Candlewood Suites ABILENE by IHG

Not Honest At the beginning of June 2024, we traveled to Abilene to say goodbye to my brother-in-law, who passed away during our stay. We normally stay next door at the La Quinta, but their elevator was not working and my mother can no longer climb stairs easily. La Quinta recommended we try Candlewood, as they were right next door, and had a working elevator. There was absolutely nothing wrong with our stay and the staff were all incredibly friendly. My issue comes after our departure. We live in South Texas and we were driving back home when we received a call asking if we’d left my Samsung Watch in the room. My watch had fallen off the charger the night before and in the rush to get out (it was pouring down rain and imminent flooding, so we were admittedly in a rush) I completely forgot about it. So when I received the call, I was so incredibly grateful for the staff and their honesty and helpfulness when they offered to ship it back to me, and asked if I’d like to receive tracking for the package. I replied yes and thanked them profusely. And felt like an idiot for forgetting anything - I have never left behind anything in a hotel room before. There ends my great experience. I waited two weeks - some places have scheduled days for pick-up and drop-off for packages and then once it’s been picked up, it can take a bit. So I waited two weeks and then I called. I spoke to Sam, who apologized for not sending the tracking and that my watch was sent the same day that they called. I provided an email address (which they already had - tied to the room) and Sam assured me that I would be receiving an email for tracking. The next day, there was no email. So I called again and spoke to Sam again. He apologized again and said that they didn’t have tracking for it, but were working to get it from FedEx. He assured me, yet again, that I would be receiving an email with tracking information. I waited a few days. Nothing. Call again. Spoke to Sam again. Get the same story with more apologies. Wait again, call again. Get mad this time. Tell Sam that I don’t understand - if they shipped it and it wasn’t here, it was lost and they needed to file a claim. He assured me that it did ship, and it was taken to FedEx by their maintenance manager, who was accompanied by their assistant manager, the same or very next day that I left it. He said he would go to FedEx that day, after 3 pm (the time he would be getting off of work) to file a claim since the package was obviously lost. I thanked him and now it is today. I STILL don’t have tracking or a lost package claim, so I call again. Sam answers again. I tell him who I am and what I’m calling about and he transfers me to the assistant manager, Shelby. She asks what she can help me with and I explain it to her. I’m ONLY THEN informed that my watch is STILL sitting in a drawer at the HOTEL because NONE OF THEM ARE GOING TO PAY TO SHIP IT BACK TO ME. I said, that’s fine - just charge it to the card tied to the room. She says they can’t do that. I ask WHY wasn’t I told this before and she says that she’s sorry that I misunderstood. NO. I did not misunderstand. I WAS LIED TO. I have now purchased a UPS label and emailed it to the email address that she sent me. I’m expecting my watch to arrive Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. Cool. I will be glad to have it back. What I am not glad about is the fact that I could have been told I needed to set up a shipping label ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE FIRST CALL. When they called to tell us I’d left the watch, WHY WASN’T I TOLD THEN?! AND WHY WAS I TOLD IT WAS SHIPPED WHEN IT WASN’T?! I’m not going to come on here and post WHY I THINK I wasn’t informed of any of this - but I am going to come on here and blast them for the fact that they lied to me, repeatedly, and that is not okay. I appreciate that I was FINALLY told the truth. After four phone calls of blatant lies. YES, it was my fault that I left my watch. BUT, I’m not the first person to leave a valuable item in a hotel room by mistake. I should have been told the truth from get. Will not be returning to this hotel, ever again.

Cancelled Without Notice! Was in town for graduation and this was one of the only hotels I could book 2 months out. Made a reservation DIRECTLY WITH THE HOTEL WEBSITE. Despite this, when I arrived I found my reservation was automatically cancelled by their system. There were no other hotels available in town due to 4 graduation ceremonies last weekend. Luckily, I found a couple who had just checked in that was nice enough to give us their room as they found lodging down the street. The next morning I found out another 25 people were cancelled as the hotel was overbooked. The front desk tried to blame it on 3rd party booking sites. However, since I booked directly with the hotel, I am not buying it. I got NO notice when my reservation was cancelled despite the fact I had an email confirming my reservation.

Older but clean & great staff! Older establishment but very clean. GREAT STAFF!!. Christy with housekeeping very helpful & informative. All staff friendly. Beds comfortable, hot water fast. No breakfast but coffee is excellent. Would definitely stay again, nice stay.

Very clean Hotel with amazing staff! I called several hotels to accommodate my mom. She has a very bad back and cannot sleep in a bed. I saw on Trip Advisor that Candlewood Suites may have recliners in their guest rooms. I called the hotel in Abilene and talked to Shelby! She went out of her way to find us a room with a recliner and other accommodations for my mom. She is so professional and caring! Our room even had a little kitchen with a microwave, full refrigerator and a stove top. If your looking for a clean hotel with amazing staff and at a great price then I highly recommend this hotel.

Not so much This hotel needs improvement - Rooms need updated the carpet smelled, the elevator dirty, the ceiling had water leaks with painted patches over them, the kitchen drawers wouldn’t stay closed, the tub had a huge rust/brown stain. The only good thing was the ample parking the soft bed and the helpful staff