I have been to the Holiday Inn in Saint Cloud a number of times, but it has been well over a year since my last visit. Holiday Inn's all over the country have been making a ton of upgrades and are looking more like 4 star hotels. This trend has clearly not caught up with the Holiday Inn in Saint Cloud.
Everything looks old and drab as it has for the last who knows how long. I was upgraded to a suite, HOWEVER, I could have done without the upgrade because I the room was simply not worth it. I always check the bed for bedbugs - and was happy I didn't find any of those - BUT - I did find a couple of looong hairs and I don't know...that kinda grosses me out too. It was on one of the beds so I just slept in the other (exactly! I didn't need two bed suite! Just give me a King bed with a little space and that would more than a sufficient upgrade!)
So...I'm still on the fence about the room/hotel...until I decided my lower back hurt enough to warrant a trip down to the whirlpool. HUGE mistake! I should have known from the un-mopped floor around the pool (could see what looked like coffee/pop spills just sitting there) that the whirlpool would not be a good idea. But I decided that maybe they just hadn't got down there yet. I turned it on, and almost immediately, a huge white foam began to form (an indication of a collection dirt and oil) - but it stayed pretty much in one corner so I decided I could enjoy my area foam/dirt free. NOPE! The darn thing was LUKEWARM! I sat for about 5 minutes thinking it would get hotter, but it didn't and I just left pretty letdown.
Slept well and awoke, left my usual tip for the cleaning crew with a note about the whirlpool. Upon my return, the room was only HALF-clean. Fork still on the counter, trash still on the counter, ironing board still out with the iron on it, papers and newspaper still on the table...It's like they came in, changed my towels, cleaned the toilet, made the beds and left. This is what upset me even more! I expect my room to be cleaned...THOROUGHLY!
There really seemed like there only a few people staying there, a couple of families...almost eerie how empty the place was.
I will say, the staff that I had any interaction with, were all pretty pleasant. They were nice and responsive but that was mainly during check-in and my wake-up call. I was too busy to make a separate trip to the manager to complain about the whirlpool or lack of room cleaning - but will indicate once they send the follow-up quality survey.
- Holiday Inn St Cloud
- Saint Cloud Holiday Inn
- Holiday Inn Saint Cloud
