evergrn

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS SEQUIM, WA

What is your Priority Club status? Gold (last stay - 2014 or 2015); Platinum (this time)

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay? Last time, yes. This time, so-so.

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Both times the cheapest-category 2-queen.
Last time, upgraded to a 1-bedroom suite (even though gold).
This time, no upgrade (even though platinum).

How are the rooms?
Don't remember the 1-bedroom suite well, other than that we were very happy with how clean and spacious it was.
The standard 2-queen (this time around) was also clean. Towels and toiletries are as you'd expect from HIE... mediocre. Biggest problem was that it was a connecting room. Noise from the next door kept me up till midnight. I specifically requested no connecting room, but they claimed they didn't have any room available in our booked category without a connecting room.

How is the exec. lounge?
n/a

What was good and what was bad?
Good: Room quality here is above avg for a HIE. Was also impressed by the breakfast... they had two different kinds of yogurt including different flavours of Chobani, which is impressive. They provided things like walnuts to put on top of your oatmeal and cereal, which you don't always get at all hotel breakfast buffets. The indoor pool here is a decent size and is in a bright solarium.
Bad: Front desk not very professional this time around. This woman in a t-shirt checked me in. The guy next to me was being checked in by a housekeeper (pretty sure, since that's how she was dressed). I inquired about upgrade and was told no, they're sold out (this was actually not true... I checked online availability afterwards). Then I wanted to make sure they were going to at least give me a room with no connecting door. She said that wasn't possible either. She never offered the 500 pts vs welcome snacks, and I had to remind her to give me 500 pts. I asked her if she could at least give me a bottle of water since she wasn't giving me an upgrade or non-connected room, but she actually made a fuss (saying I'm not supposed to get 500 pts and water) before changing her mind and grudgingly giving me one bottle of Costco water that probably costs 12c.

Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?
25k points for a room that was going for ~$250+tax. To me, that is excellent value. But I'm generally trying to wean off places like HIE, HI and even CP (except CP's in Asia), and I'll only return if I have to stay in this area again.