Holiday Inn West Yellowstone by IHG — Hotel in West Yellowstone

This was one of the worst hotel experiences I’ve ever had.

When we arrived at the hotel to check in, there was no greeting at all—not even a simple “hello.” Instead, we were immediately told that a $100 deposit was required. We presented a credit card that had both UnionPay and American Express logos to authorize the deposit, but the front desk staff told us it couldn’t be used. When we asked if they accepted American Express, they said yes—but not if the card also has UnionPay. I asked why, and the staff member simply said, “If it has UnionPay, it’s not allowed. Period.”

We looked through our bags and found Visa and Mastercard credit cards—but all had UnionPay as well. So we decided to pay in cash. We took out $200 in cash, thinking it would be $100 per room for two nights. Suddenly, the staff said we needed to pay $1,200 in total because cash payments require an additional $500 per room. Then, with a rude gesture, he pointed and said, “ATM is over there.”

We went to the ATM to withdraw the money. Ridiculously, the hotel’s own ATM only allowed $200 per transaction, so I had to go through the process six times.

Even then, we just wanted a place to stay after a long night full of mosquitoes, so we cooperated. After bringing back the cash, the front desk agent Dominick took a while to count it, then handed me a completely blank envelope and said, “Sign here.” I asked, “What is this?” and he replied, “Your name.” I said, “I know I’m signing my name, but you can’t just give me a blank envelope and ask for a signature.” Only then did he explain, “It’s for your cash deposit. We’ll return it if there’s no damage when you check out.”

After signing, he then told us, “Print your name.” And after that, “Room number.” I told him, “You never gave us a room number!” He rudely pointed at my friend and said, “Ask him!” I replied, “You never told any of us our room numbers!” Only then did he check his computer and say, “317, 319.”

I told him, “Your attitude is really a problem.” He answered, “I was really busy earlier, and you took five minutes at the ATM, so I made a mistake.” I said, “So it’s our fault that you’re acting like this? You’re the one who asked us to withdraw $1,200 from an ATM with a $200 limit!”

When I asked for the manager, he said, “We don’t have any manager available right now.” I took out my phone and asked him to repeat what he said on video. He replied, “I don’t understand what you’re saying.” I repeated it slowly, and then he said he was refusing service to us and told us to leave the lobby immediately. I said, “I’m not leaving until you give us an explanation.” He said, “I’m calling the police.” And he actually did—he called the police and had all four of us removed from the hotel without any explanation or refund.

We called the hotel’s customer service line. They tried contacting the front desk but told us, “We’re sorry, but the front desk refuses to let you in.” I asked, “What about the rooms we already paid for online?” They said, “Let me check again with the front desk.” After a long wait, they came back and said, “The front desk is not answering the phone.”

It was ridiculous.

I stood outside the hotel for nearly two hours, calling customer service over and over, and finally got a complaint case number. But they told me I had to wait 24–48 hours for a response. At that point, I gave up. I was completely hopeless. We left that mosquito-filled area and managed to find another hotel with two available rooms for two nights.

Absolutely...

Dear Manager

I have booked the stay here from 20/5-24/5 hoping that to have a relaxed trip with my stay at WestYellow stone Holiday Inn which among many hotels here I think Holiday Inn is my first choice but now I found very annoyed and disappointed.

1️⃣I made my online check in on 9:25am before my arrival 20/5 (attached below) but while I arrived on the front desk, the stafff told me to do on site payment with the master card ending 5816 I reserved before.Firstly did not explain to me why on site payment was needed without explanation. According to different charges on that master card and I was totally exhausted after 10 hours flight from Boston to Yellow Stone . I used another Visa card ending 1017 to the front desk .

I wonder why I did early check in not processing my payment which out of my budget and plan.

2️⃣21/5 morning , we leave hotel telling the front desk please clean up my room after 12.

But when we arrrived NOTHING ROOM SERVICE there . I call 📞 front desk about the room cleaning 20 minutes nobody come. Then I called again half an hour please just send clean towel for bathing . Until half an hour no one come. I really so disappointed about that. We cannot take bath , whole room in a messy .

I have go down to the front desk in person, they didn’t help just say do we request room service in the morning ?

Of course We did it on that morning 9am.

What service provided for the guest even we did it. And called two times still no responses and actions to the guest.

Until night time we family still no clean towels for us to take bath.

No room service on the first day

3️⃣ 21/5 that night I also politely asked on the front desk in person on the payment requested used my master card ending 5816 as online link payment instead of Visa ending 1017 .However staffs insisted that no change .

And telling me hotel cannot provide online payment.

I was really dissatisfied about hotel payment method .I flew to different places Switzerland, Japan, England etc., Even I stayed in HK few months ago at WH hotel IHG hotels , also can provide online payment .

The staffs answered me not seriously with a smile insisted that I haven’t do online checking.

I confirmed that online check in was done before my arrival .

A minute later he checked on the computer finding that I did it . Without thoroughly checking and complaining the guest didn’t do online check in was not appropriate to.

We do have the right to pay in different ways .

I was really surprised Holiday Inn can’t provide online payment .

I was strongly considering using online payment with my original master card

4️⃣ 22/5 dinner time we ordered take away meals at Branch.( Atttached below )

But while we back room finding Udon was missing. We needed to go down again to get and wait for some times the chef cooked.

We wasted extra time and felt exhausted after a long day trip

Hotel catering was not to the standard

5️⃣ By scanning my Visa cards , staffs didn’t mentioned about there should be extra USD 119 charged for . I was notified by my bank apps .

It was normal procedure for Holiday Inn?

During my stay at West Yellow Stone Holiday Inn Hotel , I hope I can enjoy this Hotel service.

I think you can take steps to rectify the problems and ensure that such complaints don’t crop up again in future.

IHG...

My husband and I stayed at this Holiday Inn location from 6/29/24 to 7/3/24. The total cost of this stay was $1400 for 4 nights. This was by far the worst experience we have ever had at ANY Holiday Inn, and the worst hotel of our 2 week road trip. Seriously, the Super 8 we stayed in was a luxury hotel compared to this god awful place. When we checked in, the front desk associate was extremely rude and acted as if we were inconveniencing her by checking in. I believe her name was Cia - younger Asian girl. Our first night in the hotel was absolutely miserable. The walls of this hotel must be extremely thin, because we could hear the people in the room to us unzipping a suitcase. The people next to us were extremely loud and disrespectful. We could hear their children screaming and TV blaring at midnight. I called the front desk to let them know this was happening so they could be told to quiet down and to be more respectful of other guests. I could hear the phone ring in their room through the wall clearly. That shouldn’t happen. This continued again the next night and front desk staff refused to give us another room. Instead, we were given a free breakfast voucher for the on-site restaurant. Great. Keep reading if you want to know how that went. You can hear people stomping around on top of you and slamming doors all night long. I may have slept a total of 6 hours in the entire 4 nights we stayed here. Another thing is the hotel doesn’t have enough hot water. Halfway through my shower EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, the water turned ice cold. The water pressure in the shower was pathetic. I would have been better off going outside and showering in the rain. The on-site restaurant The Branch is a whole other topic. They charge $18.00 per person for a lousy breakfast “buffet” - if you can call it that. I seriously have never seen anything like this. They had some watery scrambled eggs, rubbery bacon, and this weird cinnamon cake like thing that had the texture and flavor of a dirty old kitchen sponge. That was it, that was ALL of the food to choose from at a BREAKFAST BUFFET!! Don’t do it. The Super 8 we stayed in another night had a nicer breakfast that was FREE. Just don’t do it. Don’t. Do not fall for this trap.

In conclusion, I am extremely disappointed we spent $1400 staying at this terrible, rip off hotel. For that price, I expect things to be much, much nicer. This whole stay was just irritating and miserable. Only positive thing is being near the YNP west entrance. But please, stay...