Holiday Inn Express & Suites Raleigh NE - Medical Ctr Area by IHG

Worst IHG Hotel ever My husband and I exclusively stay at IHG hotels and have always been comfortable recommending them to others until this most recent stay. Should we ever have another experience such as this we will be changing to another chain of hotels. To begin with the air in the lobby was so strongly scented with a fake flowery smell it was terrible. In the hallway to our room you could actually taste the scent. This only got worse within the room and the cause of it was discovered to be air fresheners inside the heating/cooling unit. The kind people use in their cars. (See attached pictures). We were able to remove them (put them in a drawer) and open a window or else we would have been unable to stay in the room. I can only imagine the odors this was covering up as the room was absolutely filthy. ( See pictures) . We had already found the gentleman at the front desk to be less than helpful and it was a safe assumption all rooms would be equally disgusting so we did not make a request to change. There are multiple other IHG hotels in the area and we would strongly encourage choosing a different one. The one positive note was a friendly staff member serving a very good breakfast.

Great place to stay!! Wonderful breakfast and nice staff. One of the home office staff really went out of their way to help us with some issues and during a family member stay @ hospital!! Thanks all. The breakfast and service were good and large rooms.

NO TRUCK PARKING and Rude Employees At approx. 9:30am on 01/01/2023, I called the hotel directly and spoke to a female at front desk before I booked non-refundable reservation for that night. I was advised that they had parking for a box truck behind the hotel. I was also advised that less than 50% of their rooms were booked; so, parking the truck would not be an issue. I arrived at the hotel at approx 5:30pm. There were approx 5 vehicles parked in the front of the hotel including employee vehicles. I proceeded to the back parking lot. You have to drive up a hill with multiple speed bumps to reach the back parking lot. There is no space to turn around (especially if there is another truck already parked in the back parking lot). There is an entrance to the back parking lot. However, there is gate that is permanently locked and completely UNUSABLE!!! I turned around in an extremely tight space and had to drive on curbs to turn around in the back parking lot. I drove to the front of the hotel to park. I had to maneuver the truck around the tight turns to get to the front. This included driving into parking spaces to pull forward and back up. When I parked in the front of the hotel, Raj, the Front Desk Clerk, came out and told me I had to park the truck in the back. He said he would not check me in or give me the keys if I did not move the truck. I told him I would be happy to park in the back if he opened the gate. I told him I had to depart the hotel at 6:30am, and I would be stuck in the back parking lot if vehicles parked in the corners of the parking lot because I would not be able to make the turns to get out. Raj claimed that he did not have keys to the gate. He said the only people that had the keys were the owners, and they were in India. I advised Raj that I was a an IHG Gold Elite Member with a non-refundable reservation at this hotel. I advised him that I called the hotel that morning and the woman at the front desk assured me that I could park my truck in the parking lot with no problem. He said if he checked me in and a guest asked him in the middle of the night why that truck was parked there that he would call me in the middle of the night and demand that I move the truck to the back parking lot. I told him I would not move the truck. I told him he could advise the guest that trucks are not able to park in the back because they would be stuck due to a locked gate. I told him that I was a paying customer with a reservation traveling on business. I told him that there are plenty of spaces around the hotel for guests to park. I told him I found it hard to believe that no one else has a key to the back gate. He said the General Manager, Eva, has a key. I said call Eva and ask her to come unlock the gate. Then, I would move the truck to the back. He called Eva. Reluctantly, Eva told Raj to let me park in the front since I had called the hotel that morning. When he got off the phone with Eva, he told me again that he will call me in the middle of the night to move the truck if needed. I called IHG, canceled the room and booked another hotel. ———-

Decent stay; area sketchy I gave this a 3-star for the amenities as the room and breakfast were fine. The area is littered with panhandlers and is not in a good area of town, so I did worry about my vehicle and belongings, but all was okay the next morning. The hotel staff was very nice and accommodating and the breakfast area was outstanding! The young lady who attended to it was top notch and kept it so clean, I was tempted to eat off the floor (JK). The room was neat and beds were comfortable for an overnight stay. If they clean up the area, I would stay again

The River Church Janie was very friendly and accommodating when our room floors were being shampooed , gave us a new room in a timely manner . Leigh-ann & Nelly were very friendly always checking if we were okay and making sure breakfast area was clean and neat or if we were okay. Loved that even if we didn’t request room service the house keepers were attentive with our request in a very respectful manner , staff was super nice and would definitely stay again . will recommend to anyone visiting in Raleigh NC , rooms were very nice and nothing from what i can visually see wrong . they even provided water at the front desk for guests ! couldn’t ask for anything better . gym was was really neat and clean , had fresh towels near by if needed as well !