Holiday Inn Express & Suites DFW Airport - Grapevine by IHG — Hotel in Grapevine

Let me begin by disclosing that I am normally a pretty easy-going person and tend not to complain. The hotel is an older property so I understand that there will be some wear and tear. However, it can still be clean and functional. I was here for one night on business on 08/09/24 and stayed in room 230. My experience started as negative prior to my arrival at the property. I arrived at DFW at around 2 pm and called the property to inquire about a shuttle. The person on the phone told me that they do have a shuttle, but it doesn’t run until 5 pm. I thought that was a little strange but went ahead and called for a taxi because it was extremely hot and muggy, and I didn’t want to wait for 3 hours. The taxi was $50 from DFW to your hotel. I am pretty sure that I was ripped off as there was no meter running. My trip back to the airport on the 10th was under $10. The check in went well and I went to my room. I did notice, on the way there, that the carpet was extremely dirty with a whole lot of large stains. More than what you would normally expect, in my opinion. It was a little gross and gave it a dirty feeling. I got to my room and was setting up my laptop when I found a long blonde hair on the arm of the office chair. Again, I was getting that feeling that the room wasn’t as clean as it should be and started to wonder about the sheets. I tried to connect to the internet to do some work and found that I could connect to the hotel Wi-Fi, however the signal was too weak to open a web browser. This was also the situation with my mobile device. I called down to the front desk to ask if there was an issue with the internet and was told that they are getting a newer system next week and it works great down on the lower floors if I cared to come down and use it there. I was able to use my cell phone as a hotspot and get access to the internet that way so that I was able to finish my work. In the morning, I went to take a shower and get ready for my meeting. A couple things about the washroom. The door did not fully open. It was scraping on the floor about ¾ of the way. It appeared that there was maybe some past water damage that may have caused the door to swell. The shower head was partially clogged or something and obviously has reached its useful life. Upon getting out of the shower the towels smelled a little funky as if maybe chemicals had been on them at some point. They were older and a bit scratchy as well. The vanity sink did not drain properly. This is a pet peeve of mine as it suggests things that could possibly cause this. The sink filled with water as I brushed my teeth and shaved and eventually drained, but it was a little gross. After my shower I went to the little coffee machine to make a cup of coffee. I know that hotels typically unplug these things for safety reasons, so I was looking for an outlet adjacent to the coffee machine to plug it in to. There wasn’t one. I had to remove it from the coffee station and put in on the dresser that the tv is on, move the dresser away from the wall and plug it into the wall there. Lastly, I want to leave a comment about bottled water. I travel quite a bit and always try to find a local store when I arrive to get some bottled water. This property did not have a place that was reasonable to travel to on foot, so I was forced to buy bottled water from your front desk. It was $3 a bottle for the cheapest water. I recognized the brand as being from Costco and know that the mark-up was pretty hostile. I would think that you might be able to offer water at a more reasonable price for people that are staying at your property. Not asking for anything complimentary, just reasonable. It made me feel taken advantage of. Anyway, I have stayed at a lot of your properties across the country and have had some good and not so good experiences. Mostly good. In this case, I felt I needed to leave an honest review of my stay to hopefully make it better for the next guest. Lastly, as I checked out, there was no attendant at the front desk. I waited for a minute or two. I peeked around the corner in the office behind the front desk and saw the employee on their phone. I was able to get their attention by knocking on the front desk to come up and check me out. I can tell you that I will never stay at this property again when I visit DFW for business. It feels dirty and...

I would not recommend this hotel!

1st: hotel is hard to find. The sign is tiny, see photo, thankfully I had GPS to direct me to the hotel.

2nd: I reserved a King Suite with Sofa bed. This room was evidently out of service & the front desk clerk made the comment it had been out of service for awhile. If this is the case, then why was it sellable on the website? They put us in a 2 queen room, and dropped the price $25. So, I guess I should be thankful for the extra 4000 points they said they would credit me, that I am waiting on to show up on my account. I wasn’t able to stay in any of their other Kings with a sofa sleeper because they were sold out.

Although, I find it interesting that the same room type I had booked is available for rent the very next night. So I can’t help but ask if the room was actually out of service or if someone extended their stay or even came in & it was sold inadvertently. I also wasn’t able to stay in a king standard with sofa because they were sold out.

3rd: I was told they called to tell me about the room when I asked if they left a message I was met with a blank stare and told, “well we called and you didn’t pick up.” If a message was left or I had been given the option to cancel my reservation, I probably would have, as I could have moved to the Candlewood Suites not far from here.

4th: The hotel looks run down. The carpet in the lobby is dirty, the elevators need a good cleaning. The button for 1 of the elevators on the 3rd floor appears to be broken. The same elevator you have to push the buttons multiple times in order to get a button to even light up.

5th: The room definitely needs updating. The furniture is worn. The walls in the bathroom have bad patch jobs. The tiles in the bathroom are loose & uneven. The outlet on the lamp between the 2 beds don’t work properly. Overall, this room leaves a lot to be desired. Thankfully I was only here 1 night.

At best this room was maybe worth $125. Again, since I wasn’t given the option to cancel my stay, as I would have been charged, I had no choice but to stay here.

I am highly disappointed in the stay & the next time I’m in Grapevine, I without a doubt will not stay at...

I have stayed at this hotel multiple times before, and it has in the past been a good hotel. However, based on this last stay, I will not return.

First, when I made the reservation I was a bit dismayed at the price, but figured it was vacation season near DFW so it was to be expected. However, while staying at the hotel I checked on other IHG hotels in the area and found other HIEX hotels within four miles that were forty dollars cheaper. My bad for not checking more thoroughly before making my reservations.

Second, I called before coming in to request a room on the top floor, and an upgrade with Spire status if one was available. The very nice lady that took my call, and was also working when I checked in, accommodated my request. I got my bags and went to check in ... and someone was already in that room. Scared a poor lady half to death. i went back down to change rooms and was giving another good size room with a whirlpool.

Next, after unpacking all my stuff, I went into the bathroom to set up my toiletries ...(I was to be there for 3 nights). Absolutely one of the filthiest bathrooms i've ever checked into. There was hair in the bathtub ... hair in the sink ... hair on the faucet ... and the bathroom counter had NOT been cleaned at all. Toothpaste on the counter, other container marks all over the counter, and if you caught the light on the counter you could see stains and film all over the counter. Still not the worst thing. When I found all this stuff, i began to look around the bathroom more. Hair from someone's private area (that is the only way this site will let me phrase that without censoring my review,) was all over the bathroom floor.

My first inclination was to find another hotel, but I had already unpacked all my things and didn't want to repack and move. I therefore took some towels and cleaned the bathroom myself so I could stay.

As I said, this has been a good hotel in the past, and this may be a rare occurrence; however, it is a major one. Add to that it ended up being significantly higher priced than another HIEX hotel about 4 miles away, and it settled that it will be my last trip here....