Holiday Inn Express & Suites Jacksonville North-Fernandina by IHG — Hotel in Yulee

During my recruitment trip, I specifically chose the quaint town of Fernandina to choose an IHG brand hotel. I am accustomed to the small town hospitality of IHG brands and wanted to explore the area. I encountered dismissive and lackadaisical staff who has no idea of what customer service is, let alone the great customer service I know and love about IHG brand hotels.

I received a voicemail from Denise, who didn't tell me why she was calling. During a break, I called the hotel and got Aaron. Aaron was dismissive in tone and apathetic in conversation. I explained Denise called but didn't say why. I was a bit panicked thinking my reservation was cancelled. Aaron said, I don't know how you made this reservation or who you talked to or whatever, but whatever way you did it, she probably called because you don't have a credit card on file. I have ALWAYS had to place a credit card on file so I was a bit confused. I was still at work and asked Aaron if I could take care of that when I arrive. Aaron said they usually want us to have a credit card on file, I get off at 11 and I need one to be on file before then or we'll cancel the reservation. I said may I ask for you when I get there? Aaron said you ain't got no choice I'm the only one here. I thought maybe Aaron is having a bad night.

I arrived long before 11pm. Aaron busied himself around the front desk and had me wait 5-7 minutes before acknowledging me. Again, I am taken aback at the lack of decorum and professionalism!

I enjoy my room and breakfast and the area of Ulee and Fernandina.

A week later, I realize I am missing important documents. Never thought I'd left them in the hotel but eventually it was the only place I hadn't checked.

I called and spoke with Monique. I asked Monique if the papers were found. Monique placed me on hold and went to look. She came back and said she'd have to check with the housekeeping supervisor because the left item was not where it should be. Ten minutes later, Monique called me to say the 'regular morning person' had my documents.

I found this concerning because it had been a week and my name was plastered all over the documents in the open envelope. Why wouldn't the 'regular morning person' place the items in the place Monique thought it should be? Certainly other workers, including Monique, should be informed an item was left behind and where to retrieve it.

Monique and I agreed she'd email me the UPS number so I could make

arrangements to have my documents shipped.

Several hours later I hadn't received the email and called customer relations. I spoke with Amanda. Amanda called the property and was told by Denise "we already gave her the number and she has to call UPS."

Amanda told me the erroneous information received from Denise. I asked if I could call the location directly. Amanda said yes.

I called and Monique answered. I told Monique I had not received the email yet. She said, I sent it. I don't know what's going on on your end. Again, who speaks like that to customers!? I informed Monique I'd received multiple emails since 8am, but hers is the only one I didn't receive.

We verified the email address. It was accurate. I didn't have it in spam or junk. The only thing that makes sense is Monique didn't send the email and didn't take kindly to my calling customer relations.

I then asked for number to UPS to make shipping arrangements. Before disconnecting the call, I said to Monique she should correct Denise regarding giving inaccurate information. She wasn't on the phone call and couldn't hear half of the conversation. I was never given the number. Monique said Denise was standing here while we were talking. I replied, that's even worse, because Denise never heard the number repeated. Monique's response was argumentative even though Denise's behavior, from keeping documents in her personal possession to relaying erroneous information to customer relations rep, was egregious. Monique exhibited the same lack of care and professionalism as Aaron did. It was clear to me the culture and protocol at this location is one that lacks the usual great service I've experienced at all other IHG brand hotels! Is this a major hotel of the IHG brand or a mom and pop Shop with rooms for rent?

I am clear this is not a location I will allow my recruitment team to use. I will definitely warn my friends and family about the staff at this location.

Soft skill training and customer service etiquette is greatly needed at this location. They are entirely too comfortable with mishandling guest left behind belongings, arguing with guests and providing poor customer service. No concern about consequences at all. The manager NEEDS...

We stayed for 4 nights in late May so that our son could receive treatment at the Mayo Clinic. This hotel was out of the way, but closer hotels were booked. We are Holiday Inn rewards members so we stuck with the brand. The first morning, an male housekeeper in civilian clothes opened our door without knocking. We asked him to come back and he did, but when cleaning the room, took all the soap and didn't leave new soap. I had to go down to the front desk to get soap. Another day, we didn't get a bath mat. Once when I asked the housekeeping supervisor a question, she spoke in Spanish to the room cleaner (in front of me) but then never answered my question in English. The second day, another Holiday Inn in TN was faxing me a credit card authorization form so I could pay for some rooms for my job, and the clerk insisted they didn't get the fax. I finally asked if he had a generic form I could use and he handed me the form from the hotel in TN that had been faxed to me. I filled it out and he appeared to fax it back for me, but they did not receive it and I had to try again the next day. The third day I had to do laundry as we thought we'd only be there two days and needed to stay for 4. I asked the front desk clerk (Denise) for quarters and she asked how many I needed. I asked how much the laundry machines were and she told me $1. I asked for $3 in quarters. She reluctantly opened a roll of quarters and gave me $3 worth. I put my laundry in the washer and since it was actually $2 for the machine, I walked back to desk and asked for more quarters. She told me she didn't have any. Then she said she was running low and couldn't give me any. I explained that that was unsatisfactory as I'd just put my clothes in their washer and would need to dry them. She huffed and went back to an office to discuss with someone and finally decided she could give me $2 more. Meanwhile, the employee she was training was sitting on the corner playing on her phone. If your guests need quarters for snack machines and laundry, then someone needs to go to the bank and get some more, rather than rationing out one roll. The woman who set up and operated the breakfast bar did a great job though. Since you don't know who your guests are or what they may be going through (for instance, traveling many hours to get treatment at Mayo), customer service can make or break a visit. Finally, just about every Holiday Inn recognized that we are Reward Club Members and offers water or bonus points. We received neither, though when I asked for water, the clerk did give me...

My family and I stopped at this hotel as a halfway point to Orlando. We are IHG members, and typically choose Holiday Inn. Our stay was only scheduled for one night. Unfortunately, once we got into our room my daughter immediately noticed a small bug on the nightstand by the electrical hole. I immediately took pictures of it to try to identify. It wasn't a bed bug (thank God!), it was a roach. Roach nymphs to be exact, pretty small. My husband said," well it is Florida." 😕 So we decided to have dinner downstairs and get out of the room for a bit. But when we came back up to our room, that's when the fun really started. A roach, not a nymph, not a baby, a full grown roach crawled across our wall by the TV. I stood up to tell my husband we're done and we saw two more roaches on the bed. My two young daughters immediately started freaking out. I told them to get their shoes on so we could leave. When my oldest daughter went to put her shoes on, there there was a roach inside her shoe which we had left on the bench by the TV 🤮 And to cap it all off, I saw another one crawling underneath the mini fridge. We immediately went downstairs and told the desk agent we were leaving and why. I told her I wanted a refund and to have them manager call me the following day. I left my name and phone number and told them I had pictures and I truly expected they would call me the following day. When I didn't hear from them the next day I called back and asked to speak to the manager. I was told he wasn't in yet. This was approximately 11:00 a.m. they told me he was supposed to be in at 9:00. I explain the situation again and told them I wanted a refund, and they said he would call me back. At 4:00 p.m. p.m. day, I called back as I still hadn't heard anything. The desk agent that I talked to told me she was aware of the situation and the refund would be issued. She said it could take up to two business days. I told her that was fine and then I would follow up with my credit card company to make sure the refund went through, and sure enough 10 business days later... still no refund! What's worse? Still no call from any kind of manager. I would not recommend staying here period! They need serious pest control intervention, as well as better...