Holiday Inn Express Richmond Downtown by IHG

Mirza made check-in exceptionally quick, and he was friendly, courteous, and helpful at the front desk. The rooms were spacious and clean, and the location suited our needs. We also had a pleasant chat with Barbara from housekeeping as we were leaving. Every staff interaction was nice, though I’m sorry I didn’t catch everyone’s name. We had a delightful stay and will return when we’re in the area.

Breakfast had a decent range of choices, nothing especially fancy, but it did the job. The room was really clean, the showers were nice, and it was unexpectedly quiet at night with no outside noise. Pretty good stay.

The front desk man was polite and told me when the boss would be back, but breakfast was the main reason we chose this hotel and my autistic transgender partner left without coffee or food after being questioned. We spent two nights here. Our first night was fine, though there was debris on the carpet and something sticky on a table. The next morning a different woman was working in the breakfast area. She seemed to assume I wasn’t a guest because my coat had stains, and asked whether I was staying there and for my room number. A man in pajamas was also there. When my partner came down, the staff questioned her too. She was wearing a dress with a cute oversweater, so I don’t believe my stained coat explained it. I think they discriminated against us because of our LGBTQ orientation. I have another booking through Priceline next week and hope I can get a refund so I can stay somewhere that doesn’t discriminate against transgender people. It was a huge disappointment, especially in the Richmond area. Since a key card is needed even for the elevator, it seems security must be poor if they thought two people had sneaked in. The coat she judged was a Nike one I wore to the Olympics three seasons ago, and it’s worth more than a year of her pay.

Our baby shower turned out amazing, thanks to John and his crew. We were in a bind because another venue had double-booked us, but John’s team got us booked the same day and met all our needs, going above and beyond. They were so friendly and helpful that the whole event was enjoyable. I’d book here again, 10 out of 10.