Stayed 03DEC08 - which unknowingly to me was the first night it was open for paying guests.
Huge sized room, LCD TV, everything had that new smell, touch and feel, so hard to fault anything decor or amenity wise. Bathroom standard HIE fitout, but again a very decent size. Mini bar with coffee maker and an armchair with ottoman were nice touches.

The elevators were okay, quiet in operation except for the alert tone (when a car was stopping at your floor) which was an incredibly loud electronic klaxon type beeping - would not want a room near the elevator bank unless that was fixed.

Obviously a few minor nitpicks being first night of operation - some cosmetic touch-ups needed in the entry area and under the canopy at the front door. No milk for cereal at Express Start in the morning and no coffee machine set up yet. The vending machines weren't yet working. The shuttle bus still hadn't got it's markings on the side, so hard to find it outside the terminal building.
Staff were new, being guided by old hands, so check-in took quite some time due to minor things like the credit card swiper not yet linked up etc. All of the staff from shuttle driver to Express Start matron were great - front desk full of smiles and small talk during the extended check-in and check-out.

Huge fireplace seperating the reception area from the ExpressStart area, which also acts as a pseudo evening lounge with 3 large sofas and a huge LCD/Plasma screen. Very nice little set-up.

Shuttle available to/from the Airport - was "on-demand" but I could imagine it would run to set times once business picks up. Very close to the airport itself. Absolutely nothing around that I could see within walking distance as far as bar/restaurant facilities go except a service station about a block away.

Shuttle driver told me they had 27 rooms booked in for their first night, so must be some sort of demand for it.

One major problem - the phone number on the website and confirmation pages was actually a pre-opening number only and was a fax machine when I needed to call them for the shuttle on arrival. I'd only booked 5 days prior, so one would think they would have set up the correct number in the website/booking engine by this stage of their opening process. Luckily, they had been to the information desk at baggage collection in the airport earlier in the day and had hand written their correct number on their brochures in the brochure rack.

All in all, it's a HIE, it was a late evening arrival with early morning departure transit stop, so a discerning eye was not required. I just wanted a bed. It was a nice property but as it's new, it's hard to find fault with anything decor/comfort wise.
Having said that, if they maintain their rather high prices for a HIE I'd probably just go into town next time, given how close it is, as there were better value IHG properties available. Perhaps more of a hassle if the weather is bad over winter, which is where the HIE proximity to the Airport comes into it's own.