Holiday Inn Express & Suites Phoenix - Mesa West, an IHG Hotel — Hotel in Mesa

The hotel, overall, is pretty unremarkable. Most of the security doors do not lock and can be opened without a key card, but at least one of then cannot be opened even with a key card, which ended up meaning that in order to go to the second floor, you are forced to use the elevator rather than the stairs. This is patently absurd for anyone who hates waiting for an elevator.

But overall, the hotel itself is not bad.

What is incredibly bad, however, is the management. The general manage of this property emailed the organizers of the baseball tournament my team was attending in the Phoenix area, accusing my players of vandalizing accessibility equipment in their (insanely tiny) pool and also putting patio furniture into the pool. GM "Glen" cowardly attached his assistant manager's name to his accusations, I would later learn and left AGM Antonio to answer for Glen's accusations. When I called from the baseball fields between games to address the accusations, it became clear that their employee witnessed these acts at a time during which the entire team was half-an-hour away from the property and couldn't have been the ones they saw. When confronted with this information, Glen said "I don't want to hear that anymore" and "your parents are worse than your kids". The basis for the stubborn sticking to the accusation was essentially the idea that we were the only baseball team staying at the hotel and therefore must have been guilty (essentially saying that I was lying about the players all being elsewhere). As proof, Glen send me screenshots of security footage of furniture in the pool and a completely separate picture of my players in the hot tub.

Because the hotel does not have a lock on the pool, which is accessed from outside the venue, it turned out that teenagers (my players are all 11 and under) staying at a hotel next door were helping themselves to the pool after their actions had caused their hotel to close that venue's pool access.

Fortunately, Antonio was very apologetic and reversed charges Glen had added to my party's bills to cover the alleged costs of maintenance on the equipment, because Antonio had taken the time to investigate the situation and determine we were not involved. How the lazy, rude, and utterly ignorant Glen is employed by this venue is beyond me.

We were told by Glen that my group would never stay at this property again. He couldn't be more correct about that. They could offer free stays for my team annually while we participate in the baseball tournament we like to attend and I would laugh in his face. Never, ever again for us and I will go as far as to be sure that no other hotels owned by the same LLC will profit from our tourism to the area.

Hopefully someday Glen will be replaced by any of his competent staff and also maybe someday I'll get to meet him to address his efforts to smear me and my families and my baseball program, all because he's too lazy to take care of...

The hotel, overall, is pretty unremarkable. Most of the security doors do not lock and can be opened without a key card, but at least one of then cannot be opened even with a key card, which ended up meaning that in order to go to the second floor, you are forced to use the elevator rather than the stairs. This is patently absurd for anyone who hates waiting for an elevator.||But overall, the hotel itself is not bad.||What is incredibly bad, however, is the management. The general manage of this property emailed the organizers of the baseball tournament my team was attending in the Phoenix area, accusing my players of vandalizing accessibility equipment in their (insanely tiny) pool and also putting patio furniture into the pool. GM "Glen" cowardly attached his assistant manager's name to his accusations, I would later learn and left AGM Antonio to answer for Glen's accusations. When I called from the baseball fields between games to address the accusations, it became clear that their employee witnessed these acts at a time during which the entire team was half-an-hour away from the property and couldn't have been the ones they saw. When confronted with this information, Glen said "I don't want to hear that anymore" and "your parents are worse than your kids". The basis for the stubborn sticking to the accusation was essentially the idea that we were the only baseball team staying at the hotel and therefore must have been guilty (essentially saying that I was lying about the players all being elsewhere). As proof, Glen send me screenshots of security footage of furniture in the pool and a completely separate picture of my players in the hot tub.||Because the hotel does not have a lock on the pool, which is accessed from outside the venue, it turned out that teenagers (my players are all 11 and under) staying at a hotel next door were helping themselves to the pool after their actions had caused their hotel to close that venue's pool access.|Fortunately, Antonio was very apologetic and reversed charges Glen had added to my party's bills to cover the alleged costs of maintenance on the equipment, because Antonio had taken the time to investigate the situation and determine we were not involved. How the lazy, rude, and utterly ignorant Glen is employed by this venue is beyond me.||We were told by Glen that my group would never stay at this property again. He couldn't be more correct about that. They could offer free stays for my team annually while we participate in the baseball tournament we like to attend and I would laugh in his face. Never, ever again for us and I will go as far as to be sure that no other hotels owned by the same LLC will profit from our tourism to the area.||Hopefully someday Glen will be replaced by any of his competent staff and also maybe someday I'll get to meet him to address his efforts to smear me and my families and my baseball program, all because he's too lazy to take care of...

The hotel is located in a busy area with a lot of big box stores and restaurants nearby. I really appreciated the free parking, as more and more hotels are charging for parking, including IHG brands.||While the hotel has obviously had a facelift, the bones are old. The elevator is small and slow. The shower head was crusty with lime and the switch to turn on the shower was very hard to switch on and I was afraid it might break. The water pressure was weak.||The lighting in most updated Holiday Express rooms is really bad. It's more mood lighting. It might look cool, but it isn't very functional. And it takes a engineering degree to figure out how to turn on and off the lights. ||The bed was comfortable, but the walls were paper thin and I could hear my neighbor's TV on one side of me, and the neighbor snoring on the other side of me. ||I did not have breakfast there, so I can't comment on that.||My biggest complaint was the surprise $200 deposit required when I checked in. When I made my reservation on the company website, there was no notice that there would be a deposit required. Instead they have a notice posted at the front desk that it's required with no exceptions, and I don't believe they take cash or a debit card for the deposit. And the clerk told me mine was going to be even higher because I was local/have an Arizona driver's license. (?) But at that point they have you. You can either pay the deposit or leave and try to find another hotel. And it isn't clear if you decline to pay the deposit and leave/cancel your reservation if they'll charge you one night's rate for not honoring your reservation. Really shady.||I would not stay there again just because of their shady business practices. In fact, before you stay at any IHG hotel, I would call the property to see if they charge for parking, require deposits, and if there are any other charges and fees. I have been trying to stay at only IHG properties because I am a reward member, but as soon as use all my rewards I'll no longer be staying at IHG properties. I've been burned...