Holiday Inn Express & Suites West Coxsackie by IHG — Hotel in Town of New Baltimore

Living on Long Island my wife came home wanting to take off and do some leaf peeping and maybe a hike. We looked for somewhere in the Northern Catskills because of peak leaves and came across this Holiday Inn Express. The location was great and the price was right. It had a swimming pool, and hot tub, bonus. Took my 9 year old and wife and off we went. It was supposed to be a two hour drive without traffic but we are in Long Island having to traverse NYC. It bacame a 5 hour trip, isn't traffic grand. Not the hotels fault. As far as our stay it was awesome and my daughter loved the jacuzzi. The pool was a bit cold and my wife and I didn't even bother after sticking our big toe in. Our daugter is a bit more adventurous and jumped in. That was our first stop when we got at the hotel. Then shower, and find a spot to eat which was a restaurant called pegasus. (Not on the list of recommended restaurants, we didn't look to see they had a list. Make sure you pick up that list, enough said) Now, this hotels secret bonus, drum roll please!!!! Just about 5 miles or so, maybe a 10 minute car ride is a real, drive-in movie!!!!! Oh, yeah folks, being of that generation and talking about drive-ins to my daughter and how much I loved them when I was my daughter's age. Well, I finally got to take her to see two movies for the price of one at a drive-in and she loved it. I had more fun watching her enjoy everything about it. Bring chairs and blankets!!! How great was that!!!! When we got back I found out our floor was rented to a wedding party and at 11:00 the hallways were a buzzing and loud. What can you say! The next day check out was 11, which was really nice. Breakfast was even nicer, we expected bagels, toast, cereal and maybe some fruit. Wrong!!! We had scrambled eggs, cheese omelet, bacon, sausage patties, and pancakes along with the other stuff we knew they would have. Not gourmet of course but tasty none-the-less. It was a great and pleasant surprise because we were going hiking at Kaaterskill falls in the catskills and we needed that energy boost. We left full and satisfied!!! Thanks again Holiday Inn Express, we'll be back.

Daniel,...

I wrote this to the CEO of IHG North America....

Dear Mr Bulley-

I am writing to you due to the inattention of the hotel and it's manager and owner as well as the inattention of people I have reached out to at IHG.

My wife and I booked a room for one night at the Holiday Inn Express in West Coxsackie NY for June 1, 2024. We were planning a nice getaway along with some business for her in Hudson NY. I have been an IHG Club member since 2003 and almost always stay at an IHG property.

Check in time was a little after 3 PM. We drove up from White Plains NY which is about a little less than two hours from the hotel. We were looking forward to resting, cleaning up and heading to meet with an art gallery owner to show my wife's work.

When we arrived there were old couches, chairs, carpeting, and other interior furnishings strewn over the parking lot. There was also a large wedding party boarding a bus.

When we arrived at the front desk we were told our room was not ready and to be patient. OK, this happens. But then about 30 minutes passed and we were told it would be another 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes came and went and I inquired again and was told another 15 minutes. This happened until almost 5 PM when the room was finally ready.

In the ensuing time waiting for the room to be ready I asked to speak with the manager. To the best of my knowledge, her name is Jessica. Jessica was not working that day. In fact I believe they had only 3 staff members on that day. I also called IHG Club Rewards and filed a complaint. They never got back to me until I had to call again several weeks later.

When we did finally get to the room almost two hours after we arrived we noticed that it was not fully cleaned. Old food was still in the mini-fridge. But that was least of the problems.

Due to the late check in and having wanted to rest up, as well as freshen up, we were not able to meet with the art gallery owner. My wife lost a chance to have her art shown as well as to sell her paintings. Not only that. That front desk was flippant, while a short gentleman with a beard said sarcastically, "Too bad."

To be...

First, I’ve stayed at HI Expresses before and have been pleased at each. I selected this hotel over overs nearby bc of both those prior experiences and all languages on the ihg site about commitment to cleanliness.

Upon arrival we were greeted by two Employees - front desk and housekeeping in lobby not wearing masks. In fact, so far only one employee has been observed with a mask - half on.

Ok fine get to our room. And stay there. After takeout and we get settled, I go to chastise my son for throwing his clothes around but realize the clothes are a shirt o don’t recognize and a pair of girls/ladies panties on the shelf containing the bedding for the sofa bed my son is in/on. Needless to say the did not belong to my two sons or wife.

Then we start to question everything, hence the low comfort and relaxation score. Was the bedding Clean in that bag, the duvet looked very wrinkled like it had been stuffed back in there. We contemplated leaving or asking for another room but we were settled and a move would just increase the risk. Were already exposed to whatever else got missed in the cleaning. Later, a smear of grease or make-up eye level ion bathroom door, splotch of red on back of same door (I choose to believe it was ketchup) exacerbates the weight of the bad decision I made in selecting this place for my family.

I’m left hoping. Hoping the science of Ecolab and Cleveland Clinic heralded all over their website is good enough to make up for the lack of attention and care exercised at this location.

I am well aware of my heightened awareness. It what caused me to select this hotel over the less expensive one 1/2 mile down the road. A discount or comped night is not the purpose of this note and would do no one any good. The only thing to do is to let others know that corporate can make all the slick advertising and buzzwords to give the appearance of caring. However, it is local management that gets it done, or in this case -NOT!

If I or my family gets sick, we will never know from whence it came, but I will always look to this decision...