Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Chester by IHG

The staff were welcoming and ready to help throughout my stay at Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Chester. My room was spacious, clean, and well cared for, and the bedding was comfortable enough for a great night’s sleep. Breakfast was included, with a good range of options, and the area stayed tidy and well stocked. The hotel felt safe, quiet, and relaxing. Great service and comfort for business or leisure travel. I had a wonderful stay and would definitely return and recommend it.

Holiday Inn Express at 2 Bryle place, Chester NY gave me the worst hotel experience of my life, and my complaint is about the concierge, not the room or breakfast. At 9 a.m., my friend, my legally blind brother with a medical condition, and I went back upstairs to shower and pack before the 11 a.m. checkout. Our key cards had been disabled. A maid said this happened all the time and told us to go downstairs for help. There was nobody at the desk. I called out several times, and my friend searched for someone, but no one came. After 10 or 12 minutes, a woman appeared and asked if there was a problem. By then I was frustrated and may have raised my voice explaining that our keys no longer worked and we still had two hours before checkout. She immediately told us to get out. I said our things were upstairs and I needed to give my brother his medication before checkout. She called the Chester police. One officer spoke with me and another spoke with her. Even after I explained what happened, we were told to leave. The officers followed us to the room, wouldn’t let us shower, left the door open while we packed, watched us load the car, then followed us for several blocks. We were treated like criminals. It felt like Holiday Inn was cutting corners by hiring people with no customer service experience, who think they can treat guests like garbage. I’ll write a formal letter to the Holiday Inn corporate office. I hope nobody else is made to feel like a criminal.

When our toddler got sick during the stay, Lauren at the front desk helped my wife and me through a stressful moment with real kindness and calm. She made sure we had what we needed and even managed to cheer him up while he felt so ill. Her warmth made everything much easier, and we’re incredibly grateful. We won’t forget how much she helped our family. She was truly exceptional.

We were very happy with our first four nights, from January 1 to January 4, 2026. The manager was friendly and professional, the room cleaning was perfect, and the overall stay was excellent. The Ukrainian woman working in the breakfast area also did a fantastic job. From opening until closing, she kept the buffet full and constantly replenished the food. We regretted adding one more night. On January 5, our key stopped working at 9:30 a.m., even though checkout wasn’t until 11. At 9:10, the breakfast buffet was already empty, and the staff member didn’t refill it, despite breakfast being available until 9:30. There was nothing left to eat, so for the first time we left hungry. I told the manager, who said she would speak with the employee, but offered no solution or compensation. Starting at 11:10 on checkout day, housekeeping and then the front desk kept knocking. It felt like we were being pushed out. We had a small child with us, so packing took longer. If I hadn’t already stood in line at the front desk after breakfast just to get our door key reactivated, we probably would have checked out on time. That one bad day overshadowed all the good ones.