Holiday Inn Express & Suites Roanoke – Civic Center by IHG

We arrived at 1am, checked in, got our keys, and were told we could park anywhere outside. We did, then checked out at 9am and found our car had been towed. The manager showed us early morning footage and said Dunkin had towed it. She said she didn’t know why Dunkin thought that side of the lot was theirs, but that they tow cars parked there. There were no signs, and that space looked like part of the hotel lot, with Dunkin right next to it. How were we supposed to know? It’s the hotel staff’s job to tell guests where they can’t park. This sounded like an ongoing issue, so why weren’t guests warned? When we explained that the person who checked us in hadn’t mentioned restricted spaces, the manager just repeated that Dunkin had towed the car and said she didn’t know what to tell us. She was holding a vape and didn’t apologize. We had to pay $220 to get the car back from the tow yard. Very poor customer service.

The place is clean, modern, and spacious, and you can tell the well-trained, friendly staff take pride in looking after guests. My wife travels more than I do and said this HIE was every bit as good as the more expensive brands she’s used. We highly recommend it, and it’ll be our first choice when we come to Roanoke.

I don’t usually review hotels, but this Holiday Inn Express & Suites made enough of an impression that I wanted to write one. The breakfast was easily the best I’ve had at a hotel like this, with a pancake station, scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, muffins, yogurt, and more. The hotel and room were clean and well organized, and the bed was soft and plush like a cloud. For the price, I was really impressed. The location is convenient, even if there isn’t much special about the surroundings. It’s also next to a Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, which could be useful for a lot of guests.

The room was clean, breakfast was very good, and I liked the security setup: the elevator only worked with a room keycard, and the front door locked at 11pm, so you needed a keycard to enter. The lobby coffee was the best I’ve ever had at a hotel. The machines grind the beans fresh, and you can see them doing it. Check-in was a headache. I was asked for photo ID, but mine still had my old local address. I explained that I’d moved more than an hour away and gave the new address, but the gentleman wouldn’t give me a key or check me in without an ID showing that address. I found an out-of-date voter registration card with my current address, and finally got checked in after showing an email receipt from the heating and air company that had visited my address in July. My confirmation email should have said “no local address”; if it had, this wouldn’t have been a problem.