As with most things, it’s the little details that matter, and for my most recent vacation, everything about staying at Holiday Inn got on my last nerve, so much so that we checked out a day early on a pre-paid room and were glad to do so. This blog is simply a note to myself, reminding me to avoid that chain when booking hotels in the future.
So I won’t forget the why: in my opinion, the first sign something wasn’t right was literally a sign indicating they would put a hold on accounts that may result in overdraft fees that wouldn’t then be their fault; nice welcome. There was no in-room refrigerator so we couldn’t store food or drinks over night. There were no tissues. The toilet always took three attempts to flush. The toilet paper was on the opposite wall of the toilet, better than an arm’s reach away (brilliant). The tub felt like the was grit on the bottom of it. The toilet was crammed between the sink and the tub, just enough to bang one’s elbows. Same with the soap dishes in the tub, at elbow height. It was a horrible room design, where just slightly too much space was squeezed out. For instance, if you sat in a chair, you hit your head on the lamp. There was no exhaust fan in the bathroom. The wireless was horribly slow and kept requiring an annoying re-authentication process at random. Our room keys spontaneously and simultaneously stopped working, and when we went to the front desk to get them fixes, we were blamed for having them near a cell phone, that we know for a fact that wasn’t the case. I could go on, but I just wanted enough keywords so I could later find that place I didn’t ever want to stay at again.
Admittedly, some of this could have been the room, that hotel, its staff, or that chain. I feel little inclination to explore the matter further, I’m annoyed that much that I’m just done. I don’t expect perfection, but I also don’t want to loath returning to have to deal with the next surprise; certainly not on vacation.
But further related insult, though now not too surprising in retrospect, came when we were walking around Broadway at the Beach and noticed a number of signs at ticket areas that said Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament‎, 2 adults for $20. It was a deal that sounded too good to be true, and was. There was no branding or other information on the sign, but when one went to purchase the tickets, you couldn’t; what you got was a rep whipping out an appointment calendar for a timeshare tour. If you would go take their off-site multi-hour tour and listen to a sales pitch, they’d “give” you the tickets for “free.” But if you wanted to buy what they advertised, they’d never sell them to you. It was very bait and switch. Turns out, it was… Holiday Inn. When asked how come it didn’t say Holiday Inn or indicate there was a sales pitch, we were flat out told that people wouldn’t come in if they had put up the truth. This just solidified my vision of the corporate image.
Your own experiences may vary, but having stayed at other places in the same price range, I’m avoiding this chain.
Walt gives Holiday Inn one thumb down.