Holiday Inn Express & Suites Marina - State Beach Area by IHG — Hotel in Marina

The room we got was large enough. It was clean and very cozy. Our problem occurred the following day when we were at Monterey Aquarium with our granddaughters having a great time. I received a call from the hotel. I was told by Erika that I had failed to check out of the room, and I needed to go back to the room because they were sold out and needed the room. I told her that I had reserved the room for two nights but she insisted that there was no record of that, and continued to repeat that they were sold out and I needed to check out. While I was attempting to find the reservation numbers on my phone, she came back on the line, and told me that they just had a cancellation and that she was going to "accommodate me" with a room. I told her that she was not accommodating me in any way, since I had a room. She continued repeating the same thing, so finally I told her that either she did not know the meaning of the word "accommodate" or she was just totally wrong. I legally had possession of a room that I reserved, and which I had a record of the reservation. To accommodate somebody would be perhaps when a person did not have a reservation, and the hotel staff would be doing their best to "accommodate" that person with a room.|It appeared very convenient that Erika would suddenly get a cancellation while talking to me. More than likely she found out that in fact I DID have a reservation, and instead of apologizing she opted for the "accommodate" excuse. It is very important to note that since she had told me I did not have a reservation, why would she give me a room without charging me for it? She never apologized for her screw up. The only thing she said was that "she was just doing her job". I returned to my room and never heard form anybody in the hotel.|Full disclosure: I had to make two separate reservations for the two consecutive days because I was using reward points. The lady that checked me in, knew this, and told me that she had arranged it so I would not have to go back to the front desk to check in again for the second day. This procedure is archaic since all hotels that use reward points or anniversary free nights, require a separate reservation for paid and unpaid nights and do not require that you return to check in again for the separate reservation. One thing that I neglected to do this time was read reviews of this hotel in Tripadvisor. It would have saved me from getting angry by having somebody disrupt my fun day. Based on reviews, their front desk seems to have problems operating...

I was traveling from out of state and forgot my ID at another hotel. I tried to check into this hotel and the front desk agent refused. I asked her to call a manager as there had to be an exception or another option for check in. The state I am from does digital IDs and I wanted to check if that was acceptable. I’m a hotel rewards member and an IHG credit card holder. She agreed to call the manager but wouldn’t explain the situation to them, just said “told ya”… I asked her what my options were and she said AND I QUOTE “I’ll cancel your reservation and you can sit in the lobby and call someone” … I asked her, call who exactly!? I can’t make an ID appear out of thin air and I’m 9 states from home. She just shrugged. I stood for a minute and collected my thoughts and asked if I could have the person I’m traveling with check in, and she said if the name is on the reservation… so I asked if she could add his name the reservation… SHE SAID “no you have to call the number “ …. I asked what number? … she said “ customer service is the only one who can add names to reservations” …. I asked for the number and she wrote it down for me, I called standing right in front of her. When customer service answered I explained everything above and was told it was no problem and they would connect me to the person who could assist me…. Well guess what!? They connected me directly to the front desk agent standing in front of me… she picks up the phone and says hello and I WAVED TO HER and said can you add a name to my reservation? She said “sure let me get that done for you” … she added the name and asked to see their ID and credit card, he laid them on the counter and she took the credit card and never checked the ID!!! Didn’t touch it, didn’t scan it, NOTHING!!! So this whole time she could have just took my digital ID !!!! She was being difficult just to be difficult… no compassion, no empathy, no helpful suggestions to remedy my situation, no effort at all. She should definitely consider a different profession because hospitality isn’t it! Needless to say the stay was downhill from there… no towels in the room… no milk at breakfast… just subpar all around and I won’t stay again… the next night I drove a few miles down the road to the Marina Holiday Inn no issues, property was clean and great, they had milk and towels and...

This was the second Holiday Inn Express we stayed at after spending three nights in a great one in Walnut Creek. When we arrived around noon, we weren't allowed to check in before 3 pm, which is understandable but it would have been nice to store our luggage there instead of taking it with us into Monterey. The most disappointing part of the stay was the room - which is the main reason to stay at a hotel. We were given a first floor / basement room. Possibly due to the room being halfway underground the room (I assume the rug) was musty and smelled like day old Chinese food. When I prepaid for the room two months ahead of time, I was very disappointed that the room was a noisy one next to the exit door, even though I requested a quiet room near the pool when I booked it. (BTW, didn't have an opportunity to use the pool.)

One time that we took the elevator up to the lobby floor from our floor, the elevator door opened and in front of us was a "closed" door. Not sure how that worked or didn't work, but by pushing on the panic bar we stepped out of the elevator. On the other side of the "closed" door was a sign that said "Out of Order". Not sure if the cleaning staff simply made a mistake but I could see this being an issue for other guests if it happened again. especially if the "Out of Order" sign isn't being used at the same time on all the floors.

I don't have a great back and this was the first Holiday Inn Express where the mattress was old. You could feel the springs and it was a bad night's sleep. Sheets and towels were clean - this was most likely an older hotel and needs some renovation.

The only breakfast item I always have an issue with is the powdered eggs - which are at EVERY Holiday Inn Express. I wish the chain would make the change to fresh eggs because starting your day off with those things just never sits right and always makes we re-think staying with them.

On a positive note, they are right next to a Walmart where you can purchase Lysol or some other air freshener if you happen to get the same room we had.

Lastly, the staff was professional, I didn't complain or bother them with anything - however, looking back I should have brought up these issues. Overall, if this was my first stay at this chain I wouldn't go back to them. Bad bed, smelly room, confused...