Holiday Inn Express Columbus-Dublin by IHG

Horrific is an understatement It honestly pains me leaving 1 star reviews, but it's important for others safety, especially any single men, women, or families that may be staying here. It began by spotting a man in the back of the hotel a business suit that was stumbling, slurring his words and appeared to be drugged (non-willingly). He was the physically dragged back to his room by two women....but that is not all. We picked this hotel that is 100% Smoke Free as its important for anyones health especially children. Despite this guarantee pasted on the website and around the entire hotel, we were woken up at 1am with smoke billowing in our room. It was so stuffy that it caused my children to wake up and vomit from the cigarette smoke trapped in the room, even after opening the window! If this seems dramatic, they have disabilities so this smoke-free guarantee is truly important for their health. And, there was no way to get the smell or physical smoke floating in the air out. Since I was half awake, I called the front desk and they "accomodated" us by putting a fan in the hallway to circulate the smoke out as it was filling the entire 2nd floor with smoke. We rebooked on another floor where we were "guaranteed" there would be no issues for our 2nd night. We received our key, changed rooms and continued our daily errands. Upon returning (about 5 hours later) we were met with a new employee Christine behind the desk. Our room key was not working, so we needed another one. Christine then tells us we need to pay *another* incidental fee and though confused, we agreed to return and pay the fee AGAIN once we out our children in the room so they were not bothering other guests while running through the lobby. About 5 minutes later, Christine calls our room stating that she doesn't believe we have the money to pay. While on the phone with corporate they recommended we stay on the phone with them for our safety and they will attempt to call so we can pay the incidental fee. When Christine calls again and we informed her corporate is walking us through the process to handle "situations such as these", she stated she is now calling the police now to charge us with trespassing on the room we paid for; where we have stayed for now 2 full days. Corporate informs me that the phone lines are disconnected and asks her (over speaker phone) why the lines are disconnected - she points at me and tells me "I don't have to talk to YOU! I'M CALLING DUBLIN PD AND THEYRE GOING TO ARREST YOU". I responded calmly that is fine, we can discuss what's happening with the police when they arrive. Corporate asks her again to simply accept our payment so I can leave the lobby and she screamed "NO" before locking herself in the back room, pacing the lobby around me, and then returning back to the office and locking herself in there again. When the police arrive and speak with her they informed me they can tell there is something strange going on and obliged to stay for *my* families safety. Corporate stayed on the phone and was adamantly apologizing while documenting everything Christine, the police, and I said. Dublin PD was extremely kind, provided us with police stickers, and stayed on the property to keep us safe as they noted Christine was following me and my children down the hallway...which she had to go out of her way to do. Once we got in our car, Christine ran out of the hotel and sped off in her car....I believe she just started her shift... And in case you need to guess, my family is MULTI-racial, I'm ambigious, and my husband is a white-passing Asian man. This was the strangest experience I've ever had in my life and Christine was *thankfully* a failed Karen in the making. If you want to pay for a space and then have the police called on you & have them stay for YOUR safety, this is the hotel for you. Edited to add: Christine was one of the women dragging the man in a gray business suit back into the hotel & another hotel employee in Dublin stated it appeared that Christine may have been on something; very unfortunate.

Thin walls, Thinnest walls of any hotel I have ever stayed at. You can hear your neighbor cough, sneeze, and talk (even when talking quietly). It is almost as if you are in the same room as them. Staff mostly friendly, except for Indian girl who works front desk in morning

Good location zoo, great night sleep. The staff was helpful and friendly. Great breakfast, variety of hot food (pancake machine), clean, well-supplied. We had a large corner room. Bed so comfy and sheets smooth. Clean bathroom good water pressure. Close to zoo and right off Hwy 270. parking lot paved and well light. I would stay there again.

Not a good choice for youth sports or groups We had booked this hotel with our travel baseball team. I would not recommend this hotel for group travel. If the hotel plans to have quiet hours in which adults are not allowed to sit at the tables in the lobby, it should be posted and communicated prior to booking. The time should also remain consistent and not be 10:30pm on a Thursday and then change to 10 pm on a Saturday. They are an hour ahead of our time zone, so it was still pretty early for us. Having booked the hotel as part of a baseball tournament group, I felt as if we were not wanted nor welcome there. If they didn't want to deal with youth sports groups, then they shouldn't have agreed to be a stay and play hotel. We would have chosen another hotel that actually wanted to accommodate our business after taking our money. Our group and the other groups staying there were considerate, respectful, and kept our noise level at a conversation level at all times. The staff was not honest and made us feel very unwelcome during our stay.

Not Kid Friendly Worst experience ever in a hotel. Do not go into this hotel with any children. Staff was rude and threatening. Kids weren't allowed to throw a ball in the pool area or cheer for their favorite sports team in the lobby at 7pm. They wanted to kids all in their own rooms at 8pm. On top of that the room smelled like smoke.