Holiday Inn Essen City Centre, an IHG Hotel

Disappointing Stay - Needs Urgent Upgrades!

Our recent stay at the Holiday Inn in Essen was very disappointing. The hotel desperately needs an upgrade. We booked a room for two but were given one set of amenities. When we asked about the second set, we were told it was in the closet. All we found was an extra blanket, which was useless in the 34-degree heat with no air conditioning. We needed another set of towels!

Moreover, the bathroom trash can hadn't been cleaned from the previous guests and was filled with bloody tissues. This level of cleanliness is unacceptable. The staff noted our complaints at check-out, but that doesn't excuse the poor experience. We won't be staying here again. Next time, we'll find somewhere else.

Not good at all ... and punitive pricing/ cancellation policies

Unfortunately this Holiday Inn failed to meet the usual expectations we as IHG Diamond member have of HI.
Cons:
1) Rooms and hallways worn out and dirty ... while in fairness the photos on the website reflect the furniture in the rooms they were taken a long time ago. The entire decor is outdated and worn, the carpet in both the hallways and rooms is dirty with lots of stains, the bathroom was reasonably clean but also outdated (with a shower curtain!!!). Curtains dirty and torn.
2) Reception staff: upon arrival staff seemed fully disorganized and only repeated a list of info, e.g. we said we hadn't parked in the garage and still the charge for parking was mentioned.
3) Elite recognition: no mention whatsoever of Diamond status and certainly no upgrade to a nicer or renovated room (even though technically the room was one category above the one book).
4) Punitive pricing and cancellation policy: upon first booking (4 months before stay) the price was a totally unreasonable with 60 days cancellation period on flexible and reward nights. Two months before the rate was 40% lower so we cancelled and rebooked. A week out it had dropped to just 40% of the original rate but due to cancellation period we couldn't rebook. While the last price might have been acceptable, the policy certainly isn't. We have never experienced such an approach on any of our (many) IHG stays.
Pro:
1) Breakfast is good with a decent selection and renovated facilities and accomodating staff.
Overall, a renovation is overdue and until such time there are better and similarly priced options available close by in the Essen area.

The hotel is in a great location and that's all I can say on the positive. The rooms are super outdated. Lots of carpet stains/curtain stains. I also had to call downstairs about how to turn on my heat and was then told "you cannot turn it on yourself and you'll have to wait an hour before anyone can come up to do it or I can switch your room". I feel like that's something that should've been discussed upon check in. I ended up never getting the heat turned on. I also can second that it sounded like furniture was being moved around throughout the entire night. The hotel must know this is a problem because they do provide ear plugs in the rooms. It's also very stuffy with no airflow which again they must know is an issue because I did have a standalone fan in my room. My opinion the price is not worth it. I will not be back.

Below average IHG Brand with nothing special, the rooms were similar to a cheap hotel compared to any IHG brand. The heaters were not functional, bathroom was very old and not maintained, the shower was not working fine, with hot/cold combination not working properly. The body-wash was missing and instead 2 shampoos in the shower.

No recognition for Platinum membership and a very cold welcome at reception, which was very surprising for an IHG brand.

The cleaning lady just walks into your room after 1 knock and without waiting for response at 09:00 am.

In summary never had a terrible experience like this with any IHG brands before.