The hotel GM told me I stayed in my room two nights, even though I was at home in my bed with my wife the second night. They refused to refund my Amex, so I called Holiday Inn's Guest Relations department. That was about as much help as the hotel, as they basically said it's up to the hotel. A Hilton product would never make me jump through hoops like that!

While this HIE was by no means a dump it did fail to measure up to the finer HIE properties i've experienced.

It's obvious from the lobby and room layout that this was formerly a Country Inn hotel. The lobby area was nice with the hardwood floor and tastefully furnished.

I was placed on the first floor which i personally like. Walking past the conference rooms and down the guestroom hallways i noticed that the walls and lighting were nice. The carpeting in the hallways was a bit old.

The room was to be honest a bit disappointing. The TV was a relic from the 1990's and the picture quality horrible. The mattress was also older and not comfortable at all but was fitted with quality linen.

The bathroom was rather spartan but clean. The shower had decent water pressure and was quite clean. Maybe it's just my imagination but to me it seems like the quality of HIE soaps, shampoo and conditioner has diminished over the past couple years.

The high speed internet was free and had decent speed.

Breakfast was also a bit of a disappointment. No brand cereal, rotten fruit and a pancake machine that had an error message displayed and was just left there during the entire breakfast service. The orange and apple juices were watered down to the point that they were undrinkable.

LIke i said earlier: complete dump: no. Can you do much better in this area: Absolutely.

Cons: Room smelled like smoke. There were signs saying smoking was not permitted but the smell was already in the room. The carpet felt dirty that I did not want to walk barefoot. When we had the heat on, there were 5-minute periods where cold air was coming out. It was hard to predict what the temperature would be in the next 10 minutes. The curtains were not long enough to overlap so we could truly utilize the blackout curtains. Bathroom products were not of any decent quality.

Positive: The provide bottle water upon check-in. Close proximity to Restaurant Row makes it convenient to find a good, quality restaurant. Quiet community so there is almost no external noise except planes flying overhead.

Breakfast - all carbs on the weekend. Sausage patty on weekdays is the only meat.

Image is great -new paint, carpet, etc. Room is dreadful. Mattress is from the 70's - roll over and you wake everyone on your floor. No coffee mugs, no remote for the TV.

Apparently a ventilated workout room is too much work, so they added several air fresheners. Workout equipment is junk - elliptical is broken, seat on bike is broken.