Stayed in Mattoon for one night and had a choice between the Holiday Inn Express and the Hampton Inn. I am a fan of the Hampton Inns, but the price difference sent me to the Holiday Inn Express. I was very pleasantly surprised with the rooms, lobby, and staff. I checked out not being able to think of one thing I liked about Hampton Inn that the Holiday Inn Express didn't give me.

The rooms were nice with a desk and free wifi, a staple for the budget business travel. My wife pointed out that for twice the price, we could get a comparable room in a "full service" hotel and still have to pay for wifi.

Staff was friendly, although we had no need to test them. They asked for my Priority Club number during booking and confirmed it at check in which was nice. Some hotels conveniently forget to ask for it, or screw up the input, but Holiday Inn seemed to just get it right.

Room was nice and clean. Heater/ air conditioner was the old-school window style, but worked extremely well. Shower was nice and had three settings which was nice.

All in all a very pleasant experience.

I had to stay 4 nights in Mattoon for work, so I decided to spend 2 at the Holiday Inn and 2 at the Hampton Inn. Overall they were both nice and would stay at either again. If the cost is the same I would choose the Hampton Inn, however, if the Holiday Inn is cheaper it worth the savings as they were both very similar.

The Holiday Inn room was clean with nice comfortable bedding. There was a chair with a small table to use as a desk. The room I stayed in had 2 queen beds so it felt a little overcrowded when trying to sit at the desk to work on my laptop. There was a flat panel TV, but no fridge or microwave, not sure if they were available in other rooms. The complimentary breakfast was very good (biscuits & gravy and fresh made cinnamon rolls as well as other items) and I preferred it over the Hampton Inn breakfast.

So Holiday Inn is trying to upscale but not really.

Pros room large, beds decent, micro fridge, pillows that are both sift and firm, pool hot tub

Cons corners in shower had mold, you have to use a code to log into Internet, breakfast service was disappointing

Ok so the entrance, hallways seem to give you a relaxing invite and it does for HI. But for $145 a night the comfort inn across the street is just as nice and much less. Still minimal shampoos and soaps most have lotion and upgrade soap.

Breakfast is really poor at best. Are the eggs real? Next door is Cracker barrel go there. We showed up 5 minutes before 10 and the servers started to put things away. We have 3 little girlsans you would think they would wait to make sure everyone has everything and they started to wrap stuff up in plastic wrap I guess for the next morning so the Monday guest wil get that.

Not a bad place

Pricey for what you really get

Stayed at Holiday Inn again after boating at Lake Shelbyville. The staff is friendly, rooms are clean, beds are very comfortable even have soft and firm pillows on all beds. Breakfast is good, biscuit and gravy,eggs pancakes and sausage. Pool and hot tub was open late. They even accepted my dog. This hotel could easily add on another wing and additional parking as this hotel apparently is a good draw.