Holiday Inn Express & Suites Allentown Cen - Dorneyville by IHG — Hotel in South Whitehall Township

Upon writing this review, I want to state by saying that I am a previous employee, so there might be a conflict of interest here and Google might take this down, but if not, hopefully the owner sees this and sympathies with me and understands where I’m coming from. And if not, at least I told my story.

Firstly I want to say the person who interviewed me was Lizamor brown, which is the supervisor. The first day of training was very disappointing because no one has ever spoke to me how Lizamor brown spoke to me. Especially in what is supposed to be a professional setting. She would say things such as “you need to learn the system because if you don’t we’re going let you go”. She would also say things such as you must not want your job or she would say “no one is going to baby sit you, you gotta hold your own”. It was so bad to the point the other manager shamarah had to tell her to stop saying things like that to me. Keep in mind this is only my FIRST day.

I then complained to the GM Shawn about it and it seemed okay for a little while, but unfortunately Shawn the GM and the supervisor lizamor brown are very close friends so I felt as if anything I complained about didn’t matter because they were always going to take what one another said into consideration even if one of them is wrong.

Now please keep in mind I’m not speaking of Shawn’s work ethic because I always felt I could talk to her, but after the 5th day of training I couldn’t take it anymore. I could tell the supervisor Lizamore Brown was getting frustrated and annoyed with training me because I would forget certain things. Not everything, but certain things.

To continue, on my last day of training I ended up going home early due to feeling rushed and discouraged, and as soon as I left they called me 15 minutes later and said it’s not working out and fired me which I found appalling.

Here is my view point on the situation you guys stated to me the turnover rate is high and no one lasts there, but at this point you have to start looking at yourselves because I was an employee with full open availability, willing to work any shift and a team player, and you didn’t have the patience enough to work with me. You kept stating that “Dorney park was opening up and it was going to get busy” which I understood but at the same time if I forget one thing and ask a question about it I don’t get how that results into lizamor brown saying she’s not going to babysit me. You guys love saying we’re a team and we’re family but if that’s how you treat your team and family then no wonder why you can’t keep employees. You are only a team I guess when everything goes perfectly according to what you want and how you want it.

What really did it for me was on my last day I spoke to the GM Shawn about the situation and I asked her if I could go home early because I felt uncomfortable, and before I left I specifically asked Shawn “If I go home right now will I be terminated?” she said “absolutely not”. I just wanna state I only went home because the supervisor lizamor brown was genuinely making me feel incompetent and uncomfortable. After I left they called me 15 minutes later and stated they were going to let me go.

I questioned Shawn the GM about it after and she stated that her and her “team” came to that decision. Here’s my question, If you already made a decision with me and assured me my position was still secure and then you decide something else 10 minutes later with the supervisor and/ or your best friend Lizamor brown (as you both love to say) then I guess I really never had a chance. As a general manager I understand doing what’s best for the company, but was letting me go the best decision for the company or the best decision for your best friend/ supervisor Lizamor Brown ?

Basically, my experience there was horrible and the owner needs to either take a look into that or retrain his employees how to be more professional and patient. This is a hotel, it’s not McDonald’s, the turn over rate honestly should not be that high. Just do better next time Is...

The below is my email to the GM who has never responded to my emails or several phone calls. I am writing regarding our recent stay at your hotel from Friday, 8/19 to Sunday, 8/21. I originally chose this Holiday Inn because it was right across the street from Dorney Park, which was the reason for our visit to this area. Unfortunately, that may be the only pro this hotel has to offer.

Upon arriving around 4 pm to check-in, I walked in the lobby to find 3 groups waiting to check in. While the front desk attendant (Mike, I believe his name is) was doing his best to get through the process, it was obvious that a 2nd person was needed to assist. We had 2 rooms, 325 for my husband and I and 225 for our daughter and her boyfriend. When we walked into 325, it looked like no one had mopped the tile in the entrance and the bathroom nor used a vacuum on the carpet. There were spots on the tile floor and obvious debris on the carpet. After we returned to the hotel around 945 pm on Friday night, I took a shower. There was the slightest bit of hot water at the beginning, but after that, it was like the water was coming straight from a glacier. It was the COLDEST shower I have ever taken. My husband called the front desk and Mike suggested we could switch rooms. I then texted our daughter and asked her if she had hot water. She did not, which would make switching rooms not a option. I could see if there was something wrong with just our room, but if our daughter's room did not have it either, then its not just our room. We then went down to the front desk and told Mike that our daughter did not have hot water either. Mike then said he checked the main hot water boiler and it was on and working. He then said that it was probably because everyone else had just taken a shower and used all the hot water. I've never encountered a hotel being out of hot water! We tried again on Saturday morning, and while I did have some hot water, it did not last the entire shower and then my husband took a lukewarm then freezing cold shower. Saturday night and Sunday morning were more cold showers. My daughter's room did not have hot water Friday night, but did in the morning on Saturday and Sunday. One of the washcloths in our room was stained with black grease. Good thing my husband saw how disgusting it was before he used it. As a result of this experience, we will now be bringing our own towels for future hotel stays. Another issue we experienced was the TV in the room next door, which was room 224, blaring our entire stay. It wasn't a problem until our a/c unit shut off and then it was like the TV in our room was on and super loud. It was so loud, in the middle of the night on Friday, I unplugged the radio alarm clock thinking maybe that was where the sound was coming from. When we spoke to the over night desk clerk on Sunday morning about it, he checked and said no one was in that room??? We also had issues with our key cards not working as they should, as did multiple other people we spoke with. Regarding the breakfast, the food selection on Saturday morning was great! We were expecting the same thing on Sunday morning, but we were disappointed as there were not the items that were there the day before. The sausage links on Sunday morning were inedible. When we mentioned this to Aaron while checking out, he indicated that lack of training was the issue. We also found the eating area too small for the amount of people that were there. We had to step over a fan and electrical cords to get into the eating area. Also, the fabric on the booths was very stained and gross looking. The elevator seemed to be slipping, after the doors open on the 1st floor, the elevator box dropped another few inches with a loud bang. I would not recommend this...

This was the worst stay I've had with any IHG hotel, and I've stayed with IHG hotels for over 5 years now. 5 people were issued cards to enter my hotel room at various points through the night despite me leaving a do not disturb card in the key slot after a family knocked on my door soon after I settled in. I did not get any rest that night because my safety, sanity, and privacy was violated five times between midnight and 9 AM. IHG refused to take full responsibility for this matter. The manager was on vacation and this location has some serious issues (including issues with shampoo, conditioner, and body wash) that I would avoid at all costs if you are looking for a normal hotel to stay at. This hotel fails on all counts when being graded on a test of "will your customer have an average stay?". I left my information with the front desk after attempting to communicate the issue with the manager before leaving, since the manager was out on vacation. The message never made it to the manager despite the promise of the message being relayed, and instead, ten days later with absolutely no acknowledgement, I had to call IHG customer service, and then I had to call the front desk themselves and take matters into my own hands. For this reason, if you are reading this review and considering staying at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Allentown Dorneyville, please take this as a sign to stay anywhere else except for here. I will actively go out of my way to no longer stay at any IHG hotel because of the way the hotel themselves as well as IHG handled this issue and did not adequately acknowledge their failure to protect my safety, their failure to ensure I had a decent stay, and their failure to acknowledge their underlying issues and responsibility in this matter. My money is better spent at any hotel competitors and I will actively choose to avoid anything under the IHG brand...