Holiday Inn Express & Suites Golden - Denver Area, an IHG Hotel — Hotel in Golden

My husband and I decided to stay here for convenience, as we were going to a concert at Red Rocks and it was nearby. I looked around the area for ratings of hotels, and at the time Holiday Inn Express had decent reviews when I booked it well ahead of time. Since my stay, however, I noticed they have quickly declined and I am not at all surprised.

I will say that check in was easy and the room was spacious. I had no particular qualms with the room's cleanliness or size. However, once I went to take a shower there was no hot water. I called down about this and was told by staff to "mess with the handle until the water is hot" this did not work and I ended up taking a cold shower that evening. The next morning, my husband had to work and the hot water still was not working. We tried to shrug this off, as things happen. This hotel also offers a continental breakfast which we were hoping would cap off our stay and make it a bit better. I grabbed a carton of milk from the fridge. Once I took a sip, it was chunky, acidic and rancid. I looked at the expiration, and it still had 2 days until it went bad. I got very sick from this. The attendant just took my carton and apologized when I went to let him know so no other patrons got sick, but did not pull the milk that was still out.

At check out, I let the front desk know about my issues. Though Rosie apologized, she was not able to comp me without a manager, but told me one would be in a half hour from that time and I would receive a call shortly. I waited 6 hours and called back, yet no manager was available. I called guest relations and they reached out, but informed me a manager was not available, but one would reach out to me in 2 days which was over the weekend. I waited until Monday with no call to reach out to the app I used to book. They also reached out to the property and found no manger available. I was told someone would reach out in 48 hours. I called the hotel itself back after another day of waiting and no manager was available. A whole week later I did get a call from the new manager explaining everything from being short staffed to a management switchover, which I initially appreciated. However, I was only given a comp of roughly 30%. This was not what was discussed, and she told me she could advocate for a full refund. I told her I would even settle for half. She said she would reach out to me by the end of the week about it, but I never heard from that property again. I did receive a very impersonal email after 2 weeks from corporate apologizing and hoping I would give them another chance. I ended up giving up on the money I threw away on my stay here, as it will be almost a month of dealing with this. I will absolutely NOT be returning here for any future plans and instead I will be staying at the Hampton Inn across the street. It seems many others with negative experiences at Holiday Inn Express Golden have gone over there with...

The absolute worst experience I have had with a hotel in my entire life. In fact this is on the level of a hostel or a motel at best. I made a reservation and attempted to stay here the night before my Grandmother’s funeral and it was horrible.

You walk in and the lobby smells like paint. No one wants to smell VOCs as their first impression.

Through the lobby you step into an elevator that can only be described as terrifying. There is graffiti scratched into the metal walls. The elevator starts and it drops a good 6 inches before it begins to go up clanking and creaking the whole way.

Once you get in the room the first thing you see is a giant fuse panel that would be in the garage of a residential home. Weird.

The tile in the bathroom and the entryway is just plain gross. The grout was black due to neglect. The shower was even more gross with black mold and long black hair. Upon bringing this to the hotels attention via email I was told this was not true. Obviously I took the shower head and washed the hair down the drain. Evidence of the mold is in the photos attached to this review. The stone in the bathroom is cracked and the vanity is chipped up. The sink in the bathroom is also clogged and doesn’t drain.

Moving into the room, the mattress is rock hard and the pillows are thin as pancakes. Apparently this is the brand standard. If this is so, I would not stay at any Holiday property ever again, your back will thank you.

The walls are gross and covered in some mysterious substance. The furniture is torn up and looks like it came from a yard sale. There is blood or some other blood like substance on the lamp.

The HVAC system is incredibly loud and the TV is impossible to work.

I tried to speak to the person behind the front desk and was told I needed to wait for hours for a night audit to show up.

After bringing this to their attention and everything else mentioned in this review, I was told that they looked at the security cameras and I didn’t look like I was in distress. What should I have jumped up and down and screamed and made a scene? I’m sorry I tried to handle this Awful situation cordially and professionally. I was also told the other issues I had about the property were claim less and baseless. What a joke.

The night before my beloved Grandmother’s funeral I slept in the car.

This place took a bad day and made it horrible.

No I do not recommend this place to stay at even on your worst day!

Don’t expect bringing issues to management will get you anywhere. You will receive a reply from management telling you that you are wrong and your claims are baseless.

Don’t expect bringing issues to corporate will get you anywhere either. You will just get pushed around from one agent in the Philippines to another. Although a cordial staff at the corporate level they have no ability to...

I called this location to try and book a long term stay of 63 nights. All of my reward points are with IHG and this property was the closest to where I needed. When calling I asked who the best person was to speak to for a long term stay. I was informed that Andrew, the GM was the best person to talk to.

Normally when doing this I’ll get transferred and can have a phone conversation with them or they’ll call me back. However I was informed that I had to email him. Which is fine, and I did. I emailed and didn’t hear back for 3 days. He gave me a rate and i had a few more questions. All which could have been answered simply over a phone call. I replied and waited two days and didn’t hear back. I sent a follow up email trying to close the loop on it as I am coming into town in the next week. I didn’t hear back and on the 3rd day of no response reached out to the designated diamond line with IHG. In their attempt to reach the manager, they were informed he was out. I still hadn’t heard back and after trying one more time, 4 days later, i spoke with the front desk lady again who informed me that she didn’t know why Andrew hadn’t gotten back to me, nor could give me a solid reason, almost felt as if they didn’t care to even do business as they suggested other IHG properties.

I have no idea why Andrew still didn’t get back to, or why I could never get on the phone. Might be his personal policy but in the amount of time and money I’ve spent doing long term stays I’ve never had a GM not be willing to get on a phone to book a reservation. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt but even if he was busy he could have had Rosie help me. In all the failed attempts of reaching out I finally booked my 63 nights with another hotel, with a completely different chain. I wasn’t looking for anything other than simple customer service and answer to some questions so I could book a room in a timely, reasonable manner.

I have all my points with IHG and would have like to maintain the diamond status through next year however Andrew botched that. I never want to be one to say I’ll take my business elsewhere but I was not impressed or happy that a simple email or call back was not made. I even hate writing this but after failed attempts at reaching them on my end and from an IHG representative I can’t help but give the one star for how this situation was handled.

To be clear I had never stayed here but my review is simply based on my interactions...