Holiday Inn Express & Suites Atlanta Airport NE - Hapeville, an IHG Hotel — Hotel in Hapeville

Arrived just after 5 pm on a Monday. Only 1 person at front desk and a line of about 5 of us to check-in. She was friendly but looked overwhelmed and maybe new to the role. It was a pretty slow process. My platinum status was not acknowledged and no mention of welcome points. This is my first time traveling in about a year so unsure if maybe that's been discontinued. Upon arrival to my room I discovered the AC system wasn't working. On warm humid day in ATL that was necessary. I could see an error code on the keypad screen. I called the front desk and she said she would see what she could find out and call me back. She never called back. I left about 20 min later to run an errand. Upon my return I stopped at the front desk to ask her about it. I waited a few min as no one was at the desk or in immediate area. When I asked about the AC in my room it was clear she hadn't looked into it at all and barely remembered me calling. She admitted she didn't know what to do or how to fix or even address the issue and facility staff wouldn't be back til the next day. She asked someone in passing if they knew anything about it and he said no. I have no idea who he was. She then decided I had to be moved rooms. My room type wasn't available which wasn't ideal but would prefer working AC over that. She was apologetic about the inconvenience and mentioned at least 1 other room was having an issue. I understand she may not be the one fixing it, but she didn't take immediate action on a guest request and then she didn't know what to do to address it and seem like it may have been a larger issue. I moved rooms easily and had no further issues during my 3 night stay.

My room was never cleaned or attended to by staff during my 3 nights. I understand service has been limited due to covid but I wasn't informed of this adjusted schedule or what I would need to do if I desired service or needed anything. There was also nothing posted in room on any kind of service schedule. I ran out of toilet paper on my last night and no extra roll was to be found and with no service to the room in 3 days this wasn't caught by staff.

Breakfast staff was fantastic. Limited menu due to covid but it was a hot breakfast. She was friendly and welcoming and happy to provide whatever she had. The best part of the stay.

Overall the facility was great. Very clean and quiet. Staff was friendly overall and did great, despite little frustrations upon my arrival getting settled.

If I ever return to the ATL area I would look to...

I really wanted to give this hotel 5 stars however Donna made that difficult. I’ve been planning this trip for my Mom’s 60th birthday for months. A couple of weeks before we arrived, I called the hotel to check policies regarding check-in. That was my first time speaking to Donna. She was condescending and NOT helpful at all. I considered cancelling my reservation at that point. The ease of access to the events we had planned is the ONLY reason I kept the reservation and just wrote it off as “Donna is having a bad day.” Fast forward to the day our flight arrived, I called the hotel again to have the shuttle to pick us up. I spoke with Donna again (unfortunately) , she was extremely rude and refused to give me any information until “I went through baggage claim.” I explained to her, that I’ve already passed that point as I have no baggage to claim. The shuttle came. The driver (can’t remember his name) was super pleasant and friendly (young guy with locs). When we checked in, Donna was the one there 🙄 She, again, was condescending yet masked it with “politeness”.

And then there was Jeanette, an amazing display of superior customer service and excellence. She was inviting, eager to answer questions, warm and even personally came to our room to deliver a roll of tissue per request. I really wish Jeanette was the one I dealt with prior. Donna needs training from Jeanette preferably. Front desk belongs to Jeanette! Thank you Jeanette for being an authentic translation of excellence.

UPDATED 5/21/24 IT WAS A MUST I UPDATED MY RATING TO FIVE STARS- - I made the mistake of leaving my cell phone in the hotel shuttle back to the hotel. I literally had a panic attack once I realized it. My sister called the hotel to see if it could be shipped back to Houston where I was headed to. The front desk clerk (younger black lady, wish I remembered her name) was so helpful and explained different options. FedEx was horrible. The general manager then volunteered to bring my phone into the airport to avoid shipping costs and further hassle. Not to mention, when I was lost in the airport, the general manager was patient and walked me through exactly where to meet him at. Hands down the greatest customer service experience ever. I am forever grateful...

I have been a member of IHG for over 5 years now. My husband and I have stayed at numerous Holiday Inn Express establishments together. I have also had to book stays for husband's solo work trips more in the last year. Not once have we ever come across an issue, until this stay.

This is now the 4th solo trip I have booked for him and I have booked them all the same way. This particular stay we used points (2nd time I've done this) and paid the remainder on our card. When checking in to the Atlanta hotel, the front desk staff refused to check him in at 12:30am after a long day of travel because his name wasn't on the reservation despite having the card that we reserved the room with.

So at 1-week post partum my husband had to call and wake me up to call customer service to get it rectified. Thankfully the entire IHG customer service staff was incredible and took care of the situation as quickly as possible. I can't thank them enough.

However, the woman at he front desk was so condescending to both my husband and myself that I couldn't believe her attitude. Meanwhile had she taken the time to look at his ID and see that his address matched the address on our rewards account she would see that we weren't trying to scam anyone. She was convinced that we were playing the system meanwhile we have the same last name and address.

Then when my husband told her to cancel the reservation and he would pay for the room himself she told them they were sold out. When clearly they had a room available (his room that he should have been allowed to check into). So instead in my already sleep deprived state I had to speak with this rude woman on the phone and get her to tell me what to say to customer service.

I have never been so disappointed with a staff at an IHG hotel. Every time we check in to a stay they are always friendly and understanding and the fact that this woman couldn't get off her high horse and look and see that we were who we said we were is beyond me. It was as simple as checking this ID and the card we were paying with and instead we had to jump through extra hoops...