Holiday Inn Oklahoma City Airport by IHG — Hotel in Oklahoma City

They had renovations going on (which is to be expected after a broken water pipe)but there were so many more issues with our stay. I was really disappointed because I've always heard great things about holiday inn. Checked in late at night about 10pm(after a 18 hour drive!)and they had only one employee working at the front desk, which is insane considering how large this location is. After gossiping about the current situation with his coworkers,and being interrupted by other guests needing linen,wakeup calls,etc,it took about 25 minutes to check in under a prepayed online reservation. We checked in to a room on the 5th floor, started to settle in, ordered some food, etc. Room appeared clean and had everything it was supposed to. Until I went in the bathroom and happened to look up at the towels on the shelf, and see a full grown bedbug crawling on one of the towels!!! We immediately went and checked the beds we had been sitting on,fortunately we didnt find any more. But after that,none of us could get comfortable after finding that one bug. So I went down to the lobby to speak to the employee who checked us in. I discreetly called him over to the side as to not inform everybody else down there about the situation in our room. He apologized,gossiping some more about the current management shortcomings, and moved us upstairs to a different room on the 6th floor...We checked that room and didn't find anything. We were exhausted so we crashed out. Room: Carpet and furnishings were a bit outdated and worn out. The beds were really plush and comfortable,good pillows and clean linen. The room had some poor repairs done to the drywall. lampshades needed to be replaced. had a microwave and mini fridge,a kurieg coffeemaker,a room safe,toiletries and extra towels in the bathroom,even an iron and ironing board. The a/c worked fine after we found the wall thermostat and cleaned out the filters. Flat screen TV with the basic cable channels. Didn't hear any noise from other guest rooms or hallways. Hotel amenities: Bar/restaurant which was closed down for the repairs. Banquet/ reception room that was closed as well. Indoor pool and spa which had lots of people in the water. Strong smell of chlorine coming from pool area,which indicates high levels of something called "chloramines" present,which basically means the water wasn't as clean as it should be. And that whoever is taking care of the pool/spa doesn't really know what the hell they are doing, improperly balanced water with too much or too little chemicals is dangerous for guests on so many levels. I know,I am CPO trained(aka as a certified pool operator,with nationally recognized certification). The continental breakfast was cold cereal and "brown bagged" fruit,juice,and yogurt. Guest laundry was available on the two floors we were on. Non smoking facility,you have to go outside to smoke. They have benches and ashtrays out there in the entranceway. Great views of the Oklahoma River and downtown skyline. The graveyard(overnight) clerk i encountered was a jerk,very rude to people trying to check in (having issues with their credit card)and to the guests already checked in that came down to smoke outside. In the morning,I saw a few more employees just standing around at the desk gossiping(along with a woman who appeared to be a manager) included. They were not very friendly when I asked about the breakfast,acted as though I was interrupting their conversation. I get it,i have worked in hospitality for several years,and have been shortstaffed and stressed out,but I would never treat a guest that way...people will forget who you are or what you say,but never forget how you made them feel. I don't lnow whats really going on over there at this location,but somebody needs to hire some more people and get this place up to par with company standards. To top it all off,my sister was charged three different amounts on her card,for the room,room, some other charge of $56,and another $78 even though it was already paid before we even got there. Get your...

BEWARE!!!! This is a long review, however I wanted to give as much detail as possible.

If I could give it a zero I would. We booked online at 1030 pm with planned arrival of a little after midnight. It showed nothing about being low rooms or anything. We had no reason to think we would not have a room. We have done this in the past when we had planned to make a specific stop but fatigue gets us and we need to rest.

We arrived shortly after midnight. Exhausted from an extremely long drive. We were told at check in that he didnt know what happened to my reservation. He later blamed it on night audit and informed me I should always call a hotel to verify they have a room not to rely on the IHG app. Which honestly made me more angry because I am a platinum member and have never in over 2 yrs had this issue. Why have an app for easy booking if I still have to make a call?

He then told us he would check a room to verify it was good. He went up stairs and came back and said that wasnt clean. Then went to check another one.

He came back and said that was good however it was only a king not 2 beds as we had booked for. We were so exhausted and our 6 year old just needed to potty and crawl into a bed. We took it. Paid and got room key. Mind you, this had now been almost an hr since we arrived.

We headed upstairs. The hotel itself and rooms are very dated and needs a much needed renovation. However, right as we got near our door my husband who is a retired police officer stated he thought he smelt Marijuana. He walked the hall some and told me to head into the room. The room itself did not smell to me. Our 6 year old rushed to the bed and of course jump in it and said she was so tired. The room was extremely hot and showed 76 on temperature for AC. We tried turning on AC and it did nothing. I immediately called down stairs to tell him. He said, oh no let me come check. Then within a minute I asked my daughter to go potty, she yells mommy. I open door, there is trash all in the corner and a used towel on shower.

This is where my absolutely frustration and panic came in. I told everyone to grab our bags and that we were leaving. The fact we were givin a dirty and used room that had not even been cleaned let alone the fact our child laid on a bed with used sheets. I was furious but held my composure.

We headed straight down stairs and actually met the night clerk at the elevator. We immediately told him about the Marijuana smell, the dirty room and told him we were leaving.

I have never been so disgusted with an IHG hotel. The fact especially during COVID that you send ANYONE, especially a family with a small child to a used and unclean room that has not been disinfected at all is not only room for a liabilty but pure carelessness on this hotels part. I have to wonder how many times they do not disinfect a room properly.

I would have much rather been told no rooms and just went on to another hotel. I believe my reservation was given away and he was worried that I would give a bad review. In the end, we sanitized our hands and prayed we did not contract anything and was graciously welcomed at a Holiday Inn Express 25 mins away. This whole ordeal caused us to not get settled until almost 3 am.

I added the one picture I took hastily of the trash and towels used in bathroom as we rushed out...

We initially booked the Holiday Inn because of the shuttle service to and from the airport. It was hard finding a hotel that provided shuttle service before 7am and this was what we needed. Before booking the room I called and was advised that there was indeed shuttle service on the days we needed and it began at 5am. Perfect. We booked a king suite with the pull out couch. Upon arriving at the hotel I asked the front desk clerk if we needed to schedule the shuttle or would it just run at 5am. She very rudely laughed and said we don't have a shuttle on the weekends. I was disappointed and said well when i called i was told there would be and she advised I call a taxi because they don't have a shuttle.

We finished checking in and went to our room. The room looked great and we were settling in and realized that we needed a passcode for the wifi connection. Nowhere in the room was information on how to connect. We called down to the front desk and was very quickly given the passcode and then hung up on. We then set about getting everyone situated in the room pulled out the bed in the couch and realized there were only sheets on the bed, no heavier blankets. We looked through the room an again found no other blankets. Again we called the front desk and were told you can come down and get them. So my daughter and I went down stairs and went to the front desk and were told no they did not having any down there however they would go find some and bring them to our room. So we went back to the room to wait. About 30 minutes later the room phone rings and we were told there are no blankets to be found and there was nothing they could do. At this point I was very frustrated in the service we were getting as this is not how I have even been treated when I have stayed at Holiday Inn’s in the past. At this point we were seriously considering finding another hotel even though it was close to 10 at night. Luckily my daughter happen to bring a throw blanket with her for her plane ride and she decided that she would just use that. We did happen to go back down to the lobby area looking for vending machines at around 11:30pm and noticed there was a new desk clerk. I decided just for the heck of it to ask if they happen to have any blankets. This desk clear went behind the back and came back with three blankets. I’m not sure how she just managed to produce them and the second shift clerk was not and she wasn’t sure why they didn’t’ offer them either. I will say the third shift clerk was what I expect the staff to be like when staying at a Holiday Inn, kind and helpful. Needless to say after the rude service by the second shift staff and having to fork out an additional 30 bucks for taxi service I am unsure if we will be visiting this holiday Inn...