Holiday Inn Express North Conway by IHG

The staff were pleasant, especially the breakfast staff, but the room was in terrible condition and needed a major renovation. It smelled musty as soon as we entered, and there were water stains in several places. The lampshades were badly worn, some bulbs didn’t work, and the bathroom light flickered on and off for at least 20 minutes. The curtains were in rough shape, and the room phone didn’t work either. I’m an IHG member and was extremely disappointed. I sent the hotel several emails and got no call or reply. I also contacted IHG and heard nothing back. I don’t usually review places on GOOGLE, but this was so disappointing I felt I had to. I wonder why they’re “temporary closed.” Either way, my emails went out while they were still open, and this isn’t acceptable.

The phone in our room never worked all weekend, which left me worried about safety. I raised the issue with at least five people over four weeks, and only got someone to respond after I threatened to contact the fire department. I did report it to the North Conway fire department because I don’t want this happening to anyone else. In an emergency, how could the front desk reach guests in their rooms? They didn’t have both our cell numbers, and couldn’t call everyone’s cell in an emergency. There was no refund, only points. The lobby smelled like a wet fireplace when we arrived, the hallways smelled too, and the elevator was filthy. Our room had no blow dryer, so I called the desk, but the room phone was dead. I tried my cell three times and got no answer. When I went to the desk, they said people steal the dryers, so they don’t keep them in rooms. We should’ve been told at check-in. I also mentioned the phone problem, and they said the phones sometimes stop working when the laundry room gets hot. Stay away for your safety.

We cut our trip short after checking in. I’d planned to stay two nights, but changed our plans within 30 minutes. This was the worst Holiday Inn Express I’ve stayed at, and possibly my worst hotel experience in the U.S. The whole place smelled musty, and our room was worse. The shower curtain reeked of mildew, there was actual mold under the bath mat, and old, crushed gum was stuck in the carpet. It made us wonder whether anything had been cleaned. The bed blanket had a greasy black shoe print on it. The heat and AC wouldn’t work properly. It blew cold air constantly regardless of the settings, and the room dropped to 58°F overnight. My kids were cold and uncomfortable. When I asked for help, the desk employee was rude and dismissive, saying, “Well, it’s summer, so…” as if that made the lack of basic climate control okay. The room phones were broken too, so we had to go downstairs each time we needed something, which also raised safety concerns. I’ve found other Holiday Inn Express locations reliable and clean, but this one was a disaster. Between the room conditions and the desk’s attitude, we couldn’t wait to leave. Save yourself the headache and pick somewhere else in North Conway.

The nice part of our stay was the breakfast employee, who was super friendly. He offered to help my son at the juice machine and checked whether anyone minded him cleaning under another table while we ate. The woman who checked us in after 7pm gave us a different impression. She was talking with people by the coffee area when we arrived, possibly about work, to give her the benefit of the doubt. She said she’d be with us, and we waited about five minutes. Then she had trouble with the computer, rushed through check-in, and mentioned there was no ice machine on the second floor. One of our two room keys didn’t work. When we were gathering our luggage to leave, housekeeping knocked about five minutes before checkout. I found that presumptuous and rude, and I’d never had that happen before checkout. I’d booked a one-night stay as a surprise treat for my kids, but the room was dirty and the heat made it miserable. The floor hadn’t been vacuumed, dust had collected along the baseboards around the whole room, and I found a bean or seed that wasn’t ours. There was also a hair in one of the beds when we turned down the blankets. The heat stayed on high and we were so hot we didn’t sleep at all. Opening the window barely helped, since it only moved two inches. We tried the AC, but the room kept heating to 80° anyway. Ants crawled over me while I sat with the kids by the pool. I’d had a wonderful stay here with my sister and a friend about ten years ago, but I won’t be back. After a fun day elsewhere, I couldn’t wait to get home and write this.