As part of the Holiday Inn State-cation promotion, I got to stay in a newly “refreshed” Holiday Inn hotel in Austin, TX. I must admit, to me the name “Holiday Inn” represents affordability and then you add “Express” to it which conjures the image of a scaled back place to stay a night and simply get going again the next day. So clearly I started out with limited expectations. But nonetheless, I was very excited to get the opportunity to stay in Austin for 2 nights (on Holiday Inn’s tab plus they covered gas and food, thank you!). The specific hotel I stayed in was the Holiday Inn Express Austin North Central.

I Am Impressed!

All I can say is, wow, I impressed with this hotel! Upon entering the lobby I was greeted with an array of fall decorations and friendly staff. The lobby itself was much more elegant than I had anticipated and pristinely clean. Now I’ve stayed in a range of hotels, from the cheap and simple to chic and sophisticated (granted, I’ve never stayed in a luxury hotel so my comparisons end short of that). When I think of affordable I tend to think of the adequate hotels I’ve stayed in, but the Holiday Inn was way beyond adequate. In fact, it was nicer than where my husband and I honeymooned (sad, I know, but broke newlyweds make do with what they have… hence why we were elated to get a chance for a better “second honeymoon” on our state-cation 2 year anniversary). Everywhere I turned there was evidence of this hotel being the classiest affordable hotel I’ve ever stayed in, from beautiful décor, to being spectacularly clean, to the superior staff.

The Staff

Speaking of the staff, they made great effort to congratulate my husband and I celebrating our 2 year anniversary (which was noted in the comment section of our reservation). The amazing thing about that, is even the following day when the staff at the desk had changed even they knew it was our anniversary and took the time to congratulate us as we walked by. Talk about personal service! Part of the re-launch of the Holiday Inn hotel chain (that is currently in process as they “refresh” over 3,300 of their hotel properties around the world) is the “Stay Real” training program where the employees learn how to treat the guests like real people not just customers and most certainly not just a number. Clearly this program works because the staff really impressed me. Perhaps you may be concerned that this training just leads to fake congratulations but it felt genuine as the staff took the time to chat with us and even made comments of “They’re so cute!” when my husband and I would walk off holding onto each other. Seemed genuine to me.

The Room

The Holiday Inn hotel room we stayed in was a king size bed non-smoking reservation. The room included a fridge, a microwave, a coffee maker, free wi-fi internet, cable TV, and shower supplies (Holiday Inn brand items as well as Bath & Body Works shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel). We were both really impressed with this room. Honestly, it was the nicest hotel room we had ever stayed in together. The top 10 reasons I was impressed with this room:

1- The room and the bathroom were pristinely clean.

2- The way the room was decorated created a resort feel with delicate accents, from beading on the lampshades to floral arrangements (synthetic of course) to crown molding along the ceiling.

3- The bed was extremely comfortable and felt fresh and clean.

4- I love a fridge and microwave in a hotel room and this room had both. It always makes a road trip easier when you can take your restaurant leftovers back to the hotel, and keep the bottled water you brought cold, and a place to keep any additional snacks chilled and fresh. It’s also a great way to save a little money on road food because you can stop by a grocery store and pick up a few items to keep on hand.

5- Such a treat to get Bath & Body Works shower supplies.

6- A pleasant shower with good water pressure.

7- Easy to use free wireless internet that actually was fast too.

8- The sitting area in this room (which isn’t in the two bed rooms) was a nice addition.

9- A welcome letter on the coffee table explaining Holiday Inn’s commitment to excellence.

10- FREE breakfast! Okay, that’s not actually in the room, but it is if you go downstairs, put your breakfast together, and then take it back upstairs.

The Free Perks

Holiday Inn has plenty of free perks for every guest that stays in their hotel. First of all, the free breakfast is nice. I’m sure the specific items served can vary by location, but ours had a good selection of things like eggs and bacon, cereal, bagels and muffins, and more. It saves money to have free breakfast at the hotel plus it’s so much more convenient than finding a place to have breakfast so it saves time as well.

This Holiday Inn location provided guests free popcorn and cookies in the lobby in the evenings.

As mentioned before, the free shower supplies were of great quality.

Also previously mentioned, free internet is provided to all guests. (So nice not to have a fee like quite a few hotels charge. Free is much better!) If you don’t bring your computer with you, you can still access the internet for free at one of the computers in the lobby.

There is a workout room and a pool available free to guests. I didn’t use either, but I’m sure both are enjoyed by many.

Extra Kudos to Holiday Inn for Driving Directions

I want to make mention of the reservation e-mail that Holiday Inn sends their guests. I printed mine out just in case I needed it for anything and I’m sure glad I did. My husband and I do not own a GPS and so we printed out mapquest directions in order to traverse to the hotel. Well, we all know that directions aren’t always accurate. Mapquest said the hotel was on Interstate 290. We couldn’t find it anywhere. When I finally looked for additional information on the e-mail reservation I had printed I found basic driving directions. Turns out mapquest was very wrong because the hotel was located off of 35. Once we found our way onto that interstate we followed the rest of the directions Holiday Inn provided on the page. We then found it no problem. Thank you Holiday Inn for being thorough in the information on the reservation e-mail.

Overall

Obviously, I highly recommend Holiday Inn. Not just because I got to stay there for free, but because I was really impressed with my experience and the hotel overall. No doubt I plan to stay at a Holiday Inn again. I definitely would recommend Holiday Inn to everyone looking for an affordable (but still upscale) place to stay.