Holiday Inn Phoenix West

The front desk staff seemed personally annoyed that I'd checked in, and the complimentary breakfast was a sad selection of what looked like clearance pastries from a gas station, plus coffee that tasted as if a bean had just waved hello to hot water. The walls were so thin we heard conversations, TVs, coughing, and what might have been a sneeze on the third floor. The room smelled of wet carpet, old smoke, and disappointment. The online photos looked like they came from around 1997, taken with a very forgiving camera. The carpet was mysteriously sticky, so I was afraid to walk barefoot. Furniture had scratches, stains, and dents, as if it had survived decades of bad decisions and needed to retire. The shower offered three settings: cold disappointment, boiling lava, and sudden emotional betrayal. The whole stay felt less like booking a hotel and more like signing up for a cheap survival challenge. Save your money, sanity, and maybe your immune system. Stay somewhere else.

The pool was filthy, the jacuzzi was out of order, and the hotel was super noisy. The location felt like a bad area, and there was only one washer and dryer, with a two-hour wait to use them. Housekeeping didn't come unless I asked, and even after I did, they still didn't clean. I had to request fresh towels. I regret staying here.

The location was hard to navigate. Unless you're coming from one particular interstate, the hotel entrance is off a back alley that's difficult to find and sometimes felt unsafe. I saw four or five stray cats in the parking lot at different times. Choose another hotel. The place was old, dingy, and run-down, and the bathroom shower leaked constantly. At 5 foot 7 inches, I couldn't stand under the shower head because it was too low. There was black mold behind the toilet and poor lighting: just four lights in the unit, one overhead bathroom light, a wall sconce by the suite door, a table lamp, and a small reading light. There were no towel bars or dresser drawer pulls. The hairdryer was rusty and smelled of smoke. A pillowcase was stained with makeup when we arrived. There was no room service when we needed extra supplies; we were told to pick up clean towels and other items at the front desk.

We left within two hours of checking in, and this was the worst hotel stay I've ever had. We were in Phoenix for my wife's graduation, a huge milestone, and had booked three nights, March 6-9. Instead of a celebratory weekend, we ended up scrambling to find somewhere safe for our family. I don't usually write very negative reviews, and I'm normally jokey, but this felt misleading and unsafe enough that families should know about it. The property looked nothing like its online photos when we came off the 51 offramp. In the lot next to it, people were openly doing drugs and making out. A vehicle had a sign reading “Honk if you’re horny” with a phone number, and the area around the property felt chaotic and unsafe. I'm not a luxury traveler. I served in the military and have slept in rough places. I just expect somewhere clean and safe, and this was neither. We checked in anyway, hoping for better. My wife said our kids were at the pool playing with a cat, so I went out expecting the pool shown in the photos. The deck was dirty, the nearby “gym” looked neglected, and our kids were trying to coax a stray cat from behind the pool chemical storage area. The gate opened straight toward the same lot where the drug activity was happening. The room wasn't reassuring either. The beds looked like someone had just been lying on them. There were footprints and hair in the tub and on the bathroom floor, the door frame looked previously forced open, and the latch was loose. We couldn't safely stay there with our family. I contacted Capital One, who we booked through, right away. They were concerned enough to escalate it to the hotel. The front desk manager, Lillian/Lily, told them no refund would be issued. I walked off to cool down, and a kind woman with the staff asked me in Spanish, “Does it smell funny in your room?” I replied in Spanish, “yes. And the bathroom is dirty.” She came to look and was surprised, saying she'd send someone. Someone later cleaned the bathroom. It looked clean, but still smelled as if it had been wiped with a dirty rag. When we checked out in person, we were told, “We would have refunded you, but corporate wouldn’t allow it.” That contradicted what Capital One had been told and made us more frustrated. With family traveling with us, we had to quickly book somewhere else. We lost more than $700 on this hotel, other family members lost money on their bookings, and we spent $1,900 on a last-minute Airbnb so our families had a safe place to stay. I'll upload photos so people can compare the actual conditions with the hotel's online listings. I'm writing from a sense of consumer responsibility, not just anger. If the hotel makes this right, I'd be happy to update the review to reflect a fair resolution. Until then, families especially should research carefully before booking.