Holiday Inn Express Hotels in Ottawa

55 minutes to check in A que to get in the bar and could not get in Very few shops Room with a view of the carpark Location very good (yet there are a few hotels in the same area).

The hotel is simply bad on all counts - cleanliness, sleep quality, unexplainable bill charges. But the main thing for me was that the cleaning staff came into our room when there was a “Privacy Please” sign on our door while we were out. I have been traveling for work since 2005, weekly, and the DND sign was always something that ensures your privacy in any hotel, any country I have been to. The funniest thing is that the hotel declared they would not be cleaning the room for the duration of my stay in the pre-arrival email, which made me happy, and then they still came in to clean it, despite the sign. I called the front desk immediately when I saw it, created a big issue, and they told me that the clean-up was requested and SHEDULED by me. I explained it was impossible and how upset I was, and guess what - NOTHING happened to make things better for us, absolutely nothing. The manager did not call to apologize, there was absolutely no reaction to this, pretty big in my opinion, issue. So yes, hotel folks, if you are reading this – I did bring it to the attention of the staff. Compared to that, the rest was not as outrageous, but still quite bad and generally important to the quality of the stay: - Cleanliness: When we arrived, the toilet seat was dirty, there was pubic hair in the shower and the shower gel dispenser was empty. I did not want anyone in my room, so I sanitized all impacted surfaces, decided to use the little soaps for the showers instead of the gel and moved on. Ironically, when they broke in to clean my room, they still did not fill up the shower gel! That made me laugh when I stopped crying. - Beds: As another review here mentioned, beds are terrible. It is like sleeping on a water bed, you can feel every little movement, and between that and the old pillows, you are lucky if you get any sleep at all. - Room charges: Unlike any other hotel, this one did not send the email with the bill on the morning of the departure. Naturally, after what I have been through there, I decided to check the bill before I leave instead of just leaving like we do. I had booked using points, so my bill was supposed to only have parking charges + tax. However, when I got the print out, there was an additional $38 CAD per night charge just called “Room”, which the front desk could not explain. The further the conversation went, the more defensive the front desk representative got, until eventually they angrily removed the charges. Not even an apology or any sign of regret that there was a mistake, but a whole lot of attitude and pushback on the paying customer who happens to also be a platinum elite at this chain. Still remains to be seen what ends up being on the credit card – I am seeing some strange charges in the ‘pending’ status. As I was coming down to get the bill, check it and leave, I was squirming as I was expecting to be asked ‘how was your stay’ as usual, and I would not have known what to say. “I told you how it was la

Had a little wobble at the beginning, when the room I was given had a giant crack across the window; however the issue was resolved quickly and professionally. The replacement room was excellent and while the tv remote was non functional, I was able to have it swapped out quickly and with no fuss for a working remote. The restaurant was fine, and while a little pricey, was tasty. Cleanliness of all common areas and the room itself was top-notch. Next to the Ottawa airport, so super-convenient for travelers, and I never heard a thing from outside so the sound dampening is excellent. I would definitely stay here again.

Our family of 4 needed a hotel near the airport between connecting flights so our expectation was not high. We always had good experience with other Hampton Inns so this was just an easy choice, assuming a known quality hotel and also close to the airport. The Good about this hotel - 1. close to airport 2. free shuttle (details to follow) 3. has a couple restaurants just across from the parking lot if you don't want to venture out too far 4. check-in was quick The Bad - 1. Free shuttle only starts at 6am so if you need to catch an early flight you'll need to find a taxi. In our case, we had to pre-book a taxi the night before because we needed to get to the airport at 4:30am. 2. The hotel shuttle was just a plain white van with no signs indicating it's for Hampton Inn. Driver was not in any kind of uniform and when I knocked on his window trying to inquire, he came out and yelled 'What's going on'. Well not exactly what I expect a hotel shuttle driver to identify himself that way. When I asked if he's from Hampton Inn the answer was yes. But in retrospect any random guy can give me the same answer and we just kinda need to trust that driver that he's a legitimate Hampton Inn shuttle driver. The whole short trip to the hotel we were wondering if we would end up getting mugged. Just not a good feeling and I think the hotel can handle this a lot better, how hard is it to give this driver an uniform with a hampton inn logo, or print a hampton inn logo on a piece of paper and put it on the dashboard. At least something to make your shuttle and driver look a little bit more legitimate and make your guests feel a little bit safer. 3. As mentioned earlier we pre-booked a taxi to pick us up at 4:15am, turns out the front desk forgot to book it for us. When we got down to the lobby and looked for the taxi, that's when the front desk guy realized he forgot about it. So we waited for another 10-12 mins for the taxi to come. (taxi fare from hotel to airport was less than $20) 4. Not all electric outlets are working, in our room the one attached to the side table lamp didn't seem to work. Had to search high and low to have enough outlets to charge 4 phones and 4 apple watches. The Very Bad - The mattress was the absolute worse, I have never stayed at a Hampton Inn that have mattresses that dip down about 2 inches and with no support whatsoever. I'm not a big person, but my husband is so the whole night I was sinking and rolling to my husband's side. All I needed was a few hours of sleep between flights and I could not get that because of the mattress. Tossing and turning the whole night and could not find a good position. My back was hurting the next day like I was sleeping on an absolute garbage mattress the night before. We did not use the free breakfast, coffee wasn't ready during our stay, no other amenities were used. The poor rating is given based on the fact that everything we needed for a short stay in this hotel fell far sho

When I arrived, there was no room, and I said free upgrade. After more than 20 minutes of grinding, I said there was a room, and then I took the initiative to waive the parking fee for 2 days. The environment is good, and the lobby is quite stylish by Canadian standards.

This hotel is pretty old and it shows, but the room was quite pleasant and spacious and the bed was comfortable. Loved that there was a room air filter machine plus an internal AC unit, though it didn't work terribly well. There was also a white noise machine which was lovely. The bathroom is super-small and the only disappointment during our stay. The staff was very solicitous and professional. Did not enjoy having to pay for parking over and above the cost of the room (that was a surprise), but I guess downtown hotels can command these fees. All in all a very pleasant stay, and I would book again if I could get a deal through Trip.com (rack rate is very pricy).