Holiday Inn Express and Suites-Cincinnati NE - Red Bank Road by IHG

Edit / Update: General Manager Stuart Ward helped us. Thank you. We only needed a folio, a basic property-issued document confirming the guest name and stay dates. Pricing wasn’t required, but our company needs official hotel folios to pay employees per diem, which I believe is standard practice across the industry. Trying to get one turned into the most unprofessional experience I’ve seen. Hotel staff repeatedly hung up on us, cursed at us, told us to figure out our own jobs, gave us fake or wrong phone numbers and email addresses, spoke insultingly, and refused to help. Escalating to IHG corporate support didn’t improve things. Those representatives were just as dismissive and unhelpful, which is concerning. This may violate IHG Brand Standards and Service Promise expectations. The standards call for courteous, professional interactions, accurate paperwork, and reasonable help with post-stay requests. Refusing a standard folio, sharing false contact details, and treating guests with hostility don’t meet those expectations and reflect badly on Holiday Inn Express as a whole. Our large organization uses IHG hotels across the country very frequently, often daily. After many years working with hotels nationwide, I’ve never faced this level of resistance, hostility, or incompetence over such a routine request. It’s made us question whether we’ll keep using this property and raised concerns for us about broader brand oversight.

The gym is OK, with a few treadmills, ellipticals, dumbbells, benches, and one regular bike, not a spin bike. The pool was closed, and it looks much smaller than the picture suggests. Still, the hotel was clean, newly renovated, and quiet, and the hot breakfast was good and well stocked. A great place to stay.

When we arrived, the front desk employee was rude to my adult daughter, who had walked in with her well-behaved 20-pound dog on a leash. He immediately asked whether it was a service dog. I said no, and he snapped that dogs weren’t allowed and told her to take it outside. I explained that when we called on March 5 to reserve, we’d specifically asked more than once whether they allowed both our small dog and our cat, and the agent had said yes. He demanded paperwork proving the dog was a service animal, though I’d never said it was one. When I repeated what the booking agent had told us, he said he didn’t know who I’d spoken to. It was whoever answered the number listed on Google. He did confirm that we had a reservation. Holiday Inn needs to train its employees better. We got rude service at the desk and bad information from whichever booking agents they use. Worse, the employee violated ADA laws for service animals. You can’t ask whether an animal is registered as a service animal or demand proof or paperwork. That’s completely out of line and illegal. I’ve worked in customer service, and there are only two specific questions you’re allowed to ask. If this keeps happening, you’re looking at a lawsuit. I worry a disabled person with a service animal could be treated this way by you or your employees someday.

I came to town for work, reviewing engineering on the building being built across the street at med pace. I planned to stay here for a few nights, so I parked in their lot, thinking that was OK. When I came out at 11:00 o’clock to check in and get my room, my vehicle had been towed. The manager was a complete jerk and showed no sympathy. The tow cost 180 dollars, so I got my vehicle and stayed at a different hotel for the next 3 nights. Now I’m telling the other vendors I work with and schedule to the site not to stay here. That 180 dollar tow is going to cost them a lot more. I don’t recommend this place. Don’t stay here !!!