Holiday Inn Johnstown-Gloversville by IHG — Hotel in City of Johnstown

Add- Laurie- breakfast server was the SINGLE person working at this hotel who is AWESOME

Good day- I normally submit reviews after I check out…and 90% of the time the reviews are positive and appreciative. I wanted to give you a head start on my experience in the last 12 hrs- not good.

Check in- The gentlemen appeared to be focused on one job- checking me in and having me sign the requisite paperwork…NOT willing to provid customer service. I asked about the rail to trail walking path- he had never heard of it or know about it. I asked in several ways, in case he knew it by another term (“walking path near Gloversville”) blank stare and dismissive. The lady helping him last night knew of one point going north on the highway- at least she tried to help.

—- In case you’re not tracking- on your information rack in the hallway, you have pamphlets about the walking path!

I then asked him for a restaurant, pub that we’d been to last year and described it as about 6miles from the hotel- next to a creek at a road intersection. No luck from him and she said she wasn’t from here. I asked for any pubs or breweries. No luck from either of them.

— I’ve only been here once a year ago, but was able to figure out Broadalbin was the gem we were looking for…. (I’m sure there are others)

I don’t believe it’s unreasonable to be able to trust the front desk for local recommendations.

Coffee this morning- the older lady at the reception of the dining area informed me there was no complimentary coffee, multiple times, after I asked where I could get a cup of coffee. I told her I wasn’t ready to eat breakfast and just wanted a cup of coffee and that my wife and I would be back for breakfast. She stood firm, repeating “no complimentary coffee”

—This morning’s front desk lady showed interest in my frustration and had the same concern that SHE needed some coffee as well. She said she would pass this to you. Hopefully, this is not the first time you’ve been told or that you already know that the coffee is not complimentary and you’re not empowered to solve.

—-This makes absolutely no sense. I know that I have a Kurig in my room. The lady at the front desk was nice enough to give me another pod…but my wife didn’t appreciate that I came back to the room and woke her up- making my coffee and reading the newspaper, since I couldn’t let her sleep and get my coffee and read in the lobby.

I know it’s hard to find qualified help- but the people I’m writing about are all over the age of 30, so understand basic customer service and social interaction. The 2 last night and the breakfast lady should not have contact with the public, based on my experience, if this stay is any indication of their lack of enthusiasm or care for people traveling from out of town and getting this type of service. It’s a poor representation of IHG Brands and the locals, who I’m sure are good folks

Please examine your qualifications and training for employees who have contact...

My wife and I stayed here while working in the area, we stay at Holiday Inn all over the country and are platinum members so we are familiar with the normal policies. We had a few issues with this hotel. Our 1st issue happened when we did our laundry in the guest laundry, the front load machine apparently was broken, when I returned to put the clothes in the dryer they had not washed just filled with water but the lock was engaged and would not release. Maintenance was gone for the day and the man they sent to look into it told us he had no clue and we would just have to wait til the next morning when maintenance came in at 8 am to get our clothes! Housekeeping could see how much this upset my wife and called the front desk, the gentleman there came and was finally able to get the lock released and returned our money. He was very helpful and very friendly. We were understood things happen. That night our employer called and we had to leave early to take care of an issue in Binghamton, we checked out a day early from our reservation and the morning clerk informed us we would still be paying for the night whether we were there or not. We informed him that we stay about 200 nights a year in Holiday Inns and have never had this happen. He very rudely informed us that they don't care and they are not a Holiday Inn they are a franchise and do not care what corporate has to say about it. Sure enough they charged us for a 3rd night but it's not on our receipt so we cannot turn that charge into our company for reimbursement now. Oh and we checked out at 6:30 am not late in the morning. We are now back in town to finish our job here and we are staying at the Super 8 across the street because they seem to appreciate our business. I will never stay at this hotel again and we'll tell our co-workers about this so they can make other arrangements while working...

My husband (and kiddos) surprised me with a fun hotel stay for my birthday last weekend. He brought champagne and sweets to the counter and the staff had them in our room when I arrived, it was the best! The room was clean and lovely. We had an amazing dinner and our server was incredible! We had a lovely time. We had our meal charged to our room.

Before the incident this morning, I would have given a 5 star rating.

My credit card statement showed the hotel+dinner charge, plus an additional dinner charge. I assumed the dinner charge was just a holding authorization, but my husband called just to make sure, since I try to keep good track of my finances.

The receptionist had some kind of poor attitude the moment he answered the phone. The question was simple, it required not a lot of work on the receptionist's end. He was strangely and unnecessarily hostile for the entire phone conversation.

Please note- we are not the complaining type!! My husband was a Hotel manager for a decade in San Diego. He has been in the customer service industry for 30 years, and before I started my career I did customer service jobs since I was 15 years old.

He was AWFUL. When my husband said, I'm sorry, I'm not sure why you acting so hostile toward me, he was screamed at and hung up on. This is INSANE to me- he is a very polite man and we really were only making sure it wasn't charged. There were no ill words. I understand people have bad days but this incident was over-the-top. How is this employee in customer service? I have let go of employees in the past for being excessively rude to clients.

This incident puts a sour enough taste in my mouth to drop my rating considerably. You work at a HOTEL, sir, your business is customer service. I wish I had gotten his name.

My rating on service reflects directly on...