Holiday Inn Express & Suites St. Paul NE (Vadnais Heights) by IHG — Hotel in Vadnais Heights

To the ones who rely so heavily on reviews before making a decision: As an avid user of Holiday Inn I was somewhat skeptical when reading the reviews of this hotel on google but decided to bet on this location knowing it was a corporate owned location. While I have allotted for grace of the construction being completed in this review I feel like there are several areas as room for improvement to take this from a 2.5-3 star hotel and bring it to the high 4 if not 5. The first this was the cleanliness in ALL common areas of hotel. the hallways, breakfast areas were never cleaned during our 4 day stay. This is something so easily fixed yet no one took the time to do it. At one point there was dried blood on the floor in the breakfast area which again to my horror was not cleaned during our stay. The next area is the elevator- the way the elevator functioned was unacceptable with catching- it was almost scarier to take the elevator vs the stairs. The cleanliness of elevator was nothing short of terrible. sticky mess, handprints, visible dirt debris all days of the stay. Again I know there was construction but there's no reason that staff can not clean and mop the elevator at MINIMUM once a day. The next was the noise level. With the guests that were there during out stay the noise level and "rowdiness" gauge was off the charts. It seemed like the staff either made no attempt to stop it or just didn't care to. Either way nighttime was dreaded especially since I was traveling with 2 little kids. The other final area of improvement I would suggest is keeping a much closer eye of the freshness of the food. During our stay on 7/7 we got some milk with a 7/8 expiration date. Upon opening it we quickly realized it was sour and threw it away. Yet on 7/8 when we came back downstairs much to my surprise all the milk with the 7/8 expiration date on it was still out. When bringing it to staff attention staff notified me that they technically have 5 days AFTER the expiration date to keep it out for consumption. YIKES...... Never have I heard of that and if that truly is the policy it is only opening the door for a food poisoning lawsuit at fault of the hotel.

When it comes to the question of would I stay here again the answer would have to be probably not. There's other options right across the street that I'd be willing to explore before coming back.

Pros:Location Cons:Room Cleanliness,...

As an avid user of Holiday Inn I was somewhat skeptical when reading the reviews of this hotel on google but decided to bet on this location knowing it was a corporate owned location. While I have allotted for grace of the construction being completed in this review I feel like there are several areas as room for improvement to take this from a 2.5-3 star hotel and bring it to the high 4 if not 5. The first this was the cleanliness in ALL common areas of hotel. the hallways, breakfast areas were never cleaned during our 4 day stay. This is something so easily fixed yet no one took the time to do it. At one point there was dried blood on the floor in the breakfast area which again to my horror was not cleaned during our stay. The next area is the elevator- the way the elevator functioned was unacceptable with catching- it was almost scarier to take the elevator vs the stairs. The cleanliness of elevator was nothing short of terrible. sticky mess, handprints, visible dirt debris all days of the stay. Again I know there was construction but there's no reason that staff can not clean and mop the elevator at MINIMUM once a day. The next was the noise level. With the guests that were there during out stay the noise level and "rowdiness" gauge was off the charts. It seemed like the staff either made no attempt to stop it or just didn't care to. Either way nighttime was dreaded especially since I was traveling with 2 little kids. The other final area of improvement I would suggest is keeping a much closer eye of the freshness of the food. During our stay on 7/7 we got some milk with a 7/8 expiration date. Upon opening it we quickly realized it was sour and threw it away. Yet on 7/8 when we came back downstairs much to my surprise all the milk with the 7/8 expiration date on it was still out. When bringing it to staff attention staff notified me that they technically have 5 days AFTER the expiration date to keep it out for consumption. YIKES...... Never have I heard of that and if that truly is the policy it is only opening the door for a food poisoning lawsuit at fault of the hotel. When it comes to the question of would I stay here again the answer would have to be probably not. There's other options right across the street that I'd be willing to explore before...

It is very disappointing to write an 'average at best' review, especially for our beloved HI Express chain. The property was missing attention to detail like the gardens and rock beds riddled with overgrown weeds and the welcome mat that was just filthy with cigg butts that we walked over for days. Over the course of our 5 night stay, only once did a front desk staff look up and acknowledge us.

There seemed to be a lack of management present. It was a holiday weekend and the hotel was filled with 20 something year old young males that were unruly, foul mouthed, rude and destructive kicking in the elevator panel so we couldn't even get off on our floor. #kudos to the staff for a rapid same day fix!# We lost sleep with these guys constantly trying to get in our room at all hours of the night and partying in the halls. We felt our safety was at risk at night and nowhere was there security or management personnel obviously present.

After seeking alternate room location in the hotel, we were informed they weren't just in our hallway but all over the hotel. A lovely front desk agent removed $20 from our room bill and as kind as the gesture was, it didn't solve the problem of yet another sleepless night in a hotel filled with jerks banging on our door trying to get in.

Considering we were staying at the hotel 5 nights, we took a 1 bedroom unit with a small but adequate kitchen. Upon check out, I asked why we weren't informed that the housekeeping staff did not clean the kitchens and her reply was that they were supposed to. It was like there was an invisible wall that was never crossed by housekeeping. We got our coffee restocked once because we left a note, never got fresh kitchen towels, not once was a dish, coffee cup or spoon was so much as even moved to the sink let alone washed. I would have been fine had I been told no service but I've never upgraded to a kitchen in a hotel room where the service wasn't provided. I can understand forgetting 1 day but 5?

It was unfortunately a very rocky visit and I hope by posting this review, some attention to detail will be made and management will ensure these issues...