Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Freeport by IHG

We booked two rooms near each other for our daughter’s birthday, and the desk employee was very nice. But one room felt like the air conditioning was running even though the heat was set to 78 and kept going nonstop. In the other room, the ceiling leaked that morning and soaked a lot of our belongings. We travel for sports all year, and unfortunately we’ll avoid this hotel franchise from now on.

The decent breakfast and pleasant fellow guests were the only bright spots. Our room felt unsafe and deeply unclean, and the problems went well beyond the mess. The walls had crayon marks, scum, and smears, while old hair and grime were on the bathroom faucets, handles, and shower walls. The pull-out couch sheets hadn’t been changed: there was old hair, black specks, crumbs, and even a Sharpie folded into the mattress. The brown-stained mattress was so worn its springs dug into our ribs. After we got home, our family had bedbug bites, especially all over our child’s legs. The climate control didn’t work. Even set to 60°, the room stayed at 78°. When we tried the heat, the air smelled awful and made it hard to breathe, so we had to turn it off. At the gym, only one of the three machines worked, it was a stifling 80°, and the temperature remote didn’t work. The phone in the room was broken, and the hygiene issues kept us from even trying the pool. This was a health hazard. Avoid this location.

The kids had fun in the pool, though it felt a little slimy. Our room was mostly clean, aside from a missed soap spill under the sink. The location was good, and it was cleaner than other hotels in the area we’ve stayed at.

There wasn’t enough parking, especially if you came back late, and the trash outside the entrance smelled rotten. Breakfast was below par, with few choices. In our room, the AC didn’t work. When I asked to switch rooms, the woman at the desk came up, set it to 45, and said it would get better. We went to dinner, but it was still the same when we returned. Later, I saw the housekeeper in the hall and told him clearly, with a do-not-enter sign on the door and a hand signal too, not to come in because my fiancé was on an uninterrupted conference call. I went down the stairs, and my fiancé called to say the housekeeper had entered without warning. I went straight to the desk, where all I got was an apology that he hadn’t known.