Holiday Inn Express Fort St John by IHG

Our first visit was around Christmas and New Year’s, and it was quiet, beautiful, and peaceful. No bandages or messes, no kids hurting others, and employees weren’t being reckless. This visit was very different. The morning guy was nice, so I held my tongue and left him alone. Swimming was decent that morning, which is the only reason I might come back. I hope things change, but the reviews don’t make it seem likely. I thought I’d given this place five stars after that first stay, but apparently I never posted the review. This time the service sucked, so it should be one star. I paid over $200, plus a $50 deposit, and still haven’t got the $50 back, so it was around $300 a night. I chose it because it’s across from the west coast amusement garbage, has a pool, and staff didn’t harass my child and me like other hotel dumps. This time we had two beds, unlike last time, it’s close to the fair, and breakfast is included. It costs $7 to take my child to the public pool, where objects were thrown at their head. There were bandaids all over the place. I fished about five towels and about as many bandages out of the pool. People threw a football around the pool room, through the pool, to the hot tub, up to the slide and back down. I called the front desk and nobody answered. When I walked out, I saw the guy standing there watching kids go down the slide three at a time, head first and on their stomachs. Objects were thrown at multiple customers who were also paying over $200 a night, and staff did nothing to enforce the pool or slide rules. I asked what was going on and whether they enforced the building’s health and safety rules. He apologized and stayed sitting there, letting the dangerous play continue. If you see all that and just apologize, you’re not doing your job by speaking to the kids or their parents and adults. After going back to the fair because it felt dangerous, we returned to eat, bathe, and sleep. I pulled back the blanket and found a dead ant on the pillow, with the blanket lying over it. There were marks on the walls. At 11:30 pm we were eating and watching TV quietly, but music and TVs were blasting upstairs and downstairs. Kids were yelling and running in the hallway right outside our room, since it wasn’t on the first floor by the front desk. And no pancakes, lol. I’d been looking forward to them. Please stop apologizing and make sure there are no more footballs or baseballs. Even beach balls can hurt kids, leave bruises, knock out teeth, perforate eardrums, or cause black eyes and other potentially permanent eye damage. Other hotels I’ve been to also had bandages in the pool. This should be much safer than a free day at the public pool.

The free breakfast was good, and the rooms were clean and really comfortable. Everyone was friendly and quite professional, from the front desk to the cleaning crew. I highly recommend the Holiday Inn Fort St John BC.

The hotel was very quiet, and the rooms are spacious with the basic things you need. My first room had no heat and was freezing, but the front desk quickly moved me to another one. It’s starting to show its age, though. The sheer curtains were torn, the desk chair was worn and seemed to be sitting offing, towel bars were rusty, and wallpaper was peeling. The ceiling tiles near the ice machine had seen better days, and another guest asked if the juice machine had been fixed. Staff said no, so I’m guessing it had been down for a while. It wouldn’t take much with a proper maintenance team to bring the hotel back to a five star rating. For what these hotels cost, I’d expect a bit more value. I know FSJ hotels aren’t cheap, but they could do more to make the price feel worthwhile.

During a very stressful evacuation, this hotel was a bastion of calm. We stayed 17 nights and have nothing but positive things to say. The staff were always friendly, helpful, and accommodating, and the facility was exceedingly clean. Our spacious, lovely room was clean, with all the amenities working. The pool was always open, and we had a lot of fun on the slide and relaxing in the hot tub. Breakfast had plenty of variety, from eggs and bacon or sausage to pancakes and healthier choices. I can’t recommend them highly enough. It’s a great place to stay.