Holiday Inn Express & Suites Huntsville by IHG — Hotel in Huntsville

Letter to GM (no response to date): Ms. Guzman,

My husband and I stayed at your property last weekend (8/16-8/18). As I’m sure you were aware, it was SHSU move in weekend and I’m betting you were at or near capacity. Knowing it was going to be a busy weekend, I’m sure you staffed accordingly and had all hands on deck. Certainly you were putting your best foot forward as you were receiving so many first time guests. You had a big first impression to make to so many parents whose kids will be in Huntsville for the next four years.

I’m reaching out to let you know about my experience. You have a nice property with so much potential. You have a young staff with friendly smiles. The lady who was working the breakfast during our stay was great. She worked her little tail off all by herself. She had a kind attitude and was eager to help.

Unfortunately, our interactions with the rest of your staff showed that they are grossly undertrained. The most critical safety concern involves your staff’s willingness to hand out key cards without following procedures. As you know, room numbers should never be announced out loud. If a guest needs a new key, you should ask for a name. This should be verified with proper identification. ONLY the guest(s) listed on the reservation should be given a new key. This is the most important job you have - keeping everyone safe. During our stay, my husband went to the front desk several times stating that his key didn’t work. The employee would ask for his room number and would immediately issue a new key without verifying his assigned room number or looking to see if his name was on the reservation. This occurred several times during our stay as our keys stopped working typically after one use. When checking out, I told the front desk employee that I needed a key to room 217 (not our room). After she gave me the key I told her how dangerous her actions were and explained the importance of following protocol when issuing keys to keep everyone safe. She told me that I “didn’t look like the type” that would be up to no good then excused me with a “have a good day.” This is not acceptable. Please get everyone trained on the proper procedures for issuing room keys immediately. This is absolutely your responsibility as the general manager and should take precedence over anything else.

Below are a list of other items I noticed needing attention or concerns I had while staying at your property. Again, my main concern is regarding the safety of your guests. But, there’s room for improvement elsewhere to make your property really shine. Body soap and conditioner not refilled in shower - completely empty Crunchy waterproof mattress pad was uncomfortable and hot! Bathtub didn’t drain well and filled with water when showering Treadmill not working Breakfast was subpar, only remnants remained at 9:30. If breakfast is served until 10:00, have breakfast until 10:00. Instant oatmeal contained old nuts that were rancid. Lobby convenience store was almost empty Outside trash cans were overflowing Doormat coming in from side entrance was a huge tripping hazard. It was dangerous when we left in the morning and exactly the same when we arrived back at the hotel late in the evening. How did this get missed all day? WiFi out on arrival Parking is sparse. Adjacent overflow parking lot desperately needs the lines repainted. People were parking haphazardly because you couldn’t make out the parking slots.

Finally, it should be mentioned that our friends were staying at your property for move in weekend as well. I’m going to speak on their behalf with permission. They did not have towels or a shower curtain for the duration of their stay. How is this possible? They reported both missing items to the front desk multiple times. They were told that the laundry lady wouldn’t be in until later to start washing towels. This is unacceptable. On a busy weekend your staff should be fully prepared. If they are getting low on towels do they know to call you so that you can get up there and get to work? I honestly don’t even know where to start with the missing shower curtain. It is a reasonable expectation that you will have a bed to sleep in and a shower to bathe in at any hotel. The missing shower curtain was reported to management several times according to your staff. Why didn’t someone just go to Walmart and buy a shower curtain? This would not be considered going above and beyond. This is just a reasonable expectation. Not one person on your staff checked to see if they had what they needed after complaints were made. Absolutely unacceptable.

Providing your staff with the proper training and reinforcing it often will bring your property up to standards. Again, your property has so much potential. You’ve got to step up the training to get things right. And absolutely make yourself available on busy weekends when you have a big new crowd. Put yourself front and center to greet guests and make sure everyone has what they need. Take care of any issues before things escalate. Be hospitable. Go above and beyond. You’ll thank yourself later when you see all the repeat guests, amazing reviews, and...

Had originally planned on stopping in Lake Charles, but got there earlier than I had planned and pushed on closer to home. Found this property in my IHG app on my droid and booked a room from the road. Really wanted to get closer to College Station, but the room prices there were over the top, so this worked, although not much less expensive.

Check in was great, awesome desk staff, very polite and welcoming. They did not however offer up my elite welcome bag or points, I had to ask for that.

Got a king suite, very nice room, well laid out and roomy. Nice accommodation. The finishes are nice, although a bit beat up, as mentioned in another review, not a lot of craftsmanship went into this build out.

The bed was very comfortable, as was the entire room.

Getting into the property from the I-45 north is a challenge, most of all at night, as there is no sign and you are past the driveway by the time you see it. This leads to finding the other entrance from behind the hotel. If you get to the whataburger, you already missed the entrance on the highway.

We stayed one night here, and by the morning that was enough.

Went down to the front desk to get a bottled water, all they had was warm water, only cokes in the fridge at the pantry area. Desk staff offered to put one in the freezer to chill it and bring it to me, not worth the wait for me. I just went out and found water at a local store.

Went to bed, really looking forward to the breakfast, probably should have just slept through that and went to find it elsewhere also.

The hotel seemed to not be prepared for the amount of guests, as there was not enough of any of the offerings for everyone there. They ran out of their cinnamon rolls, bacon, etc. Choice of fruit was minimal, just a disappointment overall.

The biggest negative I have, or question, is why are there 6 parking spots laid out for "Tesla" cars only, all other vehicles will be towed, and these are prime parking spots. This means 6 guest have to park basically offsite, out of the lighting, while 6 spots sit there empty. I have not seen this at any other property I have been at. What if you have a Volt, you can't charge it? Seems to me that someone is getting paid for this at a cost to every other guest. I doubt there are even 6 Tesla's in Huntsville TX.

Checkout was not good either, go down to the lobby, wait around for someone, no one to be seen. Get the truck, pull around to the entrance, go back to the lobby, still no one, walk around the desk and call for someone, here they are, in the back of house and rather informal also.

Overall, I can't recommend this property, even though it is nice, I...

If I hadn’t gotten a discount thru my job, I’d be more upset but overall I’d say the stay was eh, okay. At first sight, everything looks great except the people (not sure if they work there or just stay there - everyday) that are sitting on the bench right outside the front door, that is open a lot, smoking, so the lobby and first floor basically smell like an ash tray all the time. But I stayed on the third floor, which smelled like a wet dog…probably due to the laundry facilities that were broken and had water in it that reeked. The room didn’t have any soap so I caught a housekeeper in the hall and she said they were out. I had to go buy some just to wash our hands. They were still “out” of soap the next day and the day after that. I know I wasn’t the only one bcuz several other people staying there said the same. The shower would only halfway work, no matter how hard I pulled the stopper up, half the pressure continued to come out the faucet at the bottom. The toilet continuously ran, and I even tried to “fix” it myself but it kept on. Id love to say the staff was friendly and welcoming but my first morning (I stayed four days), I was woken up by “housekeeping” knocking at the door, despite my “do not disturb” sign, bright and early. The lady knocking posed as if she wanted to know if I needed anything for the room, which I mentioned all the things above AND asked for more towels and blankets. Not only did she NEVER return with my items or have anything fixed, there was a short, Indian looking male behind her, who came around her after I mentioned my requests and asked for another male by name; I couldn’t understand him and I said, “Who??” But the only male in the room was me and my name is common and would have been easy to understand, even with an accent. Then the lady said to the male, “I think it’s the room next door…” and points to the room next to me and they repeat the rouse; not sure how that went, I went back to sleep.

The breakfast was good tho; a lot better than most complimentary breakfasts I’ve seen. A lot of choices and even pork free meat options!

There was no hot tub even tho it says they do; you can see where there may have been one at one time but it’s filled in with concrete. The indoor pool is not heated and the first night we got there, there was a father with three kids smoking at the fire exit door to the pool with the door open. I guess he figured it smelled like smoke in the lobby, why not the...