Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Harrington-Dover area, DE by IHG

The king suite was a letdown. The shower had stains, and neither the heating nor the air conditioning worked properly. The TV was the biggest issue for me, it was extremely small and out of date. The breakfast buffet also didn't seem to include what was advertised, since there were no eggs or bacon.

I booked this place because my son had a nearby sports event. Everyone provided top-notch customer service, and I was pleasantly surprised by how clean and updated the rooms were.

I've traveled a lot and stayed in plenty of hotels, but this recent Holiday Inn visit was among my worst, especially for what it cost. The first room smelled strongly of urine, and changing rooms didn't help much. In the next one, there was old food in the mini fridge, a dirty bathroom, what looked like mold on the ceiling, and blood stains on a pillowcase. At these rates, I expected much better cleanliness and care. I'm in that area twice a year, but I wouldn't recommend staying here unless housekeeping and quality control improve significantly.

The room itself was quiet enough above me, but despite my profile requesting upper floors, they put me on the first floor and noise from upstairs woke me. Room 105 smelled like dirty, sweaty feet. The blackout curtains were a bit short and didn't fully close, and there was a bottle of juice in the freezer compartment, possibly left by the previous guest. The room Wi-Fi was weak. I was charged an extra $40 without an explanation. Other than those things, it was all good as usual.