Candlewood Suites Indianapolis East by IHG

The actual staff were phenomenal. Shoutout to Krissi, Tonya, and Beatrice, who made our stay worthwhile, and I feel bad they have to work in such a toxic environment. There are roaches throughout, the owner is rude, and the owner’s minions are unprofessional. Management is absolutely ridiculous. They advertise this as an extended-stay hotel, but seem to have an identity crisis, since they kicked several families out in the middle of a winter storm and travel advisory. Do not stay here. If I could give negative stars, I would. I’ll be retracting my IHG membership and won’t patronize another of their establishments.

The bigger problem here is management. There was a constant drip from condensation or a leak at the exhaust fan directly over the toilet. Sitting there meant getting a cold drop on my back every ten seconds or so, and I had to remember to wipe the seat or get another cold, wet surprise. It seemed obvious this hadn’t just started and had been noticed before without being fixed. I can’t see how a competent cleaning staff would miss it. Maybe management ignores it, can’t fix it, doesn’t check when staff say it’s fixed, or doesn’t train staff to report obvious problems. I mentioned it and got the usual “I’ll notify maintenance” response. I bet it’s still not fixed. Maybe this review will be the first management hears about it, which would be another management problem. Otherwise, it’s a pretty standard CWS across the highway from an HIE, in an area being somewhat gentrified. The parking lot is tight to get into. A narrow drive is shared with a Culvers, so there’s a lot of traffic, and delivery semis make it tighter still. Highway noise was low in my first-floor middle room, though it might be worse higher up where the overpass is more level with the traffic. All in all, it wasn’t a bad hotel, but with all the choices in the city, I’ll stay somewhere else next time.

The room was clean and I didn’t see any bugs, but it was noisy enough on the 3rd floor that I could barely sleep even with earplugs. There was a cooktop but no microwave. The staff were all new and couldn’t give me the code to use the lobby computer. When I gave the morning desk clerk my last name and room number, she called me by the wrong name. I’m checking out early.

A German Cockroach on the kitchen wall greeted me as soon as I stepped into room 415. I was excited to stay because the hotel had just been renovated, but seeing that was an immediate reason to stay away. We’ll never book here again.