Holiday Inn Express Coventry S - West Warwick Area by IHG

The room made it hard to rest: the walls were thin enough that I could hear what was happening next door, the shower pressure was poor, and the bathroom had stains. The sheets didn’t feel fresh, and a strange smell hit me as soon as I opened the door. The lobby looked nice in online pictures, but in person it was dated and not very clean. The whole place felt run-down and poorly maintained from the moment I arrived. When I asked for extra towels, staff were slow and seemed uninterested. I didn’t feel they cared about guests’ experience. It was a huge disappointment, not worth the money, and I wouldn’t recommend staying here or come back.

The location is the main thing going for this Holiday Inn Express. BJ’s Wholesale is right next door, Home Depot and Walmart are nearby, and it’s just off I-95, so it’s handy when travelling through. Breakfast was fine, and the small gym was okay. The pool water looked a bit foamy when I was there, which put me off using it. As a Diamond member, I appreciated the upgrade. Getting a suite at a Holiday Inn Express is unusual, and having a proper bath was a nice surprise. But the suite’s kitchenette area had only a microwave and fridge, with no stove, utensils, plates, or glasses. It felt unfinished and wasn’t usable as a proper setup. There wasn’t a kettle or any tea or coffee in the room either, which I’d normally expect even at a basic hotel. The heating was the biggest problem. It was so noisy and kept switching from hot to cold air while regulating the temperature. I had to turn it off to sleep, which isn’t acceptable. For the price, I found the stay disappointing. I’d give it two stars and wouldn’t go out of my way to stay here again.

The rooms feel like they could use an update, and the Wi-Fi was unreliable now and then. Still, the staff were friendly and accommodating, and the atmosphere was comfortable. For a short visit, it was a decent stay.

The staff were friendly and flexible around breakfast. On Saturday, they opened five minutes early when I got there ahead of time. On our last day, we came down with only about five minutes left, and they checked whether we were finished before taking everything down. The rooms were clean, the A/C was ice cold on hot days, and the location made it easy to get on and off the highway and reach the things we wanted to do. But we paid a high price compared with other Holiday Inns, and the stay had plenty of problems. The pool was closed. On day one, I noticed there was no do not disturb sign, so the front desk said they’d leave a note asking for no service. We returned late to find the room hadn’t been serviced, but there was a sign now. On day two, we took it down because we wanted service, and still didn’t get any. On day three, I told the desk I wanted the room serviced and that the shower soap was empty. We got back late to an unserviced room with no soap, and none of our key cards worked. We had to get new cards because they thought we’d checked out, even though all our things were still in the room. There’s no bathroom fan, so humidity lingers, and the shower ceiling had water damage and cracks in the corners.