Holiday Inn Portland-By The Bay — Hotel in Portland

Absolutely the WORST experience I've ever had at a hotel!!! I am a travel nurse who has been living out of airbnbs and hotels for the past 7+ years and I have never experienced such horrible customer service by management! I am a nurse who had to book several nights in town in order to make it to work at the nearby hospital last week during the 3 day noreaster...with my army veteran fiance who served 11 yrs, his 10 yr old ADA registered service dog and our 1 year old baby. The first night was an absolute mess as they were understaffed (2 waitstaff), non-working phone in our room (which they never replaced per our request), you couldn't get ahold of the desk or bar via cell, we had to walk down to place a food order, the bar/restaurant was packed and they said they were too short staffed for room service. I was understanding and didn't even complain about this due to the storm circumstances. However, the 2nd night I returned home from my 12 hour shift at the hospital, had a quick carryout dinner this time and as we went to take our service dog out to pee at 9pm before bed, he had an accident (urine) in front of the elevator on the 9th floor. I have traveled with this dog for 5+ yrs and he has never had an accident EVER!!! I suppose due to being placed on the 9th floor despite notifying the hotel upfront that we were traveling with a service dog, in addition to the blizzard like conditions outside for multiple days he had held his bladder too long out of stress/fear of on the storm. I immediately ran to the room to grab towels to soak it up before heading down to notify management of the extremely out of character accident. Before I could return with the towel the manager had already arrived at the 9th floor elevator with a security guard (i guess watching the security camera as the accident occurred). She told us we had to "vacate the premises immediately as this is not a pet friendly hotel and service dogs are held to the same standards as all other guests. If a guest was to urinate in the hall and cause destruction of property, they would be asked to leave immediately as well". I told her he is a registered service dog, offered to show her his paperwork, explained how this has never happened before and how the stress of the weather possibly explains this one time accident. I offered to pay for carpet cleaning and was denied and asked to leave immediately without any refund for the night. She literally stood at the 9th floor elevator with the security guard while we packed up everything for our 3 day stay, including a dog, a baby, pack-n-play, work gear, etc, waiting for us to vacate the property. MIND YOU this is during a noreastern, now 9:45pm at night after a 12hr shift, 75% of the city and surrounding towns have zero power including our residence in old orchard, literally EVERY HOTEL room in the entire city was booked 25+ miles out, and now we had to drive all the way home to no power in the storm aftermath, pay for a stay we didn't have...and risk all of our safety which was the sole reason for this reservation in the first place. I have submitted a dispute/ refund request with my credit card company for the night we were denied...if the request is denied by holiday inn, I will be going to corporate, I will be filing complaints about this hotel with the BBB as well as filing an official complaint with the ADA for refusing service for a registered service animal! This is completely unacceptable and the absolute worst customer service I've experienced...

It seems as though a few of the employees missed the customer service workshops, or those aren't offered at all. I accompanied the person who booked the room, so my name won't show up as a recent guest in case somebody at the hotel attempts to discredit my review. I'll start with the most egregious infraction and move on to the most benign of my complaints. I would go as far as telling guests not to bother eating at the restaurant. Service is outright horrible. It was so bad that I had to have a conversation with the person who cashed us out before leaving to ask if they typically serve customers so poorly. I have never done that before. Initially, I ordered two items from the side menu because I don't eat a big breakfast, in general. The server took my order down without pause. A few minutes later one of her colleagues returned to get clarification even though my order was clear and far from complicated. She asked me twice if I was ordering an entree even though I clearly said I just want the side items that I'd ordered. I was wondering if I missed a note that I shouldn't just order sides, but there was nothing indicating that on the menu. When the food was brought to us, I asked if we could have water and some honey. The server never returned with the items. We were initially given a container of coffee, which ran out. We were never asked if we were all set with coffee because the server never returned after dropping the food off. Here's the rub, there were 4 other people in the restaurant. The explanation I received at the end was that the server is new, which is understandable. In that case, she should have been offered more guidance and support from her co-worker. The next couple of things that happened weren't as serious, but part of a bigger picture of shoddy customer service.

My friend and I were about to head out of the hotel when I asked a member of the service desk if she knew where Wharf street is located. She looked at me and said she wasn't from the area, and didn't know how to get there. The woman didn't even look it up on a computer or cell phone. Thankfully, her colleague who was listening to the exchange jumped in and explained how to get there, which was merely a 10 minute walk from the hotel. What struck me about this was that the first person I asked didn't even think to ask either of the two people sitting next to her if they knew where we could find Wharf Street, and it's not like the lobby was remotely busy. Later on in the evening we returned from our outing and grabbed a couple of items from the concession room. There were three people at the desk who were inquiring about something. My friend and I stood there for 10 minutes without ever being acknowledged or asked what room we were staying in so that the items could just be billed to us. Not a big deal, but it would've been so simple to do that. At any other hotel I've visited in the past, that would've occurred.

The facility, itself, was okay but it would've been nice to walk into a room that wasn't freezing, or to have some water in the room, which is standard these days, They need to step it up. The 4 rating is...

I recently stayed here for 4 nights and my feelings about this place are mixed. On one hand, the hotel has recently been upgraded, there’s a restaurant/bar in the lobby, and it’s in a wonderful location that’s easily walkable to a lot of things in town. However, this hotel seems to be poorly managed/operated. First, I had to wait two hours to even check in because they didn’t have the room I paid for ready and they were trying to get me to go to a lower grade room because that’s what they had ready. I was thankful for the bar because it gave me somewhere to sit and have a drink versus just having to sit in the lobby and watch everyone else getting checked in no problem. Second, the room I did eventually get must have had a dog in it prior to my stay because there was dog hair all throughout the room. If the hotel hadn’t been fully booked I would have asked to be moved to a different room. If you like firm pillows, I recommend bringing your own because there’s not a single firm thing about even their firm pillows. Third, the staffing of their restaurant/bar makes absolutely zero sense. In the mornings they have two people for a buffet style breakfast and each morning I went there was never more than 5 tables occupied. In the evening, they had one person, even on Fridays and Saturdays when it was almost every table full. Megan (probably spelled wrong) was a wonderful bartender even though she was clearly swamped and people seemed to be annoyed by the slow service. Megan deserves another person to help her out. I will say that while the food is good, it’s absolutely overpriced for what you’re getting. Some of the portions are small for the price you’re paying (like the flatbreads). If you like burgers, I’d recommend getting that. It’s a good sized burger and you get a good amount of fries with it. It’s still overpriced, but at least you’ll be full. Fourth, if you’re not going to or from the airport, don’t even listen to them when they talk about their complementary shuttle. They will always prioritize the airport and basically refused to go to the transportation center during my stay, even after telling me that a driver would take me “in a couple minutes”. I literally gave them a 2 hour heads up and said I could go whenever was convenient for them, and then I checked in again which is when I was told a couple of minutes. After 30 minutes and being at the cutoff of needing to leave, I called a Lyft. As I was loading my suitcase into the trunk an employee came running out asking me if I wanted to go to the transportation center. Absolutely ridiculous that even though they had a driver on site the entire time (while one was out specifically doing airport runs), I was still unable to get a ride to the transportation center. I want to like this place, but the operation of it is just not there for how much it costs. I would expect this kind of experience at a MUCH cheaper hotel. I would contemplate giving them another chance the next time I’m in Portland, but I will absolutely be looking at the other hotels in...