Holiday Inn Express & Suites South Hill by IHG

I left after two rooms failed to feel acceptable. The first had bugs, and the next had hair across the bed, a dim bathroom, a broken door, a missing thermostat on the wall, and a bad smell. I didn't want to try a third room because the first two made me think they were all in poor shape. No one apologized. They seemed surprised and kept asking which rooms. The outside appearance doesn't fool me. The area confirmed my impression, and I won't return or recommend staying here. I don't understand how the rating is 4.5.

The breakfast was decent, with real bacon, and there’s a gym and laundry on site. My room was huge, and the water was hot after they finally fixed an issue, though it took two days. Cleaning seemed hit or miss, and I ran out of supplies before they replaced them. There was no bath mat when I arrived, so I had to ask for one. The location was pretty bad. Around it, there was basically a Loves gas station with a McDonald’s and Subway attached, plus a Mexican restaurant a block away. It did the job if you're passing through tired and need sleep. For a weeklong stay like mine, expect to bring things to the staff's attention.

After we were moved to a nicer room the next morning, a group of men gathered in the outdoor sitting area below us late that night. A sign said it closed at 10 p.m., but at 11:15 we first complained about the noise. My daughter told the receptionist we had a long drive in the morning and couldn't sleep. The noise continued, and the men looked up as if trying to see who had complained. I stopped feeling safe and called a second time when it became unbearable. We'd arrived at 1:30 a.m. after a nine-hour drive. The tub had mold, so we couldn't shower. I showed the receptionist a photo and asked for another room, but was told none were available, only that we could move in the morning. When we checked out, the gentleman I spoke with wasn't helpful and made it sound like we should have left if dissatisfied. I'd like to speak to a manager, and hope he wasn't the manager.

The breakfast workers and the people who cleaned our room were kind and helpful, but the check-in problems were enough that we won't stay again. We arrived a day early and waited about 30 minutes before the overnight concierge came out. She helped find us a room, or so I thought: the key cards she gave us opened an already occupied room. Thankfully the night lock was on, so we didn't walk in on the people inside. After that we got the right keys and finally slept after traveling. The next day we went to family events. When we came back, our key no longer worked and we had to make another unnecessary trip to the front desk. There was little to no apology.