Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Houston NW-Brookhollow by IHG

I used 26,000 loyalty points for this stay, and the problems started as soon as I got to my first room. After tossing and turning because I was itchy, I checked with my phone light and found hair on the sheets and all over the place. Hygiene like that wasn’t acceptable. The shower only gave lukewarm water throughout my three days there, and it took about 10 minutes just to get barely warm water. I asked to change rooms, but the next one had hair on the towels and in the shower, plus baby spiders in the sink. The WiFi problems continued there despite the team trying to fix them. Some of the greeting staff also made me feel unwelcome and unprofessional. They wouldn’t approve my request for a 2 p.m. late checkout, saying 1 p.m. was the latest, even though the hotel didn’t seem full. That felt especially dismissive given my loyalty status. All of this pushed me to find somewhere else for my final night. I feel like the points were wasted, and having to pay for another hotel was deplorable. Side note: the two older Mexican ladies have terrible customer service.

The staff were super friendly, and the towels were nice. Our room was clean and comfortable, though the carpet could use some freshening up. The water pressure was low and it was lukewarm at best in our room. Others in our party didn’t have any complaints.

We had a great stay until checkout, when the front desk worker said she’d checked the room and found it messy. We hadn’t left it that way. I always try to be polite and tidy up after ourselves, especially since I’ve worked in cleaning. We’d left a $100 deposit in cash, but she said she couldn’t return it. Take photos or videos when you leave the room. Some people will lie and take advantage. I’m sharing the photos she took of how she claimed we left it. We weren’t foolish enough to leave a microwave on the floor.

At first, the room seemed nice and the front desk person was funny. Then we found roaches. The rug and chair had stains, too. I’ve never seen roaches in my room in all my adult life. I know this can happen at other places, too, but we only stayed because we had a funeral that day and couldn’t afford another hotel. My husband said we could eat the cost, he loves me like that, but I said no. I had a horrible night and kept checking for bugs. The owners should be ashamed. Free breakfast, not for me. I can’t eat there. Please think of the children and other guests. This hotel should shut down for several days and be sprayed. Nobody should have to pay to stay somewhere with roaches. I’ll speak to upper management about compensation. The Whiteheads.