Candlewood Suites Indianapolis by IHG — Hotel in Indianapolis

By far the worst Candlewood I’ve stayed at. The owners should be ashamed of their business. Or I guessed this might be their business model. So, I am 1 night into a 5 night stay… and it isn’t going well. Let me start that Jalen the Front office manager has been great so far but that’s kinda it. The pictures when you look this place up are deceiving. The place on the inside is run down, the carpet is nasty, the walls are dirty, etc.

5 night stay and housekeeping didn’t come once. If you want your stuff cleaned you have to strip it yourself and take it down to exchange it.

The exterior doors are not secured. Went to front desk and asked if they knew the exterior door doesn’t latch. The literal response was “uhh yeah we know.”

It all started with the first morning when I am taking my morning constitution and I feel water drip on my back (gross). Look up it is coming from the ceiling. The maintenance guy came and said it “is from some kids in the room above putting water on the floor.” Ok fair enough… I mean you definitely have bigger issues then if that’s all it takes. The way the paint is cracking in peeling in that location looks like it happens a little often. Then that’s when I started seeing how gross my room was. There was literally hair all of the ceiling in the bathroom (gross) and my room kinda already smelled moist. So Jalen promptly move me upstairs. So far so good I guess, just a little stale cigarettes smell in the room and some trashing dishwasher install. The smoke smell is bad enough I had to get an air freshener to to put on the events to drown it out. It’s a clear sign the air filters have not been changed in sometime.

You can tell the owners are either doing renovations themselves or took the absolute lowest bidder because part of the new room (flooring) looks fine but the kitchen area looks DIY.

Idk everything about this place seems half-assed and a lack of standards and expectations from the ownership and management. A-lot of these things I see in this place have been allowed to happen. Usually the excuse will be we didn’t have people or staffing, etc. really though it comes down to attention to detail and the standard that the owners or lack there of set and hold the staff to. Like the dust caked on my new rooms bathroom fan. That’s a standard that is being allowed to happen. It’s very obvious they find the cheapest way to do something and tell themselves “no one will notice that unless they are actually looking.” This isn’t the first review from what I can...

We stay here every weekend for work. The rooms are a significant upgrade from ESA rooms with nice decor, furniture, and dishes. The cooking range gets hot enough to make moderately demanding meals but Its probably not gonna sear a steak. Still nice tho. Quality pots and pans with cutlery and utensils are provided. The bathrooms are spacious and include a large, well-lit mirror. Staff is friendly and as helpful as they can be, tho it seems that management and maintenance are unreachable on the weekends, which is frustrating.

Updates

*Booked most recent stay thru their rewards program and immediately found the same room on a travel site for significantly cheaper. Cancelled and booked thru the site instead. Why is that a thing?

*We've stayed here 4 weekends now and while the facilities have been available more, the same situation with no supervision of kids or enforcement of rules (4 ADULTS in the hot tub) happens daily. I just went down to use the hot tub and right as I was about to get in, a very young couple with 5 small children came running in and crowded the hot tub. Aside from kids not belonging in the hot tub, they left brown foam in the water from being dirty and having improperly washed clothes, then the kids ran amok, tossing the safety equipment around. They tossed the life saver ring in the hot tub. The parents waded past it on their way out... Didn't clean up a single thing. I'm not sure why the staff here has no capacity to monitor their facilities, but absent of it, rude people and unsupervised kids render the aquatics functionally unusable at some point every week. Don't expect access or a desirable experience going down there without low expectations. *There is a gas grill out back that functions well enough to grill veggies and skirt steak for fajitas, tho I had to fetch a wire brush from my own tools to clean it beforehand. *The free laundry is nice with options of machines and plenty of capacity...~ Half dozen washers and dryers, tho a couple times I've had to avoid at least one dryer because someone has put scented crystals intended for washers into the dryer. *The management and maintenance are seemingly unavailable and off site on the weekends to fix any of these issues in a timely fashion. *The entrance behind the building (south facing) has a non-functioning key card reader, but has been rigged or broken in a way that requires no key to enter...

I rarely write reviews as a practice. However, the positive and warm experience during my stay at Candlewood Suites in Indianapolis has compelled me to share with all.

To provide some background and context, I have been a business traveler for over 20 years and stayed at countless hotels under all major chains. I am writing this review voluntarily, with no persuasion or influence from IHG hotels or the Candlewood family. Also, I am not being compensated in any way. This is a genuine reflection of my visit at this specific Candlewood Suites hotel.

Now the review:

As for the major rating categories you can see above and I will dive deeper where appropriate. What made this hotel so special to me and what differentiates it from the other hotels lies in the hotel management and staff. From the moment I walked into the lobby, I was greeted warmly by the front desk person. As I am a Platinum Elite member (which they were already aware from their due diligence), they had already reserved a room that matched my preference to a T. The other hotel staff such as Housekeeping, maintenance and the night desk person were all very friendly and courteous as well. What really made me appreciate this stay so much is the hospitality and warmness of the hotel's General Manager, Derek. He always has a big smile and friendly disposition when interacting with myself and other guests. He went out of his way to offer me complimentary snacks and drinks after learning that I am a frequent traveler and had just arrived after a long drive. Even more than that, he made me feel so warm and welcome. As if I was staying with a family relative. Shout out to Jaylen as he was very patient in answering all my questions. [I think he is related to Derek, that's why he is so proper and friendly as well. Lol].

I highly recommend this hotel. Not for its exteriors, but for the beauty and warmness it possesses...