Holiday Inn Express & Suites Ontario Airport by IHG — Hotel in Ontario

Stayed here for one night and I was given quite a spacious Standard Room with a Twin Bed. It was a room for wheelchair accessibility so not sure if other rooms in the hotel have this much space, but everything was modern and updated with very high ceilings. Probably the highest I've ever seen in a hotel room surprisingly. The lighting in the entranceway and bathroom was quite dim though. They could definitely go for some brighter bulbs.

The staff was also friendly and they let me check in a couple hours early and check out an hour later which perfectly worked out with my flight times. An even earlier check in option was also available at a fee. The hotel also provided a shuttle to/from the airport. A receptionist had initially told me that they run and stop by at the airport every 30 min but you actually have to call the front desk in advance to let them know where/when to pick you up.

I had a couple minor complaints regarding the bathroom however. The first was the shower. Because it was a wheelchair friendly room, there was no separation between the shower and bathroom floor, and the water pressure from the shower head was so strong that water spilled out all over onto the bathroom floor area despite the curtain. I eventually figured out that there was a button on the shower head to control the flow but it was a really sensitive button and more of an on/off switch for the shower, but I found out a way to position it just right to make it work. The shower fixture itself that held the shower head was also loose and needed tightening/replacing. And second, the AC vent in the bathroom was making random noises and rattling at night. Significant enough for me to notice and wake me up.

Apart from that I enjoyed my stay and would consider coming back here...

Check in was easy. Room was well cleaned. Bed was very comfortable.

That said, the room HVAC left something to be desired. Like too many hotel room units, it's freaking noisy. And that would have been nothing to remark, except for the fact that we found it to also be inadequate. The unit took too long to respond to the room getting warmer, and so we spent the night often too warm, before the A/C would kick in and cool it down again.

The free breakfast was also a bit of a problem. Unfortunately, there was only a single poor soul to handle what was, during our single night stay, a very full hotel. For some reason, the sausages for the breakfast never seemed to have arrived, and things like coffee creamer hadn't been topped up. The creamer issue was quickly handled by the staffer, but it was clear that for the volume of guests, there simply needed to be more than just one person working. We are NOT faulting the person working. This is a management issue that should have been anticipated and planned for.

We also noted a loose faucet assembly on the sink, and that room cleaners had left behind a cleaning rag hanging over the shower curtain rod.

All of this would have been reported to staff, but at checkout, for some reason all 3 staff at checkout seemed to b e too involved with telephone and one customer to pay attention to the fact that I was standing there waiting to speak to one of them. After waiting a bit, I just passed the room keys across the counter and departed.

All of this speaks to some sort of issue with management. I can't fault staff at all. They were friendly and helpful, but simply understaffed, from all appearances. In fact, the third star in my rating was awarded ONLY because they...

I travel more than 300 days a year and have used this hotel chain often because they are usually consistent, this hotel was the exception. The room smelled like body oder, the furniture was sticky, the chair had a stain and the room was very worn in general. The sheets were clean and the bathroom appeared to be clean. My work colleague had the same experience and asked for a new room, the new room was the same, bad smell and generally worn. We bought some air fresher to try and hide the smell, but was not successful. I went to breakfast at 06:30 and said good morning to the staff attending the breakfast twice, she ignored me both times. There were four containers of coffee and all were cold. There was breakfast cereal all over the counters and nothing appeared to be clean. I witnessed the staff eating bacon from the tray as she carried it to refill the empty bacon tray, she filled the bacon tray using her hands. My agency has five people traveling for approximately 5 weeks to Ontario and i have already warned against using this hotel. I never write reviews, typically it's not worth my time, and if an employee goes above and beyond i will notify the manager and let them know about the great service i received. This is the second review i have written about this hotel, because the first one was rejected, the reason given was "specific references to other hotel brands" there was no references to other hotel brands in my first review. I will send the first review to corporate and will continue to due so until this gets posted. I have used this hotel chain exclusively for the past 5 months, but not being able to provide an honest review will likely make me change the brand i use. Very...