Holiday Inn Express South Lake Tahoe

We checked in at midnight and found the door of our room half opened.
The staff came with us and inspected the room after I insisted.
The room smells slightly mold and we found two ants climbing on the wall.
The staff were quite friendly when we decided to checkout early.
For IHG members:
You better consider PxxxxLine express deals.
Book directly with full price does not guarantee you get a decent room in this property.

I booked a prepaid rate online. When i arrived to check in they didnt mention that the charge didnt go through and they charged me full rate. Also since i needed a roll away for my nephew i had to upgrade to a larger room «more money». Bate and switch game. $ 49 more. I didnt notice this on check in and I mentioned it to the front desk person who told me that i was lucky they didnt cancel my reservation. I received an email confirmation, so if they couldnt reach me they should have cancelled the reservation which would have sent me an email so i could have know what was going on. Why bother when they make more money. I thought being close to Heavenly gondola was important. It is not. Just drive to the ski resort parking lot much easier. Same thoughts on the Free Continental Breakfast as a reviewer last july: they said «Well, you pay for it, but you don’t pay more for it. The breakfast is NOT healthy, and it looks like they just microwave everything.» Yellow egg product, GMO corn syrup for your white gmo pancakes, Sugar oatmeal, sugar cereal, sugar sticky buns. If I was a fat person i would love this junk, but i’m a healthy skier and fat people dont ususally ski. Plus TV reception was horrible and lost signal every few minutes so watching any show was impossible. I complained to my travel agent who booked the room and he said they would give me the AAA rate and refund $ 10. So far they just charged my card $ 10 more. OMG.

Since traffic was terrible after leaving our hotel/​casino in s. Tahoe, we decided to turn around and go back to Tahoe since we were pretty much not moving and stuck. We decided to just get a regular hotel and chose holiday inn express. I was very happy with it. The staff were very friendly! (didn’t get names but lady from Hayward and a young man there) the rooms were very clean because like a lot of people this is a BIG deal to me. I check bedding before I use it to make sure it’s clean from hair, stains etc. The house keeping staff are doing a great job! It seemed like all the staff there got a long like family. Also there was free breakfast in the morning and it’s walking distance to things to do, casino etc. so to sum it up. Nice hotel, good price, clean, friendly staff, free breakfast, and good location. thanks staff for being so nice

This could have been a better review, but since there was NO HOT WATER, this place gets a 2. They weren’t even apologetic when I called to inform them. To compensate us, they gave us a $ 20/​day credit. Really??? Not a good place to go if it’s freezing and snowing outside with no hot water! I feel I could have been treated way better and am very disappointed.

Went for Christmas! The room was great! Great channels on the TV, great customer service and the breakfast was amazing! Our little guy who is four is very picky and they had all kinds of oatmeal, cereal, pancakes, eggs, yogurt and so much more! Recommend to anyone!!!

I ventured with my 7 year old for the first time to Tahoe the weekend of Thanksgiving. I chose HIE because it was recommended by my boss as a family joint.
Woke the kiddo up at 5 am and did the drive towards the land of snow — at least that is what the weather report promised. We arrived at 9 and we were welcomed to try the breakfast. How nice! The front desk said that they might be able to check us in early. Checked in at 10.
Breakfast: Complimentary breakfast for all guests. There are a lot of choices for anyone. My son had something different each morning and was quite happy. Something about that frozen weather just brings the major appetite.
The hotel room is a bit dated but the service definitely will bring me back in the future. Outstanding! Plus, a microwave and refrigerator in the room.
Kudos: a warm room when you first enter. No one wants to have their butts frozen cranking up the heat when they arrive to their hotel room.

Mediocre place and spent 340 a night, granted it was holiday week, still. Everything about this place was average except the price and location. Note to self — book ahead

Stayed in the same room nearly two years ago to the date. Room 309. Right off the strip. Not bad on the price. Good deals with Sierra Ski resort. It’s 12 degrees outside but cozy in here. Clean from floor to ceiling. No dust.

Great place to stay! I would recommend this hotel, the bed was very comfortable and the bathroom was seriously the biggest hotel bathroom I’ve ever seen! The room was clean and centrally located.

So after looking and choosing between Days Inn and HIE… so glad I chose HIE!
We came early (we had driven from Reno in the early morning) and decided to try and check in at 11am. We knew, but it was worth a shot. We came back around 2ish, which is the time they told us to come back, and they were unsure of which rooms WERE cleaned and ready, but since check in time is 4pm, we weren’t too mad. We went off to lunch and came back at 3pm, and finally they gave us a room. They had felt bad or something, because they gave us a corner room in the area that doesn’t have much traffic around it (Room 221). Walking in, it was a bigger room than we expected. There was a table for computers/​bags in front of us, two queen beds to our left, a microwave, refrigerator, and ANOTHER table with seats behind that, a TV, and a bathroom with TWO sinks! And Bath and Body works lotion (white citrus HEHEH).
Pros:
1) Wifi is good. They have free wi-​fi and it was the fastest wifi out of the 7 hotel nights we had.
2) FREE continental breakfast. I mean the pancakes they had were mediocre, but they had coffee, tea, hot water, eggs, milk in cartons, cinnamon rolls, muffins, bacon, biscuits, and a few other things. The food was alright but decent enough for a hotel. Their kitchen is really tiny though.
3) GREAT location. We walked by the Heavenly Plaza, walked over to the Nevada side of Stateline, and walked to Base Camp pizza. had free parking here, so didn’t have to pay! The lake also is closeby as well (:
4) Heat lamp. And it’s red. :)
5) Good room size.
Cons:
1) Room smelled like bleach. Like heavily, when we came in the room.
2) A/​C thermostat was broken. Had a sign saying «we are talking to the manufacturer… use the buttons on the machine», and we used that but forgot that we were 6000 feet up. in the morning we were freezing. Not really a con actually. Just something that kinda stuck out.
3) Radio + lamp plugs were UNPLUGGED when we came in… housekeeping, something you should have maybe seen?
Tbh, had my best sleep here, out of the whole trip. Paid around ~$ 250 for the room.

A solid 4 stars!
1. Rooms are clean and it smells like the laundry has just been done.
2. Location is awesome. It’s right on South Lake Tahoe Blvd with walking distance to the Stateline casinos as well as nice retail stores
3. Continental Breakfast is free: Well, you pay for it, but you don’t pay more for it. The breakfast is not healthy, and it looks like they just microwave everything, but what do you expect? I do wish the food was healthier and wish I had some confirmation that the food will explode in my bowels.
4. Pool and Jacuzzi = Awesome during the summers. The indoor sauna is awesome and its definitely one of the gems of this place.
5. Prices is relatively affordable given the locations and time.
6. Bathrooms are very nice and huge.
The Holiday Inn Express is a great hotel in a great location in an even greater City. The neighbors can get very loud at night, as it seems that the walls are very thin.

Tell you what. Best bang for your buck! I have stayed at a lot of different hotels on south lake and this one fits my needs the best by far. Walking distance to everything! The rooms are great, and even the continental breakfast is above average. I definitely recommend for families. Especially if you don’t like the «riff-​raff» from the casino life. (Smoke, gambling, etc.) I’ll be staying here from now on.

+/​-​THE ROOMS
Okay, this is Holiday Inn we’re talking about so you can’t expect some fancy 5 star hotel. For the price you pay, you get a pretty solid room. I stayed here with my family over a long weekend and Holiday Inn was the only place near the part of the lake we wanted to visit that had vacancy. I booked two rooms with two full beds in each of the rooms. In each of the rooms, there was a TV, mini fridge, microwave, desk, and an armchair. You can tell that the place was recently remodeled because the bathrooms are more modern. The only issue I had was that the bed sheets were dirty when we first checked in so we requested them to be changed.
+ THE PRICES
Spent almost $ 200/​night during the trip. Considering that I booked the place very last minute (5 days before), I was lucky to even find a place that was available for under $ 200/​night. Other places ranged up to $ 350/​night, which is way too out of my budget.
+ THE ACCOMMODATIONS
Free breakfast! The dining area is pretty tiny and cramped, seating about 20 – 30, but considering how many rooms there are, it’s pretty difficult to find a table when you’re here on a popular holiday. The breakfast itself is not impressive in quality, but hey it’s free! There’s a lot of variety in what you can eat though– pancakes, bagels, toast, eggs, sausage patties, bacon, biscuits and gravy, cereal, fruit, oatmeal, and much more. Another big hit was the fact that there were surprisingly a lot of channels to browse through on the TV. There were even a few HD channels. WiFi is free and printed on your room card. The connection speed is never gonna be as fast as home but it’ll do.

Great customer service and an excellent room. We booked a non refundable room for out anniversary. We had our sitter cancel in us and the staff was very helpful letting us change the date. Then the kids got pink eye and we had to change it again. They let us change it again bit told us this was the last time. Luckily nothing else went wring and we were able to get up to Tahoe. We got a room in the back right next door to the hot tub and sauna. The room was huge and it was great not having any neighbors except above. The hotel is walking distance to heavenly village and Harrah’s/Harvey’s. I would recommend to anyone who wants a romantic getaway.

Horrible customer service! As mentioned in reviews below, the folks that work here do not wish to resolve any issues with the stay or the billing. Considering how much I paid to stay for 3 days (north of $ 900) I found out later on my credit card bill they also charged me another $ 150. They claimed I smoked in the room (non smoking room) yet I don’t even smoke! When I tried to resolve the issue with the hotel they were very unhelpful and did not want to work things out. They claimed it was confirmed by by another person on staff who of course was on their payroll. My room was right by the stairwell which attracted a lot of smoking people outside (as well as outdoor noise). A couple more issues:
–The window blinds — theres no privacy from people looking inside, nor a way to shut out the light.
— Maid service knocking on the door even when they see a do not disturb sign on the door.
Even though I visit Tahoe multiple times a year, I definitely won’t give patronage to this hotel in the future and will recommend to my friends and family to stay away!

This hotel offers a bit less than you get from the typical Holiday Inn Express property. The standard rooms are small-​ish, and there are exterior walkways with no elevators. The outdoor pool and hot tub close at dark (weird, never seen that rule anywhere else) though there’s also an indoor pool open later. The breakfast area gets really slammed on weekend mornings. The hotel’s in a great location, though. You’re right next to the resort area, within easy walking distance of dozens of restaurants and shops, plus the casinos across the state line. Meanwhile, the rooms are just far enough back from the main drag that road noise isn’t a problem.

We’ve stayed here on several occasions. The location is great for South Tahoe activities. Walking distance to State Line and the casinos, souvenir shops, art galleries, etc.
Easy to find and plenty of parking. They even have a traffic signal at the entrance which is very convenient when the congestion is bad.
Price has always been reasonable, between $ 100 and $ 150 per night depending on the day, week or season.
On our last stay a few nights ago, we’d just come from a horrible experience at another establishment and arriving here was like stepping into a five star resort! I’ve always thought this place was A-​Ok, but now I noticed how really nice it is for the price. Value without compromise. That should be their motto.
Check in was easy and handled very well even though they were busy with phones ringing & people arriving… and we didn’t have a reservation. Ricky did a great job multi-​tasking.
Opening the door to our room, I was immediately impressed with the pleasant knotty pine type décor and blown away at the size of the bathroom with dual sinks, tiled floor and a solid hardwood door! Compared to where we had just stayed, we all breathed a sigh of relief. This was so nice.
While my wife & daughter took their turns in the shower, I headed down to the pool. It was heated, but not hot. Perfect temperature for an afternoon dip followed up by a soak in the hot tub under the pines. I marveled at how clean it was and mentally commended the grounds keepers on a job well done. Those trees surely keep them busy on a daily basis.
After my swim, I inquired about staying an additional night and Ricky said that would be no problem. In fact, the rate would be $ 15 cheaper!
The breakfast was the standard fare at Holiday Inn Express. Assorted cereals, breads, cinnamon rolls, yogurt, fruit, juices, biscuits & gravy, scrambled eggs, etc. Nothing to write home about, but filling & with plenty of options. It was busier (more crowded) here than I’ve seen at other HIE’s. It didn’t appear like they ran out of anything.
My wife & I both agreed that this particular Holiday Inn Express is a real gem. We could easily spend a week here and may do that next summer or fall.

2.5 stars. We’ve stayed at Holiday Inn Express’s before, and have generally enjoyed our stay. Paid top dollar a few week-​ends ago (due to the amazingly fun Celebrity Golf Tournament that week-​end).
Pros:
— Great location, close to casinos (if that’s your thing). Walking distance to things on the ‘main drag.’
— Free hot breakfast. Nothing fancy, but it’s free!
— Free WiFi
— Non-​smoking, pet free (we have allergies).
— Service was prompt and courteous.
Cons:
— Old, dated. Wallpaper peeling from the bathroom. Bathrooms especially seemed a bit worn and dated.
— Found a few cobwebs near the window sill and dust behind chairs (I’m picky, as I have little ones).
— Was hoping for a view of the lake, or something in nature. Seems like most rooms look into the parking lot.
Not the best hotel, not the worst. But, two stars is, «Meh, I’ve experience better.» Pretty much sums it up.

I like the location of this Holiday Inn Express. It’s walking distance from the touristy locations like Heavenly and all the other surrounding hotel casinos like Harvey’s, Harrah’s, Mountbleu, etc. This would be my recommend hotel if you’re travelin’ on a budget and bringing the kiddos along. You won’t have to deal with the stinky smell of cancer sticks and the loud slot machines. I do not recommend this hotel for couples and extremely light sleepers since the walls are paper thin.
On the other hand, customer service at the front desk was really good. The ladies working there were friendly and attentive to our needs. They handed us a map and lead us to the direction of our room.
Some of the few amenities that this hotel has to offer is:
— One Outdoor Swimming Pool
— Indoor Jacuzzi
— Free Complimentary Breakfast
I can not comment on the jacuzzi and the outdoor swimming pool itself because I did not bring a swimsuit with me, but I do hope the other Unilocalers write about them. On the other hand, the free complimentary breakfast in the hotel lobby was not all that bad Sunday morning. Usually when I think about complimentary breakfast, I only think about toast, cereal, bagels, milk, juice, and a few fruits and yogurt. I am surprised they had a lot more to offer than I thought. There were some scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, bacon, pancakes, and cinnamon buns. If you’re keen for taste, the food can get pretty bland, but what I usually do to my eggs is add the gravy on top. Also, there’s always some salt and pepper on the table. However, it can get pretty crowded around 8 AM, so you might want to wake up earlier or go a little after 8:45 AM.
The rooms on the other hand were clean for the most part. The beds were slightly firm but mostly soft. The sheets were washed and cleaned well. I love how there were labeled soft and firm pillows, and the room smells like a fresh pine tree forest. Well– at least in my room. Here are a few perks the rooms have to offer:
— Free Wifi
— Microwave
— Mini Refrigerator
— TV with Cable
— Coffee Maker with Coffee Packets
— Hair Dryer
— Travel Sized Shampoo, Conditioner, Lotion, and Soap
— If you for got your toothbrush or toothpaste at home, you can always request the front desk for some or simply walk down and across the street to the Raley’s in the Heavenly Plaza or one of the convenient gift shops.
Again, staying at this hotel is not ideal for couples and the light sleepers if you do not have ear plugs. The walls are paper thin and the floors can be very creaky no matter how lightly you step. My sister and I stayed in a separate room from our parents and brother, and when we were about to relax and sleep, we can hear our Dad laughing obnoxiously next door to us. One thing that slightly made me lose my mind was when my little sister broke the shower knob. Luckily, I was able to fix it! Please be gentle when you twist the knob unless you want to screw the handle off like my sister did.
Overall not a bad hotel, it’s pretty laid back despite all the paper thin walls. I would not mind coming back there again as their guest.

Stayed here on ⁰⁵⁄₁₅ on the way home from Vegas
The lady that checked us in was very nice. The room was nice but smelled of smoke? Not cig smoke but wood smoke. I went and asked the lady in the lobby about it, she said she had no idea why it would smell like that but offered to switch our room, which i accepted. The next room was nice, clean, smelled great. bed was comfy
Rooms are reasonably priced
Breakfast was hit and miss… some of the bread items were a little stale, coffee was good and hot though.
I will try this place again on my next trip to Tahoe