Holiday Inn Budd Lake - Rockaway Area by IHG — Hotel in Mount Olive

If it weren't for the very good breakfast spread, I really wouldn't have anything positive to say. We came for a wedding and stayed 2 nights. I was looking forward to a pleasant stay but I was so disappointed. In fact, it's nearly a month later that I'm writing this review because I felt that I needed time to process so I didn't just react in anger.

For starters, there was some awful construction going on outside the whole time. Not the hotel's fault but it really set the tone. Then there's the outdated look of the hotel itself... Very ready for some updates, from the furniture to the walls. The courtyard is pleasant enough.

Most of the front desk people were great (other than the one who worked Saturday morning on April 20th... That guy didn't even attempt to be polite or smile). The room was mediocre at best. There was still an old dirty cup in the room when we got there, crumbs on the floor, and stains on the sheets and the extremely thin blankets. (They even put this little sham thing at the end of the bed that looks at first like it could be a comforter, but alas, it's just a square of fabric). Kind of like the pool towels which are more like glorified dish towels. Plastic cups, no microwave, exactly 2 coffee pods... Everything just felt "bare minimum" to me.

But, what really brought me to write this review was the awful and aggressive behavior of a bartender who worked on April 19th. The wedding party came back to the hotel around 11:30pm and there was a plan to relax at the hotel bar... Because it was OPEN. But by the time I came downstairs, I could tell the vibe was off. A few people I spoke to said they were uncomfortable because the bartender had been openly angry that we were there and kept muttering obscenities under his breath. We were not an unruly crowd by any means, mind you. Many, like myself, were completely sober and simply wanted to continue celebrating and spending with friends and family in a common area. I tried to brush the awkwardness off just as the bride and groom came downstairs bearing several containers of leftover appetizers from the wedding. Most were finger food items, but we realized quickly that some utensils would be helpful. My sweet brother took it upon himself to grab a large handful of silverware rolls for the group from the brunch area, which I understand was not ideal, but he meant well. Instead of talking to him like a person, the bartender came over, scooped up the silverware and yelled in a threatening manner, "Don't take our stuff, bro!" (Except he used language that this review aoftware won't allow me to include... How ironic) My brother was startled, but apologized and asked if there were some other utensils we could use for the food. The bartender's response was a gruff "No." My brother then said, somewhat sarcastically, "Well, thanks for all your help." The bartender proceeded to walk behind the bar, stashing the silverware back there with him, folded his arms, and continued acting like our group was doing something wrong just by being there.

At that point, my wife and I went back to our room, as did many others, including the bride and groom. He was so abrasive and unfriendly and it was such a bummer to end an otherwise wonderful wedding day on such a sour note. Why even have a bar if you don't want people to frequent it on a Friday night? Overall, it was an unpleasant experience and I would definitely look for accommodations...

Since I’m a Platinum Elite Member, I have stayed at a number of Holiday Inn’s over the years and although I’ve stayed in many, this is hotel is about 2 out of 5. To start, I had booked 12 nights for family members and faxed in authorization requests so I could pay for the rooms. Although they were all made by me, I wanted to have my family member’s names on the reservations. So long as I added that information there would be no problem I was told. I called the 24th to confirm that each party member was indeed setup but I was told, no; they couldn’t put into their system the names of the people that were going to be in the room. Amazing since earlier I was told that wouldn’t be an issue! My wife and I were in a one bedroom suite, arriving on the 26th of November. I wasn’t greeted at an IGH Platinum Member, and it took forever to check in. We finally got checked and made it to the room. It’s evident that cleaning isn’t a priority here. Take a look under the microwave, or around the small refrigerator. There is so much dust here you can write you name. In the bathroom, the toilet flushes but only if you hold the handle down for a full 10 seconds. As a man you have to sit down to urinate. How terribly convenient. The handle on the shower handle is falling off and it’s evident by the brown mold on the bathroom shower tile, it’s been some time since the walls have been cleaned. The coffee table in the room looks like it was used as a scratching post for some time. The one saving grace for the room was that the bed was wonderful; otherwise I would give this property a 1. We had dinner the first night in the hotel restaurant. It was 7:30 PM; we were the only ones in the restaurant. My wife has a pumpkin chowder soup; I had a bacon cheeseburger medium (well it was supposed to be.) 20 minutes later our food arrived. Mine was well done. I thought about sending it back, but didn’t want to wait an additional 20 minutes. Obviously they had other things to do, however taking care of the customer doesn’t appear to be one of them. I only had to ask for water 3 times from the wait staff. I guess the guy that takes frequent smoke breaks was out again (I heard about this in the morning from other people at breakfast – Seeing the reviews, management appears to have done nothing about this) The hot tub is out of order. I was told it was a broken switch. Odd since another reviewer complained on Sept 8th about the same thing. 2 ½ months to fix a switch? The breakfast buffet was wonderful and Gail is a bright star. She is very helpful and very accommodating. Would I stay here again? Hmmm. There is a another major chain within 100 yards of this hotel (same parking lot) Thankfully I am also enrolled in that chains rewards program, so next year for Thanksgiving it’s likely the 12 nights booked at this hotel will move...

If I could give this hotel, no stars I would! Do NOT plan to have this hotel as your wedding hotel! My daughter planned an amazing wedding at Crosskey Estates close by and used this hotel as her primary lodging. At first, we spoke to an older gentleman who was amazing and promised us room blocks, and that once they filled up, we would have access to more and he was actually fabulous to speak to, and courteous, which led us to utilize them as the main lodging hotel. That didn’t last long, he was no longer there, and we went through about three different event coordinators in the course of a year. The Managment team was Unprofessional, rude, spiteful, just atrocious! I will say the staff at the front desk was very friendly, but unfortunately, they do not do any of the planning for weddings or events. The management team reeks of unprofessionalism and actually prevents the rest of this team from delivering an exceptional experience. The hotel not only did not hold the correct room blocks, the management team lied, blamed each other and blamed corporate for at the last minute changing the check in time, forcing all of our guests last minute confusion because they couldn’t check in at the original time that was agreed upon. The manager and the event coordinator were consistently fighting and dragging us into the middle of it. I do believe the event coordinator had good intentions, but with a leader leading the way this hotel does it was impossible to deliver any honesty or genuine service. The whole thing was a disaster. Thank God for the Marriott hotel that shares this parking lot. Amanda the manager, the General manager and the entire team saved the wedding by opening up room blocks for us, allowing us to have our after party there which we originally planed to have at The Holiday Inn, but the bartender screamed at us when trying to plan it. We literally left there with my daughter almost in tears a week and a half before her wedding. I did reach out to corporate and I do want to note that they did get involved and tried to rectify the situation as much as they could, but the damage was already done. Corporate was great with getting involved, but they need to get involved further to have this Marriott match the Marriott brand experience because it is subpar to any Marriott that I’ve ever been to. If you’re staying there for one night, you might have a good experience, but DO NOT plan to use them for your...