Holiday Inn Express Biddeford by IHG

Across all the Holiday Inn Express hotels I’ve stayed at, this was by far the worst. We got in from the airport at 11:30 PM to find the thermostat set to 54 degrees and running. The night manager brought us two extra blankets when we told him, but couldn’t offer space heaters. The room’s heater worked so poorly that it took eight hours to reach the mid sixties. Management said this corner room is often extra cold in winter. That’s no good reason to rent a room that leaves customers close to frostbite.

I usually manage to check in early at Holiday Inns, my preferred hotels, so this was frustrating. We were visiting family around Maine and often switch hotels every night. In Biddeford, we arrived earlier than usual, around 1 PM in late October, outside tourist season. The hotel looked empty and clearly had vacant rooms, but they wouldn’t let us check in. We had to carry our luggage while shopping and visiting family, and I can’t see why we were inconvenienced.

The room had a really strong, noxious chemical deodorizer smell. It made me think about the warnings people hear about breathing in and absorbing odorizing sprays. The shower products were another problem. This was a handicap room, and because I’m disabled I needed the shower chair in the bathtub. With the shampoos and body washes fastened to the back wall, I couldn’t turn around far enough to reach them. Who thought that was a sensible place for them? We also arrived in the rain to find a Land Rover parked under the Portico roof, with two motorcycles beside it. There wasn’t enough room to get into my truck from both sides, so my wife had to unload it onto one of the tiny luggage carts. Other guests in the lot couldn’t get under cover until I moved, and the Land Rover stayed there even after we returned from dinner. I assume it may belong to the hotel owner or a manager. Either way, someone had a personal parking spot at the inconvenience of guests. Not a great experience, and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you absolutely must.

A typical hotel for a tourist area. The room was clean, though the light above the sink was out. The free breakfast was fine, nothing fancy.