Holiday Inn Cleveland-S Independence by IHG — Hotel in Independence

There are signs everywhere that management is completely incompetent.

THIS HOTEL DOES NOT OFFER SHUTTLE DESPITE THIS LISTING. Google listing and on booking websites shows airport shuttle, that’s why I chose this hotel. I land and call- the only response I got was “yeah we don’t do that anymore. Ever since Covid, we haven’t been able to hire anyone” 5 years and not one applicant? Think maybe it’s time to think you’re the problem? Wasted $50 just to arrive. Front desk clerk lets me know that breakfast is served until 1030- awesome.

I walk in to broken leaky shower faucets with low pressure, peeling wall paper, and broken outlet covers- of which only ONE outlet was accessible in the entire room. Yes, our family had ONE plug across the room to use for 3 days. Absolutely terrible for travelers.

I arrive the next morning excited for breakfast- a hot breakfast with free coupons is exactly what I needed. I arrive at 10 thinking it’ll be a buffet- I can easily scarf down some bacon in 30 min.

They’re closed. The front desk clerk lied to me. Now I’m hungry, annoyed, and thirsty. I look for a place to fill my water bottle. Think you’ll have a water jug in the lobby or a courtesy bottle in the room like almost every other hotel in the country? Nope. You have to ask a worker to refill your water bottle in the back room like a toddler. Our party had to do this a dozen times because I guess management thinks a jug in the lobby is just TOO customer friendly. I hope you like drinking water out of hotel bathroom sinks because that’s all $200 a night will get you ☺️

The next morning, I finally get the breakfast “on time”. Turns out it is a hot buffet with some decent food- so good in fact that I do not believe the hotel management even manages the making of it. I would bet all the money I wasted at this hotel that they have a 3rd party vendor because the food quality was the only amount of competency. The problem? You get a waiter. At a hotel buffet. Their “contribution”? To walk you to one of the 3 dozen empty tables that I could’ve just as easily walked to…and to bring you coffee and water. You know, the thing that most other hotels just have out for grabs in the lobby for free. They expect a tip for the full breakfast cost including on the $13 vouchers from the “free breakfast coupons”- the one redeeming part of my stay- wasn’t free. Oh, I guess they also got me a human sized cup when I refused to drink juice out of the thimble glass they provide- no doubt to “save on costs” at the expense of quality and human decency.

So management even found a way to ruin the saving grace that an outside company provides them by mismanaging the hot buffet.

Just an embarrassment to all Holiday Inns- and that’s...

First, I want to commend the staff. Every single staff member we encountered were incredibly kind and helpful. They deserve so much better of a hotel. Second, the hotel ownership should be revoked of their ability to call themselves a Holiday Inn. They had a banquet booked every single night, they apparently host a paid dance club in their bar on Fridays, they have regular patrons and host a variety of athletic tournaments. Throughout all of this revenue they are bringing in, they are investing very little back into the actual hotel. They have a small handful of renovated rooms and have renovated the lobby. Do not believe what you see in a few pictures. The majority of the rooms are not renovated. There is no construction going on anywhere in the hotel, so renovations have completely stopped. The first room we were put in should be shut down and mitigated. The ceiling was falling off in multiple areas with black areas underneath of the falling off parts, the wallpaper was peeling off, the carpet was sagging, the bathroom was molded, the AC unit was covered in what appeared to be mold that had areas of black and white fuzz, and the kicker was, one of the two beds had been peed on with a large yellow area at hip level that had heavily scented cleaning products applied to it. They did find me another room. The other room was equally dated. There are no overhead lights, so you cannot work in the room and there are no workspaces elsewhere in the hotel. The bathroom was still molded and the tub was missing 3 multiple inch chunks of enamel missing from it which they found using white paint appropriate on 2 of the chips. There is no bathroom ventilation. When they built the hotel, they didn’t leave room for a sink and toilet, so the sink is angled so that you have to stand over the toilet to use it, like an RV. The mattresses lost their springs a long time ago and we were not able to sleep. The walls are so thin, you can hear the next room snoring. The only positive of the room, is that it has a mini fridge and a functional TV. The hallway carpets are buckled on multiple floors and many guests reported tripping on them. They do have a pool, which you should bring your own towel, and a fitness center. They have breakfast buffet, which is free for children and adults pay $12. Unless you are forced to stay here, I would recommend avoiding unless they complete a...

The actual hotel experience was great - rooms and bathrooms were clean and comfortable, front desk staff was kind and helpful… absolutely no complaints there.

However, my boyfriend and I had a very bizarre and unpleasant experience at the hotel bar/club - Club Impulse. We had walked past it earlier on our way out and thought it was fun and quirky for a hotel to have a club, so when we came back to the hotel later that evening we thought it might be fun to stop in for a drink. We sat at the bar and were immediately greeted by a man, presumably a manager, who did not say hello or welcome, just told me I couldn’t have my own pop at the bar (we’d come directly from being out and about and did not stop in our room, I had a half-full bottle of Pepsi that I’d been drinking in the car). Not an unreasonable rule but just immediately came at us super rudely. Taken aback, I asked, “Um ok… should I just toss it?” and without a word just took the bottle and went to the back of the bar to throw it away. A different man came over to take our drink orders and he was very nice and we chatted with him a bit. Overall though the whole time we were there we kept getting the vibe we weren’t supposed to be there. Later that night we looked up the reviews on Google specifically for Club Impulse (you reading this, go look them up- you won’t be disappointed) and they were truly appalling - our experience was pleasant compared to the experiences other hotel guests have had there. Lots of reviews detailing unfriendly/rude staff and “regulars”, being racially profiled, and MULTIPLE instances of the cops getting called for completely frivolous reasons. Basically if you weren’t one of the 65+ y/o regulars you were going to get treated like crap until you felt obligated to leave or had the cops called on you. It’s a bar inside a 3-star hotel, for crying out loud. Not some exclusive club in Vegas. Club Impulse was such a stark contrast in service to the rest of the Holiday Inn in which it is located and I truly think Holiday Inn should take a closer look at what is happening there because it is truly an unwelcoming experience for hotel guests.

Long story short… the hotel is great. Don’t bother going to...