Holiday Inn Express Mystic - Groton Area by IHG — Hotel in Stonington

I stayed here for almost 3 weeks for work. The location is great, and on my off time I definitely felt at ease and like I was on vacation rather than a work trip. This hotel is across the street from Olde Mistick Village, a shopping center with a historic theme, places to eat, and in general a nice place to walk around if you're bored. I also walked into downtown Mystic almost every day. It's a mile or so walk, but a nice walk if the weather is good. Behind the hotel is a nature center with an extensive trail network that is not really advertised anywhere, I just stumbled upon it. The Mystic Aquarium and Seaport Village/Museum are both within easy walking distance.

Other than location, the other high point is the breakfast. Every day they had either omelets (cheese or plain) or scrambled eggs, and either bacon or pork sausage. They also had turkey sausage every day, which I eat and probably ate my body weight in while I was there. They also had bagels/breads/muffins/cinnamon rolls, pancakes, and cereal and other cold stuff. The breakfast staff was on point. The breakfast bar was never out of anything, even on busier days. Coffee and tea are always available.

Other amenities are pretty basic, but get the job done. The pool is fairly small but decent, there's a hot tub, and an outdoor patio area but you have to go through the pool room to get there. The exercise room is small and basic, but has the essentials. It has a bike, treadmill and elliptical, as well as dumbbells. There is also a scale, which is a nice touch and often forgotten (or maybe intentionally avoided) in hotels. Everything was clean. Overall atmosphere of the hotel was laid back, casual and relaxing. Didn't encounter any excessive noise or other rowdiness there, it was a lot of families and was very peaceful overall.

Staff overall was good, with the main front desk guy (failed to get his name) and the breakfast staff being the highlights. Other staff was okay. Room cleanliness and hotel cleanliness overall was good.

The only minor issue I had in my lengthy stay was a shortage of towels/washcloths. They weren't replaced in the room at times, especially the washcloths. And on one occasion the lady at the desk couldn't provide any (or likely didn't want to walk back to the housekeeping area like the other guy did). And there were no towels in the gym the whole time I was there, despite being a rack for them. And you couldn't take towels from the pool area. Not sure what's with the lack of towels, seems like an easy fix unless there's an issue with people stealing hotel towels.

Added bonus, your room key will get you 10% off at the Mexican restaurant next door.

Overall I'd definitely recommend this hotel if you're staying in Mystic and need something nice, clean and with decent amenities but nothing too extravagant. Solid middle of the road hotel, good for families, especially if you take advantage of...

Just stayed here last night with our family of 4, 2 queen standard room. It was $250 per night (we are IHG members). We stayed here for a visit to the seaport and other local stops. My two boys wanted to swim first (always the highlight of a hotel stay) and found cold water despite the website saying heated- the only thing that's heated is the air. While I was looking forward to the hot tub, which I had confirmed via the IHG app the night before that the hot tub was functional- found that it had been built over and did not exist (pic). There were 4 chairs in the entire pool room.

Don't try to charge all the things that need charging, because out of 8 plugs in the room only 3 worked. They are loose or not working at all. Believe the reviews, its legit. Thank goodness I brought a charger so that I could charge my phone and my child's iPad while the other members of my family plugged in.

The real fun started at 3 AM, as I woke to a bright light in my face which was coming from the parking lot (our room faced the front entrance, 1st floor - room 128). The room darkening shade had pulled away in the left upper corner, so I moved to the bottom half of the bed to try to stay out of the light. By 5 AM half of the shade had pulled out, basking the room in light. I went out to the desk, and tried to troubleshoot how to be able to secure it so that I could sleep- the front desk gave me packing tape to try to secure it. The receptionist made sure to let me know I had to return it right away. So, while working around my two sleeping children and husband, I tried to tape it to the wall and the other window shade. By 6 the whole shade had fallen off. Sleep was not happening, and additionally there was no privacy, as anyone walking by could just look right into the room (pics).

The cleanliness was questionable. Surface clean, sorta. You could see the mop marks that left corners dirty. Tissue box not full (we used the last three in the solo box in the bathroom). Beds were fine. Carpet has clearly seen better days. Toilet paper is see through thin. The toilet handle to flush wouldn't operate fully unless the tank was lifted a bit.

Breakfast was pretty bad. It sounds good bc it touts hot breakfast, but everything was pretty poor. The orange juice clearly was diluted with water. The only thing that we found edible were the pancakes. Kids appreciated the chocolate milk.

At check out, I explained everything to the front receptionist Diana, and was told that the manager would call me. She seemed to be aware of my 5 AM visit to the front desk. Still waiting on the call from the manager.

I'll never stay here again. I would not recommend. I get that its budget friendly, but being given packing tape to try to fix the window shade issue was a little much. I have another upcoming stay at another IHG property in 2 weeks and now I'm...

I've been staying at this location since 1999, but hadn't stayed post-COVID. You expect certain basic amenities when staying with HI. No recognition as IHG member. Notice many amenities and accommodations were no longer provided:

Starting at check in. The front desk loudly stated "Oh you're one of the ones that did digital check-in" then proceeded to loudly announce our room number

Had a non-functioning iron that wouldn't stay on. requested a new one and he said, I'll grab one from another room, then when we traded out irons, stated they'd never seen that style before

Safe's had been disabled

Bathmat was very thin and had holes. Come to find out they used generic towels to include Amazon Basics

A generic shampoo, conditioner and bodywash was placed in the J.S. Watkins container

No bodylotion provided. In fact when I inquired about it, the front desk said they. had their own personal lotion, that could be placed in a cup. Dove bar soap

No cinnamon rolls on breakfast. They said hadn't had in months.

Very limited breakfast choice - 3 cereals, pkg muffins, bread for toast, scrambled eggs, pork and turkey sausage patties, yogurt and 2% milk. No danishes, bagels, English muffins or hardboiled eggs. The front desk was responsible to stock breakfast. Chose this location for its great breakfasts. Great way to start the day!

Hairdryer was full of lint, which I had to clean out.

One bed only had 3 pillows versus 4. Did ask for another

Coffee bar area not properly stocked. Only 2 plastic cups provided. Did request more

No lid on ice bucket. Just a large covered cardboard

tube with with a plastic bucket in it

Silver members allowed 2PM checkout. Front desk only allowed till Noon, as they needed time to prepare rooms. Found the cleaning staff laughing & hanging out in next door room and cleaning cart was blocking our room. First time ever being denied a later checkout.

Went to use Keurig on-last day and discovered the cartridge holder was missing

Garbage can liners were too short for cans

No desk lighting, so very dark in bed area

Ice machine turned off, except for one floor

Photos of the rooms showed woodlike flooring. Ours was carpeted

The lobby or breakfast are was never busy. Tried to grab coffee at 9AM on a weekend and already out

The room didn't feel particularly fresh when we arrived. Look like they really cut back on amenities for the price point. I was very...