Holiday Inn Club Vacations David Walley's Resort, an IHG Hotel — Hotel in Minden

I had booked a room here because I saw it was owned by Holiday Inn and ended up being very disappointed as it was not even close to the quality I have become used to with Holiday Inn. We travel a lot for my husbands work and Holiday Inn has always been the most reliable and consistent experience, but it was not the case here. The positives: the view was lovely & the room was very clean for the most part. Unfortunately, that was about it. First, we were traveling with our 9 month old and got put into a room with a joint door to the next room over. The door had huge gaps and you could hear everything. Normally our daughter always sleeps through the night from about 8 pm to 7 am (and had for the previous 10 days of our trip at 5 other places), but because we could hear everything she was constantly waking up every time the neighbors would flush the toilet, turn on the TV, do dishes or just be talking (all normal things one should be able to do in their hotel room). I am sure if we could hear them then they could probably hear us as well even though we tried to be very quiet. If it wasn't the noises from the neighboring room waking her up, it was the the thermostat that was very difficult to control. When it wasn't on, it would get really warm really quick. When it was on, it was very cold and I was constantly covering and uncovering myself and my daughter to try to help her sleep. The pillows were hard as rocks and not anything like normal Holiday Inn pillows. The sheets were thin, cheap and stretched out so they were constantly coming off the mattress. The mattress didnt have a very good protector on it and there were a couple small stains just from the small part of the mattress I did see. The TV had a crackling sound when we tried to watch it and the couch was absolutely disgusting and falling apart, along with the coffee table that was missing some of its decorations. There were 2 sinks in the bathroom, one of which was really hard to turn on and the other was clogged and would fill up very quickly. You had to be completely inside the shower in order to turn it on and the shower head was hard to adjust so it sprayed me in the face until I could switch the setting on it. There were a few large stains on the carpet and it was fraying by the bathroom entrance. Honestly, some of these things I could have overlooked if the joint door and bed weren't an issue and the couch wasn't so gross. I feel like it was a waste of money and we should have just stayed at the Holiday Inn in Carson City. Also, the restaurant was closed the evening we got in. I had placed a special request while booking to possibly have one of the nicer rooms and tried to make our case that we are very clean and tidy guests even with our baby. I feel like we got the opposite and now I know to just ignore the special request option. I was just trying to make our trip a bit more memorable. Save your money and have a much more enjoyable vacation by staying elsewhere. I can appreciate that this may sound like one of those ranting negative reviews, but this was our genuine experience and I hope the pictures show a bit of what I have mentioned above. Also, as I had mentioned, we travel a lot for my husbands job and we have stayed in cheaper motels that were on par or even a bit...

This is a beautiful place and nice wedding venue, however I would NOT recommend getting married here. Here is my very specific feedback to the venue in hopes they will make some adjustments for future weddings. I have coordinated over 15 weddings as an event planner, and this was hands down the worst experience I have ever had with a venue. On top of that, there is a major lack of ownership coming from the staff of the resort, and they are now blaming me for a large amount of the problems listed below.

-Hospitality is the service you sell as a resort, and this was seriously lacking. A bride and her bridal party should never feel like an inconvenience, which happened on multiple occasions throughout the two days we were there. The bride and grooms original room booking got lost somehow, and then they were given the smallest room out of our entire wedding block (this was mitigated later by the coordinator after we explained the situation and they were upgraded to a nicer room). The front desk person was nice, but when we asked for an extra chair to be brought to the getting ready room, it never arrived even after two calls to the front desk. -Communication is a huge key to a successful event. Emails and phone calls took weeks to return. No one on the resort knew what time the wedding coordinator was supposed to arrive. I had to spend time running around the resort asking people to unlock doors to places we were told we could get into early for set up and to collect the reception decorations the next morning. Multiple times the wedding coordinator said she would do something and then didn't follow through. Examples include- bringing a table out to the ceremony site, and speaking with the bride and groom before the grand exit to give a room key. They were actually never checked in with during their reception at all. -Timeliness is what makes for a great event. Chairs were still being set up at the ceremony site 30 minutes before start time (and with a destination resort, guests were already arriving at that time). The coordinator was five minutes late to meet the bridesmaids before heading out to the ceremony site. Appetizers were not served until almost 30 minutes into cocktail hour. Dinner was 25 minutes behind schedule without an ounce of communication about it to anyone.

It is normal for little hiccups to happen during an event...they all have them, but the combination of the lack of communication, timeliness, and hospitality created a need for me to step up and run the entire reception as the maid of honor (especially sense the coordinator was extremely difficult to find). We only had three hours to do an entire reception including dinner, so timeliness was a top priority. If someone would have communicated literally anything to anyone, the night could have gone differently. I felt the need to step in and run the evening because from my perspective, no one else was going to do it and because of the many issues before the ceremony even started, there was already a lack of...

This place is amazing, and I will be definitely be back. There is room for improvement in a couple areas, but let's talk about the good first.

The rooms are well-appointed, clean, and comfortable. I stayed in a one-bedroom king, first level, with...a bit of a view of the Carson Valley. The bed and pillows were comfortable, the jetted tub was huge bonus, the fireplace was cozy in the chilly morning hours, the living/kitchen area was very spacious, and--while the view could have been better--the patio was nice.

The front desk staff member that checked me in was very friendly and welcoming. The staff at the hot springs/market were also friendly, even while dealing with rude guests who refused to wear masks (she doesn't make the rules, dude).

The hot spring pool was sublime--in the time of COVID, reservations were required, so myself and one other person had the pool to ourselves for the better part of a morning hour. The true winner at this resort, however, is the location. The birds are INCREDIBLE--a true sanctuary! Nestled against the Sierra Nevada mountain range, on the edge of the Carson Valley, this is truly one of the most beautiful corners on the eastside. The historic town of Genoa is less than two miles away on a well-paved path.

Here's what could have been better with a few tweaks from management:

Considering the above description (and relatively low occupancy), imagine my disappointment at being placed in a ground-level room with a view of the parking lot. I politely and humbly asked for a room on the valley side--the staff member (not the one who checked me in) was bristly at the request. She made it happen, but also made it clear that she wasn't happy to do it (and though she put me on the other side of the building, she also put me in a room that was mostly still looking at the parking lot). I get it--they probably get this all the time, and it probably gets old. A simple fix to this problem would be to offer different rooms at different price points--I would gladly pay for the view but the price tag was not appropriate for a ground-level parking lot view.

The hot springs have one large pool and many small hot tubs. Only the pool was open "because COVID." Eh. I'm tired of the COVID excuse being used where not appropriate--the tubs could easily have been open with reservations.

The amenities were lacking. There is a restaurant on site, but they don't serve breakfast. There is a market on site, but it had a very limited selection. A coffee bar would have solved the problem.

Overall, it is a very cool resort. I will be back, but not without a phone call to assure a better view than...