Holiday Inn Express & Suites Oklahoma City North by IHG — Hotel in Oklahoma City

This is the third HIE I've stayed for the weekend in the past two months due to traveling for competitions. The first two were really nice. THIS ONE makes me want to go back to Country Inn and Suites. I would never choose or recommend THIS hotel. The roos were typical and there was nothing wrong with them. The service and breakfast was appalling! We stayed 3 nights. Usually on 3 night stays at HIE there's at least one breakfast with bacon. Not here, just the cheap nasty sausage links. The first two HIE had very huge and delicious muffins. The ones here, although they were Otis Spunkmeyer, were half the size. The first morning my wife went to grab coffee and food and the sausage gravy bin was EMPTY -not just eaten, it was clean and had not been filled. When I went down an hour later it was the same - had not been filled. I tried to make pancakes and the pancake machine settings were off so they came out slightly underdone. I decided to make an egg and cheese biscuit since there was no gravy but requested cheese. Most of the staff had a huge language barrier due to ethnicity. The three different people at the front counter spoke English and one housekeeper I saw did. At a high traffic area like breakfast you should have staff that can understand your customers. So, when I asked for cheese for my biscuit, she, without saying much, tried to direct me to the fridge for cream cheese. I tried to explain 'cheddar' or 'american' and just got the 'no, no' while shaking her head and walking away. Since I feared the thought of just a plain egg biscuit with no cheese and no bacon, I asked 'well, how about the sausage gravy '.. she just shook her head and said "is all gone"...and walked into the kitchen. The lady straight up LIED !! It was never there! Wasn't there when my wife went to check and it wasn't there 45 minutes later! So, I went to get a biscuit anyway only to cut it open and find it is partially raw!!! I had to find the most overcooked looking one I could so that it would be done inside. The next morning my wife brought a biscuit back to the room only to find it was raw as well. I tried the sausage gravy the next morning sifting through the biscuits until I found one not raw only to find the gravy was really bland! So, cereal was my safest choice for breakfast. Sad. I wish I had thought to take pictures of the raw biscuits. Except for the one English speaking housekeeper, NOT ONE STAFF MEMBER bothered to acknowledge our presence by saying 'Hi' or any other pleasantries. Would not even make eye contact. One young lady upon entering the elevator at the same time literally turned and buried the front of her and her face in the corner of the elevator turning her back to me. Totally not weird at all!?!? 🤔 Again, the first two HIE stays were quite pleasant. This one was abysmal. I got the feeling that the management used several avenues to cut corners on expenditures to increase their...

We chose this particular hotel over the one in Edmond we usually frequent because the website led us to believe we would have a 2-bedroom suite that accommodates 6 people. We needed the separate room so that we could get a good night's sleep in a separate room from our kids. When we arrived at 9:30 at night, the clerk was in a back room talking on the phone. We made plenty of noise to be heard, but he made no attempt to finish his call and wait on us. 5 minutes later, after he tells "grandpa" that he needs to get back to work, he asks us what we need. No greeting, no welcome, no "how can I help you", no acknowledgement of our platinum status. Just "what do you need?"

So, we checked in, went to our room, and found that our "suite" was actually just a single room with two beds and a sleeper sofa. We immediately went back down to the front desk and explained that we were expecting a two room suite. After multiple comments suggesting that it was entirely my fault, the man at the front desk simply stated there was nothing he could do. Needless to say, we weren't expecting much out of this hotel after that check in experience.

When staying at an HIE, we typically eat breakfast there because it's usually decent and it's free. Of our five days, we could only tolerate the breakfast twice. Both times (one week day and one weekend day) the food was stale and barely edible. The other days we chose to eat out despite the extra cost. Thankfully there's a Cracker Barrel and McDonald's nearby.

We had issues with the air conditioner not maintaining a constant temperature. The room would be freezing cold near the window where the unit was located and warm near the bathroom at the opposite end of the room. We kept the termostat on 72, so it shouldn't have had that much trouble keeping up.

The women who worked the day shifts were pleasant enough. The pool area was quite muggy unless you opened the window, which made it pleasant. The kids enjoyed the pool.

Overall, I wouldn't choose to stay here again when the one in Edmond has much friendlier staff and the food was edible. It is currently being renovated (I'm not sure that was necessary), so it will be nice and updated...

The staff is friendly and helpful, and the rooms are clean. The beds, furniture, and linens were clean and comfortable. The room looked modern and updated. The carpet is fresh, and the bathrooms were clean and well-stocked with toiletries.

There was a small counter in a common area outside the bathroom with a microwave, some cupboards, and a refrigerator. The coffee maker is a small Keurig, and the pods provided are good coffee. There is ample storage space around the room, a high-top dining table, a sofa bed, coffee table, desk with office chair and lamp, and a nightstand between two queen beds.

Overall, I feel like this is a good place to stay, and would certainly stay again. The rooms were large, and the amenities were satisfactory. The breakfast selection is surprisingly diverse. I didn’t expect so many options, the pancake maker was an interesting discovery, and there were several varieties of cereal and yogurt. They had pork and turkey sausage, eggs, biscuits ang gravy, among other things.

The downsides: The toilet paper is incredibly low quality. We got our own, as the stuff they had was ridiculously cheap. I don't expect the best from a hotel, but this stuff is worse than most grocery store bargain brands. I think they could do a little better. There was an issue with a guest (or possibly a staff member, I suppose) smoking on our floor. We noticed the heavy odor the first night, but it was even worse the second day. I called the front desk and told them, when the smell was coming into our room. I don't know what came of it, but it seemed to improve the next day. I'm not sure if we had noisy neighbors or if the walls are too thin, but we could hear most of the goings on in a neighboring room. I woke up a few times that first night, but they must have left because I didn't notice them after that. My wife said she could hear people in the hallway throughout the night, but I don't see how that is the hotels fault, more of a common courtesy issue.

Upon check-in we were advised of a $50 incidental deposit that we were previously unaware of, so just be cognizant of this if you aren't already. You get it back a few days...