Holiday Inn Guadalajara Expo by IHG

We booked 10 days at Holiday Inn Guadalajara and brought friends from abroad, hoping to share the great service we’d had at other IHG hotels. Instead, this was our worst experience with IHG. We came back because we’d had a good stay here years ago, but after this we won’t return. We’ve already contacted IHG Corporate, and they said they’d handle it. I hope they do, because experiences like this hurt the IHG brand. On the first night, our friends reported that the air conditioning wasn’t working. It was still an issue on night two. At midnight, we went to the front desk and spoke with night general manager Luis. We explained it had been going on for days and was unbearable to sleep through, especially with small children in the room. We showed him a photo of the thermostat settings, but he questioned us as if we’d caused the problem ourselves. We asked to move rooms, and he refused. Instead, he said, “I’m going to make the maintenance tech fix it, and if he doesn't fix it tonight, he’s going to go out that door because I am the general manager.” His aggressive tone and treatment of us and his staff were shocking, like a scene from a Narcos episode. The hotel staff later apologized privately and said this wasn’t the first time there’d been issues with this manager. When we mentioned calling IHG Corporate, Luis said, “Call them, I don't care. I know what I'm doing and I'm the person in charge.”

A lovely weekend stay, with good value, great service, and nice outdoor spaces. I’d definitely come back.

The hotel is comfortable, and as always the staff were very kind. The rooms and common areas need more attention to cleaning.

The rooms were very clean, and staff were excellent about helping. The ice machine was out of order, but when I asked at the front desk for a couple of bags, they delivered them within 5-10 minutes every day. There are a couple of tiendas, kind of like 7-Eleven, across the street where you can buy food and drinks; I also got a cooler for my drinks. The stay was okay, though the rooms need updating. The mattresses could use an upgrade; they moved us to another room, but it had the same mattress. There’s no refrigerator or microwave, and if you look closely, the paint job seems poorly done. There’s only one ice machine for the tower, and it wasn’t working.