Holiday Inn Express Gas City — Hotel in Gas City

I’m not one to usually complain about things, as I understand some things are just beyond the control of the hotel staff. But our stay at this hotel was awful all around. The only thing I can say I enjoyed was the cleanliness of not just our room, but of the hotel in general. Aside from that, everything else about our stay was (to put it kindly) atrocious.

My husband and I wanted to get away from home for a night and enjoy some time in a place we didn’t have to stress about cleaning (if you’re a parent, you understand what I mean). We booked a room at a hotel in our town, just a couple of miles from home. That way, if anything were to happen and we needed to get home quickly, we could.

However, because we were locals, we were charged an additional $350 deposit - on top of the $210 we paid to book the room. This information was not given to us until we arrived at the hotel to check in, which meant it was too late for us to cancel our reservation and not be charged for the room. Obviously, this extra charge on our account then ruined our other plans for the night. We changed our plans to accommodate for this unexpected charge.

The gentleman who handled our check-in almost seemed as if he were bothered that we were there. He informed us of the additional deposit after he took my debit card and acted annoyed that we were shocked by the information. When my husband commented that the information about the extra deposit was not available online when we made the reservation, the guy just acted like it wasn’t a big deal and like he didn’t know why we’d be upset. He just said something along the lines of “we’ve had problems with the locals before” and “sometimes the few ruin it for the many.” If this extra deposit is a usual thing, that information needs to be available prior to confirming the reservation online.

Not only did they charge us the deposit without prior notice, but we also were not informed before check-in that the hotel pool was unavailable. We actually weren’t TOLD this information at all and had to read it on a sign that was posted at the front desk. Again, this was at check-in, so too late to cancel the reservation without being charged.

Once we got to our room, a king suite, we were disappointed to see that it was small, cramped, and the layout of the furniture made very little sense. I honestly don’t want to know what a standard room looks like at this location because ours was one of the biggest rooms available.

When taking a shower, the water was lukewarm in the evening and freezing cold in the morning. I’d hoped to at least be able to take a hot shower, as I wouldn’t think that that would be too much to ask.. but apparently I was wrong.

The tv reception was in and out all night. Which wouldn’t have been a huge deal on its own, given the weather that night. But, combined with everything else we experienced during our stay, really just solidified the fact that we will never recommend this hotel to anyone visiting our town.

Our experience with checking out wasn’t any better than when we checked in. The lady at the desk at check-out barely noticed us and was too busy talking to another staff member who was standing off to the side of the desk. She was just as unfriendly as the gentleman who checked us in. Not a single smile from either of them and they both acted as if we were an inconvenience to them.

I did not speak to hotel staff about our issues because, quite frankly, I didn’t believe that they’d care enough to do anything to correct them. I had to call the hotel the day after our stay to ask whether we would receive our deposit back because we were never offered that information, either.

As an IHG member, I was excited to stay at this location because I’d previously stayed at Holiday Inn hotels and had had good experiences in the past. But I think this experience has pretty much guaranteed that I will never book with another Holiday Inn again.

I will note that we did not eat at the complimentary breakfast that was offered, so I cannot comment on the quality of that. Though I will say that, in the past, the breakfast has been good and I have always left feeling satisfied. However, after this awful stay, I just wanted to check out and go home where at least I could rely on getting a hot shower.

Overall, I’d rate this experience a 2/10. And that’s being...

I was traveling from FT Wayne To Houston a trip for make often and I have all my stop ready and this hotel in gas city was a go to for me until this last experience, I checked in and went to my room on the first floor to find there was an infestation of fleas and I was waring short and sandles so I felt them cover my legs, first thought it was ants from waking on the grass where I parked my vehicle and I didn’t have my glasses on, so I ran out side the hotel to shake off what I thought was ants only to return to my room and immediately upon waking in they swarmed me again and taking notice with my glasses I could now see they were fleas, so I went to the front deck and showed them to the person on duty and being totally transparent and honest with nothing to hide I mentioned that I thought maybe they came in from outside when I walked in the grass, but then I also explained I would have felt them from the moment I walked in the grass and also explained that I ran out to wipe them off and then when I return to the room they swarmed me again so proven they were in the room prior to my arrival and let me note that the air conditioner was off and and it was hot in that room which makes for a great hatching environment for fleas.

So at this point I was not upset maybe I Should have been but I just really needed to rest for my next 12hr drive, so the person at the front desk put me in another room on the 2nd floor, so I don’t think I need to explain I have a sinus issue so I keep the air conditioner on fam only until I get ready to sleep then I turn on the cold air which turn on the compressor, also I like to use the pool before I sleep it helps me relax and the pool look so nice so I went to the pool and I was about to get in and the person at the front desk comes and stops me saying to pool is closed there was no signs and the door was not locked I felt like he singled me out for the fleas I could be wrong but I think it’s understandable that I could think that., so going back to my room and yes the air conditioner was on fan only, so I take a shower and get ready for bed and i turned the air conditioner to cool and that’s it made a loud sound when the compressor came on maybe not loud for someone else but for a light sleeper like me it was enough, mind you it’s about 10pm now and I’m scheduled to leave out at 6am the next morning, so tried to get some sleep because at this point the hassle of changing to another room was not happening I had already unpacked, irons clothes, I had my things all over the place, so I tried but at 2am I found my sleep disturbed to many time by that air conditioner, so I got up packed up and walked out hoping for at least a hot cup of coffee on my way out but not even that coffee was warm, so I contacted the property manager on my IHG app yes I am a member, I asked for a refund of $164.40 and they said they would contact the GM and I was welcome to contact them myself if I like, so I did and at first the GM wasn’t there but he did try to call but i missed his call and eventually we made contact and that was probably the worst part of my experience he was not helpful at all he clearly said he “made the assumption that I brought the fleas in “

to which I replied I can assume they were there already when I said that, then he got his feelings hurt and took over my situation and was more worried about his character then my uncomfortable stay, he was clearly usurping his authority and not very interested in customer satisfaction,I want to be clear, I was never rude or loud with this guy I never called him anything other than sir, I don’t understand this generation with soft feeling and entitlement issues. Oh well that my complaint, recap

Flea infested

Profiled from use of the pool.

Noisy air conditioning

Left early 2:45am

Cold coffee

Refund denied

Unqualified GM

Also I didn’t get to eat breakfast, but there would probably have probably been a problem with that as well my whole stay was bad.

One last thing I was very tired on my drive the next day and should I had an accident I would...

Upon arriving to our room as soon as we opened the door we could see our toilet bowl was not cleaned, upon further investigation there was mold on the shower handles as well as stuck on shampoo or conditioner on our shower walls as well as hairs covering the floors especially the corners and dust covering the shelves in there as well. Going into the sleep area we noticed the room was not vacuumed what so ever. I found hair ties, bottle caps and a toy next to the bed side table on the side of the bed i slept.

i hurriedly went down to the front desk and the girl told me the toilet was cleaned but rust settles and theres nothing they can do, she also told me the shelves in the bathrooms were their last priority.

The next morning, I went down to let the front desk know we Would like our room clean and that we would be departing about noon. About a half hour later we were startled by a banging on the door. It was housekeeping. I let her know we would be leaving and told her again that we would like our entire room cleaned as if it were a check out because of how dirty it was was when we arrived I ALSO ASKED FOR CONDITIONER AND BODY WASH AS BOTH BOTTLES WERE EMPTY WHEN i SHOWERED. Her named was Brittni, as she left us a card with her name carefully written with a heart after she "cleaned". Like her name was so carefully writen, but our room was no cleaned per your CLEAN PROMISE. I TIPPED HER AND TOLD HER TO PLEASE MAKE SURE TO VACUUM. Later that night we return to our room, still a dirty toilet, STILL DUST and hairs that were not ours on our bathroom floor, our bed not remade or changed at all and the same pop cap kids toy and hair tie on the floor. I went down and talked to Maria and met another guest whos room was dirty as well. We both explained our grievances and how with Covid our rooms should be cleaned a little more thorough. Maria snapped back at if we were so worried about Covid 19 that we shouldn't be attending car shows or festivals and definitely shouldn't be staying in a hotel. WOW just wow. So were were told that our room would be comped half and the other guess a total comp BECAUSE HERS WASN'T CLEANED AT ALL. The next morning I asked to speak to the Manager TAMRA and she refused. had the front desk girl relay a message and she wouldn't come out of her office. After receiving our bill we did not get the discount we so very deserved and were told we would get. spending over quite a bit of money at this place is a little over the top and with the discount was still over what we said the discount would be. I will never come back to this place and will never recommend. INSTEAD OF HAVING ALL OF YOUR HOUSEKEEPERS OUTSIDE IN BASKETBALL SHORTS AND RIPPED T SHIRTS OR JEANS AND T SHIRTS OUTSIDE SMOKING MAYBE YOU SHOULD RETRAIN THEM TO MAKE SURE WHEN A guest arrives that there should be no proof that another guest was ever in that room before. The only person that was of help to me or my husband was the blonde girl at the front desk who tried to help as much as she could. If the manager isn't willing to make a guest happy and comfortable then no one else in the establishment that she over sees is going to either and your building shows. With terrible management comes terrible employees.

I do have multiple pictures that I sent a few to Maria. never received any response. Her customer service was terrible. What front desk attendant tells a guest if they were so worried they should stay at home. Especially when our money helps pay...