Holiday Inn Express & Suites Madison — Hotel in Madison

My angel Chrissy answered the phone when I called to see if I could book the previous day of my already booked room. After explaining to her that I wouldn't arrive until about 2:00 in the morning Chrissy moved Heaven and Earth to get me the room I had booked for the next day so that I wouldn't have to move rooms. She also set up all the paperwork so that I would just have to initial a few things and sign the papers having already been checked in. Melissa was the first person I met when I got there at 3:00 a.m.. she was wonderful! It took all of 5 minutes to sign everything the longest part was hauling my stuff upstairs. The beds and shower was absolute heaven and I had the best night's sleep.The next morning Sarah was prepared with paperwork to sign me out of Holiday Inn and into another travel agency which is what I had originally booked my room through. I know this is quite lengthy but I was in Ohio for a very important reason and the last thing I needed was to worry about how I was going to get checked in how I was going to get a good night's sleep and face the day that I had ahead of me. But these three ladies made it awesome. The breakfast was amazing they cater to low carb low saturated fats low sugar I was very impressed! This place is worth the money and all three of these ladies deserve a raise and...

We stayed at the HIE Madison because of a wedding nearby. The hotel looks fantastic overall - fairly new, perhaps. The room was quite clean, the bed and pillows comfy, and we SO appreciate having a small fridge and microwave in the room. Super helpful. But there was a strong whiff of cigarette smoke when we first walked in the room/each time we walked in. Then it dissipated/we didn't notice it, but our clothes smelled of it when we got home so I'm guessing we just acclimated. :-( We should have mentioned it to the staff but failed to.

Otherwise: gym was well=equipped (even with an ERG!), breakfast was the usual HIE offerings, but it would be REALLY GREAT if items could be labeled for potential allergens (like Gluten), and if there could be some GF breads/pastries. And someone needs to train IHG folks to make good coffee. The coffee was very weak so we brewed our own in our room.

The hotel is right by a highway and there isn't much around it other than another hotel and a gas station, so you have to drive a distance to find...

We stayed three nights while visiting family after Christmas. They very willingly honored an early check in for us. All staff members we encountered from maintenance, housekeeping, front desk, and dining services were very pleasant and helpful. The breakfast staff even opened 15 minutes early when they saw we were getting an early start and wanted us to be able to enjoy breakfast before we hit the road. On that note...the cinnamon buns...amazing!! The hotel is fairly new but has been kept clean and maintained. Fitness center and pool were clean. The pool did run a little on the cold side. Wasn't as bad for an adult, but my young kids were chattering after about 30 minutes. We swam twice a day (morning and evening) and only once had they run out of towels. The rooms were large, well furnished and clean. The walls are a bit thin, so we could hear quite a bit of what was going on in the hallway or in rooms around us, but it wasn't late into the evening. Overall, we...