Holiday Inn Express at Monterey Bay by IHG

Location

Bed wasn't comfortable and there were weird red specs on one of the beds sheets

The beds were comfortable and it was very centrally located. Lots of food options around, including Starbucks. And the beautiful lakes

Just that the ice machine and elevator were a little old school, slow or not working

the breakfast room was clean and the staff was welcoming and were aware that everything is good and have everything to serve

the elevator floor needs attention.

Good location

Old. Tiny bathroom and no shower door allowed a lot of water to escape onto the small bathroom floor. Seems like a safety hazard. The breakfast area was also sub-standard. The “scrabbled eggs” were horrible. The lids on all of the serving containers had no springs, so they did not stay open for guests to access the food easily. How do you hold open a heavy lid and still retrieve the contents while holding a plate? Never have had this issue at other properties. Checking in was weird. My wife and I got to Monterey in the early afternoon on a Monday two weeks before Christmas. Usually a slow time of year for tourists in Monterey. We went to a couple of tourist type stores, then headed over to the hotel to freshen up. We arrived to the lobby at 2:25pm. I asked to check in. The desk clerk told me she had no confirmation of any cleaned rooms and we needed to come back after 3:00pm. (?) I realize the desk clerk was following her manager’s protocol, but as a guest, it was kind of a cold response and not very inviting considering there are so many competitive hotels within two miles of the Holiday Inn Express. So with no place to really go and needing to freshen up and change clothes, we sat in the hotel parking lot until 3:00pm. At 3:00pm the same desk clerk now was cheerful and accommodating. We were given a room on the second of five floors. All of the rooms had doors facing outside, not indoor corridors. As we walked to our room at the very end of a wing on the facility, the curtains were open in all the rooms, and we noticed that almost every single room was vacant. In fact, I observed only two other rooms were occupied on our floor that night. The wing was practically empty. So it appeared to us that most of the rooms were empty and clean when we first arrived. They were not booked. Not a good look for a weary couple just trying to check-in to cleanup and enjoy a special weekday trip during the holidays. Monterey was great. The hotel? Not so much.