Holiday Inn Express & Suites Stevens Point by IHG — Hotel in Stevens Point

TL;DR: Breakfast was good, staff was very nice, and room was clean, but I still won't be going back.

My Father and I were traveling from Minnesota to the Oshkosh Air Show and Steven's Point was a nice stopping point after about 6 hours of traveling (which we planned for ahead of time). The problems with the Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Steven's Point started as soon as we checked in:

We had reserved a room with two queen beds, which was initially confirmed. They "upgraded" us to a Suite with one King bed and a pull out sofa bed, without making sure it would work for us. Spoiler: it didn't. My father and I get along very well, but we don't share a bed (we both move around too much, he has a CPAP machine, etc). So this left me with a pull out sofa which was not ideal.. .more on that later. Unfortunately they were fully-booked so they couldn't move us to any other rooms so that left me with the floor, or the pull-out. I chose incorrectly with the pull-out bed.

We each had our own television, which was great, if only the cable box on my TV actually would have worked. I went downstairs to ask about getting it fixed since we still had a few hours before going to sleep, only to be told that they don't actually have maintenance staff on site and it would be awhile before the one working at the regular Holiday Inn nearby would be able to stop by. Guess that meant we really only had one TV...

Speaking of maintenance, the fan for the air conditioner in the room just stopped working during the middle of the night; despite being set to "on all the time", it in fact, did the opposite: on none of the time. I'd go ask for help from maintenance but at that point they likely wouldn't have arrived until the following Tuesday for all I know.

My Father and I both opted to take a shower the next day before heading to the Airshow, only to learn that the Housekeeping staff didn't fill the bodywash container leaving only the "dries out your skin worse than a desert" bar of soap to use. So that was unpleasant .

Lastly, the pull out bed... it is not possible for me to overstate how terrible this bed was. Firstly, there were no extra pillows meaning I had to steal a couple from my father's bed, no big deal but... really? Secondly, there were also no extra covers, (again: really?) and unfortunately he didn't have any of those to spare which meant I got to sleep in my clothing so as not to be too cold. But oh, it gets better. The pull out mattress is less a mattress and more a collection of stuffing divided by multiple metal bars perfectly positioned to drill into your back no matter how you try to sleep. Throughout the night I got less than 3 hours of sleep, spending most of the night trying to find a way to lay that wasn't absolutely terrible (and failed). My back hurt for the better part of the next week and even now, weeks later, is still not 100%.

Overall the Holiday Inn Express & Suites at Stevens Point completely failed to do all of the really important things well: While the room was clean it wasn't properly readied for the next occupants and clearly the devices weren't tested for basic functionality. The furniture was obviously chosen for its looks and not for it's functionality; it was clear no one sat on the couch or the pull out bed, but at least they LOOKED nice right? No maintenance staff on-hand, are you serious? If we wanted a King bed and a suite we would have asked for it; in customer service making assumptions is a gamble that should be avoided.

For the cost of the night, this experience was completely...

As a valued member, I cashed in my hard earned points to stay at the Holiday Inn Express in Stevens Point when I was there for a funeral. There are many choices in SP, but we chose the Express because of my experiences with it in the past. Unfortunately, this trip did NOT meet my expectations.

First, our toilet was plugged in the room we were assigned. Thankfully, the helpful night staff person transferred our room immediately. We were put in a clean room right next to the elevators, which provided a plethora of noises to keep us awake until late hours of the evening. When we checked in, she told us we had our choice of rooms - so I'm not sure why we got put (out of the whole hotel) right next to the elevators.

At promptly 6:45 in the morning, we were awakened to the very disturbing sound of rocks being heaved up onto scaffolding, and then at 7:00am, the even better noise of rocks being cut. The hotel is redoing the front entrance, and they were out doing stone work at this early hour on a Saturday. We were really looking forward to sleeping in a little bit (especially with the time change) but were wide awake due to work right outside our window.

The noisy stone work continued as we got ready. I will say, this hotel had a very clean room, clean bathroom, and HOT showers! We headed downstairs at 9:00am - 30 minutes before breakfast was supposed to close. We always choose HI Express because of their great breakfast, but once again, this hotel was the exception.

There was nothing hot left to eat except one cinnamon bun. There wasn't even any coffee! We waited 10 minutes then went and asked the front desk associate if breakfast was being refilled. She was very helpful in tracking down the breakfast associate who took her time filling breakfast in. She brought out more cinnamon rolls (delicious), decaf coffee, and 6 pieces of bacon. By this time, about 12 people were waiting for breakfast. After they took their turn in line, the food was out again, and we did not get the opportunity to get hot coffee or any hot breakfast, so we ended up leaving.

Normally, I always look for the HI Express' wherever I am staying, but I cannot say I will be coming back to this one. All the staff was polite and helpful, but this night was anything...

First, let me say I have had wonderful experiences all the previous times I have stayed at this hotel. I have stayed at least 25-30 nights in the last 4 years and had intended on staying there in the future.

In particular, I want to mention how nice the breakfast lady is. She works hard and is very friendly. The hotel is clean and very comfortable.

So, two concerns with my stay this time.

1. I was staying for work and had a reservation for 4 nights. Due to the nature of my job with the State, sometimes my schedule can change. I stayed three nights and then went to check out at 7:30am the day of the 4th night (so I was checking out 1 day earlier than my reservation due to a work schedule change). The front desk lady checked me out and added a $50 charge for checking out early. This was a complete shock to me. I asked her about it and said it was their policy and showed me where I signed acknowledging the potential fee (it is in the fine print on the check in sheet).

I explained how work schedules can change and her response was "we cannot help that." She was polite, but did not show any kind of empathy. I knew the state would not pay that fee so I had to personally pay it.

Does this seem reasonable? Even if it is hotel policy, staff should be able to use discretion. As you can tell, I have been very loyal to IHG and also to this hotel. This is not how you treat loyal guests.

I travel weekly for work and stay at IHG hotels all over the state. Unfortunately with work changes, sometimes I check out earlier than expected and not once have I been charged a fee for early check out until this time. It seems like a bad policy when you have business travelers.

2. I turned down housekeeping as part of the green program. So I had that card on the room door and also the room privacy tag. On two days while I was gone, someone was in my bathroom and I am not sure why (it was not for cleaning the room). I knew this because on one day the bath mat was gone and bathroom fan was on. On the next day there was tissue paper with hair in my bathroom garbage. It very well could have been maintenance entering to clean drains or something like that, but I'm not sure and was never notified. Lack of privacy or security...