Holiday Inn Express Philadelphia NE - Bensalem by IHG — Hotel in Bensalem Township

Ah, the Holiday Inn Express NE Philadelphia/Bensalem — a beacon of mediocrity and poor management, nestled in the heart of a dumpster fire. If you’re considering booking here, allow me to save you the trouble: just pitch a tent in a gas station parking lot. The ambiance will be similar, and you might actually feel more welcome.

The Pros: Let’s start on a positive note (don’t get too excited). The breakfast wasn’t terrible. If you’ve ever dreamed of eating bland eggs while staring longingly at the exit sign, this is the place for you.

The Cons (brace yourself): The entire hotel reeks of marijuana. No, not just a faint hint — a full-blown dispensary experience. Apparently, the Holiday Inn Express doubles as an apartment complex, complete with welcome mats and door decor. I half-expected someone to invite me to a potluck in the hallway. The bathtub in Room 316 refuses to drain. Showers turned into speed challenges, unless you wanted a foot bath in what can only be described as “mystery water.” Taking back-to-back showers? Forget it. The tub takes an hour to drain, much like my patience during my stay. The air-conditioning unit sounded like it was auditioning for World’s Loudest Rattle. Sleeping was more of a suggestion than a reality. The bathroom fan was, frankly, a menace. Imagine an out-of-tune bagpipe crossed with a dying animal, and you’ll get the idea. To clarify, it didn’t work — it just screamed at you. Oh, and it's filled with mold. Saturday night (our first night there), our room keys mysteriously stopped working, forcing us to drag our exhausted child, who just wanted to go to bed, down to the lobby to get them replaced. The woman at the front desk's name was Oksana. Her explanation? “Oh, this just happens sometimes.” No apology, no empathy — just a casual brush-off. To top it off, she only gave us one working key. The other? Still useless. After finally getting back into the room, I called the front desk to address these issues. Oksana’s solution? Hang up. Repeatedly. After multiple attempts, I had to walk down to the lobby in person, only for Oksana to call the manager on her personal cell phone. What followed was the manager yelling at me on her employee's cell phone — right there in the middle of the lobby — as if I was the one who broke the room keys. The “manager” (and I use that term loosely) continued her unprofessional streak on Tuesday morning when I followed up on these unresolved issues since I hadn't heard anything. Her response? She asked me to leave. Not only that, but she flatly refused to issue a refund, despite the numerous problems we faced.

Bonus Round! ️ I eventually had to call the police! Why? Because the manager decided that I was the problem, after I became understandably irate when she refused to fix anything or address the blatant issues with her rude staff. Instead of resolving the situation, she doubled-down, asked me to leave, and refused to issue a refund.

The Outcome? The Bensalem Police Officer arrived quickly (shoutout to our heroes in uniform), took down the info, and then gave a basic explanation to the manager that humans verbally arguing isn't illegal and I was owed a refund if they were asking me to leave. Yes, I eventually received a full refund — not thanks to the hotel, but because their behavior was so absurdly out of line that it practically demanded corporate intervention. Oh, and I filed a BBB complaint because, well, someone needs to know what a disaster this place is.

Final Thoughts: Avoid this train wreck at all costs. Trust me, your sanity will thank you.

Happy travels —...

I do not write reviews, however, my family experience at this hotel chain was so horrible, I felt compelled to create this google account just to share my experience so others are aware of the treatment they may also receive. If I could. I would give a negative 0 rating but they force you to give at least 1 star. After being an IHG One Rewards member since 2005 under one account and 2012 under another account I am very saddened to depart ways and disassociate myself with the Holiday Inn /Express Brand and it’s affiliates. As an valued and loyal customer to this hotel chain for so many years please read on to learn why me, my family, friends and associates are doing so:

1. When we arrived at the hotel for check-In around 5:00 p.m. the front desk person was rude and became upset when she had to do her job. It was apparent my husband interrupted her while texting or handling other business on her personal cell phone (Not sure what’s the hotel policy on cell phone use by employees maybe this is allowed.)

2)We specifically booked a Jacuzzi room with a sofa bed so our 2 year old son with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) would have his own bed to sleep in like he does at home. After noticing there was no additional linens in the room around 8:00 p.m. we contacted the front desk and the same person who checked us in indicated it was not the hotel policy to provide linens for the sofa bed( Not sure why the hotel would have this policy when sofa beds are also counted when determining the maximum capacity for the room. Our maximum capacity for our room was 4 people).

We then asked if we can come down to the front desk and get some sheets, she indicated she was the only hotel staff member on duty at the hotel and could not provide any further assistance. We then used some of the linens from our own bed to make up the sofa bed for our son so he can sleep.

3)The next morning we left the hotel around 8:30 a.m. and arrived back at 4:00 p.m. to find nor was the linens we requested from the previous night not in our room but housekeeping failed to collect the trash and provide fresh towels. At that point my husband once again contacted the front desk and this time he spoke with the manager/supervisor and asked her what was the housekeeping policy. She indicated they only cleaned the rooms once every 5 days. But the trash and linens should be collected daily. He then told her our room was missed she then indicated she was the only staff member on duty, housekeeping was gone for the day, she couldn’t provide any additional assistance and then hung up the phone on my husband.

At that point I took the trash down to the front desk and inquired were I could properly dispose of the trash and the manager/supervisor indicated she didn’t know with sarcasm so I left it there and let her know I was about to call the corporate office to make an formal complaint and resolve any further issues.

4. I then immediately called Guest Relation at 4:15 p.m. As shown by the below screen shot. I was on the phone with Guest Relations for 24 minutes. The representative ensured me our needs would be met and additional linens would be sent to our room. Off course, this never happened although this was our 2nd night staying at the hotel. Once again our issues still was not properly resolved or addressed by...

Being someone who travels a lot for work, i have stayed at plenty of holiday inns and this definitely the worst. My wedding was close by so we chose this hotel as the designated hotel.. We reserved rooms well in advance. We'll over a year probably close to 2.

First problem arised when I called before even sending out invitations to book my room for my husband and I as well as the kids and they tell me the rooms are sold out. I didn't understand how that was possible; after going back and forth they were finally able to "find" it. Booked the rooms, but was weary what my guests may face when trying to book a room.

Second problem happened when my parents booked the conference room for the night at 6:30PM for my rehersal. Had confirmation and everything and the front desk tells me we didn't book it and someone else has the room. Rather than just taking ownership and saying we over booked ourselves they shift blame and don't even offer to help find a solution.

Third problem was they gave me the wrong key which caused me to walk into someone else's room.. I understand mistakes; but that is invasion of someone else's privacy for careless mistakes.

Fourth problem was the elevators. I avoided those elevators as much as possible throughout the weekend because only one worked and it made all kinds of noises. Well you'll never guess the one time I got on the elevator right after my wedding the elevator gets stuck. In my wedding dress and all. And all they could say was "sorry" as if that happens all the time and it's no big deal.

Fifth problem was esthetic. I mean just this past weekend alone there were 2 weddings going on and a sweet 16 so this location definitely sees a lot of traffic, so I'm sure there is room to put some money back into the place. The rooms were okay but could definitely use a make over and the jacuzzi tub we couldn't even use because it looked filthy.

Sixth problem was almost every guest who tried to book through the hotel had issues getting the discount; we also had an issue trying to get someone a room that night because apparently they told my parents 30 days in advance to book the hotels and claimed it was on the contract but it was not.

Now don't get me wrong I understand the Holiday Inn isn't a 5 star hotel, but the customer service was very poor and just kicked off our WEDDING weekend not so great, but don't worry we made the best of it. Please do something about this for it makes me want to avoid holiday inns...