Holiday Inn Mobile-Dwtn/Hist. District by IHG — Hotel in Mobile

I came to this hotel by way of a conference. I would not have been my first choice of hotel to stay in. The pictures on the website looked nice enough, but I don't normally stay at this chain of hotels as a matter of personal preference. When I arrived it was around 9:00 and I had my Mother-in-law and my 2 young children with me. The staff was nice and helpful. It was apparent that the hotel was about to undergo some major renovations as there were large boxes everywhere. When we got to our room there had been a water leak outside of our room from the ice machine that was directly across from our room so the hallway smelled musty and there was a fan blowing to dry the carpet. As I went to the conference the next morning I went to the snack shop in the lobby to get a drink and the drink refrigerator was not working so the drinks were not cold. I was charged full price, which was a bummer. While I was gone, my family ate breakfast in the restaurant and had a good experience, however, we were apparently supposed to get a kids coupon for it but we were not told that, nor did we get one. They used the pool and it was nice. The floor in our hotel room was very dirty so my kids kept their shoes on most of the time. The beds were comfortable. The bathroom was small and offered little privacy. The toilet lid fell on your every time you sat on the toilet. More annoying than anything. The 2nd day we were there my family went to breakfast again and they were treated rudely by the wait staff as they came in at 8:30 am and the restaurant closed at 9:00 am. The waitress seemed perturbed by everything they asked of her. On the night before we checked out I called and asked for a late check out which was noon the next day. I was not told that our keys would still deactivate at 11:00 am. I went to the closing session of my conference while my family went to breakfast away from the hotel. I met them after my conference ended and we returned after 11:00 am to get our things so that we could pack up our car and return home. We could not get in our room. We had to go back downstairs to get our keys reactivated and that's when I was told they deactivate at 11. It was inconvenient more than anything and annoying to have to deal with with a 5 and 3 year old that were hot and ready to go home. It would've been nice to know that when I called the night before. On the whole the stay was not terrible, but I would not choose to stay here again, unless there was some big makeovers and...

Let me start by saying this. The staff here are GREAT. I was here over a week and everyone here was very kind and tried to be as helpful as they could. That said, this Hotel is being remodeled and needs it badly. I stayed here 20 years ago and thought it needed help then. Well, now it is probably worse. It just has a very 80s feel to it. The lobby and elevator area still has a long way to go but my room had luckily already been touched up. New furniture, bed, tv etc. When I walked in I was like ‘okay this isn’t bad.’ Then I heard the air kick on. It sounded like an old T-Bird firing up. Loud. Then I got a whiff of air. The room had a very old and moldy smell to it. I got rid of half of the pillows because they were so musty smelling. The carpet almost felt damp. When I took a shower that night I ended up shins deep in water because it would t drain. Like almost filled the tub. When I woke up the next morning it was still pretty full. Only til I returned at the end of the day had it drained. I asked for maintenance to come up but it was never repaired. So every shower was an adventure because also half the time there wasn’t hot water. It was a crap shoot as to whether it would actually warm up by the time I was done showering. About every third time visiting the room I had to go all the way down and get my key reprogrammed. It just didn’t want to work. The walls were so thin I could literally hear every word the people next door were talking about. It was almost like they were in the same room as me. I’ve never heard it like this. I know all these folks dirt now. Lol. The free parking lot is small, and very dark and sketchy at night and several nights I had to pay to park across the street in a parking garage because there was no parking available. The downtown is either very empty but when there are a lot of people around it feels a little unsafe. There is a sky view lounge which has potential but comes off as lonely and sad. The bartender was very accommodating though. (like the rest of the staff). Overall this was barely passable as a hotel option. I slept but could have been much more...

Our room ( 706)was not cleaned properly, as I found 4 pecans laying beside the bed on the floor- I assume from a previous guest stay. I saw it right away so it makes me wonder how housekeeping missed it when they vacuumed or made bed. Poor cleaning and inspection skills.

Our room door would not close or open without force. You can see how it scrapes the frame. This is real safety issue.

We were in town for large convention, so there were 2 of us in the room for 5 night - they gave us a total of 4 hangers and the room have 1 small drawer. When I called housekeeping for more hangers - no answer. Called front desk - girl said she would call maintenance and call me right back. Never heard back from her and had to call again 1.5 hour later. Finally, I got requested hangers approx 2 hours later.

I had to go to 6 different floors to find ice. No surprise the floor with suites had working ice machine but not floors below 8th. And of the 5 floors only 1 had out of order sign.

Saturday 4th approx 4 pm- Housekeeping girl did not get to our room until the afternoon. She then asked if I wanted service as we were headed out and then rolled her eyes and gave me a bit of attitude when I said yes please. So I ammendment my response to just ask for clean towels. And refused future service. I am afraid she will not behave right while in my room because she was put out by being asked to do her job.

They charged my Husband's card for entire stay despite being told by event organizers that one of the nights was being paid for by them and not us. We were told we would have to wait until we checked out to be refunded the overcharged amount. This is unacceptable.

There is not enough parking for their 250 rooms. I quickly counted spaces around the hotel and there are about 45 spaces. Though online says free parking. There is a posted sign saying they cannot guarantee free parking. This is because you make to pay meter on street or park in garage several...