A nice hotel. Check-in was fast and the desk clerk was friendly and helpful. The hotel is spotlessly clean; rooms are well appointed and beds were comfortable; breakfast was one of the best free hotel breakfasts that I’ve had. Conveniently located close to the outlet mall. The hotel offered everything I wanted and is deserving of five stars.
Despite the great experience I had at this hotel, I will think twice before booking a room at an IHG property again.
Five sisters on a shopping weekend, we were looking to spend time together and hoped to stay in one room. We could manage with two beds and a rollaway. But when I attempted to make an online reservation for 5 guests in 1 room, the hotel’s website told me that no rooms were available for my date.
I called the reservations #. It was answered in a foreign place where they speak English with a heavy accent. The man could not confirm that the hotel with an address of Mercer, PA was the hotel near the outlet mall in Grove City. He wanted me to confirm that I was booking the right location. I had to Google a map. The man reserved a room for me with 2 queen beds. But what about my fifth person? He could not confirm that rollaways were available. The next day I phoned again. This second phone worker also could not confirm a rollaway bed. I later discovered that this hotel has “suites” which are larger rooms with two beds and a sleeper sofa. Yet, I was never offered the option of a suite. I finally called the hotel’s front desk and the on-site desk clerk assured me that I could get a rollaway bed..
To make matters worse, following both calls to reservations, I was transferred to a sales rep selling vacation packages. She tried to convince me that I would be given a huge discount for booking next year’s rooms. What the fast talking woman didn’t say, but what I suspected and asked her to confirm, was that my CC would be charged immediately for this package that I may or may not use.. When I said that I did not want anything charged to my CC, she began offering me “extras.” No thank you. And I do not appreciate having my time monopolized with a sales pitch every time I call about a room reservation.
The Holiday Inn Express was a great hotel despite the business practices of its parent company. IHG corporation should trash their off-shore reservation centers and let hotels handle their own reservations. Workers at the hotel provide much better customer service. They know their hotel and can answer questions about location and amenities that far off workers in foreign places have no clue how to answer.
