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

I am usually at an IHG motel twice a month every month of the year. This is important because I have a lot of history to use in comparison for my review.

This motel, possibly just my room, is not qualified to hold the IHG status. I do find it difficult to think I have the one single bad room. I also question the other reviews as they simply do not fit my experience.

CHECK IN etc.: The entire visit I felt the people behind the desk were not in the correct position, they were unprofessional and unkempt. I expect a professional person that offers respect and friendliness. Don't treat me like I'm buying a milkshake and you'll never see me again. The Check In experience was less than stellar and when I wanted to discuss why my room wasn't cleaned the next day (my fault) and that I'd just like to have my coffee refilled I had to wait for the desk clerk to finish entering a list into the computer. Also, while I was recognized as an IHG member there was no thank you, no mention of points and no mention of a welcome amenity.

SAFETY: The safety lock screws on the door were stripped out so the lock was worthless. If you pushed the screws back in they would just fall out when the door was closed. Fortunately the deadbolt worked and I was on the second floor.

BUSINESS USE: I can't recall the title of my room, something like Business Stay or Executive Room. I chose this room specifically because of the title as I knew I'd have a lot of "office time" in my room. Bad choice, see the pictures if they actually post them. The office chair sat at an angle rendering it useless. Additionally the right arm had 6" of movement back and forth. The leather on the armrests and head rest was warn off and dirty. I ended up using the table chair instead. In order to plug in my computer near the desk I had to move the desk out to get at a plug in, not a big deal but combined with everything else just another irritation.

RECAP: The office chair was junk, there was black mold on the shower curtain, the areas around the trashcans had splash marks from things being tossed into the can, the lock was broke and the office staff were not well suited for this type of work.

Yes I could have asked to have these things fixed or asked for another room. Been there before with other substandard locations, usually just treated like I'm a jerk so let it go, it's not worth the effort when it's just me. If I had the wife and kids along I'd have found...

A last minute stay required rooms for our grieving family. Three adults required a room for three nights. The only accommodations available were two separate rooms for our immediate family. Unfortunately the only two IHG hotels within a fifty mile radius could not satisfy this one request. The IHG brands are our families only choice for hotels, but this privately owned would not accommodate... the only rooms within our budget were located on separate floors, and the rooms available were more costly; no government or funeral rate available. The hotel was even 30 minutes out of the way for all Funeral arrangement planning. This area has very limited options for hotels. What was most concerning was not that the hotel did not have rooms available to suit our familiy's needs at this concurrently hard time; it was that the front desk employee was only concerned with the paperwork being completed. Our family are IHG reward members for quite sometime and this was not even considered during in processing. The front desk staff were rude, not compassionate, nor did they try or even offer to find alternative means to accommodate. The usual hotel for all our family stays throughout the years of traveling to this vicinity is in Sylacauga, but unfortunately with the unplanned last minute arrangements Talladega was our only option.

The other hotel tried to find a way to accommodate, but no options were available for a weeks stay.

The front desk staff would hold on a conversation amongst themselves not work related, and left the hotel patrons standing at the front desk waiting to be acknowledged. Once acknowledgement was offered, the patrons questions and concerns were dismissed promptly.

All three ice machines were broke, the clothes dryer took 2 hours to dry one small load consisting of two days of clothing for one person.

The breakfast was also nothing like any other IHG stay. Each morning one portion of the meal was never available, nor would the staff make additional portions for all the hotel patrons. (Eggs, meat product, and coffee) Many patrons decided to opt out and purchase breakfast else where. Luckily restaurants were close.

On the other hand the cleaning staff were excellent. The best of any other stays!!! Very kind and understanding; provided additional coffee condiments and cups to make within our rooms.

Very dissatisfied, and disappointed in the Talladega Holiday Inn!! Our Family will never stay at this...

After a long travel day I checked into the hotel and went up to my room. After dropping off all my luggage and groceries I turn on the light by the bed and saw a roach come out from underneath the phone. I immediately called downstairs to the desk and told them that I need to change rooms because of the roach and was told to come back downstairs. I gathered my belongings went back downstairs to the desk and spoke to the deskperson who was very apologetic and changed my room. When I got to the second room I turned on the lights dropped my luggage and my groceries again and started to inspect for insects to which I found none. I then collapsed on the bed to get some sleep. When I got up to go to the bathroom I noticed a trail of ants coming from the bathtub drain going the length of the bathtub and going through a crack in the wall at the bottom of the tub. At that point I was too tired to go downstairs and change rooms again and resigned myself to tell the desk about the issue in the morning. I spoke to the desk person in the morning Who apologized but also said there was nothing that they can do about the ants and it happens every hotel. I found this comment ridiculous. I requested to be compensated for the night stay which was granted and I was asked if I was going to be staying the second night. I told the desk person that I was enroute to a meeting and I’ll be gone all day and I would like to either have the room fumigated and or be switched to another room or I would have to check out if that could not happen. I was told that everything will be fine when I come back. When I got in later that night I went to my same room and saw no ants in the tub. I then went to sleep. At approximately 1 in the morning I got up to go to the bathroom and the ants were back in the bathtub. At that point I just gave up knowing that I was going to leave the hotel in the morning not to come back. I stayed in the Holiday Inn because I thought it was cleaner than the hotel down the road but I was disgusted and disappointed that it was not. I didn’t even go downstairs to the desk to complain, I just wanted to get out of there and I would make my...