I don’t expect perfection when I travel from the airlines, cruise ships, restaurants or hotels. Everyone can have an off day and most people try to make the situation right when they do. The level of “uh-oh’s” at this hotel, however, just shows me that nobody there cares about their customers. The entire experience was FUBAR.

My wife and I received some last minute tickets to attend the Glen Campbell concert in Shreveport. Diamond Jacks and Eldorado were booked solid on rooms so I needed to venture off to another hotel. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to research and booked/confirmed a king size bed “riverside” at this hotel thinking we would have a view of the river. I booked the room through the Holiday Inn website after looking at their pictures of the hotel and their rooms. The hotel looked pretty nice. I reserved the room with my credit card and noted the 6PM cancellation time. I took the opportunity to join Holiday Inn’s “Priority Club” in the process.

When we arrived just after midnight, I did notice there were lots of cars in the parking area. I temporarily parked at the hotel’s entrance while I checked in. I was given a key to the room and when I asked about parking, I was told to park anywhere and there should be spots in their 2 story parking garage. Our perk that was given to us at check-in for joining Holiday Inn’s “Priority Club’? A breakfast ticket for one.

After circling the parking lot for 15 minutes (along with others looking for parking) I went back inside and the clerk told me to park in the lot across the street. Seems the hotel had a party in their conference area that night. So unlike having parking for “registered guests” (as is on the website) the parking area was full from the party goers. That should have been a clue to me for what was in store for us.

When entering the room, the room had two double beds, not the king I had booked. Secondly, the nice picture window in the hotel’s sample picture of the room? Well, I’ll attach some photos of what our looked like. That 37” flat screen that’s on the website’s picture? Nah, we had a much smaller old CRT.

And then there was the music pounding from the party below.

I called the desk clerk and asked him to change our location and he advised that they were sold out. No other rooms were available. So I inquired about having the music turned down at the party so we could get some sleep and there too he refused. He advised that the party would be over “within the hour”. You know that’s the only part that worked out as we were told. The music finally stopped right at 1:30AM.

I found out a little later in the night that “Riverside” should really be called “Trainside” as that where the trains run. Yes, they are loud and run all through the night.

After checking out and going back to my car parked in the lot recommended? Signs everywhere stating “No Hotel Parking”. Go figure.

I felt this whole episode and representations made by both the hotel and the Holiday Inn sites were deceptive. I did take the time to let both the Hotel Manager (Mr. Fouts) and Holiday Inn’s Priority Club know how unhappy I was with the ordeal. I received the standard reply thanking me for my input from the Priority Club but never heard from the manager over the past week.

My recommendation? Look for a different place to stay in Shreveport.

Stayed at Holiday Inn Downtown Shreveport December 26 and 27, 2011 for a getaway. The motel is an older Holiday Inn. It is clean and looks to be constantly updated. One can see evidence of fresh paint and fixtures. Front desk personnel seemed to be just going through the motions with the check in process. I had a smoking room, but get this - no ash trays, When I asked about the ash trays I was told the a motel manager to getting ash trays. Never did happen. The room was clean, but quiet small. Not a normal new motel room. The motel had a small buffet breakfast which was only okay. The motel location was okay for my visit.

We stayed here for an quick overnight stay and were quite hungry after traveling all day.
We were directed to the in house restaurant by the very helpful and friendly hotel staff.
When we entered we had this bad feeling. It looked dingy. No one was there to seat us. No one came out for about 10 minutes and even than I had to get up to ask for service.
We ordered a hamburger and chef salad.
The chef salad camoe out after 20 mins. it really was a ham salad..no bacon, turkey or cheese. My hamburger was no where to be found.
We observed a man waiting to pay for almost 15 mins at the front desk.
They had a pathetic salad bar.
Avoid this restaurant at all costs.
We walked out and went upstairs and ordered a pizza.

My 'non-smoking' room stank of cigarette smoke and there was even a pack of cigarettes in the bed side table drawer. The front desk staff (Darryl in particular)was unfriendly and unhelpful. I called the desk to inquire about the internet access code and hung up feeling as if I had bothered the person who answered the phone. The bathroom was beyond nasty - I was skeptical about showering in the tub - definately was not going to bathe! My dining experience was less than delightful. The waitress was unfriendly, slow and down right rude. The food was not very good and was over priced. I plan to visit Shreveport again this coming year but certainly will not be stopping at this hotel again!