed this hotel was not the sharpest banana - maybe it wasn't originally a hotel? I knew it was a bad sign when first driving past the hotel and saw that it was surrounded on all sides by an 8 foot tall wrought iron fence. Yeah nothing says "come on in" like giant black bars on all sides of your property.

The FRONT of the hotel is a ONE WAY LANE drive through with slanted parking spots off to the side. Clearly, vehicles are supposed to come in from one side, but there is absolutely no way to tell (or at least no clear signage that I could see) for first-time guests. I came at night and could not see any signage. I circled the building twice before noticing which way the parking spaces were slanted which told me where the actual entrance was.

I came in parked my car and checked in, but when I came out someone else had come in the wrong way and was nose to nose with another car that came in the right way. They would have been able to go around each other but the only empty space where they should have been able to move was where the hotel decided to park their shuttles (right in front of the front door - horrible spot to park those vans). All three of us did a weird shuffle to let each other through, but it's a horrible first impression.

I move down the one lane to make the 90 DEGREE TURN THROUGH CONCRETE PILLARS to head to the back parking lot. Moving around to the back parking lot - more wrought iron, with bright reflective signs that simply say in all caps "GUESTS ASSUME ALL RISK" ... seriously WTF is that? I once stayed at a motel in Oakland, CA where a guy drunkenly fired a gun into the air then drove off smashing into all the cars parked on one side of the parking lot (thank GOD my car wasn't on that side). Not even that Motel had a sign "GUESTS ASSUME ALL RISK". How about you post a sign that says "remember to take all your belongings with you!".

OK one more red flag, I can get over it. Turning from the sign to go to the hotel I can see that on the south side of the parking lot the wrought iron gate has been bashed in - almost like someone ran into it with a car. Then I finally understood.... oh THAT RISK. Got it. I make my way into the hotel wondering if I am going to be knifed in the hallway (not really but kind of).

Whew... are you still with me? That was kind of a lot... and that was just the OUTSIDE.

Inside my room the bathtub was dirty, there was trash from the previous person who had been in the room, a used K-cup in the coffee maker, the and the clock was set 3 hours off to the wrong time. I can't make this up - when I picked the clock up to change the time it was STICKY... fantastic first night.

The second night I stayed a big thunderstorm rolled through. I had just brought in and unpacked my dinner when water started leaking through the ceiling near the window. I contemplated eating my dinner first before calling down to let the front desk know, but there was a knock at my door: The maintenance guy came up mistaking my room for someone else who had also called about the ceiling leaking in THEIR room. The maintenance guy was very professional and did the absolute best he could but couldn't contain the leak completely without getting us out of the rooms, which he graciously did (even got the keys to the new rooms for us).

5 day reservation I left...

My check in and stay at the Stadiums Holiday Inn Express was all as Ive come to expect. Clean rooms. Quick and smooth check in. However I booked a Cruise package which included parking for my car and a shuttle to and from the Port. Parking was unproblematic. But the shuttle ended up making us hopping mad at our return. We called at first at 730. We'd been told their first shuttle started at 830 but to call when we cleared customs. The attendant who picked up had no idea what we were talking about and told us the first shuttle would be at 10. We quickly informed them that this was not was not what we'd been told at all and they left for a moment and came back and said yes 830. So we had an hour wait. However the shuttle did not come at 830. By that time there were 14 people waiting for this shuttle. Several of us called from 825am when we were aga in assured the shuttle would be there at 830 and then with increasing aggravation through the next 45 minutes as the shuttle did not show up until 907. Through those calls we were given answers such as just 5 more minutes, he's 5 minutes out, we're trying to contact our driver now, and also a befuddled staff when we were very clear that they'd need more than one van at this point. No apologies were issued by either the front desk staff or the shuttle driver, though we'd plainly been lied to. There was no offer of a cab that would paid for through the hotel as we feel should have been when they clearly had no idea when the shuttle would get there. They told others in the group waiting that they had MISSED the 830 shuttle which was a total lie as we had been standing outside waiting since 730 and the holiday inn shuttle never once came despite Days Inns Shuttle having been there 4 times ( beginning at 730 mind you. Why is it that holiday Inn would not also start at that time rather than making people wait an hour... Even when the shuttle is on time.) Once we did arrive at the hotel we had to go inside to claim some items that had been left behind. The front desk staff then claimed to have no idea what were talking about supposedly because one of them had just started a week prior and the other only 5 days ago. They had to make phone calls to figure out where our belongings were. I dont know what happened in the 10 days we were gone. But the staff we encountered on our return were utterly incompetent in comparison to what we enjoyed at the start of our trip. (Upon submitting this exact review to their own website, as requested by their automated follow up email, it was rejected for containing the name of a competitor and " inappropriate " content. I guess thats their way of keeping people from expressing disappointment. Upon closer inspection other than mentioning Days Inn by name, woops, I seemed to be judged as making a customer service inquiry? Best I can figure. Though there is no question here. Simply stating that my experience was thoroughly unsatisfactory with the return shuttle and how their staff...

Disappointing Experience – Poor Cleanliness and Unprofessional Service

I booked two rooms at this hotel and paid an additional $60 per room for early check-in, expecting a smooth and comfortable stay. Unfortunately, that was far from the experience we had.

Upon arrival, the check-in process was met with unnecessary hostility. An older, dark-skinned woman at the front desk, wearing glasses and a wig, was extremely rude and unprofessional. My mother, who stood quietly behind me and said nothing, was suddenly addressed with, “If you’ve got a problem, I can have my manager serve you.” My mother simply reminded her that she had not spoken to her at all. The interaction was unnecessary, disrespectful, and was the start of a disappointing stay.

Things only got worse from there. Upon entering one of the rooms, I had to immediately call housekeeping because there was makeup all over the sheets. In the second room, the situation was worse — we discovered blood on the sheets. These are serious hygiene concerns that should never happen at any hospitality establishment.

To top it off, my mother woke up with bites all over her body. When we reported it, the hotel denied having any bed bugs. The manager told us he would investigate and follow up by 9:00 a.m., but even by 10:00 a.m., I was being told he was still “in his office” and that they would just “put a note on his door.” I had to reschedule my Lyft to leave the property and almost missed my train to speak with this man. He over-talked me and continued to talk about not having bed bugs verses address serious things such as blood being all over the sheets. I refused to go back and forth with him and left. I was informed he’d take one night off.

Some front desk staff were courteous and tried to be helpful, but even they seemed to quietly acknowledge that these types of complaints were common at this location. Others acted as though our concerns were an inconvenience or an overreaction.

In summary, this stay was deeply frustrating and uncomfortable. If you want to be treated with respect and stay in a clean, well-managed environment, I highly suggest finding another hotel. At the very least, you should not be made to feel like a problem simply for expecting basic cleanliness and decent service. This experience really but a damper...