Holiday Inn & Suites Clearwater Beach S-Harbourside by IHG — Hotel in Indian Rocks Beach

The hardest part of reviewing this hotel has been deciding what to score the hotel. We loved our stay hear, but can't overlook the many issues that are present. I would have loved to score higher and the location, staff, views etc all warrant five stars but it is let down by age, poor maintenance and cleaning and badly needs a refurbishment.||First the good:| The staff are all friendly and helpful, including reception, security, restaurant etc.| We were given a free upgrade to a waterside apartment that included a good size living area, well appointed kitchenette which included a fridge/freezer, dishwasher, cooker, microwave, coffee maker, utensils, mugs and plates, a good size bedroom with sliding patio door, dressing area and good size bathroom.| The bed was really comfortable.| The view - the room overlooked the harbour area and it was enjoyable to sit outside watching the boats go past, the occasional dolphin and the plethora of water birds. It was also interesting to watch the bridge open for larger crat to pass through.| The restaurant - Jimmy Iguanas. This was fantastic with a good menu choice at reasonable prices, good quality food, excellent service and enjoyable ambiance. There is live entertainment each night and whilst the quality of these acts varies it's a nice touch.| The facilities - parking either underneath the hotel (the best option if spaces are available as it keeps the car cool) with a large external overflow car park. A mini golf course throughout the first floor of the hotel, a normal pool and splashpark (open to the public), shop, bar, restaurant.||The bad:| Rooms and general hotel need a major refurbishment. in our room we encountered dirty and worn furniture - the living room chair especially was very dirty and I received multiple bites when I sat in it. Our internal door handle came away and had to be repaired by maintenance, the toilet roll holder was loose, the shower head was rusty and dirty and in general the room was tired and needed a full update.| Cleaning - our room was not cleaned for two days running, I spoke to the room attendant and was promised it would be done within the hour - it wasn't. I spoke to reception who were apologetic and sorted me out with clean towels and replacement toiletries. | Daily service charge - Like other reviews (I should have read them before staying) I was not aware that there was a daily service charge. At $37 a night plus taxes this seems excessive - we did not use either pool, although the hotel did not charge me for every day as compensation for the room not being cleaned every day.||We would consider this hotel again - mainly because of the the location and staff. We would definitely choose one of the rooms overlooking the harbour and if it gets a refurbishment will be...

I have a membership with Holiday inn and stay frequently, and have had generally great experiences. I booked two rooms for our stay. We had my in-laws come up from Sarasota to meet us for the weekend to hang out with our kids while my husband and I celebrated our anniversary. We specifically had asked for rooms as close as they could be. When we got there my in-laws room was the polar opposite side of the resort. We then explained that we would rather have a different location, they said because there was a large group there that the rooms were limited but that they had space in a different room category that didn't have elevator access, so we agreed to pay more and be slightly closer.

They switched our room from the outside room facing away from the bay to a new room facing the bay but was up the stairs and around from the main area. When we entered the new room 231(I believe) the aroma of mold was so strong that as we were entering it immediately started giving me a headache. There was mold that we could visibly see in multiple areas of the room, couch, curtains, walls. It was not good at all, we told the front office and they offered us up a new room in the same area. I have enclosed pictures of the moldy room. (this room needs to be mitigated, no one should stay there it will make them sick).

The next room we got was room 219, by this time we had unpacked and packed two different rooms sweating with kids and baggage up and down stairs, the front desk offered to help us with bags in this third room that also didn't have elevator access. When we get inside, it still smells off, but was not as strong as the second room. We were exhausted and didn't want to move bags and my kids anymore, and at this time my husband and I have not even been in our room and had plans to celebrate our anniversary in Clearwater so we unpacked, but were not satisfied.

Once entering our room it was later in the day, so we didn't notice until the next day that our room also had mold all over the walls, I had smelt a slight odor when we first got in, but again we were rushing to get to our reservation the day before.

I have talked to the staff, they are aware of this, and management is also aware this is happening. Management still has not resolved this issue fully. I have reported this to corporate, it really is horrible to have to sleep in moldy rooms and the staff and management don't even care. This whole place needs to be shutdown and...

Where to start. First let me say I didn’t read any reviews of this hotel and I usually do before I book. That said once I decided to write a review, I went and read other reviews and surprise surprise surprise….many other people say how RUDE the front desk staff is.

I am the highest level member of IHG, Hilton and Marriott rewards, am a travel agent and we stay in lots of hotels all over the world. This is a the rudest front desk in my experience in the world. Yes that’s right, the worst I’ve experienced in the world. And they are willing to lie as well.

We checked in around 5pm, no issues but as a platinum member asked for an upgrade upon check in and were told no. No checking, no nothing, but that’s fine, funny I actually know now he probably could have but again as many others have indicated they don’t care how customers feel. It’s slash and burn, due to location they don’t care if you come back, which we won’t be.

Of course as many others have stated the rooms are shot. Old, ratty carpet, doors don’t close, 1980s look and feel. It’s bad but bearable. My wife said it was gross, it was manageable to me.

The straw that broke the camels back for me was our last day we asked early around 9am for a 2pm checkout, which as platinum elite we are entitled to. We were told no, hotel is totally sold out….which see my pictures below. This is a lie. They have at least 9 rooms available. My wife also worked for a short period as a housekeeper at a nice resort, so we know how housekeeping works. There’s literally no reason they couldn’t have agreed to a noon checkout but we were told no for that too. I was beside myself, we send tons of business to IHG every year, probably 6 figures worth of business. So I called our NSO (travel agents know what I’m talking about) and they called the hotel. The hotel refused to budge and said we had to be out by 11:15. We scrambled around to get out, and the hotel had a staff person outside our room to confirm we left by 11:15am. Like seriously guys. This is not how you create loyal customers. This is how you piss off the people giving you tons of business every year. As IHG told me this property is independently owned and operated. When they cost IHG enough business maybe they will drop them. In the meantime, I’d encourage you to think twice about this location and how they regularly treat people (read the other reviews, this is normal...