Holiday Inn Express & Suites Watsonville by IHG

The enclosed pool and spa stood out, and the hotel supplied pool towels, which was a nice touch. But the decking around the pool was extremely slippery and hazardous. Our child fell several times. The free breakfast was impressive and well maintained, with pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage links, breakfast potatoes, drinks, coffee, cereal, yogurt, and fresh fruit. We often bring our children to this region and have found Watsonville stays better value than Santa Cruz or Monterey. We usually book the Best Western, but tried this property at $120 a night for a double queen room. We arrived to check in at 2 PM and the room wasn't ready, even though the mostly empty parking lot made the hotel look nearly vacant. We'd seen earlier guest comments saying check-in tends to be closer to 3 PM. After an hour's wait, we got into the room. It was spotless and had a flat-screen television, compact refrigerator, microwave, and immaculate restroom. The mattresses were very comfortable, the night was peaceful, and the air conditioning worked perfectly. We plan to return and would recommend it to friends and family.

Clean and simple, with a nice pool and breakfast. It's a short drive to everything and costs less than the hotels on the coast. Tech support got me connected to the faulty Wi-Fi in four minutes, super helpful.

A nice place to stay, with comfortable beds, a gym, and a pool. Olga has given us great customer service over the last month. She always has answers to our questions and does what she can to make you feel at home. Thanks, Olga, for the great service. 10 star.

We booked a King Suite at the Holiday Inn Express in Watsonville for a week, expecting room for three adults, two in the king bed and one on the pull-out couch. The suite was advertised for at least four, but the pull-out was unusable, with no cushioning between the fabric and springs. It felt like lying on metal. After one night we asked the front desk to move us because the setup wasn't suitable for three. The response was dismissive, basically, “It’s a pull-out bed, what did you expect?” I've stayed in plenty of hotels and slept on pull-outs as a Titanium Elite with Marriott, theres no Marriots in Watsonville😭. This one wasn't up to industry standard. Pull-outs can be decent, but this one wasn't. We were in town to say goodbye to my dying grandfather, and coming back from the hospital to a room without three usable places to sleep was the last thing we needed. We checked out and moved to a nearby Hilton, where the pull-out bed was perfectly fine. We had prepaid through Hotels.com, and the hotel refused to check us out early because it would have triggered a refund. We had to push hard just to get written confirmation that we left because the accommodations weren't suitable. The whole thing was needlessly stressful. Staff hid behind “policy” and showed no empathy. Between the poor pull-out and terrible customer service, it was a very disappointing stay. I hope they feel good about charging a grieving family for a room they couldn't use. Boooooo.