Holiday Inn Express Fredericksburg Southpoint an IHG Hotel

Do NOT stay at this Hotel. Firstly, we were originally booked to stay in a Holiday Express Inn in Wilson NC, but due to sitting on the DC beltway for 3.5 hours, we knew we could not make it to Wilson, our halfway point. We called Holiday Express to infer if we could transfer our Wilson reservation to stay here in Fredericksburg since we were not even going to get there until after midnight. Holiday Inn advised that could not be done. OK, we were willing to eat that money so we stopped into this Holiday Inn to book a room at the desk. We were given a room and as we walked to the room, we observed a lot of construction and a mess all along the first floor walking to our room. We literally walked in the room, saw the condition (dirty and smelly, bathroom disgusting, TV sitting below bed level as tv mount was being worked on). We were in the room for less than 1 minute and immediately advised the front desk we wanted our money back and we wanted to leave. She advised we already paid and she was unable to give us a refund. We were shocked. No manager to speak to and the national reservation number kept referring us back to the front desk to the woman who refused to give us a refund. This front desk associate advised that all the rooms were in the same condition except the top floor, but she advised they were all booked because those are "our good rooms". So, we are stuck!

Driving south we got tired in Fredericksburg so looked for a room. HEI was much cheaper than Hampton Inn so we went for it. Should have checked TripAdvisor - several recent reviews are not favorable. It appears that they are trying to upgrade because the lobby area was clean and nice. We reserved a King bed on line (only 4 left!) and when we arrived we were told they didn't have any available. Checking in took a long time and I'm not sure why . The first room key did not work and the other worked on my second try, which happened each time I entered the room. There was a lot of road noise (Saturday night) and the old style A/C unit (buttons on the unit to adjust, was very noisy (as was the fridge) so I had to find some earplugs. A highlight of all HEI visits is the cinnamon rolls and they only had an empty container with icing on it. I kept waiting for the worker to bring out more but she was sitting at a table playing a video on her phone. Eventually I was able to get her attention and she finally brought more out. The rest of the breakfast was not great. Only eggs were egg white veggie omelets and there was no bacon. Tried the pancakes as an alternative and they were underdone. The coffee had a strange taste so I'm thinking the coffee maker probably wasn't as clean as it should have been. Next time I'll check reviews before picking a hotel.

Most HIE hotels I have experienced are high quality from check-in to check out. The price of this hotel was lower than most HIE in the area - that’s the good news. Unfortunately, there are reasons for this. When we checked in my wife wanted to wash her hands - the soap dispenser didn’t work. She tried to call the front desk but the phone didn’t work. The bed sheets were wrinkled and made us wonder if they had been changed. I went to use the gym treadmill but the “speed” button was broken meaning it was useless. Breakfast was similar to other HIE but generally lower quality - runny eggs and turkey sausage that tasted like it had seen better days. No oatmeal, In sum, expect to pay less than other HIE hotels but pay the price in many other ways.

When you walk in the first thing you notice is how damp and musty the lobby is. The guest rooms are the same. The lobby is dark and dirty. The rugs are dingy and dirty throughout the hotel. We have stayed at this brand of hotels for 15 years and this is the worst hotel in the brand! This is more like a Motel 6! Don't stay here...

The previous night I stayed at a Holiday Inn express in South Carolina, and my experience was wonderful. So I chose HI Express again. This Holiday Inn Express was dismal. It started out that my key stopped working after I had checked into my room. That was simply annoying and an easy fix. Then my toilet backed up. I tried to call the front desk, but the phone didn’t work. I went to the front desk and told them about the toilet and the phone and their solution was to hand me a plunger and said, return it when you’re done with it and we know the phone doesn’t work. I did my own plunging and couldn’t get the toilet unstuck. I returned the plunger and told them it wasn’t fixed and the clerk told me she would give me another room. So I had to move. However, she told me that my room was an upgrade but she wouldn’t charge me this time. Really? You think you get to charge me? And, I t’s an upgrade to have a room with a flushing toilet? The breakfast in the morning was terrible. The food was all picked over and there was no coffee. I waited to see if it was being resolved, but there was no hope to be found. And to top it off, my key stopped working again. The night clerk told she had a list of rooms that the locks did not work right. When I checked out, the clerk asked if my stay was ok? I told him no. He said “oh”. Nothing more, no attempt to make it right, didn’t ask me if I wanted to speak to the manager. Good riddance!