Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Milwaukee Airport by IHG

We got one of the rooms that had been remodeled, and it was beautiful. The front desk staff were super nice. Fresh-ground coffee and a hot breakfast were the best part, such a nice way to start the morning.

The pool area was great for little kids, though it only goes as deep as 4 feet. The hot tub didn’t get very hot. Breakfast was standard fare, and the coffee was great, brewed fresh for each cup. The room and bathroom were fine, pretty unremarkable. The lampshades were falling apart, but that didn’t get in the way of anything. I chose not to bathe my kids in the tub. The reviews had made me nervous, but this was what I’d expect from a Holiday Inn Express.

The air conditioning didn’t work on Friday night either, and it wasn’t snowing then. Looking back at the reviews, it seems to be an ongoing problem. We’d like a full refund. Our room was next to the pool, with 15-20 kids screaming outside our window until it closed. The room was unbearably hot even though it was 30 outside. The fire alarm went off at 7:30 p.m. for apparently no reason. We asked to move because of the heat, but were told no other rooms were available, even though their air conditioning wasn’t working either. They still booked us into our room with no working AC. Another woman in line at the desk said her room was extremely hot too. We were offered fans. If it hadn’t been snowing all night, we would have left for another hotel. We asked about a refund, but the manager doesn’t work weekends. What kind of manager has weekends off during the busiest time? The poor desk clerk was doing her best, but she was the only one working. They say no smoking everywhere, yet you can get a contact high just walking through the halls. We won’t stay here again.

The AC unit was useless. I was burning up in the room with it turned all the way down in December. I got a fan from the front desk, but that didn’t work either. The woman at the desk was really nice and offered to move me when I first brought it up. I didn’t feel like going back downstairs to ask for another fan, though. They have breakfast, a pool, laundry machines, and other things. With better AC, this could be a good place.