Holiday Inn Grand Rapids North - Walker by IHG — Hotel in Walker

Pre-COVID I was a frequent hotel guest, spending well over 100 nights a year in hotels traveling for work. I understand how hotels work, the stress and pressure that staff are under and what is reasonable and unreasonable as far as guest expectations. But I was completely unprepared for the major letdown in customer service from this property.

My wife and I were moving our granddaughter into college and stayed there for a Friday night. Being close to her school, we expected to stay many more times at this property during her time in school. The building and the rooms were on par with other HI properties, and we were satisfied. Unusual in that there is no complimentary breakfast, and they have a full-service restaurant on site, but we don't stay in hotels for the free food.

When we left the room, we were able to gather everything in our hands as we had packed light for only one day. We left and were 20 minutes away from the property when my wife realized we had left a blanket folded up on the bed. This blanket isn't valuable but has great sentimental value to my wife. I immediately turned the car around and called the hotel so they could inform housekeeping to look out for the blanket. We were told not to bother coming back as the room had already been cleaned and there was no blanket in the lost+found bin at the office, they were not able to contact the person we met in the hall who was cleaning our section when we left. They would reach out to us if the blanket was found. They acted like maybe the blanket hadn't been left behind and we just lost it. Very condescending attitude. I have called back 4 times since then, have been told they checked again and talked to head of housekeeping and were told there was no blanket in the room. There was certainly a blanket in the room when we left. I asked them if they could please talk to the person who cleaned our room and they said they weren't sure who that was. Come on - this is a 4 story property, not a skyscraper in downtown. I can describe very well the person who was cleaning the room next to ours when we checked out, I'm certain you know who it is. Even though I am struggling to maintain a friendly and non-confrontational attitude (because we want our blanket back), the attitude of the people we talked to has gotten worse with each call. On my last phone call I informed then that I will be stopping by the hotel next weekend when we come to visit our granddaughter. In fact I plan to stop in and pay them a visit every time I am in town for the remainder of the school year, maybe next year too. There is simply no reason why they can't put in the minimal amount of effort it would take to track down this blanket and hold it for us to pick up. Meanwhile, my wife is heartbroken that she has lost this special gift she has had for over 40 years. I understand if it was something small that could have been misplaced by us, like jewelry, a cell phone, etc. But a blanket? We didn't lose it - we left it behind, and someone at the hotel either trashed it or...

The positive parts first: Most everyone was super friendly Free parking! Location - near I-96, Starbucks, gas stations, food, etc. Beds were surprisingly comfortable for a "moderate" priced hotel

The not-so-great parts next: Seriously understaffed. The person at reception desk is also the same person to take restaurant breakfast orders and is the same person to tend to guest requests - this is way too much for one person. We asked for extra pillows the first evening and the person was really great/friendly but said she couldn't leave the desk unattended to bring them to us so we had to go down ourselves to get them. No big deal, I guess, but disappointing the run this thinly staffed. Bait-and-switch re: inclusions. Our rate was booked to be breakfast inclusive. Lisa checked us in and said breakfast wasn't included in our rooms (we had 3 rooms booked for various family members who were attending my father's funeral). It had been a few weeks since I booked so I thought maybe I made a mistake. I looked on my booking confirmation from the site where I booked it and it didn't say one way or the other so I figured the front desk must have been correct. I should have called the booking agency but, honestly, this wasn't the biggest thing on my mind.The next morning, Lisa was also working breakfast orders and confirmed on her rooming list that our rooms weren't showing as breakfast inclusive so we paid $60 out of pocket. The same happened the next two days. One of our party mentioned to me they thought we booked the breakfast inclusive rate so on the final evening I called the agency finally and they confirmed all our rooms had breakfast included in the rate. I stopped by the front desk, this time it was Courtney working, and she said "no, I made all the breakfast lists and your three rooms all had breakfast included so I'm not sure why they charged you. I'll leave a note for my manager and she'll refund everything you paid tomorrow." When we checked out the next morning, Lisa was at the front desk and said again that breakfast wasn't included but she would check with her manager who had "more access to the rates" then have her call me. It's been 6 days now and no one has called, nor has anyone refunded any of our charges.

Look, it's not going to break the bank either way and this isn't the most important thing in my life at the moment so am I going to call and fight with someone about this? I've got better things to do but it turned what could have been a 5-star review into a 1-star review and that's really a shame. No one likes a bait-and-switch but for this reason I definitely wouldn't book here again nor would I recommend that anyone else books a stay here either.

And, my one wish list item: it would be nice if they had electric vehicle...

Here’s the short version: a reserved room should be available to you from 3:00 PM until 11:00 AM check out. You pay for that 20 hours. The room wasn’t ready until 12:30 AM because it (among other reserved rooms) wasn’t cleaned and the hotel was not sufficiently staffed or managed. We were charged for our stay and that is unacceptable. If you want the longer version, please read below.||||When you attend a family wedding and reserve a room through the wedding block, you expect the hotel will ensure a positive experience. They did not.||||When you call to confirm the reservation the morning of your stay, you expect a room will be ready for you by 3:00 as promised.||||When you show up at 9:45 PM, tired after the wedding and ready for bed, you are surprised the room isn’t ready, but thankful they offer you some drinks and you anticipate the problem will be remedied in 20 minutes.||||When you contact IHG customer service an hour later and are told they will “take note of the problem” so the general manager will resolve it at check-in, you are frustrated. Free drinks are not enough at this point.||||When the bride and groom enter at 11:30 PM and find out THEIR room isn’t available and consequently cancel their room, you are shocked. This is their wedding night! You question if you can be put up at a neighboring Holiday Inn Express property but are told that will cost YOU $100 more for the pleasure of going out into the rain in the middle of the night since “Holiday Inn isn’t the same thing as Holiday Inn Express”. You are perplexed. You also take note that NO general manager is on-site to direct staff or to offer you compensation. You are incredulous. You also notice the very small staff hustling, staying over their shift, and cleaning rooms although they were hired to tend the bar and watch the front desk. You are thankful for their kindness and pity them for the position they are in. Who wants to work in a place with unhappy guests unsupported by management? ||||When you are given your key at 12:30 AM and are assured that the general manager will handle your complaint in the morning, you just want to get in bed, so you do. ||||When you are told in the morning that the general manager doesn’t work on Sundays, you want someone in authority to make it right. You are furious.||||It’s now Monday morning. The general manager wants 48 hours to review the facts before responding. He thinks IHG “dropped the ball”. Funny, they basically said the same about him. I think they...