Holiday Inn Express & Suites Elk Grove West I-5 by IHG — Hotel in Elk Grove

This hotel seemed acceptable up until the middle of the night on our first nights stay. I was harshly awakened to loud, repetitive slams of my door hitting the latch lock as someone tried to break into our room around 0155 in the morning. The perpetrator luckily was unable to get in and fled before they could be identified. Terrified, I called the front desk for help by cell phone, only to have my calls go unanswered. We then tried to contact the front desk by room phone and discovered our phone jack was not connected. After connecting, we were still unable to get an answer by anyone working in the hotel. I pulled up my confirmation email to assess whether there was another hotel line to attempt, or an emergency line to try. I clicked “need help” and was connected to an IHG representative and spent 20 minutes on the phone conveying my worry for the situation. She tried herself to contact the hotel several times, never getting a response. At which point I asked what their safety policy is, and if there was a chain of command to follow in emergencies. She said there was not, and all she could do was send an urgent fax to the front desk asking them to call me. I conveyed worry for the hotel employees, assuming they were injured or in need of emergency assistance if their own. She was not worried and informed me “I would need to contact my hotel front desk myself, because she couldn’t get ahold of them.” I explained that was the whole reason I was calling, nobody seemed to be working in this hotel. She informed me that the fax was sent and to wait and hear back from the hotel. I waited with no response, at which point I contacted the Elk Grove Police department myself at 3am. An officer came to assess the situation and informed me there was a single employee at the front desk who reported he was unaware of any complaints or emergencies. The officer called to tell me everything looked status quo and that he informed the employee of my situation and that I requested assistance. As nobody was hurt, and my kids were sound asleep, he left. I stayed awake, scared, in my room for another couple hours. Then got ready and approached the front desk myself at 5am.

The same nightshift employee was still there. He said he never received any calls and never heard any disturbances. I asked him if the police came, he said yes. I asked if they reviewed the security footage. They did not. He reported no access to security footage. He informed me that they do not have security guards, and that he is the only staff in house at night. I asked what would happen if someone broke in and injured him, as no other staff are present. He said all he could do was call 911 if he needed it. He refused to call a manager or give me their contact information, but incorrectly informed me they would be in by 9am and would call me. I asked if he got the fax, he reported that “their fax machine has been broken.”

We then left for our Swim Trials event (why we were in town and using a hotel) and returned in the afternoon. I approached the front desk to talk to a manager (who had not yet contacted me) and was told by the dayshift employee that their managers don’t work on weekends, and they were not allowed to contact them. Frustrated, I requested a higher up number to complain about this situation. I was given their managers email, and a corporate number to try. I wrote, in detail, to their manager. I called the corporate line and they took down all my information and reported that they would escalate it to their managers, but would not allow me to talk to a manager. We had to stay another night, because they were not offering a refund at that point, and we still had another day of Swim Trials to follow. It was impossible at that point to get any real rest, as I did not trust this hotel, even after switching rooms due to my family’s safety concern. By the time we checked out, I was still charged and given my receipt, and their manager still would not contact me until she came in Monday morning (as it was her weekend off).

I was contacted today by their manager, who finally apologized and informed me she takes my concerns seriously. Obviously not seriously enough, as she could not come in and manage her hotel appropriately in real time. They have no back up managers. Their employees feel they cannot contact their managers. We have documented call log attempts that they say they never received, from three different phone sources, on separate days, which identifies a security risk with their phone systems. IHG’s only help was an urgent fax, but per the employees this hotel’s fax is not working anyways.(negligence) Per their manager, it is up to each individual hotel and their management how many employees they choose to staff. They only staff one, with no regard for their health and safety. Also per the manager, it is up to each individual hotel whether they staff security personnel. This hotel does not. There are no signs posted warning hotel guests of these security failures. There are not posted contact phone numbers in case of emergency, it is up to the customers themselves to call the police (as the IHG representative did not find it necessary, and confirmed by their manager today that guests should call the non-emergency police line in these scenarios). Their staff is incompetent. Their solution was to refund only the first night’s stay of our trip.

If you are using this hotel, I urge you to check your room phones and that they are plugged in. Bring an additional lock system for your doors. As I told their manager today, I strongly feel this could have been an inside job. She confirmed that a master keycard could still unlock a locked door. Someone knew we were in that room. Someone accessed our locked door. Conveniently to a room whose phone was disengaged prior to the customers arrival. The entire vibes were shady, and I would not feel safe or supported staying at one of these...

Basically if you have a picture perfect stay with no hiccups that require help from the manager Sophie, you are golden! A business gets to show it true colors when a problem arises, not when things go picture perfect. The owner of this hotel needs to raise their standards for management. Even the manager at a McDonald's won't keep their job for long if they ignore their customers that need help. My room was prepaid and I mentioned that to Kathy upon check-in and upon check out to insure there are no "accidental double billings." I was assured everything was already paid for. One hour after checkout as I am headed to Sandiego, I see that I was in fact charged an additional TWO times by the hotel. I would later learn from my bank that Kathy swiped my card once and must have thought it didn't go through and swiped it again not even a minute later resulting in 2 extra charges. This is fradulent b/c I handed my card over to be swiped for incidentals and not additional charges for a room that I already paid for. Accidents happen but failure to correct them immediately is unethical behavior from someone who is in charge. The manager contacts me a week and a half after the incident. This is ofcourse after I contacted the property 3x and contacted IHG...all of this to fix a mistake that could have been handled in 10 minutes. On top of all of this, the conversation was lackluster with the manager. There was no apology or explanation. She did not offer any compensation for the fact that this hotel induced error caused a nightmare with my bank. She was not pulling anything out of her managerial bag of tricks to rectify this situation. I could not believe that this is the level of urgency this hotel had for a guest who had to endure their billing error. I don’t know the manager and have never interacted with her before. I am not special- if she is treating me this way than she is treating multiple guests who encounter an issue this way. A hotel double charging a customer is not complex and doesn’t require research. Had she contacted me first thing Monday morning like she should have and reversed the charges, everything would have been fine. Instead she chose to sit on the problem and my cc payment became due with interest. Even when I called again to talk to her about the second charge, she never called back. I spoke to corporate again and emailed her and again complete crickets from this woman. Last time I checked, leaders are supposed to lead by example and have an iota of professionalism. Why would you completely ignore multiple attempts by a guest to speak with you? Simply put, it’s behavior that lacks integrity. This person is the face of the hotel and is representing the brand. What do you expect a guest to think after this lackluster clean-up following the hotels major fumble? For someone who is sitting on a manager sized salary in bustling Sacramento, she definitely needs some re-training and coaching. It seems she has forgotten that her role revolves around customer service and ensuring issues are resolved appropriately and in a timely manner. The lack of urgency and regard just added insult to injury. Time is not something I have a lot of so when a mistake like this occurs that costs me money and time, that is painful for me. Having an unresponsive and apathetic manager was the cherry on top of this. All in all, I spent my lunch breaks over the next month making follow up phone calls to clear up this whole mess while recovering from surgery, working full time, and taking care of twin toddlers. If you choose to stay here, best of...

It's crazy I'm leaving a review, and I didn't even get a chance to stay here due to the miscommunication and sassy rude unprofessional attitude from the general manager Sophie Ramzen. I have seen some reviews that state the staff was nice but idk maybe they don't like other employee family members staying at their hotel. So here it is I am a front desk supervisor at a Holiday Inn express I had booked a room for a family member that was coming to Sacramento from Oregan to visit yes I booked an employee rate and I know that the employee needs to be present at check in but I knew I had to work both my jobs the day she was going to check in so I called the hotel right after I booked the room, when I called I spoke to guy #1 I informed him of the situation told him who I was and why I was calling after checking my reservation he assured me my family member was fine to check in I didn't need to be there they don't have a policy to where I need to be there so I just had him add her name to the reservation and we hung up, The day before the check in I called again and spoke to someone different guy #2 this time I asked if the manager was there and they told me not at the moment he then asked if he can help me in any way I told him why I was calling he checked my reservation told me there was some type of alert on my reservation and the guest name was taken off which was kind of odd because I know it was put on there but he added her back told me she was fine to check in he even told me he worked there over 3 years so everything is fine my guest can check in. The day comes I call that morning again to be cure there will not be any issues oh but there was when my cousin arrived she was hit with all type of rudeness attitude all of a sudden she can't check in now the general manager is pointing her finger in her face telling her basically oh well you're not checking in that's final even the employees that gave me all that information acted so dumbfounded like they didn't know what's going on she made us feel like we were criminals like we didn't belong she turn my cousin away wouldn't get on the phone with me I called the hotel they wouldn't answer the phone ignored my calls on purpose I called later that day she was there when i asked to get to corporate number she put me on hold had one of the guys who gave me wrong information to handle my call he even lied and said the girl who answered was a new girl LIES CAUSE i RECONIZE VOICES so I wouldn't stay here the general manager acts like she built the hotel she is rude I guess if you're not a blue collar guy or look like you don't have money she will turn u away. i will be calling corporate for the unprofessionalism and the way she handled the whole situation she could of checked my cousin in there was no issue if I needed to be there I could of drove up there but the min my cousin arrived and walked into the hotel she was not greeted she was hit with an attitude from someone that treated her like she was a criminal not cool and I am very upset at how I was treated my cousin...