Holiday Inn Downtown

Stayed at this property for a long weekend several weeks ago. I waited to post this review to see if a problem I had was resolved. First the good part. Location is very good, just across the street from the Peabody hotel, 1 block from the Redbirds ball park, a couple blocks from where the Grizzlies play, and a couple blocks from Beale street. I'm a IHG member (IHG is the parent company of Holiday Inn), so I was upgraded to a corner room upon arrival. The room was nice. Fairly modern, the furniture a bit worn, but nothing drastic. View was a typical city view of a parking lot with people on the street harassing passer-bys. Nothing the hotel could do anything about. Staff seemed nice, hotel clean. Valet parking was really good, attendants were right on top of things and helpful. When I asked about the restaurant and bar I was told it was closed this week. I stayed here a month before and it was closed then also. I don't think it's been open for quite some time because behind the bar the coolers are full of junk. But there are posters in the elevators touting the restaurant and kids eat free? They do have a microwaved breakfast buffet in the morning, a step below a Holiday Inn express breakfast. The ice machine on our floor was some ancient piece of junk that was broken with a sign stuck in it that said out of service. So I walked the steps to 3 other floors and all those ice machines were either broken or missing. A staff member told me only 2 ice machines work and gave me the floor numbers. Here's the problem I had. I bought 1 bottle of water at the front desk for $3.28. When I got home I discovered I had 3 charges on my credit card for $3.28 each. I called the hotel and spoke to a lady and she said they would credit me $7.16 (I'm not sure how she came up with $7.16, but I'll take it). So instead I was charged $7.16. Now my one bottle of water was costing me $17 and a headache. I tried numerous times over 2 days to call the hotel, but no answer at the same number I called the first time. I emailed the hotel and got a fast response, a one liner said they would take care of it. 11 days has passed and no results. This morning I disputed the charge on my Chase account and wrote this review. Buyer beware. Read less

This was a horrible experience. The staff were very helpful but I cannot say anything else positive except the fantastic location. I was lied to about the parking situation when I had previously called the hotel before my visit. The room key would not work initially. The phone in the room did not work so I could not call the front desk for issues. The room entry door and bathroom door had to be slammed to try to shut them. It6 took over 15 minutes to get hot water in the room. The ice machine on our floor had been removed. I was directe4d to the next floor up and it was all out of ice. And, the final issue was when we went to get our breakfast that was include3d in our price plan. We were told that the dining room had nothing. We were offered a tiny plate and told that they were out of meats for the meal. So nothing. This was an absolutely horrible experience and would definitely not recommend!!!!!!! Read less

I am extremely disappointed with IHG. I used to love staying at IHG hotels because their quality was consistent no matter where I stayed. The quality has plummeted since franchises have taken them over. Also...I had no problem using my points that I paid for and earned but now owners are blocking the ability to use just points. You are forced to use both points and cash. If you cancel they will not refund cash they refund all points which you can't use without using cash! I'm done with IHG. Read less