Holiday Inn St. Louis - Creve Coeur by IHG — Hotel in Creve Coeur

This stay was a gift from my father-in-law to help facilitate the beginning of a 2-week family (of 7) road trip to Michigan by meeting my husband in STL who was travelling for work.

The gentleman (Andre?) at reception upon arrival was very cordial and welcoming. Everything after that went down hill.

After check-in we notified the front desk that the crib we requested wasn't in our room (no big deal at first), then went to grab dinner and when I returned the power was out due to a freak weather incident in the area. While that was no fault of the hotel, the accommodations and consideration were non-existent from that point on into the morning. While the crib we requested was finally provided, it still had to be put together. The backup lighting was bright in the main lobby and dim in the hallway, but nothing on in our room except for a quick, bright flashing ceiling light that was inexplicably going off and on all night.

I had to scramble to get 5 kids down for bed in the dark, with a dying cell phone. Once that task was finally completed, we simply had to power through the night until morning with my 7 year-old saying he couldn't see when trying to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and kept hitting his head. From 9pm on and through the night until what I imagine was after 4:30am there was carrying-on in the lobby, banging of doors by guests in the hallway, loud guests in general, and seemingly no staff with any concern to mitigate the extremely rude behavior. With several young children trying to sleep, it created a concerning and hostile environment leaving very little time for much sleep of my own.

I had requested a 6:30a wake up call, but when I woke up the next morning and immediately called the front desk to ask what time it was, they said 7:08a. I said "it looks like we missed a wake-up call." The matter-of-fact response was "yeah, it's because of the power outage." I realized there was no point in explaining how we were on a phone and a wake up call/knock/anything was still achievable despite the power outage and simply responded "ok then, thank you."

No one was at the front desk to address any issues around 8am when I left to meet up with my husband, and that may have been for the betterment of my sanity.

I don't know if staying on a higher floor would have avoided the loud noises on the main level, but I wouldn't have been able to use the elevator with the power out (unless they had backup for that). There is certainly an opportunity for lessons learned to provide better service in the future, power outage or not. This was a rewards night, but felt nothing like a reward.

There are two other hotels close by as well as a dozen more in Westport that would have been likely...

I reserved a room using the app and thought that I had paid for it. Upon check in, I was told that I didn’t, but then told that I had. I placed a CC on file for incidentals and went to my room. My family and I went to the indoor pool and swam for about an hour. My children were hungry so we decided to go back to the room and change and then eat at the hotel restaurant. Our room keys were deactivated because I was told I hadn’t paid. Although this interaction was odd, I paid (again) and was able to get into our rooms. We were told upon checking in, breakfast was provided (because I asked). The next morning when my family went to eat, they were told that we didn’t not add that to our reservation and therefore couldn’t have a breakfast coupon. Again, this was odd considering, however my family just ate elsewhere. One of the perks to reserving a room in the app and being a rewards member is free wifi and a late check out. We received neither, and while my husband and son were asleep, the housekeeper actually came into the room and demanded to know why they were still there after check out. After my husband explained that we had a late check out because I and my daughter were at a dance competition and he had my sleeping 5 year old in the room, the housekeeper told him that he had less than an hour to get out of the room. She also told him that they don’t do late check outs there because they are always booked and full.

I will not ever stay in this hotel again, and I have also canceled all future reservations with Holiday Inn. My family travels at least twice a month for competitions and this experience was by far the worst. Not only were we embarrassed multiple times during our stay, but were also given so much wrong information by tue staff, it was so confusing for an over night stay with two children.

Do better and don’t offer things that you don’t...

While I confess that I choose this particular hotel because of its location, I've returned because it's comfortable and pleasant to stay in. This isn't a stellar hotel, but it doesn't pretend to be. Since I was only there overnight, I can't speak to the pool or other amenities. I didn't even have a chance to try the restaurant. However, I will certainly stay here again when I return to the area.

I was disappointed that, when I called to make my reservation, the person on staff couldn't tell me what would be included in the "breakfast" that one can choose to have included in your room rate. I never did find out (because I didn't take that option - it would be an excellent value if it were a full breakfast with eggs, meat, juice, coffee.... but very much not worth it if it were only muffins and coffee). When I asked who WOULD know, he said that the restaurant folks would know, but they weren't available. This seems like information that should be on the website, but at the minimum the folks in the building should know. I hope that in the future, that information becomes available to people who are making reservations.

It would have been nice if a request to be near the elevator didn't yield a room that was near the BACK elevator (the point was to avoid the long walk), but technically they gave me exactly what I asked for. I'm not sure how to put in the request to avoid a long walk to the room in the space permitted on the form.

Other than that, my stay was pleasant. My room was clean and comfortable - plenty of pillows, pleasant temperature. I particularly like that there are outlets AND usb ports on both sides of the king sized bed. This means that if both people want to charge their phones, or need CPAPs, have easy access to power. (It's amazing that this isn't a given in many hotels.... kudos to HI). All you could ask for in an...