Holiday Inn Express Columbus - Ohio Expo Center by IHG — Hotel in Columbus

When you look at my rating I know it’s confusing, READ the ENTIRE review.

The location of the hotel is clearly in an area that needs revitalization, evident by the buildings around it. It is next door to a Wendy’s which I will revisit in a little. I booked this hotel to attend a graduation in a city I have never visited before. When I arrived I immediately started apologizing to my family members and asked if they wanted to stay somewhere else based it’s surrounding. They said let’s go in first, we when running late for the first event.

When we walked in we saw a sign stating they do not book anyone within a 30 mile radius. (Which didn’t help my opinion at that point) The inside was okay but this hotel’s main plus is their employees!! Customer service made all the difference in this property! We were checked in by a young lady named Tynise and she is beyond AMAZING! My family members and I were talking about sign as we were being checked in, Tynise overheard and said “ oh yeah, if we did that we wouldn’t have rooms for our visitors from Virginia!” ( our home state) This one statement made us all smile and Tynise and her coworkers did all they could to ensure we never stopped smiling!!

The hotel is an older one but you can see they did some remodeling. The room was spacious enough for the three of us. The desk would be better if there was a lamp and their windows should either not open or have screens. The bathroom was also nice and they have Dove products. I love hotels that have the liquid soap dispensers instead of those small bars. And this one does. I would suggest a second towel bar so the double rooms could accommodate towels for four guests in the room.

I can’t speak to breakfast except to say they have lots of options. During our stay we went to Wendy’s or out to breakfast because they only had French vanilla creamer and my husband is a stickler for unflavored creamers. Also their drink machine didn’t have juice the entire stay. This was taken care of my hotel staff as they had bottles of orange juice in the refrigerator with the yogurts.

Now onto this hotels BEST PART… it’s employees!! Tynise set the tone for the level of service we could expect and every member of the staff ensured that level was met and exceeded! We asked for additional towels on the way out one day and they were there upon our return. My husband spilled coffee on the bed and even though we asked outside of the time limit, it was changed. I had question about my card charges, it appeared I was over charged. (A situation that would normally send me in the red zone). The staff was so great I knew if it was incorrect it would be rectified. As I suspected the manager quickly came to assist and after looking into the charge I understood it was a per day parking fee that could not be charged in advance. (Of course the hotel had no way of knowing we would drive from VA to Ohio). The manager even offered to remove the fee, but I declined because we did drive and we did park there each day.

People say “ do not judge a book by its cover”, I will say do not judge this hotel by its surroundings! If you do you will miss the opportunity to sleep in a comfortable bed, be taken care of by the most wonderful people, who really care about you and show you that they are happy you choose their hotel!!

Holiday Inn Express…this hotel should reflect the people within and their efforts!! Please provide some updates on this hotel, also Tynise deserves recognition!! She is so friendly and her guest first attitude is something you cannot teach! She...

Update: Stay away from this place. So after calling out the staff for taking my headphones off grounds, the manager tried to claim it was an honest mistake and that housekeeping just had "left them in their smock" and forgot.

Cool. Right. I believe it sure. Send me my headphones- gives address and receives 1000 apologies.

Here we are 4 weeks after providing my address, and I have had to call this place every week to ask where my headphones are. The manager is intentionally slow pacing their return, and I know this because every week I call and different employees apologize because the headphones are still sitting, packaged and everything, on the managers desk.

I am now going to dispute my stay with my bank, I have lost all faith in this establishment and I am never ever stepping foot in another Holiday inn for as long as I live.

Save your money, time and energy.

I would never stay here again. I tried to give this place the benefit of the doubt, seeing as we stayed here last year with no issues, but this year was a surreal experience.

We stayed on the front end and back end of our trip. On the 17th, we arrived to check in and the front desk went to check if my room was ready, only to return and tell me some random person was sleeping in my room, in my bed. Even though the room was clearly assigned to me. Then, to make matters worse, they gave me a second room, I asked them very clearly if the room was ready (since they gave me the card without visually verifying it was) and the lady said yes. We went to the room, and there was literally trash everywhere, the beds were unmade, and there was towels covered in makeup all over the bathroom floors.

I went back and made a joke that my room was clearly not ready, and they scrambled to find me a room, verified it was clean, and that was that. Side note: we heard gunshots off in the distance over the night we stayed the first time.

Queue our next stay, on June 24-25th. This time we checked in with no issues, our room as ready and immaculate - however- we left behind a pair of apple airpods and noticed about an hour down the road. We tracked them, and could see they were still at the hotel- so we called in and spoke to the front desk who informed me there was nothing in lost and found, and that housekeeping had gone home for the day to call back tomorrow.

In between that call and the next day, I watched as my headphones left the hotel, went to someone's home, and then back to the hotel. I had been spam calling them since Wednesday, and they never answered once until today, Friday. In between that time, my airpods have gone back and forth from the hotel multiple times, which tells me an employee pocketed my items and has been going to/from work with them. I finally got through to corporate last night and filed a complaint. This morning, I finally got in touch with the front desk who sounded horrified at the situation, and assured me they would get on this and track down...

As a Diamond Elite member, I expect a certain standard of service and accommodations when I stay at Holiday Inn Express locations. Unfortunately, my recent experience was far from what I anticipated. I had booked a specific room, and the day before check-in, I checked the app to confirm that my reservation was still intact. At that time, everything seemed fine. However, upon arriving at the hotel and checking in at the front desk, I was informed that my room had been changed to a handicap-accessible room, which I had not requested. I immediately told the front desk attendant that I did not reserve a handicap room, but she reassured me that it wasn’t. To my dismay, when I finally entered the room, it clearly was a handicap-accessible one.

This, by itself, might have been manageable, but the overall experience went downhill from there. The atmosphere in the hotel felt unprofessional. There were children hanging around behind the front desk and in the lounge area, which I believe were the kids of the employee working at the front desk. This didn’t contribute to a sense of professionalism or focus on guest service.

Adding to my discomfort, before I had even made it to my room, the front desk employee sent a man up to check whether my room had been cleaned, as the system indicated it hadn’t. It was unsettling to know that some unknown individual had entered my room to "inspect" it before I arrived. This left me feeling uneasy, as hotel guests should never feel like their privacy or security is being compromised.

When I finally reached the room, it was a disappointment. It was dark, dingy, and lacked the bright and welcoming atmosphere I’ve come to expect from other Holiday Inn Express locations. While there were a few upgrades, they did little to mask the overall run-down condition of the room. But the most concerning part was the bathroom, which was absolutely unacceptable. It was dirty, unappealing, and, frankly, felt unsafe to use. The design and cleanliness left much to be desired, and I felt uncomfortable the entire time I was in the space.

As a frequent traveler, I’ve stayed at many hotels, and this experience has left me seriously considering checking out tomorrow, even though I originally booked for four nights. I simply don’t feel comfortable or confident in the quality of this establishment.

It’s clear to me that management needs to step up significantly in terms of both customer service and maintaining the property. There needs to be better oversight behind the scenes to ensure rooms are properly cleaned and prepared for guests, as well as a more professional atmosphere in front of the customer. This experience has been far from the standards I’ve come to expect, and I hope that improvements are made swiftly for the sake of future guests. In the end, I checked out early and rebooked in a more...