Holiday Inn Express Union City (San Jose) by IHG — Hotel in Union City

I am writing to tell you about an unfortunate experience that my boyfriend and I recently had at your Holiday Inn Express in Union City, CA. We checked into your hotel on Thursday night, July 28 through Sunday, July 31 for a weekend trip. We originally had planned on staying at a local Airbnb nearby, but after having issues with the apartment we booked, we checked in to your hotel at 1 am Thursday looking for a relaxing alternative to our previously failed plan.

Unfortunatey, the next morning (our first morning in the hotel) we were abruptly awakened from our sleep at 7 AM by music that was blasting through one of the walls of our room. In a failed attempt to get back to sleep, we had to call the front desk to report the music. It sounded like a rock concernt next door, and the bass was thumping through the walls. The music eventually stopped, but we were not able to get back to sleep because of the disturbing noises. Also, we were traveling with our service dog (who is a diabetic alert dog), and the loud music was upsetting him enough that we had to temporarily take him out of the hotel while we waited for it to stop.

The issue did not stop that morning. The next day, Saturday, we decided to spend the day exploring nearby San Francisco. As we were exiting the hotel lobby, we informed the front desk that we would like our sheets changed and new towels put in the room. The receptionist kindly responded, telling us that would be no problem. Later that evening we arrived back at the hotel around 9 pm. When we opened our hotel room door we were sadly disappointed to see the bed was still unmaid from that morning, the dirty towels had not been replaced, and it was obvious the maids had not cleaned our room. We called down to the front desk to report the issue so we could have it fixed, and a few minutes later the receptionist came to our room. She apologized for the mishap, and explained that she did not know why the room was not cleaned. We never used our “do not disturb” sign on the door, so she couldn’t give us a reason why the room was never cleaned.

The receptionist first put queen-sized sheets on our king-sized bed. They fit incorrectly and after she left we noticed that the mattress was peeking through the fitted sheet because it was the wrong size. Furthermore, we noticed she did not change the pillow cases. The comforter was too small for the bed as well. We had to call back down and tell her that she needed to replace these sheets with the proper size (to fit the King sized bed in the room). She came back up and began changing the sheets, and at one point we had to help her with putting the proper size sheets on the bed. Never in my experience of staying at any hotel have I ever had to make my own bed. After the bed was made, she was about to leave the room and we had to remind her that we needed a top sheet for the comforter. She seemed like she was annoyed that she forgot it and had to go back downstairs to get one. She came back 10 minutes later with a fresh top sheet.

I’m writing to tell you about our negative experience at your hotel because no paying-guest should have to endure the issues that we did. Not only was our sleep disrupted our first morning there, but the feeling of not having a clean room with clean towels and fresh sheets at the end of a long day of traveling was very upsetting. As a paying guest, I expect the top quality service that your hotel advertises, but instead we were met with disruptions and issues. We left your hotel feeling unsatisfied and wishing that we would have booked a...

I stayed at this hotel for five days to visit clients in the Northern California area checking in on 1/28 and out on 2/1. I come to this area 3-4 times a year and I've found it hard to get a decent hotel in a nice location until now. Regardless of whatever cons I say below I will be staying here again just because it's in a nice, safe location and a clean comfortable hotel.

I'm a priority member with other hotel chains and just recently started staying at IHG properties and so far this one is the nicest of them all. The greatest attribute about this property is its location next to a mall which has tons of places to eat, shopping when you need it and activities to do in the evening if you feel up to it. That said the worst amenity to this property is the mall because of the lack of a turn in on the main street if you're heading north. I would say that maybe once was I heading in the correct direction to turn directly into the parking lot. Most of the time it just was easier to drive through the mall, across countless speed bumps, to get into the hotel. If you come North and make the turn for the hotel lot it's the ONE street in California that does not allow U-turns so you have to go into the mall all the way just to turn around and come back.

I reserved a King Executive online which meant I get a couch. When I checked in which was late afternoon and I got up to my room I only had a King room which was fine however cheaper in price. I called the front desk to ask about this and was told my original room was given away to somebody else (double booked??# so I mentioned that my room charges should be less but was told no they're the same price. I resolved this on check out after showing the manager my reservation and pointing out that online I can prove there is a difference in the price between rooms, a credit was issued.

The breakfast was great every day, a lot of selections and for once I'm glad it was pancakes because I'm tired of hotel waffles. They also had scrambled eggs, bacon, grits, etc. The breakfast staff was great, always cleaning, refilling and helping you if you need it.

Outside of my initial check-in problem the hotel staff was nice and helpful when I needed it. My in room iron nearly killed me twice trying to plug it in and unplug it due to exposed wires at the plug so when I brought it to the front desk I was promptly given a new one.

There is an outdoor pool in the center of the hotel which is nice and while I didn't use it I was glad to see you couldn't smell it at all in the hotel.

My room was large and comfortable, nice bed and a decent size for a bathroom. My only complaint here is whenever you run the shower it doesn't drain fast so you find yourself standing in ankle deep water #room 413) and when it does drain you get to look at everyone else's hair's left in the tub from the backed up drain.

Sorry for the length, this is my FIRST review ever. I travel all the time from coast to coast and read these reviews that people right which really DOES influence my choice so I thought it's high time I start putting pen to paper.

Give this hotel a chance, nothing I said here would stop me from...

The front desk check-in person was pleasant and nice. We small talked and she was personable. The room I stayed in had an odor but I was okay with that. My problem was with the night shift's front desk person.

I had come back in late in the evening and used my card key to enter the hotel. There wasn't anyone at the front desk to greet me but, I did like that there was that security in place to access via card key. I decided to finish my phone conversation in the lobby because I didn't want to disrupt my guestmate's sleep. Then about 10 minutes later the night front desk person comes out from the back office and he's staring at me and asks me if I was waiting for a ride, I told him No, that I wasn't and that I was just finishing a conversation on my phone. He had a strong foreign accent so I wasn't sure if he understood me. A few minutes later, he asked me if I was a guest, I told him that Yes I am a guest and I proceeded with my phone call. Then after 6 minutes later he asked me if me I had a room there...by that point I was already annoyed, so I asked him Am I not allowed to talk in the lobby??? He said No, it wasn't that but if I was guest. I told him that Yes, I am a guest and I pulled out my card key to show him. I felt like I was being harassed. On top of that, my neighbors were noisy sounded like they were having a party I was too tired to complain about them.

The next day was fine, breakfast was good. The staff in the breakfast area were pleasant, and the same person who did my check-in also did my check-out. But she didn't ask me about my stay, so I didn't both to bring up the last night's incident with her coworker.

I understand that security is priority, but I have dealt with other IHG employees and they were all more polite and courteous than this night staff individual. If it were me in his position, I would have asked "Ma'am, are you a guest here and for after hours security purposes may I see your card key." And that would have been that. Something so simple, and he made me regret choosing this IHG location. Extremely...