Holiday Inn Express & Suites South Portland by IHG — Hotel in South Portland

Extremely unhappy with stay. We travel for business and leisure often. We had a 2 night 3 day trip planned. The hotel was so packed full of people that there were no parking spots in the lot and people were parking along side the streets in the front of the hotel. People were partying outside of the back entrance of the building all hours if the day and night. The pool was so full the whole time we were there we never got to use any of the amenities (we booked here for the location and the pool) pool is open 7am to 11 pm. At no time through our stay there was ever any space to be in the pool. The shower was dirty. The TV looked as if something type of liquid had been previously thrown on it and not cleaned. There was a full smudged face print on the headboard in the bedroom...the vent in the bathroom was nasty....the phone had a message on it from June of last year...that we were able to listen to and it was a quite personal message with detailed information (that was never cleared from the room) the dogs on the floor we were on barked for hours(then we were informed the hotel didn't know one of the people staying had a dog) (the barking still continued) from about 630pm until 2 am and started again around 5am. Through those same hours the door adjacent to us were slammed for hours some times with no people coming in and out of the doors. After the 3rd time of us complaining about the dogs barking I was asked by the hotel staff "well how long has the dog been barking"? Long enough for us to complain 3 times over 2 hours. She sent the manager up to the floor where we met him in the hall as we were going out to our car. He never apologized for any inconvenience or anything he said nothing except for when I asked if those people reside here he said no. Mind you quiet time is at 10pm. We gave up on calling any more after the 3rd time because nothing was done. The next morning I talked to someone different at the front desk (she was very nice) told me the GM would call us as we would be out for the day(he never called) when we arrived back I went to the front desk to see if he was there.(he was standing talking to the manager whom said nothing about what had happened the day/night before...I told him we were expecting a call mind you it was now 330 pm and we were told he would call in the morning when he arrived. He was apologetic but didn't seem to fazed and proceeded to tell me they can not controll something they don't know about (the dog) and that the manager did go up to the floor(but did notthing) needless to say our time at the hotel was not good at all. The best thing about the hotel is the bed was very comfortable. They thought the best solution would be to give us 10000 point for the inconvenience...to us that's not enough. We were not able to enjoy amenities nore enjoy our stay in the room. They said there were large groups there...we understand people will go on about their lives but at the disruption level that occurred it was...

We have been loyal Holiday Inn Express customers for years, but that loyalty has been severely tested during our recent two-week trip to Maine, where we stayed in multiple IHG properties that were, in reality, rundown hotels from other chains that had merely replaced their signage with that of Holiday Inn Express. While the Holiday Inn Express and Suites-South Portland IS a newer hotel, it is still a poorly updated hotel from another chain, with the lower-end furniture and decor that one associates with that chain. Though our suite was clean and well maintained by the housekeeping staff, my family and I were sorely disappointed with the layout, amenities, and decor of our suite, which lacked a kitchen table and chairs for us to use, which had an embarrassingly cheap-looking and poorly functioning "kitchenette" area, and whose beds were so tightly jammed into the bedroom area that there was little room to move around or between the beds. The bathroom sink with its ridiculously small counter was also separate from the shower and toilet, which made it impossible to dress and prepare for the day with any privacy.

The way we were treated by the hotel staff when we brought our concerns about our room to them upon arriving was the most offensive part of our stay, however. Instead of making any attempt to remedy our disappointment with our suite, we were told by a clearly indifferent senior manager that the layout and furnishing of our room was "a decision made at the corporate level," and from that point on, we were completely ignored by him and his staff, who pointedly looked away every time they saw us, rather than greeting us or wishing us well as we were coming and going from the hotel throughout our four-night stay.

It goes without saying that our perceptions of IHG hotels have taken a real hit thanks to our experiences at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites-South Portland and the other IHG properties we stayed at this past month, only two of which came close to meeting the standards we have come to...

Have stayed at this hotel many times with minimal issues. This time was horrible. We lost power so wanted to make a reservation. I called the front desk and they put me thru to reservations even though I have made reservations before by calling the front desk. When I finally got a reservation agent, he barely spoke english and kept muting the phone. There was ALOT of background noise so not sure where he was or what he was doing. I finally hung up and made a reservation online. I had called to have the feather pillows removed from the room as I always do and was told they would remove them once we arrived. Ok so apparently they didnt need to allow the room to air out before we arrived. (I have life threatening allergy to feathers) we get to the room as the guy was removing 2 pillows and I asked if he got them all because there is usually at least 4 in the room. He assured me yes. Upon checking the pillows myself, I found 2 more feather pillows which I promptly removed from the room. No excuse for not taking my allergy serious. Within minutes of checking into the room a dog started barking in the room next to ours. Housekeeping and another employee were there and heard it and said they would call for me but suggested it would be better if I called the front desk, which I did. That took care of the issue for a little while. All night the dog barked off and on, the people were fighting, people on the floor kept slamming door all thru the night. Needless to say we probably only got about 2 hrs of sleep that night. Thankfully breakfast was good and the coffee was hot. Most of the time the front desk people are great and will go out of their way to make you happy. This visit I feel like they didn’t want to be bothered. This is our go to hotel. Maybe it’s time we found another hotel to stay at. Very...