Holiday Inn Express & Suites Mountain Home by IHG — Hotel in Mountain Home

During our road trip for my husband's birthday, we booked this hotel through Priceline-paid, confirmed and reservation showed in hotel system when we arrived to check in at 745p. Stacy said she could not check us in bc Priceline hadn't sent confirmation of payment and that I (the customer) would have to call Priceline to get the issue resolved. I told her that didn't seem typical but did it. While waiting to speak to a Priceline rep, my husband and I tried to problem solve this with her asking if she can call someone, if she could refresh her pg-she said she'd already tried that and was rolling her eyes, rubbing her face, and avoiding eye contact. After a 20min wait on the phone the Priceline Rep said they'd call hotel to talk to them. Stacy answers call from Priceline after I'm put on hold and confirms what she needed from them. Priceline gets back on line with me stating I should be able to check in in 5-10 mins. Shortly after getting off phone they call Stacy back and she is continuing to make faces and claims they aren't giving her what she needs to check us in and then says Priceline hung up on her and there's nothing she can do because she's not a manager. Her odd behavior continued along with excuses instead of a positive customer service approach to problem solving the issue. I told her if I call to cancel they will need the hotel's permission to cancel since it's been paid. I let her know that bc I wanted reassurance she'd approve the cancellation. She proceeded to talk about how they just tell people that but I can cancel if I want and won't need hotel permission. My family has always enjoyed a stay at Holiday Inn Express and in the 15+ years I've been using Priceline, this was a first for me. But even if it was a legitimate issue with the hotel needing payment confirmation from Priceline -seriously tell me how it is in any way the customer's responsibility to resolve a discrepancy between the hotel and booking service -especially when your system shows the reservation, I've showed my receipt and confirmation?!?!?! Stacy displayed a serious lack of interest in getting the issue resolved and that was the most disappointing part. Also if this is a legitimate issue and not operater error on Stacy's part, Holiday Inn Express needs a process in place for when a 3rd party booking service hasn't communicated confirmation of payment to the hotel. When I asked her name by the end of the ordeal around 9pm she proceeded with sarcastic comments and I walked out. A customer should not be putting in more effort to resolve an issue than the staff. She did grant permission for us to cancel...

For the price I paid, I thought I got an exceptional deal. Their breakfast each morning had a good variety of choices. There were pastries, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, sausage and eggs, muffins, cereal. I guess it's weird to list the food at the top of the list, but I found it to be "above and beyond" what a lot of basic motel breakfasts are. My room was right on the ground floor, around the bend when you walk in (120, I believe). So pretty close to the door, and the main atrium in the morning. NO NOISE. I could not hear people outside the room, I couldn't hear people in the hallway. I slept great though the night, the bed was comfortable. The bathrooms are a good size, though I'd like a louder bathroom vent fan for when I poop. (Yeah, it's another hotel without a loud vent fan, you'll have to turn the water on if you have a guest that you don't want to hear your bodily functions in the bathroom). I read a lot of reviews before flying to Arkansas (specifically, staying in Mountain Home) and after a lot of debate I settled on this one because it seemed to be the only one with good reviews about cleanliness. Other hotels seemed to have bed bugs or roaches, and I was NOT wanting to come home with bed bugs. This hotel was everything I could have hoped for and more. They were very accommodating with me. I was scheduled to check in on a Friday, but because Little Rock airport was so far away and our flight was delayed, we stayed with a friend Friday night (missing my first night in the hotel). They actually modified my reservation and didn't charge me for that night. ANY other hotel would have charged me for the night. This place didn't. Then when I came in the morning, expecting to check in "since I already had the room from the day prior" that's when they informed me they hadn't charged me for the day prior, the room wasn't ready, but to give them 30 minutes and it'd be ready. I came back 30 minutes later and the room was not only ready but smelled wonderfully clean. Really great experience. We did a lot in Arkansas, and at the end of the night we wanted to have a relaxing, quiet, comfortable place to sleep. This place was all of that and more. And they have a snack/beverage refrigerator upfront, which was a special bonus for me, because I was able to grab my morning energy drink on my way out the door and have it charged to my room. If management sees this, KEEP UP...

My family and I were extremely disappointed with our recent experience at this hotel. We recently stayed at this hotel as a part of a wedding block for my sister's wedding over memorial day weekend. The breakfast offering was poorly staffed and therefore we had a significant wait for most items including coffee which was almost never ready. The pool was freshly filled by a garden hose shortly after we arrived and had a temperature of a bone chilling 60 degrees at its warmest. Upon checkout, we found we had been overcharged by $40 and had to spend several minutes fixing that issue at the front desk. To the credit of the staff, the two individuals at the front desk were courteous the whole time.

The most concerning and pressing issue was that during the first full day there, one of the hotel staff stole a highly controlled substance from our toiletry bag. The substance is a prescription drug that our oldest daughter depends on to be able to function daily. We are certain that it was someone on the staff as we did not allow anyone in our room that day and we were not present during the cleaning. Upon discovering this, we asked the front desk to speak to a manager. We were able to connect via a phone call. The manager said that she spoke with the cleaning crew and none of them knew anything of the sort happening. She said there was nothing more that she could or would do. Because of the severity of the issue, we called the local police department as this is considered a felony. The police said that they would look into it but that since the manager already alerted the staff that it was unlikely they would find anything. We typically lock valuables like these medications in the hotel safe but those are not an option at this hotel, perhaps intentionally? Our family battled through the next several days with many issues including my daughter pushing her way through the remaining school year without the aid of her much needed medication given the restrictions on frequency of refills. We are terribly frustrated that we became victims of the happenings at this hotel. We urge an extreme high level of caution should you be forced to stay here as your valuables are not safe. Our complaint notices sent to corporate have been ignored or blown off.

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