Holiday Inn Express Orange Beach-on the Beach by IHG — Hotel in Orange Beach

Hotel, rooms, and complimentary breakfast were all adequate. Nothing spectacular but clean and great beach access. The pool was great. Only down side was the two elevators were slow and felt a little rickety. The rooms aren’t super spacious but are well equipped with everything you need for vacation and are nice and clean.

Now for the part that ruined the vacation. We rented a room for a week and shortly after checking in I get a notification from my bank that my account was overdrafted. I look and the hotel put a hold on the amount for the room twice. That tied up all funds that I had saved for both the hotel stay and our week long vacation in Orange Beach. The hotel could not see in their system the duplicate charge even though they could clearly see it on my pending charges in my banking app. Their only solution was to say “you will have to clear it up with your bank” and “here is a restaurant gift card for the inconvenience.” Well that took care of one dinner of the week long stay.

I ended up having to run to Walmart and overdraft my account even further to buy sandwich stuff so that we could eat lunch and dinner for the rest of our stay. With no help from hotel management, I tried calling IHG/Seaside Hospitality and got the run around there too. My family’s vacation was ruined because of a credit card machine glitch that no one could fix. My bank put in a fraud charge ticket but because the charges were “pending” and the fact that it was a card transaction, the charges would have to be completely process and clear before they could do anything. And then once that happened it would be 3 to 5 business days before I had it corrected on my end with funds available. By that time my family and I would already home from vacation.

We made the most of it but even kids get tired of swimming and building sandcastles after a while. I saved to make sure we could have this vacation and I had to stress and feel awful every time I had to tell my kids that we couldn’t do something else or buy souvenirs or no we can’t go out to eat, we have to eat a PB&J again for lunch and dinner again.

The only saving grace was the complimentary breakfast. That was the only thing that saved us on the food fatigue of sandwiches. The other thing that saved us was the fact that my wife and I both got paid the night before we left so we were able to put gas in the vehicle to drive back home. Had it not been for that we would be stranded there with no way back to Oklahoma.

Overall the worst and most stressful vacation my family and I have ever had.

IF YOU STAY AT THIS HOTEL, PAY WITH A CREDIT CARD THAT IS ONLY TO BE USED FOR YOUR LODGING OR A PREPAID CARD THAT HAS THE LODGING AMOUNT NEEDED PRE-LOADED ON IT. DO NOT SWIPE A CARD THAT HAS ACCESS TO THE REST OF YOUR VACATION FUNDS OR YOU WILL BE EATING PB&J’s AND WILL GET REALLY FAMILIAR WITH THE POOL AND BEACH …… AND...

Disappointing First Stay – Not Worth the Points or the Price||I was really looking forward to my first stay at this hotel in Orange Beach, but unfortunately, it was a huge disappointment from the moment I arrived. As a Platinum Elite member with IHG and someone who works in the hospitality industry at a Holiday Inn & Suites, I expect at least the basics of guest service to be met—especially at a property that costs 67,000 points per night.||At check-in, I wasn’t asked for ID or a credit card, and my Platinum Elite status was not acknowledged at all. The young man at the front desk simply handed me the keys and walked away without offering any information about the hotel, amenities, or even a welcome.||When I entered my room, I was shocked to find the beds unmade with a pile of sheets left on top. The room smelled strongly of mildew and general uncleanliness. There were visible stains on the mattress and sheet covers, and the shower curtain was stained with what looked like old food. I ended up cleaning the room myself with supplies I brought just to make it tolerable.||To make matters worse, there was no hot water. I went back down to the front desk and informed the same young man who checked me in. His response? "Just give it time to warm up," before walking off again with no follow-up or concern.||I had opted out of housekeeping for the Greener Stay points—told him at check-in and also texted the number posted in the elevator. I never received the points, nor was there any acknowledgment.||The photos of the room showed a coffee maker, but none was provided. That meant having to get dressed and head downstairs every morning just for a cup of coffee. Breakfast was chaotic—so crowded you couldn’t even get to the food. The dining area was always messy, with dirty tables and nowhere clean to sit.||The hotel also advertised beach chairs but made no mention of the fact that they cost $45 per day to use. That should absolutely be disclosed in advance.||The pool area was nice, but it was always packed with kids, leaving little room for adults to enjoy. Throughout my stay, not a single staff member ever greeted me, smiled, or asked how things were going—not once.||For the number of points required, this hotel is not being maintained or operated at the level guests deserve. I received nothing in return for the multiple issues I encountered, and I would not recommend this...

My husband and I stayed here for our honeymoon this past week and were extremely let down and unimpressed. We had a great time and made the most of it because it was right by the beach and lots to do in surrounding areas. However, our hotel stay made our experience not the best. We drove 12 hours only to be given the wrong room and told the king size with sofa that we booked was not available. We are just starting out and do not have a lot, we saved up for 3 full days. One of those days we had to move our stuff from one room to another. Normally not an issue, but this was our honeymoon. Management bought our dinner which was very nice and considerate but they definitely could have done more considering the circumstances. Not only did they not have the room we booked available, but they were in the negatives on availability for that room. We understand that might be a third party booking issue, but that is not OUR fault. We completed the booking process correctly. No call, no email, no message that our room was being switched. I will mention, Holly was amazing. She did everything she knew to accommodate us. Very nice. Every other front desk member that we encountered was EXTREMELY unprofessional. So many instances where I even watched them be unprofessional with other guests. One example is an older woman asking for a towel and one of the front desk girls ignored her for a good 30 seconds and I said “we can wait. Help her.” And she left and said “follow me” to the older woman! Where she then walked her back and forth up a hallway, dropped one of the towels on accident and the older woman picked it up as it was left on the ground. That is not how a guest should be treated. “Do you mind waiting right here and I will hurry right back with those towels for you!” Would have been a much better approach. We also called front desk asking for a plunger, a girl answered and said she would get it after taking out trash, that is fine. Until We waited 25-30 minutes with nothing. Called again, only for the girl to answer with music bumping in the background with “oh he didn’t get that for you? We’ll get it right now.” Just extremely unimpressed with the front desk besides Holly. The cleaning staff was also...