Holiday Inn Express Philadelphia Airport by IHG — Hotel in Tinicum Township

Unprofessional. Unclean rooms. Don’t come here. Run away.

My dad and I travelled all the way from Atlanta for a wedding. 12 hour drive. We had found this hotel based on location and availability! Great! But going in the hotel should have been a warning to find somewhere else. I’ve worked in the hospitality business before and the red flags were there. We’re here for two nights. I check in with the attendant. The worse attitude. He has no sense of hospitality and tried to rush me through check in. Dude’s on his phone as at the desk. I ask simply for a connecting room. He tells me the rate for the stay which I was like ok. Same price for both nights. Wrong.

So me and dad go unpack and with no hesitation, we settle. My dad is in an accessible king and I stay in a double since those are the rooms with connecting rooms. Just to make sure my dad is ok since he’s in his late 60s and I want him to be safe. As I’m turning in for the night, my worse nightmare entails. I have katsaridaphobia or a fear of roaches. I never experienced them in a hotel until that day. I travel a lot. It crawled out of the TV dresser and I freaked. I had ran out my room to tell the front desk. Attendant was leaving out the door. I asked him if the night audit person was here and he said no. So I tell him, there’s a roach that crawled out my dresser. I asked if someone will spray it for me. He refuses and says the chemicals he uses were too much for the guests and that people would have to evacuate. So I asked to be moved to a different room close to my dad. He said there were no available rooms and just walked out the door. Phone still in hand.

I see this bug walking in the dresser and I’m cowering. So I had to face my fear and beat the mess out the bug with my flip flop and disinfectant I brought from home. But this was only the first night.

Day 2: headed to my sisters wedding down town, we decided to eat the free breakfast. No problems. But I had forgotten my toothbrush at home. So I went to the front desk and ask him for a water bottle and a toothbrush since there isn’t a market at this place. So I’m just standing there as he is talking to what I assume a housekeeper or kitchen staff as she’s eating in front of the desk. They’re chatting & laughing. When I arrive for my request, the housekeeper went back to work and the attendant was no longer smiling. Like I was bothering him. He tells me, “We have water at the breakfast area.” I was confused because there wasn’t any water bottles. So I walk away. Well he yells for me if I wanted lukewarm or cold water. So I tell him lukewarm is fine to retrieve it. I tell him thank you and go take my dad and I’s breakfast upstairs. But no toothbrush.

So I went to go the front desk and apologized, “hey, sorry, I think I didn’t get a toothbrush.” He snickers, with his face buried in the computer and said, “I did.” I had to deny the claim because I didn’t remember getting one in my hand. He then reluctantly goes to the drawer, “I definitely gave you one but here you go.” He hands me two and goes back to it. I’m little irritated. He didn’t have to be snobby because of a toothbrush. Just give the guest another toothbrush if they forgot. Mistakes happen.

This is where everything gets hella weird. Checkout is at 12pm. Granted, I grab breakfast for my dad and I at about 8:45am. We’re chatting it up in his room as I help him pack. I told him I’ll be right back as I go finish packing my stuff. Well, I was terrified when I heard my dad yell my name. I’m thinking he hurt himself. I run to him to see his door ajar. We had the latches on the door but it was open as if someone was trying to enter. Then I walk to my room and my door is ajar. The housekeeper tried to enter our room as the do not disturb sign was on our handles. She apologized and left.

We quickly left and didn’t want to stay a minute longer. So I grab the receipt. Our room rates were not the same. The second night rate was over $80 as mentioned at check in so our stay was approx. $900 for two rooms combined. Confused, we left. We’ll...

My ratings and opinions are based on my expectations for a mid-priced Holiday Inn Express near an airport - based on that expectation, this hotel is a perfectly adequate option, but it's no Intercontinental for sure. It is further from the airport than I had expected it would be, and was quoted at least 35.00 by an Uber driver, even more if he had to stop somewhere for me to pick up dinner after a late flight. Instead, I called the hotel's free shuttle, and they were there to pick me up within about 15 minutes - problem solved. I was the only passenger in the shuttle, and when I asked the driver Sanjay if there was anywhere I could pick up something near the hotel, he said no but he stopped at a convenience store for me. That was above-and-beyond service and I tipped him accordingly. The check in staff (his name starts with P) was quick and efficient. When I asked about checkout, he proactively offered late checkout because I wasn't sure of the time I'd be picked up the next day. The hotel was quiet and I didn't see any other guests that night. The carpets in the hallways were indeed tired as I had read in the reviews before this stay. Overall I would say the hotel is more dated than other Holiday Inn Expresses I've stayed at previously, but it was perfectly adequate for my needs of a place to sleep after a late flight. The room was similarly dated, but again perfectly functional. It was clean, and I could tell it was cleaned recently - I did not like the smell of whatever cleaning products they use, however. Though outwardly the room appeared clean, there was nothing indicating how the room had been disinfected, really only a concern in these times of the pandemic. I ended up wiping down most touch points with my own wipes because of this uncertainty - leaving some single use wipes similar to what they give on United flights would have been a nice touch. While I understand that breakfast has been cut back given the pandemic, I have to say that the available 'to go' options were really poor. Small containers of orange juice and milk, boxes of cereal, yogurt, packets of envelope, wrapped bagels and cinnamon buns (and not the really good ones Holiday Inn Express usually has). There was some jelly, but not even any butter or cream cheese for the bagels. I suggest they could have better to go options - something like breakfast sandwiches that could be microwaved in the room, or even just the cream cheese that was lacking for bagels would have made the offerings more fulfilling. The hotel is right on the Delaware River and I spent some time just looking at it from the patio out back that night and the next morning while waiting to be picked up. So, overall this was not the nicest Holiday Inn Express I've ever stayed in, and it is a little dated. But the staff was perfectly efficient and accommodating in my interactions with them. For what it is, a mid-priced hotel near the airport, I'd say it is perfectly serviceable for that purpose, and I would not hesitate to recommend or stay there again - just go in with appropriate expectations. I look forward to the normal HIE breakfast resuming, but in the meanwhile you might want to bring some snacks if you expect a more substantive meal in the morning, unless they decide to up their game in that department in...

Count the numerous 1 STAR reviews this hotel has!! Which I wish I had done. Close to PHL airport is the bait!! Don't be fooled!! Better hotel recommendation follows in this review. You've been warned..many times!

DO NOT STAY AT THIS HOTEL if you plan to depend on the hotel shuttle. I HIGHLY recommend booking the Doubletree, NOT the Holiday Inn, 101 Taylor Ave, Essington, PA.!!! The Doubletree hotel shuttle passed by us THREE times during the ONE HOUR and ten minutes we waited for the Holiday Inn shuttle. And, DOUBLETREE has warm cookies awaiting your arrival!! I was told the Holiday Inn airport shuttle runs every 30 minutes. Absolutely NOT TRUE!! THEN AFTER I finally GAVE UP waiting for the shuttle, I walked all the way to where Uber picks up, and the Holiday Inn shuttle driver finally shows up... 1 hr 10 minutes later. The guy at the hotel counter said, "I really don't know what happened." The shuttle driver said that he never received the call to pick me up. No one assumes responsibility! What happened to someone taking the initiative to fix a problem? My initial call for the shuttle pick up was at 6:51 p.m. I was finally delivered to the hotel at 8:39 p.m. The people who work at the hotel don't care. It's not their business! Franchise owners only care when people have grown dis-satisfied for so long that it effects the bottom line. Very disappointed that Holiday Inn allows franchise owners to give such poor customer service. It's too bad the Kemmon Wilson family is so far removed from what they started. No one did anything to try to make this BAD experience, better. Never had this experience at H.I. Definitely will never stay here again and might just start staying with...