Holiday Inn Express & Suites Calgary Airport Trail NE by IHG

My children were swimming during open hours when a staff member poured chlorine into the pool without warning, while they were still in the water. I was shocked and scared. Days after we left, the manager told me on the phone that it was harmless. Nobody can guarantee a chemical is harmless to everyone. Even peanuts can be harmless to most people but send someone with an allergy to the hospital, so how can a chemical poured straight into a pool with children be dismissed? I reported this serious safety incident and provided evidence. Management's only response was to offer a twenty-nine-dollar discount on a future booking. I couldn't believe that was their idea of a resolution. It felt dismissive and completely out of touch with what happened. This ruined what should have been a relaxing stay. Safety, especially for families with children, shouldn't be taken lightly. I left angry, unheard, and deeply disappointed. I wouldn't recommend this hotel to other parents.

We arrived on Christmas Day after more than 20 hours of family travel with a small child, and there was no hot water anywhere in the building. We couldn't even shower, and there was no offer of a discount or free service. The shuttle was in the shop, so the night manager told us to take a taxi and said the driver would be reimbursed at the hotel. Once there, he couldn't find the vouchers and asked us to pay the $21 fare and return later for a refund. We went back to the desk three times over about 24 hours. Nobody could help, and I was told to wait for the regular manager to issue the refund. After months of back and forth, that manager offered only a discount on a future stay in Calgary, which will be never. There was no follow-through on the refund, and he said he couldn't do it. In my opinion, that's a load of BS. The room was clean and breakfast plentiful, but the place is extremely poorly run and we will NOT return.

Only after we kept insisting did another staff member offer a room with a king bed and sofa bed. That solved the problem immediately, which showed there had been a solution all along. We were traveling with a 2-year-old and had requested a crib through Booking.com in advance, with written proof. The hotel never replied. When we arrived late at night, we were told that the whole hotel, about 100 rooms, had only TWO cribs and both were taken. We hadn't been warned. The male front desk agent denied our documented request, offered no alternatives, and refused to give us a manager's contact. When we asked about paid room options, he called us “greedy.” He showed no empathy for exhausted parents or our toddler. This was one of the worst hotel stays of our lives at this Holiday Inn near Calgary Airport. The hotel isn't welcoming to families, lacks basic child accommodations, and seems to have serious staff training issues. If you're traveling with young children, stay elsewhere.

The hotel stayed super clean, and the staff were great. Still, I regretted booking ten days. For showers, they recommended waiting about 15 minutes for hot water. I only got a hot shower on two days, after they adjusted the faucet temperature. I think it may be a construction design issue. The room temperature was strange too. The heater was off the whole time, but the temperature kept climbing to 78 to 80, which was very hot. I had to get up several times each night to bring it back down to the lower 70s. Breakfast was cheap, right down to cutting their 3-inch cold cinnamon rolls into six pieces. And I don't know why they mix Dollar Tree quality utensils with wooden ones.