Holiday Inn Express & Suites Phoenix Tempe – University

Friendly staff. Room needs to be refreshed; carpet worn, furniture scratched; loud, struggling-​to-​keep-​up a/​c, and impotent wi-​fi. Bathroom is tiny. Pool area dirty. Pool itself clean and appears well maintained.
I like the HI Exp brand. This one needs some help.

Always able to find a parking spot near the front door. Free wi-​fi. Friendly staff, clean rooms. I had to take their shuttle to the airport at the end of my stay, and they were more than happy to provide the service. They allowed me to keep my room a bit past checkout time, since demand that day was a little low, and even the shuttle driver was friendly and pleasant to talk to. The hotel is only about ten minutes from the airport, which is also a plus. Overall, I was impressed. If I had a reason to stay in Tempe again, I would come here first.

Nice hotel, clean rooms and hot breakfast in the mornings!

For a Holiday Inn– It’s okay! No luxury here. Unclean pool, small work out room. Just a place to ‘crash’. Close to a small town restaurant, a few fast food restaurants, and a Sheraton. I guess if you are looking to save money, this is a place to go– or if you’re into the neighborhood, otherwise I would stay at another hotel. My husband and I earned enough points to stay at this hotel for a relatively cheaper price than listed, so we took it as we spent most of our day out and just needed a night to crash before our early morning flight the next day.

In town for work and since most of my work revolved around ASU, I wanted to stay close so I could walk to campus. This holiday inn is about half a mile from the south east end of campus.
I didn’t have a car in Tempe so was happy to see that the hotel offered complimentary local shuttle service, including airport pick-​up and drop-​off. I called the hotel after I arrived at the Phoenix airport and within 15 minutes I was on the shuttle heading to the hotel. In addition to using the shuttle for the airport, I also asked to be dropped off at ASU one morning because I was running late. The staff knows the ASU campus well and dropped me off close to the academic building I needed.
The hotel is your standard business hotel and I found most things to be satisfactory. The room was pretty spacious with a desk for work and the bed was comfortable. Bath & Body Works toiletries were provided, which was a nice surprise. Breakfast isn’t gourmet, but eggs and meat were available each morning and that’s all I needed.
A couple of things that could be improved upon:
* Wifi service on the 3^rd floor wasn’t very strong. I stayed 3 days and the most I got was 3 bars for wifi signal. For a business hotel, I think this is one thing that should be fixed right away, perhaps adding a second router on the 2^nd or 3^rd floor.
* Some towels were a little old and scratchy. Maybe it’s time to upgrade some of the towels?
Overall the pluses outweighed the negatives and I would definitely stay here again should I be in Tempe again, for work or pleasure. Luis, one of the staff there, was super friendly and gave very good recommendations for local restaurants.

I wanted to lovvvvve my stay here. I booked 4 rooms with the most fantastic person in the world, the manager Louise, and everything went off without a hitch. The staff here is decent (except the shuttle bus driver… but I’ll get to that). The hotel itself is clean and quiet for the most part, so if you’re just looking for a place to sleep, you’ll be happy.
Let’s start off with my least favorite person/​people on the trip… The shuttle bus driver. The man does NOTHING all day. We were in a group of 8 and we asked for a shuttle ride 3 times and were denied 3 times. The first time, 2 people flew into the airport and needed a ride to the hotel, they called the hotel and they said that «he didn’t show up for work» but if they took a cab, they would be reimbursed. Well, that was nice and much appreciated by them. The second time we tried to utilize the shuttle was to take us to Hohokam, but the shuttle bus driver said he «might be to busy to take us». Ummm, isn’t that your job? I mean, to take people places. I was promised by the hotel that you would take us there… but you’re too busy to do your job? That’s cool… why don’t you just keep sitting there eating breakfast ALL morning (I’ll get to that…). The third time we needed to use the shuttle was to take 2 people to the airport the night that they were flying out. We called down to arrange and again were told that the driver didn’t show up. Wow. Fire him! The whole 6 days we stayed there, I saw the shuttle van move one time. ONCE!!!
Next up, breakfast. Anywhere in the Phoenix metro is going to be slam-​jammed in March. Us baseball fans will pack your hotel, as a matter of face it will probably be at 100% capacity during March. If you offer breakfast, have enough food. Every single day, our hotel ran out of certain things. Little milk cartons, biscuits (they had gravy… the breakfast lady told me to use regular bread. haha. asshole), cinnamon rolls, bananas, pancake batter, sausage, bacon, eggs, etc. Those are just a few of the things they kept running out of while I was there for 6 days. One thing I noticed that the shuttle bus driver actually did well was (and probably what kept him SO busy) eat breakfast all morning. Yup, the same stuff that they were running out of, was being chowed down by the lazy ass bus driver. I can’t stand a lazy person who just takes advantage of stuff. He’s useless.
The pool at the hotel is small and doesn’t look like it was cleaned in ages. I’m sure it was, but seriously I wouldn’t even dip my toe in there, that’s how disgusted I was.
I booked 4 King rooms, but we only got 2 king rooms. The other two were queen rooms. Again, very disappointed that we all didn’t get the rooms that were originally booked.
Ummm yeah… Sadly I won’t be staying here again. Besides Louise, everything was a huge fail in my book.

Wow, was really surprised by the earlier review and stolen property. We stayed in 2 suites the week of 3 – 17 for Spring Training. We had an excellent stay and found the staff terrifice, rooms clean, and beds very comfortable. Our stay well exceeded my expectations.

Had some stuff stolen out of my luggage my the maid and had to have the police come out. Staff were not overly concerned, nor did they show a sense of urgency. 3 days later and still no call or email from mgmt to apologize or tell me that my things were recovered-​the police did call to say my things were found hidden in the laundry room along with other guests’ possessions. Probably have to head back to AZ from CA to get my stuff because it’s been booked in as evidence, but who knows when. This is the short version, believe me, but needless to say I will never patronize this chain again.

I have mixed feelings about this Holiday Inn. So let me go with the bad first. The hotel looks as though it hasn’t been remodeled in ages. The furniture’s got a scary corporate Santa Fe feel which is not my bag. Yes, I’m a design snob. Yet, I should have realized I’m not staying at the W or the Standard or at a Double Tree. And things were dirty. I got into the elevator and there was some sort of sticky substance on the floor. The ice bucket was dusty. I found some random pube hair in the shower. There was a questionable substance in the fridge. Gross.
Another thing that there are a lot of young people who stay there (which probably doesn’t help the cleaniness of the hotel). Makes sense because it’s close to the university so I imagine they’re there for university-​related activities. I hate being around Lots of young people… and I’m a young person! It’s just that this scene is comparable to a dormitory. There were a lot of people running around and talking really loudly, which really bugged me.
However, the service there is Great. The staff is super-​duper-​duper nice and actually have customer service skills. A lot of the staff is young and they ‘re students at ASU (I guess this redeems my image of young people slightly). When I first came into my room, two of the light bulbs were in the lamps. Being all DIY-​myself, I switched one of the bulbs to a lamp I would actually use, leaving the burnt-​out bulb on the table. Frankly, I was too lazy to call room service. The next day, to my surprise, all the lamps were working. Love it! Also, there’s complementary shuttle service to places within a 5 mile radius of the hotel, which is awesome.
Sooo… between the dirty hotel and the great staff, things cancel out… so I give this place 3 stars. I don’t know if I’d ever stay here again, but at least if I know that if I have to I’ll get great service.
Oh! Last thing I should add. There are plaques on some of the hotel room doors, marking what celebrity stayed in that room. It’s hilarious! I stayed in the room next to the room Randy Travis stayed in. Other notables include Dick Clark and Dolly Parton and a bunch of sports guys I can’t remember.