Holiday Inn Memphis-Downtown (Beale St.) by IHG — Hotel in Memphis

Long review but with content to pay attention to if considering staying at this location.... I traveled for business and pleasure and stayed a week in Memphis. Upon my arrival on Sunday, June 4th at 4 pm, I checked in and was greeted by Jerry at the front desk. He was pleasant and all was going well. I went to my first room (there were 5 total that I had to change to) assigned and it was not clean at all. The toilet appeared as though it had not been cleaned with mold and other rings, the floor had not been vacuumed and it was very obvious with a lot of debris on the floor. The bed had hair and dirt in the sheets and the air conditioner was not working with a lot of buildup on the air vents. The temperature was set at 63-degrees, however it was 78-degrees in the room. It felt hotter than that as the refrigerator could not keep up and was leaking water. I went downstairs and advised Jerry of the items I had noticed with pictures and a video I took of the room. He called for maintenance to rectify the air issue and started to find me another room agreeing that was not acceptable and apologized. He gave me another room and because of how busy he was with other check-ins, asked that I check it out first before he could. It too did not have air conditioning as it was 81-degrees in the room but set to 65 however it was cleaner than the first room but did need vacuuming. At this time, I went back down to the front desk and advised it was hotter in the new room he just assigned me. This is when I met maintenance worker Mr. Jimmy. He was a fabulous worker trying to do his best with the situation at hand, however, he too was frustrated as were many other guests as the hotel's air conditioning was completely out. Their air conditioning system was not working and apparently had been out some time according to staff and the other guests I met in the lobby waiting for a cooler room. Mr. Jimmy personally went to all rooms he was given on a list to try to see if there was working air in any of them. He found one he thought the air may be working in. I was told to go eat and come back to the room and see if it had cooled down any. I was gone about an hour and came back to the room that was still reading 77. Mr. Jimmy went searching again for other rooms. At the end of the day, I was finally put into the last room I was given which was the 5th room I had been moved to due to air and lack of cleanliness. It was 75-degrees but because it was 8 pm at night by this time, I was tired and ready to get in bed due to having to wake early Monday morning. This 5th room I was placed in had issues as well. The toilet was also dirty with mold and had a ring inside the basin as the first room I was placed in, the left side room outlets and lights next to the bed was not functional nor working and the telephone was broken in that the cord would not stay in the receiver when using to call the front desk. I called down to tell of these issues and was told it would all be documented but there was nothing that could be done about it at that time. There were no other rooms at this time that were cooler than I was in and the chance of finding one that was clean was nearly impossible. The ice machines on every other floor also would not work or have ice. I was told to go to the kitchen to get some ice when I inquired. As I waited in the lobby of the hotel bar/kitchen area, no one came out to greet me or to see what I needed even standing at the bar. I ended up going back and reporting this too. I had reservations to stay for the entire week through to Friday at this location but with the air being out and the lack of cleanliness, I checked out on Monday and went directly next door to a different hotel. Again, the staff that assisted on Sunday afternoon were friendly and did not have an attitude and did the best they could with what they had but unfortunately, I DO NOT recommend staying at this hotel establishment until some changes and serious upgrades have been made. At this point I do not believe they had any housecleaning and if they did, they were not doing their job. On Monday, when I checked out the guy that was working the front desk apologized for my experience and agreed stating he understood why I was leaving to stay elsewhere after showing him more pictures of the rooms I had been placed in and with the hotel not having any working air conditioning. I have stayed with other Holiday Inn's in the past but have never had an experience...

Arrived at the Holiday Inn Memphis for a 3 night stay as part of our 10 day tour of the USA. On arrival we were notified by reception that the air con had broken down so would be accommodated to the rear of the hotel, where it was cooler. As the temperature/humidity was ok, we agreed to this and took occupancy of the room. The following morning we awoke to find water running down the wall and a wet carpet. We contacted reception and were moved us to a different room. After a days sight seeing we returned to the hotel, but unfortunately were unable to get into our room as the cardkey did not work, so another trip to reception to rectify the issue, key sorted we could now get in. Back in the room we attempted to get ready for the evening, shower turned on, but no hot water, only a freezing cold downpour. Yet another visit to reception, and yes you guessed it, were moved to room number 3! The following day we enjoyed visiting more attractions, returning to the hotel to prepare for the evening out, but guess what ? NO HOT WATER AGAIN! . rang reception but no answer. I visited the desk only to find the the area deserted, I did eventually find the valet parking guy, who said the lady was on her break, but should be back in around 10 minutes, he would then get her to ring me. After 25 minutes no phone call, rang reception again, spoke with a lady called Diane who said someone would come to the room and have a look. After 10 minutes Diane arrived turned on the shower only to confirm there was no hot water, stating she would contact the engineer and get him to investigate. After 30 minutes, no action, so visited reception for an update, I again spoke with Diane, who was very rude stating that she had been unable to contact the engineer, and that if we were not happy "we could always check out" which at around 21:00 was not really a viable proposition. The following day we left the hotel to continue our holiday in New Orleans. The Holiday Inn "Hospitality Promise" states Making your stay a complete success is our goal, just let our on duty front desk staff know if any part of your stay isn't satisfactory, we promise to make it right or you wont pay for that part of your stay." On our return to the UK, I contacted IHG guest relations who advised me they were unable to make a refund, as they did not deal with financial transactions, and could only offer me points which could be used towards another stay and that I would have to contact the hotel direct to regarding an refund . So emailed hotel, after 10 days no response, emailed them again, another 5 days passed and still no reply, rang Holiday Inn Memphis, spoke with a guy who advised me that no one was available but he would get someone to ring me that same day. Having received no phone call, I rang guest relations (UK) to request they get the manager to ring me. Guess what ? I'm still waiting. Over the past 50 years I have travelled to many countries and stayed in many hotels, and without doubt can honestly say this is the worst hotel I have ever had the misfortune to stay in. I am also very disappointed with the actions (or lack of) of the IHG guest relations team, with whom I still have unanswered emails and phone calls. I always thought that Holiday Inn was a reputable honest organisation not a bunch of third...

I arrived for a week long training course at Memphis downtown to find out that the hotel is under HEAVY renovations. The reception had been moved into a corridor with a mess of wires and computers on tables. This was very unprofessional considering the expense I was about to pay for a week in the hotel. My first key card did not work so I had to get that changed and when I finally got up to my room it was fine, slightly dated but clean. What annoyed me was the incessant banging of workmen on the floor above, I had travelled all day from Indiana so I just wanted a rest but that was impossible! Then when I first went up to the 15th floor for my course (which cost me $1500 I might add) I found the air conditioning to be set to sub-zero! The entire conference was freezing, one gentleman had a hat and gloves on! We complained multiple times about the temperature and after one whole day got it turned up. Throughout the whole course there was work being carried out so at some points it was tough to hear the presenters. The state of the room and the room used for meals was shambolic!!!! They were falling apart and both freezing, during the course there was a water leak in the roof causing the plasterboard to fall in, initially they simply left a gaping hole and put a large trolley bucket underneath, after complaints from organizers they finally simply nailed a piece of wood over the hole. Considering it seemed like there were 1000 workmen in the building I would have thought one of them could have done a better job. The elevators were a terrible mess as the workmen were using these not the service lifts. During the penultimate day of my stay during my room cleaning the cleaner broke my towel rail, they left the pieces on the sink and stacked new towels on the toilet...they never came back to fix it. During my entire stay I never had hot water. I complained every day and the front desk staff were very polite but could only suggest to let it run 10 minutes and see. This doesn’t seem to fit in with the eco-friendly mantra of IHG or the customer friendly mantra. Each day I ended up having a cold shower, this is unacceptable! The staff were great with everything but had obviously been told they could not apologize for the issues instead they would simply explain the issue and be polite this is a farce! I also understand the hotel GM was annoyed that our group had contacted IHG directly to complain. All in all this was a torrid stay enough to convince me to stay with Other groups for the foreseeable future. The worst thing is I was entertaining two directors from my companies Europe HQ, they were incredibly disappointed in me and the hotel!! It seemed like there was a systematic failure of the management who shouldn’t have even booked the event knowing all the issues going on and that they couldn’t even hold everyone in newly renovated rooms! On top of that it seemed the management had the staffs arms tied to do any good to negate this. I was incredibly disappointed in the management and planning to even take this booking. I would strongly suggest a scrutinized look at the ownership and management of this hotel. I will be passing this complaint on to my colleagues...