Holiday Inn Express & Suites Sturbridge by IHG — Hotel in Sturbridge

This hotel seems to be either fairly new or recently renovated which was great! It’s also resides in a pretty central location of the town which was nice. That being said though, I was pretty disappointed with my experience and service. Had called the desk immediately after booking the reservation to request 2 beds of any sort in the room (I had booked the room using a special rate where you can’t select a specific room type, it was also a set preference in my IHG profile. While I know it’s not guaranteed, I’ve never not had that preference met before) person on the phone made it seem that it would be no issue at all to accommodate. Upon arrival, I was asked to provide ID and the card on file which I happily obliged of course. The front desk representative informed me that my card was “locked” and that I would need to either unlock it or provide an alternative payment method. The strange thing about that was it seemed as if he told me this without trying to run the card. I told him i hadn’t locked the card and I had just recently used it for gas before arriving to the hotel. He explained that “it’s locked and sometimes this happens when the card is used out of state.” If the transaction had raised a red flag with my bank, they would have sent me a text notifying me that an attempt was made to use my card, and asking if it was me or not. I never received such text. Wasn’t the end of the world, just found it strange. When I got to the room, I was pretty disappointed to see that it was just a single king. I had gone back to the desk immediately to see if an alternative room could be provided, but was told they were sold out and they couldn’t change rooms. Again, may not seem like the end of the world, but it was certainly disappointing especially after driving 13+ hours from Detroit. I had asked if they could provide a roll away bed instead, and the gentleman at the desk without hesitation said yes and that he’ll bring it to my room. I was actually feeling satisfied after hearing that, and felt the issue was resolved. I went back to my room anticipating the arrival of the roll away bed, but then realized I had forgotten something in my vehicle. As I was walking through the lobby to go to my car, the gentleman at the desk had mentioned “oh I forgot to mention but it is $20 for the rollaway.” This tarnished the satisfied feeling I was just experiencing immediately truthfully. I had told him I no longer wanted the bed (not paying for something that realistically should have been met as it’s been a longtime preference that was made to seem like it would be no problem to accommodate) not to sound egotistical, but im a longtime loyal IHG member, and it was certainly frustrating to not have the request met and no real attempt to try and rectify and resolve the issue. I used to be a front desk rep at a HI express once upon a time, and there was never a time we didn’t rectify the issue when we weren’t able to meet a clients preferences (ie: waiving the fee for a roll away bed rather than still charging them for a roll away bed when we weren’t able to accommodate a 2 bed preference.) the “icing on the cake” was when I went to shower after my long day of driving, only to be greeted by a significant amount of mold on the tile wall in the shower…. That’s just plain unacceptable. If I ever find myself in this area again, I will be booking a...

We have two go-to hotel changes as we travel frequently, and Holiday Inn Express is one of them. Although we've experienced a couple of less-than-stellar HIE stays within the past year, our recent stay at the Sturbridge location was just short of phenominal.||Let me explain the pluses:||1. Hotel staff was warm and friendly. ||2. The location was absolutely perfect for our visit to the Brimfield Antique Show. Our three-day adventure at Brimfield was something we've had on our bucket list, but finding this hotel was absolutely luck of the draw I had no idea how close were to Brimfield and how convenient staying at this HIE would be.||3. Our bedding was comfortable, and the layout of the room was spacious and wonderful. ||Let me explain the less-than-pluses||1. Like many other guests, we were pulling a small trailer for Brimfield purchases. Parking was a little dicey. Although several parking spaces involved two spaces so someone could drive through one spot but enter the spot in front of it so the trailer would occupy one spot and the car could occupy the front spot, many more parking spots had little curbs (with nicely manicured flowers and bushes) in front of them, so driving through one to occupy two spots was impossible. This caused a lot of stress. We actually left Brimfield early each day to try to get one of the needed facing parking space set-ups. We still ended up parking closer to Panera than the hotel, and we didn't dare go back out for dinner. We ended up using DoorDash and ordering pizza and could not go out to explore the town. We basically were stuck in the hotel after 3 p.m. each day. Although I would not complain about the parking situation, I think this particular HIE needs to be aware and accommodate their guests. Brimfield is known for this huge show. Management / Ownership should expect vehicles with these small trailers.||2. The pool was closed. I hope this just happened and that we checked in just as the problem happened. Let's face it, being out in 90 degree weather with 90% humidity plus being stuck at the hotel due to the parking situation would have been a little more bearable with time spent in the pool. We purposely packed our swim suits, and we're both 58-62 year olds so that's not something we automatically back in our vacation bags unless going to a beach site.||3. The AC was out in the hallway and had been for a couple of weeks, according to a guest who had been staying there (maybe part of a construction crew working in the area). It was so incredible muggy outside, so hallway AC would have been nice.||I know I've written quite a bit about the negatives. Honestly, we had a great stay at this HIE and intend to book here when we visit Brimfield in the future. Considering how wonderful this hotel is, I want management to know about these details so they can address them. ||Thank you for a wonderful stay...

My son is disabled. I reviewed the hotels website and they showed a room with two queen beds and a roll in shower. He requires a roll in due to his inability to walk. I called the night before the stay and was told our room would be ready and they would provide a shower chair. However, when I checked in with Mackenzie she first gave me a room with two queens and a bathtub. My son can't lift his legs. I reminded her that my reservation was for a roll in shower. She then put us in a room with a king (we had three people in our party) and a roll in shower. I then showed her my reservation for two queen beds and a roll in shower and she told me that this room did not exist in their hotel. I expressed my confusion that I was able to reserve the room with 2 beds and roll in shower. She said "I don't know what to tell you". Since my son, husband and I were in town to take my son to see his doctor's at UMASS in Worcester we were stuck. The room was reserved by me with my credit card but a third party contacted the hotel on our behalf and gave their credit card information for payment. Later our first night I notified the hotel they had charged our credit card even though they spoke with the third party. I called down to the front desk and she said it would be fixed. We stayed for days and at check out the attendant told us everything was fine and gave us a receipt. A couple of hours later we were at Logan airport getting ready to fly home. The woman with the hotel explained that there was a problem with the credit card and if we didn't take care of it right away they would alert the authorities. I was able to contact the third party, as were they since they were given their contact information, and got it taken care of. We will NEVER stay here again. Beware, even if you reserve a certain room it may not really exist in the hotel and they will do nothing to correct...