Holiday Inn Express Hotels in Birmingham

This Holiday Inn Express was able to check us in at 11am when we arrived instead of the usual 3pm. This is a fairly new hotel . . . modern, spotless, well-lit lobby and initially everything seemed to work as it should. Then lots of little things went awry (locked out of our room during our 5-nite stay, flickering lamp, not all breakfast food available, mini-frig froze our food, towels not available, trash not emptied), though everything except breakfast was corrected when the front desk was notified. Receptionist Jennifer was particularly helpful . . . a model of professionalism, smarts and courtesy. Our main disappointment was the poor lighting in the room which seems to be the way at most hotels. Still, the location is great . . . just off I-65, 15 minutes from downtown and the staff helpful. And the brightly lit breakfast area became a perfect spot for late afternoon Scrabble games. We would stay here again.

We stopped here for the night unexpectedly when traveling south. (We needed to break up the drive). I was hesitant with COVID, however this place is absolutely immaculate even by my sometimes unrealistic standards. Every staff member I came in contact with was kind & helpful. They’re doing things right here, I will stay without hesitation in the future.

My wife and I booked this hotel for a weekend getaway. As Platinum Elite members, we've stayed at many IHG properties. This hotel definitely does not measure up to IHG standards. We arrived tired after a long day of travel and checked in. The front desk clerk was very friendly and kind. The elevator was incredibly loud and barely functioned. The room we were given was shabby and the shower was stained. But the real issue began when, two doors down the hallway, a dog started barking continuously. The barking didn't stop so we called the front desk and were told the family left the dog behind to go to dinner. So this barking was going to continue indefinitely. The clerk kindly offered to move us to a different room, which we accepted. The 2nd room smelled strongly of mold. I have a severe mold allergy so we couldn't stay here. The clerk then showed us a room across the hall, where we discovered the carpets were still damp following a carpet cleaning. No fans had been brought in to dry the carpet. Even the clerk commented that this should have been done. The clerk then offered to check on another room that we could stay in. When she returned, she said she had to check THREE rooms to find one where the carpets weren't wet. In the room she gave us, the A/C wasn't working, which is a deal-breaker for Alabama in August. Frustrated, exhausted, at our wits end, we just decided to leave. We've never had to leave a property before. After 30 minutes on the phone with IHG, we managed to get a refund. Thankfully we found another, much nicer Holiday Inn Express we could stay at to finally get some rest. We were very upset by this experience and my wife even broke down in tears with frustration and disappointment. This hotel is poorly managed and maintained and is nowhere close to other HIE we've stayed at. I should have read the other reviews more closely and found a different hotel. What a disaster.