Holiday Inn Express & Suites Decatur by IHG — Hotel in Decatur

Food: Juice machine was out of order Monday – Wednesday

Sausage gravy was delicious.

Hotel

Most of the time the front desk was unoccupied. Many times, the clerk (several different ones) was just outside the front door smoking.

I got a room on the first floor which is what I usually prefer. However, my room was next to an open area that contained an ice machine and the washer/dryer which I assumed was for guests. Housekeeping apparently uses it for sheets and towels. Also the housekeeping area is directly across from this room so all of the carts are pulled out at once. It’s not just noisy, it also pretty much blocks the hallway.

There was a grass fire out on the road. Totally beyond the hotel’s control. But, the hotel very quickly filled with the smoke smell. It looked like the majority of the staff went outside to see what was going on, but there was never any kind of report to the guests on why the hotel suddenly smelled like smoke.

The water went off about 6:00 p.m. Several of us came out of our rooms and went to front desk where we were told it was being worked on. About 9:30 p.m. I called the front desk and was told they were still working on it but would call all the rooms when it was repaired. Never got a call, but it was back on the next morning.

Room

There was a mini fridge and microwave which both worked.

No television during my entire stay. Reported it on the first day. Someone came late in the afternoon of the second day. He worked on it and seemed to get it to come on, but the sensor for the remote had been removed from the tv so there was no way to change channels or adjust volume. He left to see if he could find another sensor in another room. Never heard from anyone again. The only channel that he could get to come on was some kind of rapper music game show with graphic language so I finally turned it off using a switch on the side of the tv. I found that switch when I was trying to figure out how to possibly prop up the tv since it’s hanging at an angle where you’d have to be laying in bed to see the screen.

My room claimed to be “ADA accessible.” That wasn’t a necessity for me, but I didn’t really notice anything accessible except the bell at the door and the “closet” only had one clothes rod, and it was the lower one, about four feet off the ground, too low for me to hang pants, dresses, or jackets. I used the hooks on the walls and the ones on the back of the bathroom door. Also the shower was not a walk-in. It was a regular tub with a handheld shower head, so you’d have to step over the side of the tub which doesn’t seem very accessible to me.

There is a blackout blind on the window. There’s a chain for a second blind, usually a sheer of some kind to let in some light, but there was nothing there.

This was one of the darkest rooms I’ve ever stayed in. Even the light in the sitting area...

I exclusively stay at IHG properties and due to meetings in nearby Jacksboro I overnighted here.

I arrived early, around 1p, and checked in due to scheduled video meetings. I was appreciative of the front desk accommodation for an early check in.

The check-in process was friendly and professional. The staff here are all VERY courteous and customer friendly.

When I arrived at the room, one of the two key cards did not work. Once inside the room I set up at the desk and tested the WiFi bandwidth. From this desk the WiFi bandwidth was less than 20 Mb so I turned on my ATT 5G hotspot for my video meetings which speed tested at 80-90 Mb.

I slept well, the mattress and pillows were very comfortable.

The bathroom shows age and neglect where maintenance is concerned. Near the base of the wall by the tub there is water damage and even the caulking has gaps in it. Cosmetically it looks awful and probably a source of mold. The water pressure in the shower was AWESOME but unfortunately the tub drained very slow so within a minute or two I was standing in ankle deep water.

In the morning I went down to the lobby to get coffee at 5.45a. There was a coffee dispenser out and I poured a little coffee to sample it. I found the coffee lukewarm? far from hot, and I inquired of the staff member on duty when they would be making coffee again. I explained that the coffee was as not hot and did not taste fresh. Consistent with the other staff members, this staff member was charming, pleasant and with a wonderful smile. She immediately offered to make a fresh batch of coffee and I went back to the room to get dressed. Ten minutes later I came back down. Now there was a second coffee dispenser out. I poured a little coffee and once again found it was lukewarm and not what I expected. I sampled the other one in case I had not chosen the fresh batch, and got the same result. Not sure what the issue was but I abandoned the matter and went and checked out.

After I checked out I drove towards Jacksboro and my final destination. I stopped along the way and FINALLY got a cup of hot coffee.

In case management reads this and suggests I should have said something while I was there, that would be pointless as I was not there long enough to warrant changing rooms or anything else of the sort. I encourage the management team to be more vigilant and to ask guests when they are checking out if there was anything they noticed in the room that should...

Location** when we checked in the hotel worker greeted us as we came in. But we noticed a smell but because we had booked this through a 3rd party with 100% no refunds We stayed here for 1 night this past wknd. Location was right off the highway on a 1-way street so it's really easy to miss if you don't see the little sign. We didn't really here much traffic, but the AC unit was also on. The business district was less then 5 minutes which was great because there were all the food and Walmart there. The lobby was clean and the hallways were temp wise cool. Room** The room was clean except the awful musty smell. It smelled like dirty socks. We went to Walmart and bought a couple of the air fresheners that you can attach to the vent of your car to cover the smell, but it was so stinky. My husband said the coils need to be cleaned and no matter what we did the smell was horrible. we had the temp down to 66 and the room was cold which was great but again the smell was stinky socks in a teenager's room. I really like how they have DOVE products in the shower and hand soap and lotion. Pool/Hotub** We spent about 2 hours in the pool which felt so great on 95 degrees day, and the hot tub was great, but it straight up smelled like chlorine. When we hung up our swimsuits and towels the bathroom smelt like chlorine. Breakfast** very good, they had scrambled eggs, bacon, yogurt, fresh fruit, cereal, pancakes, pastries, sausage, biscuits with sausage gravy, apple, orange, cranberry juice, whole milk, 2% and chocolate milk. my only complaint about the staff was the hotel worker was sitting on a chair in the lobby and had his phone all the way up watching videos so everyone else can hear it instead of using headphones or just having it so they can only hear. I think it's very rude to have people having their volume all the way up in public. He didn't seem to care which isn't very professional. So here we are eating breakfast listening to whatever the heck he was listening to. We had a nice breakfast then headed to where we were going for the day. Overall** We usually stay at a Holiday Inn suites and Express but I wasn't really impressed with this one and next time we go to Decatur we will be staying at Fairfield Inn by Marriott or Hampton both of which had...