Holiday Inn Staunton Conference Center by IHG

Holiday Inn Staunton came through for me when my trip to Charlotte NC for Thanksgiving got disrupted by travel delays. I wanted to break up the nighttime drive, but Quality Inn Radford wouldn’t let me check in, even though I’d booked and paid weeks ahead. It was after 11:30 at night, and they said they were already handling the next day’s business. At Holiday Inn Staunton, the staff were friendly and accommodating, and I had a room within minutes. I’ll keep looking to IHG properties when I book hotels.

Most things were great, but the double booking meant someone walked in on us. They offered two free breakfasts, even though there were three of us in the room. That didn’t make sense, and the mix-up wasn’t our fault. It wasn’t even busy.

We made a group block reservation in June for Thursday, Sept 25 through Sunday the 28th. On Monday, Sept 22, I checked the IHG website and saw no upcoming stay, but the hotel assured me by phone that my three-night booking was there. Then, ten minutes from the hotel on Thursday the 25th, they called to say they were overbooked and had cancelled it. All our group events were at the hotel or started from there. They said they’d find something close, but when I arrived, nearby hotels were full and the best option they could offer was 30 minutes up the interstate. They did have a room Thursday and Saturday, and said they’d find us somewhere Friday and pay for it. Fortunately, friends in the group shared a room with us Friday. We took Thursday’s room and were assured we had one for Saturday. They gave us breakfast vouchers for Friday morning, but the restaurant was closed because the hotel was full. I’ve seen better buffets at a Super 8. On Friday morning, the desk said there was no Saturday reservation, and we had to leave with our group, so I couldn’t sort it out. Another person in our group, whose three-day reservation had also been cancelled, got a call Friday afternoon saying a room had opened for Friday and they had rooms for both Friday and Saturday. I called right away. Friday was booked, but they said there was a Saturday room. Since our block was full, they wouldn’t give us the $109 group rate and wanted $279. I agreed just to secure it, planning to discuss the rate later. When we returned Friday afternoon, the same woman who had been working when we arrived Thursday was there. She said she hadn’t booked Saturday under my name, but under some special code. I don’t know how we could have checked in with a mystery code. I explained we’d made another booking that afternoon and needed to cancel it if the original was still in the system. She found the newer reservation and said she’d change its rate. That left me thinking she probably hadn’t made a Saturday booking Thursday after all. We packed up for the second time Saturday morning, went out with the group, then checked into our third room in three days when we came back that afternoon. They gave us the group rate and a free breakfast for Sunday. On Sunday, we were tired of eating microwaved egg wraps in the room and went down for the buffet, only to find the restaurant dark with a sign saying breakfast wasn’t available. The desk told us the breakfast cook hadn’t shown up. I checked IHG Rewards on Sept 29 and still saw no stays. After more than 20 minutes in customer service chat explaining what had happened and why I didn’t have confirmation numbers, the representative said she couldn’t help and would connect me with the complaint department. The chat abruptly ended, I was logged out of the rewards site, and I never got connected. I still haven’t heard from the complaint department. This was the most inept hotel management I’ve encountered. Look elsewhere if you’re planning a group stay in the area.

The beds were fine, but our toilet wasn’t flushing properly from the time we checked in. The next morning it stopped flushing altogether. We called the front desk at 10am and asked for maintenance or a plumber to come while we were out for the day. When we returned 12 hours later, it still didn’t work and nobody had come. After 10pm, we went down and repeated that we’d reported it at 10am and couldn’t use the toilet. Taesha at the front desk responded by defensively avoiding the issue. The hotel was full, so we couldn’t change rooms. All they offered was free breakfast passes, which felt absurd when we couldn’t use the bathroom properly for what comes after eating. She also only offered to give me the points I should have received for booking in the first place. That didn’t feel like real compensation or a suitable fix. My fiancé spent the next 20 minutes tinkering with the toilet, and whatever he had to do meant we had to wash and shower multiple times before it worked. Our weekend was meant to be fun, adventurous, and relaxing, but we left uncomfortable and disappointed.