Holiday Inn Express & Suites Charlotte - Ballantyne by IHG — Hotel in Charlotte

I booked and pre-paid for this hotel on Booking.com, thinking we had stayed here before on a previous visit. I was mistaken. Charlotte/Ballantyne has been built up quite a bit over the past 6 years. We had booked 2 King Suites for my husband, son and I for 4 nights and were assigned 2 rooms on the second floor that were ready when we checked in at 3:pm. There was a bus parked outside, so some group of young people was also staying at the hotel and they were full. Other guests had more difficulty checking in, so I was glad our reservation was good. The front desk staff stays in a room behind the counter until they see someone walk up to the front desk. Makes it seem like no one is there when you first arrive. Only one of the two elevators were working. The room was spacious and fairly new, but the bed was sloppily made and the towels/sheets not high quality. The caulking along the tub/shower wall was allowing the plastic “tile” back wall to gap. Plumbing fixtures were very basic. It’s clear those choices were all corporate based and made to minimize cost. I don’t think it was just this location. The AC worked, albeit noisily, and we slept well. Breakfast in the morning was adequate, but nothing special. Eating on paper with plastic always makes a dining experience feel low quality, but I suppose you get what you pay for. The waffle maker/griddle was inoperable, but everything else was working/well-stocked. They had the usual, hang up your towels and reuse to save the environment notice, but this chain took it one step further with a door hanger that promised IHG points if you forgo housekeeping daily during your stay. Apparently they think everyone wants to participate whether you use the door hanger or not. We put nothing on our door—no “we’re busy”, so we expected daily housekeeping. Why pay to stay at a hotel if you have to do what you do at home? On the first day, the maid never came to our son’s room and came to ours at 4:45 when I was still getting ready to go to dinner. She did come back after we left 15 minutes later, but only because I saw her with the others getting ready to leave and told her to make up our room. The second day, a different woman came to “exchange old towels for new ones” at 3:30pm; she gave us three new towels as requested but did not take the two hanging on the hooks behind the door. She also left the washcloth on the shower curtain rod, only exchanging the one hand towel and bath mat. We made the bed and emptied the trash ourselves. Once again, no one went to my son’s room. I am waiting to see if we get any service today. Our son’s key card would not work on the fitness room, so he had to use ours, but at least he was able to use that advertised amenity. The front desk assigned our room to someone else by mistake on Sunday, because I was in the lobby when I watched that person come back to get it switched to another room. Then our cards didn’t work when we returned from dinner that night. Obviously there is some “glitch” in the system that makes them do this repeatedly. The young man had been working there for 4 months, so I don’t think it was just user error. Last night there was a distinct sewage odor in the lobby around 6:30, luckily it was gone this morning. Still only one working elevator. We have one night left to stay. Honestly, if I had not prepaid for the rooms I would have checked availability elsewhere when I realized this was not the hotel I thought I was booking in the first place. I will NOT choose a Holiday Inn Express in the future, now that I know what to...

This was a nightmare of a weekend at this hotel.

When I first pulled in there was some guy, only wearing shorts, in a screaming match with three cops. This was over at the McAlister’s Deli, that shares the parking lot. Not at the hotel but it was a portent of the rest of my stay.

The hotel is somewhat dingy. Nothing in particular dirty, but the look they everything needs a good scrub or to refresh the paint. The decor is somewhat old but that doesn’t matter. When going to my room I did notice some rooms that had damage to the wood in the area of the door lock. We’re people trying to force entry? It wasn’t just one and I’ll put a picture up of one of them.

When I got into my room the thermostat was turned off and it was a touch warm in there but I turned the air on and cranked the temp down. I had to go for a few hours so the room should cool. I was wrong there. I didn’t really pay attention when I got back. I pulled out my laptop to unwind watching some football. After an hour or so I noticed it was really warm and I was sweating. I turned the temps down all the way. I turned the game off and tried to sleep. It never cooled down and when I started sweating I called the front desk and told them the AC didn’t work. She told me she could switch me to another room. Great I’ll take it.

I packed up my bag and went down to trade keys. Got my keys and went up to the room. Swiped my key and opened the door. It stopped on the door stopped and someone screamed within the room. I quickly yelled “sorry I must have to wrong room,” and went back down. When I got back to the front desk she was on the phone with those people telling them no one tried to break in their room.

She looked in the computer and eventually figured out she had given THEM the wrong room. She tried to give me the same keys again and eventually gave me a different room.

Went up to this room and it seemed like the A. Wasn’t doing anything. I thought I must be too tired and imagining things. I turned the thermostat all the way down and fell asleep. I went to sleep with the room at 76F and woke up to 75F. It only went down one degree over night so that must have actually been the low outside. It was going to be warm that day and this room faced west so it was going to get hot.

I packed everything again. I was going to demand another room and if they didn’t give me one I was going to check out early and just find somewhere else. This front desk person put me in a third room and went up to double check the room, nice and chilly. The problem I didn’t find until late that night was that when the AC turned on it sounded like someone started a lawnmower in the room.

The breakfast served was ok. My complaints about it are absolutely tiny plates. Also the bacon is that tasteless super thin stuff.

TLDR. Had 3 rooms in 2 nights due to two broken air conditioners. The third room had an incredibly loud air conditioner. The breakfast is ok but could be better. There is more than one room that has suspicious damage to the door that looks like forced entry. I’m not going here again

EV owners. They have two charger spots that I saw but they don’t check them. A BMW ICE’d a spot and was definitely parked...

November 9, 2021........While I agree with the cleanliness and the comfort of the beds that is all I can say that is positive about this place. When checking in it took thirty minutes and two desk clerks to fiddle with the computer. Checking out, I was not even registered (or they could not find me). Back to checking in, I asked if there were any discounts and they said there was a veterans discount and the room would be $129. They handed me the bill and it was 196. I understand the taxes and the room damage fee, but it should be explained. Ok things happen, but the room was such a disappointment. My girlfriend and I wanted to escape the rat race for the night settling in to watch a movie and relax. We live in different counties. After getting to the room there was no refrigerator, but a wine chiller that had no controls. A wine cooler??? The maintenance man said to get a bucket and go get ice. There was no bucket. He suggested using the sink or trash can. I think he was trying to soothe our angst. He was there to fix the TV which had no channel information so we could not find a movie. The guy came back twice and said he would consult with staff and be back. He never returned and I was told he went home. Fabrication?? At check out he said he was told to empty a truck. So they cannot lie good. They were going to find us a room where there was a TV that worked. Did not happened and never heard back. We went to google and found a movie, but caught it midway through as the TV had no channel info. They admitted the TVs were bad and still assigned us a room with a bad one. Next, we ordered in and did not realize there was not a table or chairs. We had to eat off the bed. Not having a table is new to me and I have stayed in hotels and motels all over the country. There was a lounge chair instead f a table. From now on I will ask to see the room at Holiday Inns before checking in. I suggest you do the same. Customer service horrible. They rarely answer the phone, so if you call, be patient as they may be outside as they were when I drove up. Checking out, one clerk offered to send me a deposit receipt for the 50 dollars and to date have not seen it. Untruths again. Yesterday I called and asked why the manager has not called to hear my grievances. She said she was the manager,. She could not address my concerns and said she would call the manager and have him call me. two things...she said she was the manger and then said she would call the manager. I am telling you they are unorganized and fabricate to cover their inexperience. Numerous promises to called me never materialized. There is a hotel/motel management school in Charlotte and I suggest they attend. I just called to ask for the manager and was told none there as they had the weekend off. I told the woman who finally answered the phone that was was going to write a negative review and she said she welcomed it. So here ya go and I hope that headquarters receives as well as this local Holiday Inn. Her response indicated to me that staff does not care....