Holiday Inn Express & Suites Corpus Christi (North) by IHG — Hotel in Corpus Christi

I checked in on a business trip. I got checked in and to bed at 11:30pm and woke up at 4:00am for work to find no hot water to use. As I am leaving the hotel for the day I stop by and notify the front desk night clerk that there was no hot water and another guest in the lobby said that he also did not have any hot water. The night clerk stated well you will have to talk to management about compensation or something I am just the night clerk. I left the hotel and went to work and when I returned I stopped by the front desk and inquired if the hot water had been repaired and I was informed yes it was working that the system had been reset. I went to my room and followed up on some computer work that I had left over for the day. I attempted to turn the television on and the remote would not work. I looked in the battery compartment and the batteries were corroded so I called the front desk and the phone in my room was not working correctly and she said she could barely understand me. She finally acknowledged that she would be up shortly to check on the remote. An hour passed by so I decided to bring the remote down to the front desk to get some batteries as I was going to head to dinner. She handed me another remote that was missing the battery cover and said to try this one. I went back up to my room and tried the remote and it did not work either. I went back downstairs and advised the clerk that it did not work and that I was going to dinner and that I would stop back by when I returned. Upon my return to the property, I picked another remote up from the front desk and rode on the elevator with another guest to the third floor. The gentleman was from Tennessee and happened to be in room 310 directly across from my room, 311. We got to the doors and attempted to unlock our respective rooms and neither key would work. We went back downstairs and while at the front desk there were two other guest there advising the front desk clerk that they had been assigned rooms that appeared to already be occupied. They had actually been given keys to our room and had unimpeded access to all of my personal property while I was not there. The front desk clerk said, oh it is my fault and it was a clerical error and that was it. The man handed me the room keys that he was given and I went back to the room and those keys opened my door. This was a horrible feeling to know that a stranger had unimpeded access to my room and could have done who knows what. That night was not very restful because of this. I went to take a shower the next morning to get ready to work to only find the hot water not working AGAIN. But at least the third TV remote worked. A trip to the front desk to share my experience with the night clerk again was responded to with sorry, would you like a receipt for your stay!

A follow up phone call from the new GM was received and she was calling to apologize for the no hot water again and not even been made aware of the reissue my room key to a perfect stranger to allow unimpeded access to my personal property. She told me that the clerk who did that was not trained properly and that she had been trained by the previous GM. I shared with the new GM that in my opinion, there was a fundamental failure on many levels and people were set up for failure to include herself because of the lack of proper training and tools to use.

When the new GM asked what she could do to make this better I told her that I was disappointed in her property and that I would not be back and she told me that she would like to offer me additional points which for the experience of having a stranger being provided unimpeded access to my room by the front desk clerk and no hot water for two days was only worth 25000 points...............very...

I generally never complain, but we had so many issues with our stay, I felt someone needed to know. We were a party of three adults and a 9-year-old. After making the reservation, the communication between IHG and myself was above par. We received the confirmation E-mail, the “it is time to check in” email and when our room was ready email. The hotel was undergoing remodeling and we were made aware of this prior to booking. When we arrived, they were putting up trim in the lobby and did not interfere with us. I observed the contractors had parked their trucks next to the hotel in the NO PARKING FIRE LANE zone. . We got to the hotel and our room keys were ready as promised but that is when things went south. I asked for a luggage cart and the front desk clerk told me to wait until she finds one. Approximately ten minutes later she appears with one of the remolding contractors and a luggage rack that was loaded down with 5-gallon pails of paint, painting tools and a ladder. The contractor unloaded his items, and the front desk clerk pushed the cart to me. The floor of the cart was covered with construction debris. We loaded the cart and proceeded to the elevator. When we passed the lobby complimentary coffee station, my wife decided to get a cup, but the coffee urn was empty. When we got to our room (203) we noticed there was not a toilet paper holder in the bathroom nor was there a towel rack. There was only one toilet paper roll located on the lower shelf of the vanity and enough towels for two people that were stacked on top of the vanity. The shower had a three-position rack that held pump bottles of shampoo, body wash and conditioner. The shampoo bottle was very low, and the conditioner bottle was empty. The rack was broken, and you had to be careful dispensing the lotion because the bottles would fall into the tub. It appeared that at one time there was a hanger hook on the back side of the bathroom door, but it was gone. There was no ice bucket in the room and the coffee station had only one regular Keurig coffee cup. The next morning, we went for breakfast. Two of our group of four decided to have cereal with milk. They had to eat the cereal with forks b/c there were no spoons. I asked the staff and was told she has some coming but does not know when they will arrive (it was almost 8 at this time). I needed to use the men’s lobby restroom but there was no toilet paper in the restroom and the trash can was overflowing with trash. When we left that morning to go into Corpus for the day, I put the now empty shampoo bottle on the vanity assuming that the maid would see it when she made up the room. When we returned that evening, the beds were made but the empty shampoo bottle was still...

Never before in all my years of traveling have I had an experience like my recent stay at this property.

This Holiday Inn Express is about 5 minutes from Corpus Christi Downtown, in a bit of an Industrial area. We've stayed here several times and it's a nice, very clean property. We like this location because it's not in the middle of all the traffic, and not next to the beach (more traffic and higher prices). It also has freeway access which makes getting around town an absolute snap.

When my wife and I pulled into the parking lot we were a little concerned that the property was closed for some reason. There wasn't a single car in sight. So very odd.

We pulled under the canopy and saw the lights were indeed on, so we walked inside.

A very nice young man "Chris" greeted us and checked us in.

We asked Chris why the parking lot was empty? He explained to us that the hotel "had no guests" today. LOL, he must have seen the concern on our faces and soothed our nerves by explaining that the day after Thanksgiving is a traditionally slow day at this property.

Calmed by these words we headed up to our room. Turns out we had been upgraded to a larger, corner room. Really appreciated that too.

Over the next two days, we came to feel spoiled like we've never experienced. Instead of property staff appearing bored and lifeless, they made every effort to treat us well and make us feel at home. We came to know the Manager "Lydia" and the lady that runs the breakfast buffet (which by the way was in full swing despite only the two of us eating). They all took care of us, and helped answer all our questions about where to go and what to do.

I've just never, ever felt so comfortable and at home in a hotel. I didn't think it was possible to feel this way.

Kudos to every single member of this team. It boggles my mind that you would be so professional, given the empty property. We never saw a single shortcut taken. My wife and I had the full Holiday Inn Express treatment, and a little extra to boot.

I'm humbled to know that these good people took our comfort so seriously. I really believe that they are a credit to the entire Holiday Inn Express brand, and should all be awarded for their obvious professionalism and commitment to customer service.

Every traveler should experience staff like this.

I can't say enough nice...