Holiday Inn Salina, an IHG Hotel — Hotel in Salina

I booked through booking.com and when I arrived at the property I was told that they have no idea why book.com allowed us to book a room with two standard queens because they do not have any available. The front desk staff suggested that they give me a 1 bedroom room and I pay for another 1 bedroom room. That is unacceptable as we have two children. I walked away because I was so upset. I went back to my car to speak with my husband. I went back into the hotel and said can you give me the 1 bedroom and my kids can sleep on the floor. She agreed and when she tried to click the reservation it declined it. She could see the payment from booking.com. However, Holiday Inn said that the 3rd party card kept on getting declined it in their system. Mind you it was 1 am. Yes, it was late but all the other hotels in Kansas were booked. It was just crazy!! So we had to drive further to Salina putting us arriving at Holiday Inn at 1am. This ensues a 2 hour back in forth with booking.com who assured me that everything on their end was fine and with Holiday Inn guest services. I ended up having to pay for another room. To just get my kids in a room. It is now 4am and my kids are sleeping on the floor. The issue is the front desk staff was not adequately trained on how to handle this situation and a work around when these things transpire. Now, I am out $189.34 and $153 ish( I can’t remember it’s late) the front desk staff offered me breakfast vouchers as an apology. I declined and said I just want my money back. Yes , the staff tried to reach the manager with no avail. All in all it was just really really poor customer service. Booking.com has assured me they will refund my money after speaking with them. Make any of these make sense. The front desk staff suggested that they hate dealing with 3rd parties and suggested we book directly through them next time. Ok, but that did not solve the problem. Please, Holiday Inn have a back up plan for these things. You will...

My colleague's recent stint at Bethany College was the reason why we'd stayed here. He'd had family visit who had used the spot and he highly recommended the burgers at Burger Theory. The hotel had matched our conference's rates, even though it was 20 minutes away and there was River Fest going on. The staff was super helpful, there was lemon- and lime-infused waters or coffee right there up front, the rooms were great, and the temperature was easily controlled and powerful. Don't take the "Sleep Quality" as a reflection of the room - I always sleep poorly!

The food was great - the breakfast is NOT complimentary, but for $7 you can add it on to your bill. The breakfast is hearty and if you go on the weekends, it's a buffet you can gorge yourself on - their cheesy eggs taste just like the ones I do at home. For lunch/dinner, their selection of burgers, beer, and other food left me wanting more days and more meals than I had.

Finally, a shout out to Lucy and Sheila, the two servers that served us in our stay. They were friendly and seemed to enjoy taking time to make sure everything was good and to see what we were up to....

We're currently lying in our room, wishing we were somewhere else. We've always stayed at Candlewood Suites when we visited Salina in the past. I decided to give this Holiday Inn a try since it's a newer hotel, it took fewer points to book, and there is a bar in the lobby. Never again will we stay here. Candlewood Suites down the road is by far more comfortable and much better customer service. ||1. As a Platinum Elite IHG member, one of the benefits is a late checkout, if available. I requested this when I booked the room and was told at check-in to call in the morning. That kind of defeats the purpose of me wanting to sleep late! ||2. The water pressure is the worst I've ever seen in a hotel. Good luck getting the shampoo out of your hair. It'll take a while. ||3. It's dark! The lighting in the room and bathroom is horrible. I could barely see to shave. Bring your own light bulbs! ||4. The lobby bar, which is supposed to close at 10pm, was already closed when we went for a nightcap at 9:30pm. We walked in and were instantly met by a female bartender stating, "WE'RE CLOSED." It's Friday night,...