Holiday Inn Jacksonville E 295 Baymeadows by IHG — Hotel in Jacksonville

I have had THE MOST unbelievably bad experience. As if the experience wasn't already the worst, the customer service after about topped it all. My room had a wet, presumably dirty, bathmat folded on tub. No leak or water to cause the mat to be soaked other than use, even per the employee with their face scrunching up. My a/c was puttering. After waiting for someone to show up at the desk, the staff gave me a cold, rememorized speech on user errors that cause the a/c not to work. Things like pressing power! SMH. After he finished talking, I explained it was breaking. He told me it would be a while, but he would be up to look at it. He was the only staff and had no maintenance available. After an hour or so of waiting, the unit gave out. I called the desk with the in-room phone, and they explained they would give me a refund and I could leave. Ten o'clock at night WITH kids, no room offered, just a refund and a goodbye. (should have taken it) While on phone several ROACHES started pouring out of the phone. I told the staff I was getting out of the room and needed another room that they could ensure was far away from this one and guaranteed to be clean and with a working a/c unit. The new room was cleaner but spent the rest of the night uneasy about the bugs. The bed was a pull-out couch instead of a proper bed for my kids. I called to tell them there were no linens, blankets, or pillows provided. They told me I had to come downstairs. I was hurting (4 months post back surgery) and tired and so hot from racing out of the other room. My child was exhausted, and the rest of my family wasn't back yet. I asked for them to just bring it up. The reply? It will be a while as they were by themselves. Fine. After about an hour, they brought of some linens and towels. No pillows or blankets. Ugh. We just made do at that point. Spoke with day staff about a refund and they told me they weren't able to help. I asked for the manager to call me as I wasn't happy to pay for a room that I didn't enjoy and not what I asked for, AND having my night ruined. NEVER CALLED ME BACK. Called the customer relations desk. They created a case number and told me to call back for resolution. NO RESPONSE FROM HOTEL. Filled out survey. Asked to have management call me back to discuss our stay. NO CALL BACK. Called customer service and filled out another complaint. NO RESPONSE FROM HOTEL. Got supervisor at customer service on phone. Only offered points to stay with them again or told I had to call the hotel because they "aren't required to reach out to guests". So, I had the supervisor confirm that my only option was to take points for a future stay from them OR keep trying to have the GM at the hotel call me back to issue a refund. I asked her what people can do if they don't want the points and they can't get the hotel to respond? She said, "the only thing to do is call the Hotel". I informed her that it greatly disappointed me that beyond an unresponsive hotel CLEARLY in the wrong, and a customer service that can only shovel points at unhappy customers, we have no other avenues to be made whole. I also informed her that I would be more than happy to let the reviews be made aware as this is all true, very unfortunate, and preventable. I hadn't shared my experience before this. I was hoping to just get a sign of someone in charge caring for what we went through and even just a partial refund. The disappointment in the utter lack of care from management is worse than the awful room they provided. It is your choice to stay at this hotel but be aware of the way they have treated customers. Not professional...

In the hospitality industry, the key is keeping consumers happy, or at least satisfied with the product for them to return to use your particular product or establishment.

In the case of this Holiday Inn, IHG had some hits, but a lot of misses. First off, the 1st person who is responsible for making your experience somewhat enjoyable is the front desk attendant. If you dont get but just a "Last name", we'll that person just soured the whole experience for the hotel. After having to deal with a 1 and 1/2 drive to turn to almost 4 hours due to an inexplicable amount for car accidents on I-95, with the longest one keeping traffic at a standstill for an hour and 30 minutes, the last thing you want is for your front desk person to not even speak, or for worse not even look you in the eye, when you're paying their salary.

So I receive my keys and head to my room on the 5th floor only to find that the room was incorrect. After explaining that to the same uninviting front desk man, his question was, did I use it!!! If his situational awareness could see that it only took less than 5 minutes from getting my keys to returning to the front desk, it shows that he wasnt meant to do that job.

I get new keys for a new room, and get settled. The slap in the face is when I bring my cart back from upstairs and that same front desk man comments "I can see that you're well traveled. Most people dont return their luggage carts." I followed with "I was taught basic decency and respect for this that belong and dont belong to me." For him to make that statement means this country really has gotten lazier and selfish then ever before.

The room in itself was decent. Good size space but a dated bathroom shower with the showerhead in need of cleaning which shouldn't even be a thing with a longstanding name as Holiday Inn or IHG. The bed wasn't the worst and definitely wasn't the best, but ill take it.

So free breakfast right? They say you get what you paid for and aside from the apple juice, the breakfast wasnt special by any means. The sad part is that there weren't choices for people who dont eat pork. By the time my spouse and I came down, they were shutting down the bar. If something is advertised til 10am, then putting things away at 930am just to be done early is a big no no.

The only highlight would have to be the front desk crew that was working from 3pm-11pm. Energetic and warm greeting everytime I came in or left. The night auditor from 11p-7a isnt made for hospitality and the 7a-3p crew are more focused on their phones than asking about my stay/experience.

Happy to say id NEVER patronize this location ever again. I'd rather sleep in my car and use a McDonald's...

Pros: Easily accessible from I-295…sort of. Check-in was easy and the young man at the front desk was very pleasant. Our 4th floor room was away from the elevators and it was clean but otherwise unremarkable. We were traveling with another couple from the Pensacola area, and we’re older, so we weren’t looking to drive too far for dinner before our concert in Ponte Vedra. I went on the hotel website to look at the dinner menu for the hotel’s restaurant, and it looked really great and reasonably priced. When we arrived for dinner the menu was very limited,e.g. chicken tenders and wings, onion rings, tater tots, fries, and a couple other items. We really didn’t want to go searching for another restaurant so we ate there. The food was VERY good, but not the meals we were expecting based on the hotel’s website. Our server Matt, who was excellent, explained that the full menu hadn’t rolled out yet. Hmmm, then why would you put it on your website? Parking was ample. Cons: Here is what infuriated us; before heading back to Pensacola we wanted to have breakfast at the hotel. It’s over $10 per person for what other hotels offer for FREE. The coffee was good but the food was typical hotel buffet fare. Hot food scrambled “eggs,” some kind of flat omelet, yukky sausage links, French toast sticks, and the driest breakfast potatoes I’ve ever tried to eat. For my $10+ I had a small cup of yogurt and coffee. Our friend had a bagel and cream cheese and coffee. His wife tried to eat the flat omelet and sausage and couldn’t get past the first couple bites. She ended up with yogurt and coffee. My husband also tried the “eggs,” potatoes, French toast sticks, and sausage; he couldn’t eat it. He ended up with a bagel w/butter and coffee. Over $40 for this mess? Y’all should be ashamed of yourselves. We had to stop for a decent breakfast on our way home. Our king room was dated but clean. The giant bed had only a total of three pillows. The bathroom lights were very dim and it was difficult to see. We walked out to the pool area and wanted to sit for a little bit, but the tables and chairs were dirty and some chairs were in disrepair.| I expect better from Holiday Inn hotels. I like to stay in IHG hotels because I’ve never been as disappointed as I have this trip. I also accumulate points...