Holiday Inn Manchester Airport by IHG — Hotel in Manchester

We had the most bizarre experience while staying at this hotel. We, along with another family, were locked out of our rooms for several hours. When I asked why it was taking so long to get someone to the room with a key, they said they couldn't find the guy who had it. Turns out he was also the shuttle driver and was wandering around socializing and drinking alcohol as another hotel employee was having a birthday party there. More on that later. Anyway, when he finally came, he was able to unlock my room right away with a key. He said that this has been an ongoing issue and other guests walking by confirmed this. It wasn't clear why the hotel was aware of the problem yet failed to figure out why it was happening and fix it. So now I was entirely reliant on the person to get in my room whenever I left it, which he graciously agreed to do 24/7. My neighbors were not as fortunate, as the keyhole to their room was covered by a metal plate that no one could remove. The hotel was unable to get their maintenance person to respond and we were told there are zero tools in the hotel as the maintenance person keeps them. My neighbor broke his Swiss army tool trying to pry it off. The hotel manager arrived and when the employee who was helping us went down to see he, he came back with a pair of scissors the manager gave him to use to get in the room. This was ridiculous. They were going to have to stay in my room if they couldn't get into theirs, but they also couldn't access their belongings. We debated going to a hardware store to get some tools. At this point we were totally on our own. Earlier when we were outside having a pizza party, the shuttle driver guy, who was always very helpful and friendly, came over to chat and was stumbling/swaying and sloshing his drink onto the ground. He told us he was "so hammered" and also that he had to do a shuttle pick up later. When several of us told him he could not drive he said it was "no problem" and he "does it all the time" "every weekend" and he'd be sober enough by then (2.5 hours later). This was obviously very alarming and after our pleas appeared to have no effect on him changing his plans, my neighbor went in and told the front desk while I called the 1-800 number for Holiday Inn. The front desk was no help, nor were the HI employees on the phone. While expressing concern, they stated the only thing they could do was send an email to the hotel manager and couldn't guarantee when he would receive it. This was all before the manager arrived. After he arrived and sent the shuttle/key guy upstairs with scissors my neighbor went down to speak to him and advised him his employee was intoxicated. The manager then asked the employee is he was drunk right in front of my neighbor so now he knew we had told on him. It was after this that his attitude changed, and he wouldn't help the family get in their room anymore, nor would he speak to us, except to ask us what team our kids played for (we were all there for a soccer tournament). Fortunately, another guest happened to walk by while we were trying to figure out what to do to get in the room. He was a property manager in his home state and knew how to trigger the locking mechanism so the family could get into their room. By this point it was late at night and while I was uncomfortable staying there it wasn't clear where else to go and I didn't want to have to pay another hotel on top of this one. So I barricaded my daughter and myself in our room by jamming the ironing board and some other stuff in front of the door so at least I would be woken up if he was drunk and tried to come in. I was freaked out because one of the kids heard the shuttle bus driver in the elevator complaining to someone on the phone that we had thrown him under the bus. Between that and his obvious anger toward us, it felt like his asking what team our kids played for was retaliatory somehow. How, I don't know, it was unsettling and disturbing as it seemed there were no grownups or professionals running this hotel. It literally felt like the inmates were running the asylum.

Adding insult to injury, when I called HI to complain and request a refund for that night, I was told I could only get points because the only one that can issue a refund is the owner and/or manager of this particular hotel and there was no guarantee they would issue one. My neighbor, the ones with the metal plate over their lock did request a refund with the hotel of course denied, saying they were lying and none of this happened and the employee had not been drinking on the job. It's bizarre that the Holiday Inn company would want these people running a place with their name on it. My fear is for the unsuspecting passenger the next time the shuttle driver is drunk driving. I hope he doesn't get anyone hurt. If he does, this place and HI corporate will have certainly been...

NO STARS (forced to put 1 to be able to post) *DANGER STAY AWAY Upon arriving 1 1/2 hours early we were able to check in as a room was available. My mother and I were thankful for the accommodation. The shuttle to the airport was a nice convenance as was the driver. The room soaps and lotion was Dove brand. As for the remainder of stay was terrible:

1. The room assigned was 327. We utilized the 2 elevators. Both of which had expired inspection certificates by 3 months. No choice but to use because my mother is unable to climb stairs due to medical conditions.
2. The 3rd floor lighting was very dim. So dim that the maintenance man painting door jams had a headlamp on to be able to see. All the signs were difficult to read from the poor lighting.
3. The room was well worn and cramped. The walking space was narrow for all the furniture in the way. The furniture was all different heights. We liked to never got the dolly cart with luggage into room. This was only acceptable because one night stay; however, if needed to stay longer I would have changed hotels.
4. The room had 2 queen beds.They were taller than average & difficult to climb into. The only thing that made it easier was the soft squishy edges. My height is 5'5". When sitting on side of bed my feet did not touch the floor. The night stand was prob half the height of the bed. During the night my mother received a phone call. She leaned to get her phone and fell out of bed from the soft squishy edges giving way. Some how she managed to keep her head from hitting night stand and landed on one hand and knee (she had had bilateral knee surgery). Very thankful she only got a few bruises and pain. I fell/slid two times from the bed: pulled leg muscle, no other apparent injury.
5. During the night we woke to an alarm that was coming from the thermostat area. I thought it was a carbon monoxide alarm; however, from further investigation the hall alarm & strobe lights were going off. Grabbed shoes & coat, made way to stairs - assisted my mother down and outside. When on 2nd & 1st floor noticed smoke and electrical fire smell. Side note: Thank You, awesome job Manchester Fire Department for a quick response time! Less than 5 minutes with 9 ladder trucks, ambulance, and other emergency medical. Stayed out side parking lot in near freezing temperatures. No staff made rounds to check on guests. After over an hour the all clear was called. The smoke had made way to the third floor. My mother & I had bad taste in mouth, headache, runny nose, and nausea from smoke. I vomited intermittently for the next hour. And had an asthma attack. We would have left but had no ride or place to stay and had to be at airport in few hours. It was too cold to stay outside. Our symptoms did not dissipate until few hours after leaving hotel. Hopefully their will be no long term side effects from hazardous fume exposure.
6. There was two jr. boys sports teams staying at hotel. The boys ran up and down halls unattended using foul language. The parents seemed to all be congregated at lobby drinking with several ice chests full of alcoholic beverages being just as loud and rowdy as their children.
7. At check out no discount or refund offer was made for the disruptive and inhospitable conditions. No apologies made either. It's as though nothing happened.
8. I attempted two occasions to contact management via telephone during business week following incident & keep getting told manager is not in. Therefore, I have written my first review ever. I will be contacting the state of New Hampshire in reference to expired elevator inspections and safety concerns related to lighting and blocked exits. I sure hope the new owners make some changes for the safety of their guests. Thank God my mother and...

I'm so happy I listened to the reviews here. I needed a safe, clean, convenient, and relatively inexpensive hotel for a very short trip (arriving late, leaving by checkout). ||The property was clean and well maintained. The bed was comfortable and the bedroom had microwave and fridge. The shower was great. I was given a handicapped accessible room, which I did not request; I offered to take a different room in case it was needed, but they told me to keep it, so I presumably had a little extra room.||I had errands to run in the morning--it's close to many stores in a nice area: Home Goods, Marshalls, Kohls, Walmart, World Market, Hannaford, shopping mall, etc.--within 10 or so minutes. Across the street is McDonald's and gas. ||As another review mentioned, the hotel is also connected to "Airport Diner." I was so happy I hadn't spent money on dinner elsewhere on my way as I only wanted something small and cheap. About $10 for a salad and bagel. Note it closes at 10:00.||There are snacks and some personal items for sale in the lobby. I had to do a quick Walmart run because I'd forgotten a couple of things, which they didn't have, but it was only about 7 minutes away. ||This is a great place to stay for a night, or presumably more. The staff was helpful and friendly. ||Just a note: The elevator took a bit of time to arrive--not terrible, but seemed a tad slow. ||(Also, the channel guide on the TV was a little strange--you couldn't page through the channels and had to remember what channel programs were on and then put on that channel, as opposed to just hitting enter on the guide page. It took a little extra time to find what I wanted--not sure if it was just that TV or all of them, but it felt like a bit of a fight to find what I was looking for. Perhaps that's something that could be looked into. )||Highly...