Holiday Inn Express & Suites Milford by IHG — Hotel in Milford

I'm a big Holiday Inn Express fan, so I've been wanting to try this hotel since it opened in Milford about a year ago.

Each year, I take a bike trip from Long Island to Milford in July. Then, in August, my wife and I visit Milford for its annual Oyster Fest, which is always a lot of fun. We started this tradition many years ago and have stayed at just about all the flea bags and better hotels in town. More recently, we have been staying at a very nice hotel just down the road.

This year, when we arrived for Oyster Fest, we decided it was too hot not to have a pool to come back to at the end of the day, so we cancelled our stay at the other hotel and booked a room at the HI Express. The manager promised he would heat the pool for us so it would be warm when we got back at the end of the day. He may have tried, but the water was freezing and unswimmable that night.

But that aside, the hotel was very nice and very comfortable. Had we not been in a festive mood after Oyster fest, we may have been bothered by the loud, live music coming from the patio at Gipper's Pub, just next door, until late at night. However, we found it kind of enjoyable. If you're coming here expecting peace and quiet, you'd better check out Gipper's entertainment calendar first!

Breakfast was the usual HI Express fare. Lots of sugary stuff, but also eggs, bacon, oatmeal, bagels, etc. I'm a make-your-own pancake/waffle fan, so I was disappointed that the pancake machine was broken the day we visited.

Still, the only real weakness of this particular HI Express is the location. If you remember the days when they had a Jai Alai stadium in Milford, I can tell you that it's right across the street from where that used to be. It's also behind what used to be the dilapidated old shopping center, which is now an upscale Westfield Mall, with Carraba's, Panera, and other restaurants featuring nice outdoor patios. The crime and blight that used to mar this area are gone, but you're still not really within quick walking distance of anything, let alone downtown Milford. Old Gate Lane is sort of an industrial area these days, with a few other hotels and the aforementioned Gipper's Pub being the only few things in sight when you walk out the front door. Of course, if you want to take your car, you can simply drive one block over and you will have all the excitement and dining/entertainment choices available on Rt. 1.

As I am writing about this hotel, my opinion of it is improving. I have very specific standards for hotels because I like to bicycle or walk to dinner and other nearby attractions. If this is you, then I do not recommend this hotel. But if you are like most leisure or business travelers and you don't mind driving once you arrive at your hotel, this place...

When we checked in all went well…especially after a 6+ hour drive. Bed was comfortable and the pillows were great. I got up in the morning to take a shower, no water, just a trickle. After three attempts, I went downstairs and Dakota at the front desk was wonderful and when Lou the maintenance man tried to fix it and couldn’t, he was so gracious and apologetic. We had to move to another room.||And it went downhill from there. Several times I was asked if I wanted an upgrade to a suite, no, just a room please. I was given keys to a new room. Went upstairs, packed and went to the new room. Neither keys worked, tried another couple of times. Back downstairs, explained the keys did not work and they were reset. Upstairs again, still didn’t work. Asked a very nice housekeeper to do us a favor and check to see if we were doing something wrong. She used both keys, nothing. She used her master key, nothing. She went and called downstairs and a gentleman came up and nothing, the room must be where Holiday Inn keeps State secrets, because the man from downstairs just waved new keys at us…you guessed it, another room.||If you stay at this hotel, do not allow them to put you in Room 409. The bed is awful, pancakes are fluffier than the pillows and two sets of pipes sound like a train morning, noon and night. And upon closer inspection there was someones used and tried out nicotine pouch. Which I had to pick up and dispose of. After that I opted out of room cleaning and just asked for fresh towels daily. Was told to leave the dirty ones in the hall and they would be replaced. Their idea of replaced is empty towels racks and having to ask for towels at the front desk. Went down for a swim, and the pool was so heavily chlorinated I couldn’t see the bottom of the shallow end. Went back upstairs.||Book this hotel through something like TripAdvisor because the end invoice didn’t remotely make any sense for the day to day charges. We think that they tried to bill us higher than we paid for upon making the reservations. Check your bill.||And last but not least, someone hit our car in the parking lot. The remarkably disinterested man that morning told us that there were two cameras in the parking lot and he would check them and call me. Yup, still waiting. He lied to my face.||Spend a couple of extra dollars a night, your car...

My arrival greeting was several underground wasp nests at the main entrance; duck and dodge to enter. The main desk attendant was very good and check-in was swift. The property had a stale feeling of just opening to the public after being closed for months. I was informed that they had been open for a month. I was told that there was no breakfast or any food options available due to COVID -19. That means a room and nothing else. Funny that I had just stayed at a competitor's property that uses the same business model and was given a grab and go breakfast made to order with my own selection of coffee. The trip to my room was up an unclean stairwell. My room had the odor of smoke and must; not a huge odor but it was there. The room cleanliness "looked" up to par. Remember disease is not visible. I was thinking of changing rooms but I was only going to be there for eight hours or so. I returned to my room later that evening and disinfected it. How could I trust a property with wasps to greet me and an unclean stairwell? During my disinfection treatment, I noticed that the air conditioner filter was full of crud. This is an example of COVID cleaning? COVID is an airborne virus and can be traped and spread via the air conditioning system. A major public health issue possibility. I cleaned and disinfected the filter and went to sleep. I was awakened three hours later drenched in sweat due to the lack of cooling in the room. It's now 3 or 4 AM. I considered sleeping in my car for the rest of the evening. I knew that it was cleaner and cooler than my room. I endure the sweat for a few more hours and checked out. The check out person was amazing. I later learned that the room I was using had a history of AC issues. In summary, we have a property that is not up to ANY standard (service/sanitation) and a potential public health hot spot. There were plenty of signs saying how clean the property is and how concerned IHG is about safety. Does anyone want to buy a bridge in Brooklyn? The hotel probably was at the most 10% capacity. What an opportunity to offer enhanced service. So much free time to either clean or offer outstanding service. If it was my property I would have taken orders from each room and dropped off fast food breakfast at the door. Failure IHG on so many...