Holiday Inn Express & Suites Salinas by IHG — Hotel in Salinas

HI, we have been an IHG members for a long time and were very satisfied with the hotels and services we got every time, thank you for your endeavor of committing to make best for customers travel needs.

However, we are having a situation happened to us today which we think we want to complain about. I made a reservation at Salinas, CA holiday inn express on 4/14/2023 for the night stay of 4/18/2023, 1 night for a 2 queen beds suite. And my family member Mary (member #XXXXXX60) made a night stay of 4/19/2023 for a 2 queen beds suite at Salinas, CA, on 4/14/2023, too.

On 4/16/2023, I found out that there were a King bed suite available on 4/18 and 4/19 at Salinas, so I called IHG reservation dept requesting the lady to swap my 2 reservations to 1 king bed suite (I have been helped to do this type of changes before) the rep. said that she needed to transfer me to customer service department. And the lady there asked if I had called the Salinas holiday express, I said no, and she said I could just call them and do the switch. So I did, The lady at the local Salinas hotel said she made the changes for me on both nights to be a king bed suite no problem. I asked again and she said she had made the notes, too for us and guaranteed that we would get a king bed on both nights.

Here we are today at Salinas at 8:20 PM and we were told that we had a 2 queen bed room for both nights, The lady said If we really wanted to have a king bed, we can move to one on 4/19, but 4/18 only have a 2 queen bed room. She said the manager changed our reservations to 2 queen bed and there is no king bed room available tonight!

If we are promised by IHG employees (be it a manager or a staff) that the room type is what we requested, then IHG should fullfill its promises. If IHG wanted to change our reservations which is different from what we were promised before, at least IHG should tell us! And we have a phone number on file! It is a surprise at 8 PM on the day to find out that we are not having the room we were promised before.

We do not want to move the next day so we just stay at the room we were being assigned to, Ok, fine. We will have to accommodate the hotel’s decision. But I wonder what IHG can do for us now??

I tried many ways to write to IHG headquarter's customer services but IHG does not provide a form for customer's letter(not working!), To complain to the Salina's holiday inn express is no use to us!

Thank you very much for your time and hope to hear from you...

If you're traveling with young children, I strongly recommend avoiding this specific Holiday Inn. Within an hour of our arrival, a front desk staff member knocked on our door claiming there had been noise complaints — specifically, that our toddler had been running around. However, this turned out to be untrue. Our room was not located above any guest rooms, meaning no other guests could have realistically been disturbed by the sounds described. It appears the staff member either misunderstood the situation or intentionally misrepresented it.

While I understand the need to address guest concerns (if there were any), the manner in which this was handled was completely inappropriate. Instead of approaching us with a respectful inquiry or offering a polite reminder, we were threatened with eviction—a response that felt wildly disproportionate, especially considering we were traveling with a toddler and two senior family members.

What’s even more troubling is that this seems to be a recurring issue, based on other reviews I've seen on Google Reviews alone. It raises serious questions about why Holiday Inn’s corporate office hasn’t intervened, and why local management hasn’t trained staff to handle such situations with basic empathy and professionalism.

In contrast, I’ve stayed at much pricier hotels where actual parties in adjacent rooms were tolerated without issue. Yet here, a child running back and forth a few times to shake off a long car ride prompted an alarmingly aggressive response.

Had this been my first experience with Holiday Inn, I would have advised my company—which books dozens of rooms annually—to stop using the brand entirely. Fortunately, other Holiday Inn locations have consistently provided excellent service. Still, I will never return to this property. This was my second stay here, and unfortunately, neither visit was memorable for the right reasons.

From a public relations standpoint, this kind of approach is a serious misstep. Threatening to evict a family with young children and senior citizens over a fabricated complaint shows poor judgment. And no amount of comping rooms elsewhere—even when that does happen, which it did not in our case—is worth the long-term reputational damage, customer alienation, or loss of potentially tens of thousands of dollars in repeat business from families and corporate...

The Hotel / Lobby was nice and clean. The Room was nice and clean except the bathroom did not smell so fresh. It smelled like they cleaned with stale rags. I purchased Clorox wipes to wipe down the bathroom but that didn't do much for the smell. If you are looking to get some rest, this is not the place. The ceilings and walls must be made of cardboard and there must have been 5 kids above me. I heard every bump, jump, thump and bang imaginable. And if you finally do fall asleep after midnight, by 8AM you will be awakened by doors slamming in the hallway - constant slamming of doors - this happened every day of my stay. So much for sleeping in. The breakfast was nice the first day, but by Sunday @9:15 I guess they ran out of food. Many of the food trays were empty...so much for breakfast that day. The location seemed understaffed - when you called the front desk the phone just rang. If you approach the front desk and no one is there, you had to ring the bell - and then wait, and wait, and then go search for someone. Also the staff was courteous but not warm and friendly - there is a difference. You have to ask all of the questions you think you have because they will not volunteer any information. Parking was interesting, most of the parking is around the side of the hotel but you can only get into the hotel through the front door. All of the other doors are for exit only - they are equipped with key cards - so why don't they work? That was an inconvenience at times. Last - please be aware that if you leave your room after 12 noon, you will not get housekeeping services. No one told me that (remember you have to ask all of the questions you THINK you may have) so I returned to my room that evening to find that it had not been cleaned - oh joy. Upon check out, the front desk clerk did not ask me "How was your stay"...I...