Holiday Inn Express Philadelphia-Midtown by IHG

Best staff ever! We encountered the friendliest staff at the hotel. From the front desk, to security, to housekeeping, to the kitchen staff; everyone we came in contact with were eager to answer questions or help anyway that they could. Our room was clean and we had a beautiful view of the Philadelphia skyline on the 14th floor. We would definitely recommend this hotel and stay here again in the future. A lot of restaurants and attractions were in walking distance which was helpful with the limited parking in the city.

Bad start with mystery cancellation The stay started off rocky - my online booking had been cancelled with no notification. I had only joined IHG Rewards club a few months before, and made two bookings online at this hotel and a second hotel in Washington DC. A few hours before arriving at this hotel I checked the IHG app and saw that this stay no longere appeared (when it had previously displayed fine and I had received confirmation emails immediately after the booking and as recent as 3 days before the stay) but the stay at the other DC hotel did appear okay. I started to worry but I thought maybe this was just a glitch in the app. I was shocked and worried when I arrived at the hotel and was told that they couldn't find my booking and then when I produced the email printout with the confirmation number, they found it but said it had been cancelled. I asked for further information but they said they couldn’t tell me any information on why it had been cancelled. Luckily they were not super busy and so they were able to reinstate the booking. At this time and over the next few days, the stay still did not appear in my app and I had signed up to various promos and I thought I would not receive any points. I tried to contact IHG, but they make it really impossible. There was no email address that I could contact them on, in the app nor on the website. All I could do was complain to the chat bot which after some frustration and a few misunderstandings finally gave me a reference number, but then I heard nothing more about it. Some time after that, the stay did appear in my app, so it’s good it does now look like I have received the points but I don’t know if this was because of the chat (as there has been no follow on acknowledgement or apology for the complaint I lodged through the chatbot). So to be fair, everything got cleared up and sorted in the end, but it was still a very disappointing start and frustrating to not be able to contact them properly to get any explanation as to what happened. As it hasn’t been explained to me where the issue arose (whether it was something related to this hotel only or the app or the website), it makes me very hesitant to book with IHG in the future if they can cancel bookings with no notice and then don’t allow direct contact to complain about it. If this had happened at another IHG location which was much busier we would have been completely stressed out trying to find new accommodation at the very last minute, so I am wary of them from now on. Anyway apart from that, the service on the front desk was a bit variable. To be fair, they were always able to help but it was with varying amounts of friendliness, ranging from quite little to a good amount. The room itself was clean, comfortable and fairly large but the décor is a bit outdated. The air con was a bit noisy (as it was at most hotels) but blended in to background noise, and we were able to sleep fine. The bathroom set up was a little bit unusual in that there was no sink in the same room as the toilet + shower over bath, and there was very little room (other than on top of the toilet) to put things like your clean clothes. The sink was in an area just outside the bathroom so after going to the toilet, you would be unable to wash your hands and have to open the door with your toilet hands before getting to the sink. Having said that, the unusual setup was sometimes handy - for example one of us could brush our teeth while the other one was in the shower. There was a free breakfast buffet with a decent selection, ranging from continental, pastries and muffins, and some hot foods like pancakes, omelettes, and sausages/bacon. It is always nice to get a free breakfast included in a hotel stay because it's one thing less to think about. We could also refill our own water bottles in the lobby, which was handy. There was a nice touch that the hotel had some free printed maps and some lists of attraction details and also some family friendly restaurants that were nearby. We didn't end up eating at any of the recommendations though we Googled some of them - they didn't necessarily have the top ratings but I could see that they might be suitable for a family. I felt that these were nice touches that seemed to be missing at other hotels we stayed at. The location of the hotel was fairly quiet, although it was very close, within minutes to a number of good restaurants. Some of the restaurants are so good you may have to book an advance. You would also be quite lucky to find a place if you are looking for a late dinner as a lot of places were starting to close at 9pm when we were looking for a late dinner at 8:20pm but luckily we found a nice place nearby. The location is a short walk to city hall and Macy's and a 10 minute to Reading Terminal Market which we went to frequently. There were not many shops near the hotel, but I can't compare how this rates for other hotels in Philadelphia. The Keurig coffee machine in the room worked fine, although it is a bit odd having disposable cups but I guess that makes sense considering there is no way to be able to wash them and clean them. There was fridge in the room and I did appreciate the microwave - it was a great touch as this doesn't seem to be a standard thing in USA hotels. The addition of a kettle would have been great too for non coffee drinkers, but this also doesn't seem to be standard in USA hotels. Overall apart from the bad start and not being able to give feedback properly to IHG to find out the truth behind the cancelled booking, the stay itself was okay.

Good stay Rooms are very clean and comfortable. The continental breakfast was fantastic. The only negative is the some of the attendants in the parking garage are very rude and ignore you when trying to navigate the parking garage. They don't pay attention at all. Otherwise everything else was great

Mostly good, except for the lack of info on the parking garage details Location was my primary concern when booking this hotel which I did after reading the TripAdvisor reviews. On the plus side, it was a great location, the rooms were a nice size, the beds and linens were very comfortable and the WIFI and AC worked very well. The bathroom was very clean with plenty of nice towels, and I loved the use of large pump dispenser containers for the shampoo, body wash and conditioner in the shower, and the same for the body lotion on the vanity. So easy to read and use and so much better than those impossible little bottles. The staff was friendly and mostly helpful and all 3 elevators worked fine and there was no delay. While our schedule did not allow us to take advantage of the included breakfast other than to grab a to-go banana, it looked yummy and was very nicely presented. On the minus side, the first day of our stay there was no hot water at either the sink or the shower---on the second day the hot water was plentiful. The absence of the pool was disappointing, but we knew of that in advance. The real negative is the lack of helpful information about the parking. Previous reviews mentioned the parking garage issue so I telephoned in advance to obtain some info since the website for the hotel provides nothing about the logistics. The person I spoke to in advance seemed to say "it's not big deal" so I asked many specific questions, but still received just the bare minimum of information. This hotel REALLY needs to add detailed info on the procedure for this garage. For one thing, it is a public parking garage, not a garage just for the hotel guests. So there are procedures for the public and different procedures for hotel guests. After you pull into the garage, there are only two spots for people to park to unload and check-in (limited to 10 minutes) so they are always occupied. The alternative is to go up into the garage, find your spot, unload, give your key to the attendant (who may or may not be there) and then use the elevators to go back down to the hotel entry to check in. The front desk people explain the in and out info when you check in but by that time you've had to negotiate the parking garage on your own. The one thing no one ever mentioned is that when you go to exit, your key will not be with the attendant on the floor where you left it, but instead will be down on the first floor with the garage cashier. While they explain the key card they give you will allow you to exit, there was no explanation that the card reader for that key would not be the same card reader used by the paying public. Finally, while it is not prominently stated in the main rate and booking section of the website, they supposedly have a "Medical rate" for people staying there to access one of the numerous hospitals a few blocks away. It can easily be overlooked when booking. Overall, it was a good place to stay, but not without some issues.

Not a bad no frills option Friendly staff (shoutout to Gwen who welcomed us on arrival and checkout). Hotel is quite dated and isn’t accurately represented in online photos. If you’re looking for a quick no frills accommodation, this will do the job. Breakfast was nice, with lots of options!