Holiday Inn Express Brentwood South - Franklin — Hotel in Brentwood

From Sunday, March 14 - Monday, March 15, 2024, my mom and I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Brentwood South.

My mom is an organ transplant patient/recipient at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and she had both a morning appointment and afternoon appointment on April 15th at the 100 Oaks location.

The price, breakfast, location and experience we had last year were our 4 reasons for booking this hotel again. The price was reasonable, it’s only 10 miles south of 100 Oaks off I-65, the breakfast is amazing and we had a great experience our first stay.

We live 3 1/2 hours from Nashville, almost 4 from Brentwood, and we travel the night before if she has an early appointment to not have to worry about heavy traffic coming in and missing her appointment.

This was our second visit since 2023. And what a difference a year makes.

When we checked in, I was not acknowledged as a IHG Rewards member. Last year, I was and the person at the front desk went above and beyond and not only gave my mom and me a bottle of water each but also offered us a snack. That didn’t happen this time.

What makes that important to me is that I felt valued last year. I felt like a person and not a number.

I mentioned it was our second stay and the gentleman that checked us in welcomed us back, and he accommodated our request for a room on the first floor.

However it wasn’t the service that we had become familiar with IHG hotels, which we had received at other IHG locations even this year.

The vibe wasn’t that what we had experienced even at that hotel the year prior. I requested a late check in, however he said I would need to ask the person at the front desk. But that was fine. I know each hotel has their guidelines they must follow.

We entered the room and it was worn and showing it’s age a little however it was very clean and neat and that’s what matters in even normal life but with my mom a transplant recipient and still having struggles cleanliness is priority number 1 and I was glad for that.

However the plug-in air freshener was quite strong and affected us both a bit for we both are sensitive to smell and our allergies get aggravated by strong smells at times but thankfully it became tolerable after a little while.

The mini fridge however was the biggest issue of the trip. We brought a couple of Boost protein drinks for my mom for extra protein and they’re no good after they are refrigerated then get hot. We brought them chilled in an insulated bag with multiple blue ice packs.

However the mini fridge was barely cool and there was nothing in it to adjust the temperature. We also got a couple of small milks.

We went to the front desk and explained the problem to a different gentleman and with our permission he came with us back to our room (#103), and checked it out.

He said it was cool but if we wanted he would move us to another room. However he also said the mini fridges were all the same. We opted to stay where we were because it was going to be the same issue no matter what room we were in so there was no point in moving.

And there was no way to keep our blue ice packs cool and everything got hot and we had to throw the drinks away.

Later that evening, we walked by the swimming pool to see if it was open however it was closed but that was no big deal. I knew that given the time of year it most likely closed and is never makes a hotel a no for me. Just a nice feature to enjoy if it was. Because I did last year.

With the pool being closed we decided to utilize the exercise room and exercise on the machines for awhile.

But decided against it when we walked in and saw how dirty the exercise equipment was. And the room had a foul smell so we went walked back out. The room and equipment was in desperate need of cleaning.

Huge red flag anyway however my mom was not going to utilize them to possibly end up in the hospital with infections.

We did forget that there was complimentary coffee until we spotted it on our way back to the room so we happily got us a cup and it was hot and enjoyable. Loved it.

The next morning, the gentleman at the front desk was able to grant us a 12:00 PM check out time but that was plenty for time to get my morning work tasks done.

My favorite part of the hotel last year was the breakfast options and was happy to enjoy those options again. A few of the omelettes were burnt on the edges however we saw a few that didn’t so we got those.

And the omelette, cinnamon roll and bacon were as amazing as I remembered them. They were so delicious. Such a treat.

Exercise room aside the rest of the hotel smelled good and was very clean.

However this stay was very disappointing. I had high expectations and we were let down. Between the mini fridge and feeling like a number instead of a valued guest. They were nice but it felt like it was mandatory.

We didn’t have the experience that we had last time and that’s unfortunate because we enjoyed our stay a lot last time.

We may stay again in the future but I honestly cannot say definitely for certain at this time.

I also wouldn’t recommend this hotel...

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Brentwood South- Franklin for 1 night (June 4 - June 5, 2023).

We travel to Nashville a lot because my mom is a transplant patient at Vanderbilt however the prices in the city were more than we were willing to pay this time and mom’s first Dr appointment was at a Vanderbilt facility on the south side of Nashville so we considered hotels in the Brentwood and Franklin areas as they were 5 - 10 miles from where we needed to be the next morning without having to worry about being late due to excessive traffic and interstate changes during early morning commute.

After searching different hotels in both areas and looking at reviews we came across Holiday Inn Express Brentwood South - Franklin.

The first thing we do is check the pricing which was very reasonable and love the fact we had free parking (the hotels in Midtown and Downtown Nashville all charge between $15 - $40 parking fees) so that was a huge plus and seeing that the hotel had a hot breakfast buffet and all the breakfast options made us hungry lol. It all looked so good!

I pre-registered via the email I received before arrival so check in was a breeze and our keys were ready and waiting for us. Unfortunately we got a later start than expected (and travel time for us is 4 hours), and we didn’t make our expected arrival time I entered in the check in email, however the nice gentleman (wish I had gotten his name) and traffic on Nashville interstates can be quite slow, however he assured us that it was okay and it was perfectly understandable.

He recognized my rewards member status and offered both my mom and me a bottled water and a snack. That was super sweet of him. Plus I received my amenity points within minutes of checking in.

The room was a tad small but was no issue at all. The toilet seat moved a little and the cabinet door where the mini fridge is didn’t close however we made the nice gentleman at the front desk the next morning (wish I had gotten his name as well) apologized and added it to a piece of paper on a clipboard while assuring us he would pass that along to the maintenance department and they would be fixed before we returned.

The only complaint I have at all is that the mini fridge doesn’t have a freezer in it. When we travel we bring cold drinks and cold snacks with us covered in blue ice packs and they didn’t freeze back up so they were not as cold as they needed to be to keep our drinks and snacks cool enough for a full day in Nashville (2 appointments..1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon then the 3 1/2 journey home but we filled the cooler bag with ice. Got the bag all wet but did the trick.

Otherwise everything was awesome! We had no idea there was so much to see and do in the area nearby (malls and shops everywhere!) and were also very impressed not only with the amount of dining options available nearby but also that we were so close to a Costco! We loved it!

We also loved that we received a room on the ground floor and could park the car right outside our window!

The pool was a great temperature and I enjoyed a relaxing swim. The only concern I had a is just before I got out of the pool a gentleman came in smoking a cigar. I’m very sensitive to smoke of any kind and being a transplant patient my mom is more susceptible to health problems and her team made it clear she is not to be around any kind of smoke so I got out and we quickly left the pool area. And wish the fitness center wasn’t out of order but we know things happen. If open whenever we return we will definitely enjoy utilizing the exercise equipment.

But the entire time the entire hotel was very quiet which was very much appreciated. At the pool area, while we were in our room, or in common areas it was so quiet and that was a very nice surprise.

We loved the complimentary coffee and they had CoffeeMate liquid coffee creamer which we love very much and the coffee was so good. And we cannot compliment the amazing hot complimentary breakfast enough. The cheese omelettes, bacon and cinnamon rolls were perfect!! The biscuits were nice and fluffy!! It was the best!!!

Would definitely recommend this hotel to everyone and given the chance again we would love to come back and...

First off, let me say that I never leave 1 star reviews. This hotel hardly deserves the one star it's getting. If you're used to staying at a Holiday Inn Express, you will be VERY disappointed with this hotel. The decor is outdated, among other issues I will go into in my review that made me so frustrated that I wanted to cry.

We've stayed in HIE hotels in at least 10 different states, with several locations within those states, over the last 15 years or so, and none of them were so awful. It's obvious that this was once a different hotel that someone switched to a HIE with very little updates. I thought maybe it was recent, but it's been long enough that the HIE company should have noticed that whomever is in charge isn't putting any money into the hotel. It honestly looks like they painted the outside and did the main areas, but left the rooms as is.

Let's start with the locations. We thought that being in Brentwood, it would be updated and current. The location is near shopping and a cool area with restaurants. However, it's tucked back behind a strip mall area where you don't even see it, and it's a hassle to get to. The lobby was okay. The water fountains weren't working. There were obvious water stains on the ceiling. A wet floor sign stayed out the entire time we were there. At breakfast, there weren't a ton of options, and the pancake machine wasn't running/working. The area looked clean overall, though. We were placed on the 1st floor with a connecting room (we didn't need this, so it's weird to put us here in case someone did). It was a double queen room, which we expected. What we didn't expect was to have such a tiny space. My husband could easily touch the ceiling, and it was a tight fit with the two beds, desk, cabinet area, and chair. The lighting was horrible. There are only two lights for the room, no lamp in the desk, and no lights around cabinets. The cabinets were in horrible shape, and when I went to open the door, the handle fell off. I opened the fridge, and it smelled awful and wasn't overly cool, so we kept it shut. I didn't even try to open the microwave, afraid of what I'd find. The bathroom was extremely small. One switch for both lights, but one room longer to come on. You couldn't fit two people in there unless one was sitting on the toilet or in the shower. There was a weird patch on the wall with tape, and the tub looked like it had seen a few too many years. There was zero counter space, so I kept most items packed away. There are not blackout curtains. There were very few outlets to charge items. One outlet was totally unusable because the plug just fell out. The carpet felt nasty. I kept my shoes on unless I was on the bed. It had stains and was old and thin. With ALL that, the worst thing was the smell and wet/moisture in the entire room. When we opened the door to enter, it smelled like an old camp bunk house that had been shut up for months. The bedding felt damp, and I thought that maybe they had put it on the bed wet, but after being in the room, I realized that it is the space. Our clothes that were sitting out felt damp after a time, and the floors also had the damp/coolness in it. I was uncomfortable the entire time. If this had been our actual vacation, we would have left, but as it was a stop on our way home, we just stayed gone except to sleep. I didn't want to spend any extra time there. It was so disappointing to end our vacation in such a horrible place. Don't let the comments from HIE fool you, they aren't doing anything to fix the issues. I looked into the reviews and noticed a lot of the same issues over YEARS, that several different people have made complaints about with NOTHING done to fix the problems. I guess we should have looked at the reviews in detail beforehand, but with the consistency with the brand over the years, over so many states/locations, we assumed it would be good... we were wrong. Don't be fooled! Don't stay here!! We won't be back, even if they tear it down and rebuild the...