Holiday Inn Express & Suites St. Petersburg - Madeira Beach by IHG — Hotel in Seminole

As a resident of Treasure Island, FL my home was recently struck twice by hurricanes, first by Hurricane Hellene followed 11 days later by Hurricane Milton. We, like many in our county, suffered considerable damage. Before Hellene hit, my wife and I evacuated to the Holiday Inn Express at Bay Pines since they were not in the “A” evacuation zone. Fortunately, the staff at this Holiday Inn Express were outstanding across the board! Every room was filled, making it very crowded. However, the staff rose to the occasion, and everyone there was treated with empathy, compassion and professionalism. Unable to see our home for four days due to the island's roads being full of debris, we finally saw it on day 5. Due to extensive damage, it was too dangerous to live in. Although we began to mitigate emerging biohazards, remove the water inside the house, rid it of smelly ocean debris, and we had to empty the house of 90% of our possessions. We returned to the hotel every night exhausted and of course, the staff was wonderful and understood what we and others were experiencing. Several days later, a new hurricane was coming right at Tampa Bay, Hurricane Milton. This time the county mandated that those in evacuation zones A, B, and C evacuate, forcing us to leave the hotel. We ended up in Fort Lauderdale. Several days later we returned to the Holiday Inn Express at Bay Pines. Three days later we got to our house, and it was further damaged, not by surge, but by hurricane winds. A third of the roof was gone and more water in the house. We are now in an apartment. I just want to thank the staff for all they did for all of us, and in particular - Ms. Emily, Ms. Tawyna, Ms. Cathy, Ms. Trisha and Ms. Laura. In my mind, they are all IHG First Responders and are clearly premier Ambassadors for the IHG brand. This is just one of many reasons why I have been an IHG member for over...

To put review into context I am an IHG Diamond Member and this 2 night stay was amongst a total of 15 consecutive nights all in IHG properties.

Booked room.

No IHG recognition in advance and no upgrade offered or given.

We arrived to drop off our bags whilst we headed to the beach and the gentleman was pleasant and took them from us and gave us our parking pass. It was around 1pm so 3 hour before check in and no rooms would be available until check in time.

Upon our return from the beach we entered with so much enthusiasm and hope, that was shattered, the lady on reception was not up to the normal level of IHG check in staff, no diamond recognition, we went through the motions of checking in , a self service check in at feeling but with a human, no upgrade, no water or goody bag, two of them finally wheeled out our luggage form behind reception and we headed off to our room. The room was clean and tidy, basic and as advertised for a standard room, I cannot put the price we paid due to IHG not allowing prices in reviews but it was considerably more than we paid on other stays. The hotel was full, we were using the hotel for leisure purposes due to being close to madeira beach. It looks like leisure is not the primary service area for the hotel. The location may influence other peoples usage.

Breakfast was normal IHG Express style

This is located next to a Walmart and the RV's park up at the back of the Walmart carpark next to the hotel car park.

Did the hotel give me exactly what I paid for - Yes and that is it. They met the statutory requirements to fulfil a lodging contract.

Did I expect more, yes I did, having received excellent service, recognition and friendly staff in 13 nights out of a 15 night stay in IHG properties. Would I...

Stayed here after a minor procedure at the VA. Being almost across the road from the facility it made more sense to me to go there even tho I live in downtown St Petersburg. I highly recommend this hotel as after 3 days I could move freely and the restaurants, shopping and beach are within a few minutes and the complimentary shuttle can take you to most dining places. A Super Walmart is in the same parking lot so a short walk and I was able to get some oranges to snack on. It may be wise however to watch who you answer greetings from some people who seem to be making a decent living(evidence from the new model foreign SUV they got out of 10 minutes earlier) hanging out around the property and holding signs and claiming they need money for their kids food. If you give..you need a receipt and good luck. Otherwise I highly recommend this facility and the rates will rise 9n the weekends but so does everything near the beach. Become an IHG member as your rate will be better and there are other perks that will follow. If your staying for business this is THE facility as it's close to the beach after hours places that are usually slammed and if your taking out perspective clients the variety of restaurants within a 15-20 minute drive let you decide the degree of entertainment you want to provide. For years I had stayed at another facility just west but decided the value of the offering this facility location provided was literally 50% greater than the other so will be staying here when I need to but more often will be recommending both friends and clients stay here as it's truly one of the easiest and comfortable places to either drive to or be dropped off to. It may seem like its hidden but it's hidden in the...