Holiday Inn Express Winnemucca by IHG — Hotel in Winnemucca

Usually I give most Holiday Inn Expresses a five star rating, but this location is not quite up to the standards of the rest of the chain, but still serviceable. Lately all of the Holiday Inn Expresses have or are undergoing remodel up grades, with new remodeled rooms and furnishings and new bright LED bathroom mirrors as well as remodeled lobbies and breakfast areas. This Winnemucca location must not see that much use, so they can't justify spending money on the remodel.

This location wasn't totally passed up on remodel, they did do the breakfast area, so now the hot food serving dishes are all chrome and shiny matching the rest of the Holiday Inn Express chain. The corporate agreement with "Cinnabon" is in effect here too, as the wonderful cinnamon rolls have been replaced with these inferior and more dry Cinnabon brand rolls. The breakfast area is very small and the lobby huge with much wasted space, so yeah, they could use a remodel like the rest of the chain.

The breakfast food was good and compares to the rest of this chain well. Hot food is available including flap jacks (local term for pancakes), that are dispensed out of an automated machine. Biscuits and pork gravy as well as bacon, sausage, omelets and scrambled eggs are all there and all you can eat too! For the healthy, they offer fresh fruit, yogurt, cereals and skim milk, along with juices. Muffins and breads are there for the toaster.

I will say, the staff was very good and competent as well as accommodating in my request for early check in and late check out. These hotels seem to be only booked at maybe 50% capacity, so I guess the money is just not there, but it still makes for a decent place to stay for a short time.

The room was fine, everything worked and the WiFi was fast enough 10Mbs, to stream Netflix in HD, so that was good. The furnishings seemed a bit dated compared to other locations, and the lighting really could be brighter, especially in the bathroom. The TV is old style flat screen and not as bright as the new remodeled room at other hotels. The fridge worked well though and the water pressure was nice and high for endless hot showers. Despite being dated, the room was clean and no creep crawly thing running about.

What is really nice about the location is the attached Mexican restaurant and casino. Just wander over and contribute to the local economy and get some good Mexican food. I went to the Sunday buffet and it was wonderful! I'd never been to a Mexican...

My wife, toddler, and I stay in Winnemucca every Sunday through Tuesday while my wife works extra shifts. We’ve been hotel-hopping like caffeinated gypsies, desperately searching for a late checkout that doesn’t require selling a kidney.

Then—a miracle. I call the Holiday Inn, and this young man answers the phone with Disney Channel-level charm and customer service that could bring world peace. He tells me checkout is usually 2 PM, but then says the five magic words: “Let me ask my mom.” (Plot twist: his mom’s the manager. This place has a family storyline.)

He comes back: “You’re good for 3 PM.” I almost cried. I was ready to name our next child after this hotel.

We felt welcome. Seen. Heard. Until… checkout day.

At around 1:50 PM, we get a knock. A lady—not the kind young man, not his manager-mom, but someone who walked in with the energy of a school principal catching you chewing gum—looks me straight in the soul and says:

“Why are you still here?”

I explain the phone call. The arrangement. The magical promise of 3 PM. She gives me a look like I’m trying to live in the room rent-free for the next month and says: “Absolutely not. You need to be out by 2.”

No double-checking. No “let me ask.” Just full-on “this man is obviously trying to scam us out of an hour” vibes. I’ve never felt more like a piece of human garbage with a suitcase.

So now I have to call my wife, who is literally saving lives or performing miracles or managing chaos at her job, and tell her: “Hey babe, can you sprint out of work like your hair’s on fire? Because the hotel thinks I’m squatting.”

We pack up faster than a family fleeing a zombie apocalypse.

As we’re leaving, my wife kindly asks what happened with the 3 PM agreement. The woman, in a tone that belongs in a courtroom drama, hits her with: “Oh, it wasn’t on the paper.”

THE PAPER. Not “Let me check,” not “Oh, sorry for the mix-up,” not “We’ll honor the arrangement.” Just that same energy as: “If it’s not in the ancient scrolls of destiny, it never happened.”

Ma’am, if I had known that the entire foundation of guest trust rests on a single piece of paper, I would’ve brought my own Sharpie and forged the thing myself.

⸻

Final thoughts: To the young man at the desk — you deserve a raise, a parade, and possibly your own TED Talk. To the Paper Lady — maybe next time just check in with your coworkers before you go full detective on a dad trying to let his toddler...

The website for this hotel indicates it is a "Smoke-free Hotel". When we pulled up out front we noticed a casino attached to the hotel. There was no indication on the website that the hotel was associated with a casino. When we walked into the lobby we were hit with a very strong smell of cigarette smoke. While checking in I looked over and there was a set of double doors on the side of the lobby next to the casino. One of the doors was slightly open. I asked the desk clerk if that is the entrance to the casino and he said yes. So here's a door that's open, allowing cigarette smoke to enter into the lobby of the hotel!! Obviously a violation of the hotel policy!

We hate cigarette smoke and should have left right then and there, but chose to stay after a long drive had left us very tired. So we checked in and went to our room which was 206 on the back side of the hotel. The room seemed OK enough but we were disappointed in the price we paid. This hotel was 50$ more per night then the Staybridge Suites (another IHG hotel) in Salt Lake City and it was not even half as nice as Staybridge. We found that the toilet ran constantly in our room. Also we could barely open the faucet in the sink and the room door did not close completely unless you pulled/pushed on it hard. I believe this door issue is against fire code!

We left our room to go out for some dinner and noticed that the cigarette smoke smell was now in the second floor hallway, the elevator, and throughout the lobby!! Upon returning from dinner we had to put a towel up against the door of our room to keep the smell out!

Lastly, we were hoping for a good nights sleep and had figured we were on the quiet back side of the hotel. But oh no, at 4:30am there began a stream of semitrucks on a roadway which was elevated and directly behind our room!! The noise was awful and we never really got to sleep after that!!

This was definitely one of the worst hotel experiences we have ever had!! I told the hotel manager about all of this and she at least gave me 50% off our room charge which I appreciated.

I will never stay at this...