Holiday Inn Express & Suites Niagara Falls By IHG, NY

Outside this looks like a nice, modern HiX. Inside its clearly worn out and in need of maintenance. Far too many hotels are being run by those whose standards are in the third world... Dim lighting, rough around the edges, and even the mattress (king size in our room) isn't up to the IHG chain standard. (I stay at IHG hotels because of the fantastic mattress and pillows, this hotel (not surprisingly) decided to save a few bucks and put in some low quality mattress.) Room window didn't latch properly, so you could hear wind noise and traffic all night. And, they've found a new way to steal a few bucks by charging $10 to park. Won't stay again. Endless apologies by the "management" on this website don't add up to a hill of beans. Clearly they don't care, as long as the hotel is full and they're making money, why spend to upgrade. I guarantee you that in a few years, this hotel won't meet HiX standards and will be rebranded, all without spending a dime.

To start: #1. the front desk clerk wasn't very enthusiastic about helping us check in. #2. The room we were assigned wasn't clean. Beds weren't made, items in garbage, dirt on floor/carpet. #3. The pull out couch in our new room had no sheets, blankets or pillows. It was late when this was discovered so we made do with what was available to us (turned heat up, used pillows and blankets from beds). The sofa bed had crumbs and debris when the mattress was unfolded. Dirt and used Kleenex also found.

I have been to numerous Holiday Inn Expresses over the years. This one is not up to standard. I will start with what was good: The breakfast was excellent, and the breakfast area was clean and well-managed; the only exception was the coffee tasted very weak. Staff at the front desk were courteous. The negatives are many; I will go in more detail with IHG, as I am an IHG rewards member. Here are just some of the issues: It’s located on a 4-lane road in an area that is not run down, but would not be the kind of area I would be comfortable taking a walk around. It’s about 10 minutes or so to get to Niagara Falls State Park in light traffic. There is NOT free parking. We were told when we booked that there was a $10 day parking fee; they knocked that down to five dollars per day because I am an IHG Rewards member. The room was worn, dirty in places, and not well-maintained. The lighting in the room was terrible. If I wanted to read a map, look at papers, or do anything requiring light at night, it was not there. It was even hard to see the TV remote when you were holding it in bed. All the lights in the room are dim, and there is no overhead lighting. The lamp on the table between the two queen beds had a base that was tarnished, looked like it was dirty by the switch, and only worked on one side and not the other. The worst part was after we came back to the room after being gone all day, we found the door to our room was visibly open, with the door being prevented from locking by the upper door security latch! All of our belongings were up for grabs! I won’t know until I fully unpack at home if anything was taken. When I reported it to the front desk, the response initially was very casual: that sometimes housekeeping does that; it was a mistake. I was the one who requested to create an incident report. The front desk person said she would comp me on the parking cost for the stay and would give me 500 points in IHG rewards. I noticed when I got my bill the next day, she only comped me on one day of the parking. I won’t know till later if she followed through on the points. I could give more details on the issues with the room, but I won’t here. I would not stay at this Holiday Inn Express again.

The breakfast staff watch everything you eat and make comments about what you grab. It's incredibly uncomfortable. Plus, at 10 a.m., they start yelling and rudely running at everyone else having breakfast. The hotel charges you for parking every day, and they never changed our towels, even though they were incredibly wet. I would never stay here again.

Worst hotel experience I’ve had in decades. DO NOT stay at this run down bug infested hotel. I’m shocked Holidays Inn has its name associated with this dump. I have all my clothes in the washer and left my purchased items in my car with bug spray. Had the nerve to charge for parking! pails catching leaks in hallways. Musty old smell. Furniture looks like it’s from the 80s and DIRTY. Noisy as walls are paper thin it’s disgusting. Save your money and stay at the Best Western down the street. It should be closed by the health department. Staff are excellent. I wouldn’t stay there again if it was free