Holiday Inn Express & Suites St Joseph by IHG

We had a well arranged suite, and the chair, couch, and bed were all comfortable. The hotel is being renovated, but Marcia, the breakfast hostess, made up for that. The hot eggs and sausage gravy were some of the best hotel food I’ve had.

My son’s birthday stay was ruined in several ways, and I’m so sad. We’d saved up to do something special, but the hotel and corporate response left me feeling bullied and dismissed. I have all the messages, and it’s obnoxious that IHG says the property carries its name, yet claims it isn’t their hotel and they have to stand behind whatever decisions it made. They won’t resolve it. That’s their policy, apparently, for hotels they don’t manage or control, with no standards to meet. It feels like a free for all. In our private room jacuzzi, the jets blew chunky sludge onto us. They offered to clean it at night during our one-night visit, even though, by the person’s own words, it should already have been clean. They also offered to move us, which would have taken time from our short stay and meant packing, moving, and unpacking at night before leaving in the morning. I didn’t trust that the other room’s jacuzzi would be clean either. Since I didn’t accept those options, they gave us a 20% discount and nothing more to make it right. That was unacceptable. When we left in the morning, construction materials filled the halls, so we couldn’t get a cart through. We carried our bags out and kept tripping over things while workers yelled to each other and shifted materials around. Each time we came back through, the halls had been filled again. It happened all three times.

The lake-view balcony king room had just been redone and was enormous, the biggest room I’ve ever stayed in. It felt well worth the price, and we’d book it again. The hotel is under renovation, so there are plenty of rough patches elsewhere.

The location is the one good thing I can point to. The hotel was a mess, and I understand there’s remodeling going on, but it doesn’t have to be this bad. Breakfast was inedible: nasty sausage, powdered eggs, and terrible gravy. I threw out my plate and settled for a cinnamon roll. I can’t recommend staying here.