Holiday Inn Chicago North-Evanston by IHG — Hotel in Evanston Township

Do you want to have the worst hotel experience ever? Stay at the Holiday Inn Chicago North-Evanston. Apparently, they can’t make up their mind who is in charge to provide me with assistance on any given day. Could be Michael, General Manager, or maybe the President-in-Charge, Jose. Lip service and avoidance are two mandatory topics in their training manual, they’ve been avoiding me for weeks.

6/9/23 - Checked into our two hotel rooms, as we entered the rooms and looked around, I suspected the rooms were not cleaned - I attempted to call the front desk using the hotel phone before we unpacked anything, but the phone was inoperable (see photo). I went back down to the front desk and they sent the housekeeper to our rooms to “take a look.” The housekeeper was annoyed that she even had to address this issue with us and took a Clorox wipe to clean the hair off the toilet and remove the hair from the bathtub. She changed out the broken soap dispenser and acknowledged that the toilet seat was broken (this was never fixed during our 4 night stay). She assured us the remainder of the room was clean. And was appalled that I would even question her. We were exhausted from travel and had graduation events to attend so we left the hotel to meet up with our graduate.

Two days in and our requests for linen changes were never acknowledged. They did, however, make the beds.

A quick change and a bit of rest had us back in our hotel rooms in the afternoon. In both rooms, the housekeeper just walked right in, no knock, no announcement “housekeeping”, just walked right in. There is absolutely no signage in the room, no request for linens to be changed, no “do not disturb” signs anywhere to be found.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, how could we put up with this - we didn’t, we kept asking for service, asked for a late checkout - lip service, “check tomorrow” or “I can call housekeeping” when we needed assistance. The city was sold out for graduation, we didn’t rent a car so we were taking the train or walking everywhere and with graduation events happening daily, we didn’t want to be too far out of the city.

On our final morning before checkout, I inquired once again, as a Silver IHG Member, to get a late checkout and I also wanted to address the maid walking in as well as the linens never being changed. The front desk clerk turned out to be the person that checked us in, Front Office Manager, Angela. She said, “Oh, I remember you. I checked you into dirty rooms!” My look must have said it all, because I was completely disgusted by the fact that this was actually true.

At checkout, Angela said I deserved a full refund but needed to have the “acting” general manager approve and apply the refund. She also said this was not her first complaint about housekeeping and asked me to send a detailed email so she could build a case against the housekeeping staff. Well, apparently, Angela no longer works at the hotel. When they actually charged my credit card, I created a case with IHG, they said the hotel would contact me directly. Well, that was a promise of a call back on 6/27, then again on 7/9 and then 7/12 and even again...

After a 13-hour flight from a foreign country, my mother and I arrived at the Holiday Inn Chicago, exhausted. At the front desk, we were informed that check-in wasn’t until 3 PM, but they could store our luggage. Desperately needing rest after the long flight, we decided to wait in the lobby for an hour. Eventually, I approached the front desk again, asking politely if we could enter the room earlier, even with an additional fee.

What happened next shocked me. Another staff member, who hadn’t been there earlier, immediately interrupted and began raising her voice at me. She said, "Ma’am, we were sold out last night, and we don’t have a room right now! ," but in a tone that made me feel like I had done something wrong. I simply asked if it was possible to check in early, something I’d seen offered at a similarly named hotel. Before I could explain the misunderstanding, she rudely cut me off, her eyes wide, practically shouting at me. I was so taken aback that all I could say was “ok, ok.” The entire encounter left me feeling scared and uncomfortable.

Later, around 2:40 PM, we returned for check-in. Other guests were being helped, so we waited. At 3 PM, I went to the desk, and the same rude employee told my mom to "go take a seat" because she was helping someone else. It wasn’t what she said but how she said it—with absolute disrespect and a condescending tone, as if she was giving us orders. At that moment, I’d had enough. I couldn’t believe how rudely we were being treated. I’ve never had to tell an adult they were being disrespectful, let alone in a foreign country as an international student, but I did. I told her she was being rude because her behavior was appalling.

This employee has no business being in customer service.Her lack of professionalism and basic courtesy was beyond appalling. I’m absolutely certain this isn’t her first complaint, and I sincerely hope it’s the last. No one should ever be treated like this—especially international students who are already in unfamiliar territory. This was, without a doubt, the worst hotel experience I’ve ever had in my life. I’ve never had an issue with hotel staff anywhere. If I’ve ever had a bad experience, it’s been because of the room or facilities, but never the people. But this? Completely unacceptable and horrifying.

I strongly urge management to take immediate action. If she can’t show basic respect to paying guests, she has no business interacting with them at all. I don’t leave negative reviews, but this situation has crossed every line imaginable. This was not just bad—it was a nightmare. Abosulletly ruined everything on the very first day I landed in Evanston. Please, do something about it, and...

Yikes. Where to even start on this. My son, who will turn twenty in three weeks, recently took the train from Ann Arbor to Chicago to participate in an event there.

This was not his first time traveling. Between him and my oldest son, who just turned 21, they’ve stayed at Holiday Inn Hotels in Nashville, Columbus, Cincinnati, Tampa Bay, New York City, Dayton, Mackinac City, and now Chicago.

Why do they choose Holiday Inn hotels? Because, according to their very own website, you only need to be eighteen to stay, unless they have a casino.

Yet after taking the train from Ann Arbor to Chicago, my son spent six hours sitting in the lobby of Holiday Inn North-Evanston. Why? Because he is not yet twenty one. They refused to let him into a room, that they allowed him to reserve because he doesn’t meet the age requirement.

We absolutely should have done more homework and learned that at this particular hotel you have to be 21. HOWEVER, the website needs to be changed to reflect this nonsense immediately. The only reason my kid didn’t spend 48 hours sitting in their lobby is because he had a friend who was kind enough to go out of her way and come up to the hotel to show her ID.

When I called to speak with a manager about exactly how messed up this is, she was so incredibly rude. After reading more reviews I see that this is her go to setting. I expect more from Holiday Inn. We travel fairly regularly. We choose holiday inn because you know what you’re getting. This is the first experience I’ve ever had with someone who doesn’t comprehend customer service.

She cut me off and talked over me through out a fifteen or twenty minute conversation. She wanted me to pat her on the back because she didn’t put my kid on the street. She was gracious enough to allow him to sit in her lobby for six straight hours. She told me how old my own son is, no less than half a dozen times. She was kind enough to tell me what I could have done to help my son, which was help him find a different hotel. She told me I should have been doing that AFTER telling me you have to be 21 to stay at any hotel in Chicago because “just like buying cigarettes or beer, those are their rules.”

I’m not even sure if that last part is true or not.

It’s hard to want to go back to any holiday inn after an...