Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Dayton South - I-675 by IHG

The breakfast attendant was extremely friendly and kept things moving, but the food was only okay. The pancake machine, usually the coolest part of staying at a Holiday Inn Express, didn’t work. The juices were very watered down, and everything else tasted microwaved and not good. I chose the hotel because of its name and expected better. The front desk staff were on their phones in a room beside the desk, and at checkout the woman told me to drop my key in the box without looking up or coming out. The room looked all right at first, but the blankets and carpet had stains and there was hair on the bathroom floor. We kept our shoes on, and the carpet still made them dirty. I wouldn’t stay again.

Carlo greeted me when I arrived and made check-in easy. He was polite and accommodating, and handled my associates as they arrived too. He got my room request exactly right, which was a thoughtful gesture. My employer had booked me here after I’d had a bad experience at another hotel. The lobby was updated and very clean, and my clean room met expectations. It was quiet, with no bothersome noise.

I checked in Friday, February 19, with checkout at noon the next day. Around 9:45 Saturday morning I stepped out to my truck for about 15 minutes. When I returned, the door to my second-floor king room was cracked open, and a cleaner was sitting on my couch beside my visible belongings, apparently eating breakfast. I asked why he was in the room. He only said sorry, then hurried out, saying he’d tell management. The front desk told me nobody should have been in there. I spent the next hour going through my things instead of relaxing before a drive, and I was annoyed. Around noon, a woman came to my room and seemed to be rushing me out after the earlier interruption. She said she’d discuss it with the general manager. When I left, the same cleaner was working in the room next door. The pool looked nice, but I didn’t feel comfortable leaving my room again before checkout. There wasn’t even a microwave for $150 a night. I usually stay at Hiltons, and I wonder whether the whole chain is like this. I don’t think I’d stay again. Management can reach out if they want me as a customer in the future.

The pool left us with cuts and bruises on our knuckles, elbows, and knees because its walls and floor were extremely rough. Tiles were falling off the cheap-looking pool room walls, the jacuzzi was out of order with algae growing in it, and the supposedly heated pool was freezing. We were told the pool heating had been broken for a while, but the hotel doesn’t say that on its official website. Our room was clean, though we kept getting locked out because the key cards stopped working and had to be replaced. The in-room coffee machine was broken too. We booked two nights for my cousin’s birthday so we could swim and relax. I don’t recommend this hotel.