Holiday Inn Express Bethlehem

We stayed at this hotel last night. The front staff guy when we checked in was overly great…extremely helpful, considerate and willing to help in anyway necessary. We put our things away in our room, which had some great features we had never seen in a HIE hotel before. When we returned to the room, we noticed that the blackout curtain was up a bit, off its’ track and the remote control wasn’t working. I tried to call downstairs for help, but no one picked up. I went downstairs, only to find that the somewhat empty hotel had turned into a hot commodity with several folks checking in. I had to wait my turn to put in my request for help, but when I got to one of the 2 ladies manning the front desk, she politely said that she would come up and fix the situation in a few minutes. What happened next was surprising. She actually DID come to our room in just a few minutes. When she saw that the blackout shade couldn’t be fixed, she told us that she would give us a new room. While we packed up our things, she left and promptly returned to take us to another room. She apologized the whole way and when we realized that something had been left in the former room, she said, “No problem. I will take care of it.” And she did! There were a few other issues with the hotel, maintenance-wise that went wrong too. The elevator didn’t work the next morning until later, the pancake machine wasn’t working and I heard other people complaining about the toaster being super slow. All said, despite all those difficulties, I want to say that the STAFF of this HIE was OUTSTANDING. They each did anything that they could to help. Since we’ve stayed in over 41 hotels this year for work, most of which are IHG properties, it is definitely annoying when things don’t work. However, I will gladly endure those unavoidable difficulties when the staff is respectful, considerate and willing to do what they can do to help make the situation better. In an age where customer service is almost gone, kudos to the staff of THIS hotel! Maybe it’s because it is a hotel in “Bethlehem”. Although there was no “room in the Inn” for Jesus’ birth, good customer service did what they could and found Mary and Joseph a manger.

Horrible experience when attempting to modify a reservation several days in advance of arrival. Avoid this place at all costs! I needed to change my three night reservation to one night due to a change in hearings I was to preside over. Was told NO, three nights would be charged to me even if I only stayed one night. After that news I just decided to cancel the entire reservation and stay somewhere that appreciates my business and understands that plans change in the real world through no fault of the customer. Called the hotel directly, was told I must contact toll free number. Toll free number told me to contact the hotel. After an hour of being referred back and forth, was finally told I had to pay for one night ($176) even though my cancellation fee was plainly stated on my reservation print-out as $75. These folks do not deserve your business!

Overall ok but a couple concerns. 1) the smell was musty and off in our room regardless of it air conditioning was on or off. 2) reading lights by bed only work when master light is on. 3) one counter in the room had a dirt smudge - when I went to wipe it off I realized the whole surface was sticky. It’s fine but I’d hope for cleaner and fresher.

As I'm checking in trying to get my card out of my wallet, I'm being bitten all around my ankles by what I assume are fleas. I really have no idea. By the time I got to my room, I had 5 bites on each ankle. The room was fine. No major problems, comfortable, quiet for the most part. Night 2 we came back from dinner and had fire trucks, police cars and paramedics everywhere due to an unruly guest. I will say that the attendant on duty handled everything very professionally.