Holiday Inn Express Cleveland Airport - Brook Park by IHG — Hotel in Brook Park

I made my reservation 2 months in advance of a family visit. Midnight before the morning I was due to fly from LAX to CLE I received an email message that my reservation was cancelled because the card I had placed on file 2 months earlier was declined. Upset, I called IHG customer relations to inquire and complain. A case number was created for me and I was told I would receive a call later that day during business hours. In the meantime, I had to quickly make another less convenient, more expensive reservation at another IHG hotel.

In the morning, before I left, I received a call from the hotel manager asking if I would accept another room if he could find one. I said yes. He found a room for me and my nephew, though the second bed was only a fold out sofa. When I checked into the hotel, one of the clerks acknowledged that she had mistakenly canceled my reservation.

Meanwhile, IHG customer relations never followed up on my complaint. I never heard from them.

When we checked out, my nephew and I sought to split the bill between our two credit cards, as we have done at hotels all around CLE airport. We were told that because of a system "upgrade" it couldn't be done. Then we were told they could do it. Then we were told they had done it.

They had not.

I received an email asking me to rate my experience. I rated it poorly, as here. I received an email from the hotel manager expressing regret and offering a different explanation for the cancelation of my reservation. He hoped I would give the hotel another chance. If I wanted to speak, I could call him. I wrote him instead, expressing all of my dissatisfactions and stating I believed some financial consideration for the inconveniences and anxieties would be appropriate.

He blew me off. He never replied.

I tried via IHG customer relations online to get the name of someone with supervisory authority. I was stonewalled -- though another case number was opened for my complaint. I never received any follow up on it.

I found the contact information for the top customer relations executive at IHG and wrote her. She passe me off to an assistant, who wrote to me in apologetic customer relations-ese but offered me nothing. IHG is not responsible for the hotel's service; the hotel is not responsible for IHG's service. I did get another call from the hotel manager at the request of IHG. He left a voice mail offering to talk but nothing else. I kept missing him when I called.

By this point, a month and a half had passed, and I already had to travel out of the country. I got tired of wasting my time, so I've written this instead. Some sincere customer relations might have...

This hotel is recently renovated—beautiful and exceptionally clean, likely the cleanest I’ve stayed in while in Cleveland. Unfortunately, the service and accommodations fall far below standard.

As a business traveler and Platinum Elite member, I rely on reliable shuttle service and flexible checkout. This property offers neither. The airport shuttle stops running after 10pm, forcing me to pay $25 for a one-mile Uber ride. For an airport hotel, that’s unacceptable.

Upon arrival just after midnight, I was barely acknowledged by the front desk staff. I requested a late checkout and was told “11:30 is the best I can do.” I would not have booked the hotel stay had I known I couldn't extend my checkout. I reminded her that Platinum Elite benefits allow for checkout up to 2pm. After pushing, I was begrudgingly given noon. I was also given a handicapped room without warning—again, not ideal.

Breakfast was also disappointing—offered during a short window that doesn’t accommodate guests arriving late or departing early, especially at an airport property.

I contacted IHG Member Services, (after communicating for THIRTY MINUTES) who confirmed I should be granted a 1pm checkout. However, they couldn’t reach the front desk and promised to escalate. I never received a call back. The next morning, I was again denied the promised late checkout.

To make matters worse, I was clearly waiting in the lobby with my bags from noon to 12:30pm. In that entire 30-minute window, no one acknowledged me or offered any information. A shuttle eventually appeared, but when I asked, I was told it had to be booked in advance. The staff had watched me wait the entire time and said nothing. When I asked about the next shuttle, I was told it wouldn’t come until 1pm—despite the website stating it runs every 30 minutes on the hour.

This stay showed how little value is placed on loyalty. No compensation was offered for the inconvenience, and the lack of staffing was evident across the board. I’ll continue to choose my preferred hotel brand (rhymes with Carriott- I can't put it in this message) where my benefits are respected and service is consistent.

This room was very expensive, $230 for a Holiday inn EXPRESS in Cleveland, and it is clear that the price reflects the renovation not the staffing that makes the stay accommodating. Having the staffing to turnover full capacity rooms is imperative as are having hotel shuttle drivers during the...

Staff handled tornado power outage poorly. Zero communication from staff via text, email, phone call, or signage around hotel to update us. I understand not having access to computers locally but reaching out to corporate offsite to send us notifications on the situation would've been helpful. Even old fashioned paper and pen with signage around the hotel would've been very helpful.

After my first night staying there without power I departed to my business meetings for the day, when I got back to the hotel around 7pm the staff almost didn't let me back into the hotel and said they're evacuating. When I arrived that evening to go lay down after a long day I went to go inside the hotel and they said "we're evacuating" and were standing as if blocking the door. I saw the shuttles out front and asked if they were shuttling us to a nearby hotel to accommodate us and they simply said bluntly "no, nobody has power." I then had asked if they were moving my reservation to another hotel in the area for me and they said "no, there isn't any power." I told them I still had stuff in my hotel room and they said "ok well you can go get it but you have to leave". When I packed to leave I went back to the front desk to ask how to proceed with checking out early and assumed it would be old fashioned pen and paper with a signature but there wasn't a single staff member inside the hotel anywhere. It was just me in what appeared to be an abandoned hotel with no power, what could go wrong?

It was apparent they had no standard operating procedure to guide their guests. I understand there was a tornado that knocked out power, but once power is out at your hotel for any reason there ought to be standard procedures in place with staff well trained to help navigate and guide guests through the emergency situation at hand that required an evacuation. There are back up generators to help this as well as back up battery cellular routers for internet that kick on during emergency situations to handle things specifically for a scenario like this.

It has now been 2 weeks since this happened and I've given them a chance to reach out to me about the situation and how to get refunded for my stay but I've received zero communication from anybody.

This unfortunately will be one of those situations that corporate will wind up referencing for training their franchise owners on how not to handle...