Holiday Inn Express Chicago-Downers Grove by IHG — Hotel in Downers Grove

I was impressed with number of the 5 star reviews for this property until I arrived. Management has the breakfast attendant soliciting reviews via a QR code while guests are eating - asking for 5 stars for her service. To make matters worse, she isn't paying attention to the breakfast - the pancake machine was out of dough the whole time she was working for her reviews. They also never had eggs or milk the entire time I was there - and no fruit one of the days.

The hotel management is terrible. Upon check-in, we were told we weren't going to be charged an early check-in fee as a thank you for being a club member. Um, check-in was at 3:00pm and it was 2:51pm - wow, so generous to save us paying for that 9 minutes. We then returned after our first night to see that the room had not been serviced. There is a hang tag in the room that you place on your door if you don't want service. I did not. I called down and asked if the room could be serviced and they said no, I was supposed to tell them in the morning if I wanted to room cleaned. I asked how I would know to do that and he replied that I would have to be told at check-in. Guess what, the guy offering the 9 minute discount didn't tell me. The front desk attendant then told me I would have to come downstairs to get fresh towels because he couldn't leave the desk. In the time it took me to go down and retrieve the towels I passed two other guest carrying towels back to their room - interesting....

The final straw was the morning we checked out. We asked for an extended check-in because we are club members. At 11:00am on the dot the cleaning crew knocked on the door asking us to leave so they could clean. We told them we were checking out at 1:00pm. They knocked two more times within one hour so we decided to just leave.

In addition, the common areas are not cleaned regularly. The same trash was in the elevator during our entire stay along with two spills on the breakfast room floor. The bathroom faucet dripped all night and the "reno" was just the counter, the old bathtub remained.

There are so many better options in the area - choose wisely!!! Or at least read the reviews and filter out all the ones about...

I want to start by saying the onsite staff was great. Friendly, accommodating, and put on a really nice breakfast. Room seemed to be recently remodeled, and looked good on the surface (other than the signs of mildew in the shower tub). However, the cable didn’t work (admittedly I didn’t try too hard bc it was late), and a 2’ x 3’ wood panel, weighing no less than 10 lb. was insufficiently attached under the platform between the beds. As I was getting ready for bed, the panel came dislodged and the edge smashed into the top of my foot, breaking blood vessels and swelling quickly - very painful. After about 20 minutes and an email to management to formally document the situation, we got a call from the front desk, they came up and took the pictures, apologized profusely, brought me some ice, and that was it. Then the Regional Director of Operations responded to our original email that was sent prior to the front desk responding, and basically accused us of lying, stating that the “small cover” that fell “can’t possible hurt anyone. It can probably kill a few ants, but nothing else”. This is AFTER he was in receipt of the pictures of both my foot and the panel. We are now 3 days post-injury and my foot is still swollen to the extent that I can’t lace up my shoes. Am I gonna live? Yes. Have I been dealing with pain and discomfort for 3+ days as a result of the hotel’s negligence? Also yes. Was the extension cord/outlet extender hidden (sunk in the wall) behind the board that came down on my foot not to code, and what probably causes the board to fall in the first place? My guess is yes. Again - hotel staff onsite was great. Upper level management handled the situation with zero empathy and was quite frankly rude - to someone who was just injured as a result of THEIR mistake. Nothing was offered as an “I’m sorry”, and renovations continue to take place - hopefully in a more workmanlike manner...

Do not book this hotel!

I called in advance when I heard they were under construction to understand exactly what that meant. I spoke directly to the hotel who stated the outside structure and the pool was under construction but everything else was fully remodeled. With not caring about the pool we went ahead and booked. Upon arrival the lobby looked completely remodeled so I had high hopes for the rest of the hotel. As soon as you enter the elevator it is clear that they basically just tried to "revamp" the rooms and put a bandaid on a old, outdated hotel. The bathroom is the worst. As a 5'3 person there isn't even enough room to step out of the shower with the door and toilet. The door grazes the toilet by an inch. The shower/tub was disgusting. It was gritty and old with thrown on plaster. The light switches are loose and the fan doesn't do anything in the tiny space. The showerhead is super old with no water pressure from there or the sink. Multiple chips of paint in the room. We had planned to stay here for another weekend later on in the year and we promptly cancelled that reservation. I spoke with the front desk staff who said "we're still painting" which isn't the true issue at all. I asked for a different room but the hotel is sold out for st.patricks weekend and what appears to be some athletic event. Adding a grey washed closet to the room or new carpet isn't remodeling. They clearly wanted to take the short cut and cheap route. Really unfortunate as we've stayed at other holiday inn express hotels that are beautiful, clean, and truly remodeled. If you're not completely flipping the hotel you need to be honest with guests about the status especially the bathroom. There's no way an average sized person can fit in there. Do not tell guests the hotel has been "completely remodeled" as it hasn't been. It's more like we slapped some blue paint on an accent wall and new carpet and...