Holiday Inn Express & Suites Charlotte Airport by IHG — Hotel in Charlotte

When we checked in, the staff at the front desk told us we were required to pay $10 for overnight parking and that we had to do so via a QR code/text message. I communicated my displeasure to her that we were not advised of this mandatory fee during the reservation process. She was very nice but said she was told to tell guests that their cars could be towed if they didn't pay the parking fee. I told her that we would not have stayed at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites if we had been advised that there was a $10 parking fee but it was too late to change hotels as our reservation required a 2 day ahead cancellation so we were stuck, we couldn't leave and go elsewhere.

After we got into our room, I confirmed that the reservation details that I had printed out had no mention of a mandatory additional parking fee but I researched the hotel website and after clicking many levels into the hotel details, I found the reference to the parking fee. It's totally unacceptable for Holiday Inn to hide mandatory junk fees many levels down in the website. However, once I found the language, I called down to the front desk and asked the lady at the front desk to add the parking fee to our bill and told her I would dispute it at a later date. She said the hotel would not accept payment for the parking, that we were required to use the QR code and text a 3rd party company. (The sign w the QR code in the parking lot said the 3rd party company was PARKINGMGT.com) I told her that I did not scan QR codes because of QR code scams and would not provide my private personal information to a 3rd party. She reiterated that our car could be towed if we did not pay for parking using this system. I stated that I would not be bullied by Holiday Inn into providing my private personal information to a 3rd party and that Holiday Inn should add the $10 fee to our bill. She said she could not do that and that I would need to take it up with the GM Luke Yarborough. I had her transfer me to Luke's number and tried to leave him a VM. 3 times I was transferred to the GM's VM and 3 times I after I began speaking, after recording my name and room number, the VM abruptly disconnected. I called the front desk back and told her that I was not successful in leaving a message for Luke Yarborough and that if our car might be towed, we would need the option of taking the hotel airport shuttle bus at 5.30a to get to the airport for our flight as I was adamant that I would not provide my private personal information to an unknown 3rd party company at the behest of Holiday Inn to pay a surprise mandatory fee.

It's more than a little stressful not knowing whether our rental car would still be in the hotel parking lot in the morning when we needed to get to the airport for our early flight.

The hotel is lovely but I would never stay there again even beyond the stressful parking issue. The tub has mildew and grime and cracked tiles. The hallway trash can at the elevator was overflowing with trash. The poor cleanliness detracts from the ambiance. I can only assume that the hotel is struggling financially and cannot properly clean the hotel without assessing surprise parking fees. I would be concerned about staying at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites Charlotte Airport again because the hotel security might also be lacking.

In summary, our stay at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites at the Charlotte Airport on 4/28/2024 was a terribly stressful experience. I plan to send this letter to my congressperson as well as the Consumer Protection Agency at the FTC to make sure they are aware that Holiday Inn is assessing mandatory surprise fees that are not adequately disclosed in the reservation process and are required to be paid for in a way that requires the customer to disclose their private personal information to a 3rd party company. The issue with the fees is terrible but bullying to force customers to disclose their private personal information without any recourse to opt out is far worse should be stopped...

It’s very sad that I have to write this but this was the worst experience I have experienced at a Holiday Inn, or any hotel for that matter. I am a Spire Elite member with the IHG brand I love staying at H.I. when I am traveling for work it is my preferred hotel. I travel almost every week of the year staying with this brand and I have always been treated right. I stayed at this particular location because I am thinking about moving out to North Carolina in the near future so I used all of my points for 6 nights. The first night of my stay I realized I was low on towels and needed much more than 2 since my family was staying with me on this vacation of ours. When I went downstairs to ask the front desk for more towels I was surprised when they said “they don’t have extra towels” it was very odd because most hotels have an abundance of these items because they are necessary to have in a room. Whenever I’m staying at a hotel and ask for extra towels or pillows I always get extra with no hassle. I also asked if I could have room service the next day and was told to fill out a request form which I gladly did. Next day after we came back from our day out I come back to the room not cleaned at all. It was not serviced. I went back downstairs and talked to the front desk and told them of the situation and they assured me it would be fixed the next day since room service was no longer on the clock. So I filled out my second request form and was assured this one would be given to the room service staff and it would be “urgent”. Well after we came back from exploring Charlotte and the outside areas it was late and we walk into the room again not serviced. So I went back downstairs upset and told front desk what is going on!? I’m filling out room service forms every night but it’s not being done. They apologized and basically looked clueless and played dumb as if they had no idea why it’s not getting serviced. They had me fill out another Form!!! And ASSURED me that they will clean it. Well I’ll tell you what. SIX NIGHTS and my room was NEVER serviced. 4 people had to share 2 towels for SIX nights. It was the worst stay I’ve ever had with any hotel and the staff at this place could care less. Among other issues, the breakfast area pancake machine was broken the entire time, the coffee was almost always empty. They were hosting a quince type party in the main meeting room and back of the hotel one night which was blasting music until about 1am one night. Hallways were littered with trash and the carpets were always filthy.

This hotel is a VERY nice hotel but the staff and management of this place seem to not care about accommodating their guests or doing their job. If you are thinking about booking this hotel and actually want basic service and to be able to have clean towels and clean sheets. I would advise you to go elsewhere. I would never stay at this hotel again and it’s sad that I got this terrible experience on my vacation of all times. I will definitely book with Best Western next time I am...

Our room was dirty. We were not comfortable walking on the bathroom floor without socks/shoes, there were drink rings on most counter surfaces in the room. There was an old bra left in one of the cabinet drawers - the carpeting is mostly black so based on the bathroom floor we couldn't trust that it was clean either. |No bar soap provided. Some people still like bar soap and it's cheap to provide - if it isn't used it stays unopened for the next guest. When I called downstairs the girl said she could provide some if I came downstairs to get it. A few minutes after coming back to the room I noticed there wasn't a coffee maker in the room either. I called back down again and a different girl said she couldn't bring one up because she was the only employee working. But there were two girls at the desk, along with another one vacuuming the lobby. The girl named "Cher" was really helpful and friendly, but the other girl didn't like that she had to find a coffee maker for me, and it took way too long (15 minutes?) to find one that had working parts. She very much wanted me to understand that the hotel had a "European model" of providing coffee to guests by way of a 24-hour machine in the lobby. Keurigs in the room are 24-hours as well, and I've never been to a European hotel room that didn't provide either a Nespresso machine or a coffee/tea kettle in the room.|In the morning I mentioned my coffee maker request to the manager, who didn't think anything was wrong because they can bring one up if you ask. But they don't bring them up, his employees can't find working ones and don't like looking for them, it takes too long, and you shouldn't have to ask when it's common to find them in other 3-star hotel rooms in the U.S. And the Costa machine that he mentions in the lobby makes worse coffee than a Keurig does - its as weak as tea, and you can see the bottom of your cup after filling it up. |Sometimes people want a cup of coffee so they can go get a cup of coffee.|The lobby of the hotel is decorated cutely with all of the airport/airplane themes. But because of the dirty room and the lack of understanding of how some people want coffee - along with the staff attitude about it - makes this hotel prohibitive to...