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

Holiday inn Express Lawrence,  KS

My husband,  daughter  and I decided to stay at this hotel because  my husband has stayed at several other HIE hotels  on business in other cities  and liked them. Not so here. In fact, it was truly awful.  We booked a week here. Not a brief visit.

We arrived late on a Friday night and had conveyed we'd be late due to a long drive. When I went to check in about 9:30pm a male, Asian front desk clerk said 'oh good. You're the last one I'm waiting for.'  OK ... we got our keys and went up to our Room 202. Immediately noticed a strong, stale, moldy mildew smell. The bathroom had wallpaper peeling off and a lot of mold in the shower crevices.

The next morning, we went down to the grab and go breakfast. If you enjoy high sugar,  prepackaged gas station food...this one's for you.  I asked if there were any hard boiled eggs.  No. Coffee had no nondairy creamer and tasted like dirty water. We told the front desk  girl about the smell in our room and also requested additional towels.   When we used the keurig in our room, it was no better than the lobby coffee.  Headed to  IHOP disappointed.

Upon returning that evening,  the smell in the room was no better. We ran the air conditioner  24/7. No extra towels....but there were dirty, wet ones in the wardrobe from the previous person. Gross.

By the third morning, my husband and I were feeling terrible. Headaches,  congestion, generally  awful. That morning, we told the front desk they needed to resolve the smell and, by the way, still no extra towels and trash is overflowing.  That evening, we could tell something had been sprayed to cover the odor but the problem was not solved. My husband  went down to the front desk to  insist on a new room while my daughter and I packed up our stuff...including  the towels and wash cloths we finally got the  previous evening. Still trash and wet towels in the room. We moved to Room 224.

Thankfully,  this room had no smell and was in good condition. 

It is apparent that housekeeping and  maintenance  staff desperately need training. Our second room was never turned either.

We saw the manager on 3 separate occasions,  including checkout,  and were never asked how our stay was. We noticed he was in his office and wondered how it's possible to manage a hotel from behind a desk?

Hopefully,  the corporate owner and/or Holiday  Inn will realize this facility  requires desperate help so other customers will not be subjected to these issues...

As I went to the desk to check in, I was greeted by a guy named christopher who had one earbud in and the other hanging out. I stay at this IHG unit a few times a year and for whatever reason they always have trouble taking my credit card - I've called the hotel before to see if they can figure out the problem. My card works at all other IHG locations and all other places I use it. On all other occasions when I checked in at this location and my business VIsa doesnt work the various desk people that help me graciously say they'll get it to work before I check out and they always have. On this occasion christopher said I needed to use another credit card. I explained it was only this hotel that had a problem with the card and it always ended up working but he said this wasn't his problem. I told him I was upset about this and he asked if I wanted to go to another hotel. I was shocked and said no and used my personal card. I told him I've never come across someone like him and he asked me again if I wanted to go to another hotel. I came down to the desk a couple of hours later and there was a young lady working and I asked if she would try my business card and of course it worked fine for her. She very politely switched the charge from my personal card to my business card. When I checked out a couple of days later, christopher was working again - he flippantly asked me how my stay was and when I told him I came back and the desk person got my business card to work, he just said ok with a smirk. no apology. His customer service skills were so bad, there is no way I was the first person this guy offended. At this point, Im seriously considering taking my hotel business...

As I went to the desk to check in, I was greeted by a guy named christopher with one earbud in and the other hanging out. I stay at this IHG unit a few times a year and for whatever reason they always have trouble taking my credit card - I've called the hotel in advance before to see if they can figure out the problem. My card works at all other IHG locations and all other places I use it. On all other occasions when I check in and my business VIsa doesnt work the various desk people that help me graciously say they'll get it work before I check out and they always have. On this occasion christopher said I needed to use another credit card. I explained it was only this hotel that had a problem with the card and it always ended up working but he said this wasn't his problem. I told him I was upset about this and he asked if I wanted to go to another hotel. I was shocked and said no and used my personal card. I told him I've never come across someone like him and he asked me again if I wanted to go to another hotel. I came down to the desk a couple of hours later and there was a young lady working and I asked if she would try my business card and of course it worked fine for her. She very politely switched the charge from my personal card to my business card. When I checked out a couple of days later, christopher was working again - he flippantly asked me how my stay was and when I told him I came back and the desk person got my business card to work, he just said ok with a smirk. no apology. His customer service skills were so bad, there is no way I was the first person this...