Holiday Inn Express & Suites Sylva - Western Carolina Area by IHG

Newly renovated and Clean I cannot say enough about the excellent customer service from the management and front desk. We had booked through our credit card company- (for the points ) and made a reservation for another hotel and upon arrival, there was no reservation. Plus, no room for us, as they were booked. We had stayed at Holiday Inn Express before, so we called and they got us in. Just don’t hesitate to book here. You will never be disappointed, the breakfast is always excellent, bonus is, the renovation is done and it looks amazing. The hot tub and pool area are very clean and the outside sitting area with a fire pit is a great way to unwind. You are close to Dillsboro, with breweries, shops, restaurants and downtown Sylva is also. And how can you not mention being in the middle of the Smokey Mountains? The view and the drive is incredible!

Beware: Unscrupulous Practices at Omkar Hotel, LLC's Properties Beware: Unscrupulous Practices at Omkar Hotel, LLC's Properties I feel compelled to warn others about my horrendous experience at the independently owned Holiday Inn Express operated by Nightstar Lodging, LLC, and owned by Omkar Hotel, LLC. This warning extends to their other properties in the Sylva area and beyond. My stay turned into a nightmare when I was unjustly charged an exorbitant amount of $125 for alleged damages to bedsheets and towels. Their claim? A few drops of BBQ sauce and some usage marks on towels. Despite my protests and requests for evidence, they provided pictures depicting minor stains—nothing resembling the claimed "blood." Throughout my 13-night stay, I encountered incompetence and rudeness from the management. Despite paying over $1500, I received no room service and faced unwarranted hostility when I followed instructions regarding trash disposal. To add insult to injury, when I inquired about an early departure, they threatened me with a $50 cancellation fee. It's evident that their policies are designed to squeeze every penny from guests, regardless of fairness or reason. Attempts to dispute the charges were met with further dishonesty from the management, who fabricated claims about signed agreements and additional damages. Their deceit knows no bounds. It's clear that Omkar Hotel, LLC and its affiliates prioritize profit over integrity and customer satisfaction. I implore anyone considering staying at their properties to think twice and explore alternative accommodations. These individuals will exploit any opportunity to extract extra money from unsuspecting guests. In conclusion, steer clear of Omkar Hotel, LLC's properties, including their Holiday Inn Express and others listed below. Save yourself the headache and expense, and choose a reputable establishment that values honesty and fairness. • Comfort Inn, Brookstone Lodge, and Avid in Asheville • Sleep Inn & Suites in Johnson City, TN • Comfort Inn & Suites in Clemson, SC • Quality Inn in Seneca, SC

Not honest DO NOT BOOK THIS HOTEL!!! I called and cancelled my reservation for 1/26-1/28 bc my son’s team decided to change hotel locations. First call was made 1/20. I noticed I didn’t receive a confirmation for cancelling. I called again 1/24. I am also a member. The person I spoke to assured me that the reservation was cancelled. They even checked to see through my member number. They said I had NO upcoming reservation at this hotel or anywhere. I took her word for it. BIG MISTAKE!! Sunday I was charged as a no show 329$ and change. I have called customer service (multiple times) a case was created. I shared dates of calls, time and length of calls and the number dialed. I was told to call the hotel Monday morning (1/29) and a manager would be able to help me with a refund using the case #. Well Monday morning came and Brandy the manager answered and refused to take the case number. She blamed me that I wasn’t talking to the hotel directly even though I called the number for the hotel and wasn’t aware the the prompts take you to a call center. FYI she said 5 was the only way to talk to the hotel directly which isn’t a prompt. 0 only works half the time the other times it hangs up. She also told me confirmations are not emailed, they don’t do that. Brandy hung the phone up in my face. I called customer service telling them what happened. They had a back and forth while I sat on hold. Then I was assured by customer service that the manager (not brandy) was processing a full refund beginning Feb 1. It should take 7-14 business days. Well more phone calls made around day 15 where I was told it’s in process but may take 2 business cycles but no real answer what that meant. I called again today same number and case number. GUESS WHAT the management isn’t processing the refund. They never reached out to tell me any of thus. They have not even had a conversation of any kind with me to hear by side. Now I’m out the money and have to dispute it with my bank. The entire thing blamed on me. No accountability to the hotel for any of it including saying they’d process a refund and then not. They said they record phone calls but won’t check the recording. Refused my times and call lengths for the 2 times I called for cancelling. Customer service does nothing besides thank me 4 times per phone call (we are at 9 calls and hours of time) for being a “valued customer”. How is that valued in any way?? So my advice record everything keep a file bc they take your money and do not care in any way about the customer. Such a disappointment. Now I am out 330$ and truly have lost all respect for IHG hotels as a whole. I will 100% never use them again. Their customer service is less than useful and basically is just told to say thank you and apologize a ton.

Starving in Sylva We stayed overnight at HIE Sylva to attend a college open house at WCU in the morning. The room was very clean and comfortable including the bed linens, pillows and mattress (and I am VERY picky about such things). We could hear a ton of road noise that made it difficult to sleep as well as lots of banging around and plumbing noises from other rooms during the night. When I plan a trip, I place a lot of value in a hotel breakfast and paid extra to have additional people in the room so we could eat in the morning. Our plan was to get downstairs in the morning to eat, return to our room to grab our belongings and head over to WCU for a full day of college touring and information sessions. We got downstairs around 8:15am to eat and grabbed a table. It looked as though there was plenty of food based on the labeled containers, but that was not the case. The pancake station had the batter/syrup/butter but the machine was broken so no-one could make pancakes. The cinnamon roll area was empty, the breakfast sausage was empty, the fruit bowl was empty, the oatmeal had the toppings out but was so dried out and stuck to the bottom of the container that it wasn't edible and although there was cereal, there was no milk to go with it as that was empty, too. Of course, they were also out of cups to get a drink. They did have a few picked over breads, a very nasty omelette, a couple containers of yogurt and sausage gravy. I thought we would wait because surely everything would be replenished soon, right? Wrong. We waited half an hour and nothing. I finally went to the front desk to let them know the issue with the breakfast and was told there was only one worker and more food would be out soon. We waited another 15 minutes and an elderly woman shuffled out of the back with some sausage (2 vegetarians in our group). I gave up and went to our room to get our stuff and when we came back down, I saw cinnamon rolls! I grabbed one only to discover it was still frozen on the inside. Certainly in the over 45 minutes from when we first came down to eat there was time to heat the cinnamon rolls? Nope. We left and had to go rush over to the academic fair at WCU and had no time to grab something else to eat. My daughters and I trudged around the campus for hours on an empty stomach. This was such a disappointing end to what would have been an alright stay otherwise and it really messed up our plans for the day given how starving we were. They really need to hire more people for weekend breakfast service as the food and breakfast area staffing was insufficient at best.

Great facility & staff plus a quiet night's rest. I was checked in by Ms Frankie Gagon. The hotel was under renovation but was very clean and looked new. We had some trouble getting key cards to open the room door but worked well on all other doors. There was an envelope in the room from “Management” soliciting a $1.00 tip for our stay. We are so glad this is a hotel and not an animal kennel (perhaps it will retain that new look)! On the morning of our departure and after a satiating breakfast, the receptionist was very polite and most helpful. I highly recommend this facility, especially given the quiet night’s rest we had.