Holiday Inn Express & Suites George West by IHG — Hotel in George West

My engineering team and I stayed at the George West HIE 1-13/16-2015. It was cold outside, which is abnormal for the area, with temps in the 30's. When we checked in, we were informed that the heat was 'broken' and would we like a small heater to heat the room. I was shocked by this, and reluctantly accepted a unit once I went to my room and discovered it to be in mid 60's when I got in. The elevator was full of dirt the whole time we were there, but otherwise the facility was clean other than the tub which had some dark mold stuff growing on some of the caulking, and the water valve was exceptionally stiff to turn and the shower head leaked at the pipe to head interface.

My room was a larger room with 2 queen beds, so I had a bit more air space than my other guys had. The space heater didn't have enough capacity to heat the room, so I had every electrical item in the room on including the tv to put some BTUs in. I tried using the hot water in the shower to add heat, but the hot water wasn't even that hot, not enough that it would make you pull your hand back anyway. As a last resort I took out the room hair dryer, and wedged it between my work shoes and ran it on high for about an hour and a half. That finally got the room to 71.

The next day we asked when they anticipated repairs to the HVAC system to be complete, and the staff replied with 'I don't know.' When asked when a manager would be present a similar answer was given. There was no sense of urgency at all. Frustrated I went back to my room. So for 3 days, I ran a 1500 watt space heater 24/7. Also to note, half the parking lot lamps were not functioning either.

On the last day I asked again what the heat status was, and I finally got the truth of the mater, the building was built without heat! It was set up as A/C only figuring it wouldn't get cold enough to be an issue. Epic fail there guys...

What blows my mind is that instead of fixing the problem, management seems to find it acceptable to run uncontrolled fire hazard heaters in the rooms instead of fixing the problem correctly and installing heat pumps which would provide both heat and cool functions as needed. Being and electrical engineer, I was honestly concerned by the amount of additional building electrical load would be present by the use of resistance heaters, which I'm willing to bet the building was not designed for.

Food was standard fair for HIE, was fresh for what I had, but nothing to write home about.

Staff was polite, but again, no sense of urgency, maybe because they knew it was pointless, but I still didn't appreciate it. There was no reduction in bill, or any concessions made for the sub-par experience for any of my crew. I didn't ask for any, but I would expect that in this situation, I shouldn't have to ask considering it was a known flaw of the building.

Bottom line, if it's cold outside, stay someplace else. If it's hot, you're probably ok. But for The highest rate in the area for a night, I...

This Holiday Inn Express did not live up to the expectations we have been used to when staying with this chain. Our choices were limited in this small town and the photos showed this to be clean hotel. When we arrived for checking the first thing we noticed is the hotel smelled terribly, possibly a sewer backup. I then noticed that there was a sign that stated they had stepped away from the front desk to help another customer, no problem I didnt mind waiting. After about 10 mins I walked out to let my family know I was still waiting. I finally called the number and was told they would be there. Finally after about another 5 minutes someone showed up. We were not given any info about breakfast or anything. Our room was okay,other than freezing. We reserved a suite, however there were no additional blankets or sheets in the room. There were also only 3 towels even though I had made the reservation for 4 I called the front desk to ask about getting these things and was told I would have to come down. Upon getting down stairs there were two ladies, one was friendly the other told me I need to request extra in advance. I then asked how to control the air a d she said they adjusted it from the front desk. I also let them know there was very little toilet paper in the room, but that was not even acknowledged. The room finally warmed up, but then in the middle of the night got really hot and it was miserable. The next morning we went down to get coffee and see what the breakfast choices were, we knew it would be limited. There was nothing in the main dinning area that gave any information so I just got my coffee and was going back to the room. W noticed a few bags sitting near the front desk. We asked the clerk about breakfast options and she was very nice. A little while later I took my daughter down the pool, she had been waiting to go swimming. She had only been in the pool about 20 mins when she started yelling the light had came out. I wasn't sure what she meant but then quickly saw the pool light floating to the top. I was terrified that something terrible could have happened to her. We immediately went to the front desk to report it and was told they would have maintenance look at it. I wait to see if they were going to put a note on the door that pool was closed but that never happened. At this point I made the decision that there was no way my family was staying another night and ae proceeded to pack and quickly leave. When we were leaving I noticed the pool light still had not been fixed and still no sign alerting others. This is by far the worst experience we have ever had, I view this a huge safety issue and thankful nothing happened to...

This Holiday Inn Express did not live up to the expectations we have been used to when staying with this chain. Our choices were limited in this small town and the photos showed this to be clean hotel. When we arrived for checking the first thing we noticed is the hotel smelled terribly, possibly a sewer backup. I then noticed that there was a sign that stated they had stepped away from the front desk to help another customer, no problem I didnt mind waiting. After about 10 mins I walked out to let my family know I was still waiting. I finally called the number and was told they would be there. Finally after about another 5 minutes someone showed up. We were not given any info about breakfast or anything. Our room was okay,other than freezing. We reserved a suite, however there were no additional blankets or sheets in the room. There were also only 3 towels even though I had made the reservation for 4 I called the front desk to ask about getting these things and was told I would have to come down. Upon getting down stairs there were two ladies, one was friendly the other told me I need to request extra in advance. I then asked how to control the air a d she said they adjusted it from the front desk. I also let them know there was very little toilet paper in the room, but that was not even acknowledged. The room finally warmed up, but then in the middle of the night got really hot and it was miserable. The next morning we went down to get coffee and see what the breakfast choices were, we knew it would be limited. There was nothing in the main dinning area that gave any information so I just got my coffee and was going back to the room. W noticed a few bags sitting near the front desk. We asked the clerk about breakfast options and she was very nice. A little while later I took my daughter down the pool, she had been waiting to go swimming. She had only been in the pool about 20 mins when she started yelling the light had came out. I wasn't sure what she meant but then quickly saw the pool light floating to the top. I was terrified that something terrible could have happened to her. We immediately went to the front desk to report it and was told they would have maintenance look at it. I wait to see if they were going to put a note on the door that pool was closed but that never happened. At this point I made the decision that there was no way my family was staying another night and ae proceeded to pack and quickly leave. When we were leaving I noticed the pool light still had not been fixed and still no sign alerting others. This is by far the worst experience we have ever had, I view this a huge safety issue and thankful nothing happened to...