Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Albert Lea I 35 an IHG Hotel

We have stayed at this hotel several times over the years, and it appears the place has gone drastically downhill. The beds were "okay". The breakfast was good. The noise level was good until 7:15 am. Then a LOT of noise started. But the worst part was the cleanliness...or lack of. It was very obvious the room hadn't been vacuumed. Or if it had, it was certainly haphazard. There were small balls of something at the baseboards of the beds. It appeared to be food of some kind. Perhaps dogfood? The bathrooms had terrible caulking. There were cracks or crevices in the caulking that I imagine kept them from drying out. Thus there was something black in them. I HOPE it isn't mold. We won't be visiting them again!

Dirty. Rooms old. Noisy. People at front desk were nice. Close to the expressway which was a plus. Okay for an overnight stay I suppose. Wouldn’t want to stay longer. Breakfast was alright. Truck stop next door which was nice having a gas station nearby.

I was quite disappointed with this hotel. It was not at all what I would expect from the IHG brand. The room was not clean. Under the end of one bed was what appeared to be a piece of cookie and under the end of the other was chewed gum. These were not hard to see, either; I saw them while sitting in the chair provided. There is a platform that the beds are on that goes all the way to the floor, so it's not like these were way underneath--they were easily visible and within inches of the end of the bed. Obviously this makes me question how well the room is cleaned. The wall was marked up and the calk job in the shower was pure amateur-hour. That said, the breakfast was fine.

This is a modern, pleasant property that represents the Holiday Inn Express brand well and pretty much checks all the boxes: clean, comfortable, quiet, safe. The hotel is conveniently located to both I-35 and I-90, and seemingly serves primarily as a stayover location for travelers on multi-day road trips. I don't think I've ever seen as varied a collection of state license plates as in the parking lot of this property, likely a function of its locations as a crossroads of two major interstate highways. For those in larger vehicles, with trailers, etc., there is plenty of available parking on the adjacent wide, unencumbered streets. We enjoyed that our room afforded a nice view of a corn field. The complimentary breakfast was standard-issue for Holiday Inn Express (or, more broadly, of mid-tier lodging), with hot and cold offerings including the chain's iconic cinnamon rolls. The fitness center was small but the equipment was modern and well-maintained. I appreciate that the hotel allows pets; our pooch enjoyed her stay. I'm not a fan of "pet fees" but recognize they are now the norm at most hotels (perhaps a chance for some hotels to differentiate themselves is to advertise "pets stay free"). Unless you are extremely picky, I would have no apprehension about staying here and would happily do so again myself were my travels to warrant an overnight in Albert Lea.

Terrible hotel. The pillows were dirty. There were tiny fruit flies landing on me in the morning. Windows sill and bathroom walls dirty and the extra lock on door broken. Manager was very apologetic and took money off our room and gave us new pillows. Overall, not worth the $127 we spent.