A rather disappointing experience at Holiday Inn Express Chennai OMR Thoraipakkam.
Firstly, when we tried to order à la carte lunch at the café, the staff repeatedly pushed us toward the buffet option and even forcefully took back the à la carte menu from my friend who was still browsing it, which felt very rude and uncomfortable.
The room air conditioning was another issue—it was too warm and could not be adjusted, affecting our overall comfort. Other friends staying in this hotel had experienced similar issue with their rooms.
We also arranged transportation (three Innovas) for 15 pax through the hotel concierge for a 3-day event, at an exorbitant cost (900 rupee per car per trip for 5 pax). Unfortunately, two of the cars did not show up for our return pickup after the event, as it had been assigned to other passengers, resulted in us waiting in vain. We found out about this much later. They sent a sedan car that could fetch 4 passengers, and charged us 700 rupee for it. The staff member who handled our booking was also uncontactable at the time, leaving us to make last-minute alternative arrangements using Uber, which we found out only costed us 250 rupee per car per trip for 4 pax. We found out that the hotel had overcharged us. Subsequently, we stopped using the transport arrangement from the hotel but used Uber instead. It only costed us between 130 - 200 per auto/car per trip.
Additionally, for a twin-sharing room, only one key card was provided initially. When we requested a second card, we were told the system was down and to check back later. We checked back by evening, the same reason was given. However, when we checked again before heading out, the staff consulted a manager and were able to issue the card immediately, which was confusing and caused unnecessary inconvenience. But friends staying in other rooms experienced similar issue and weren't given the 2nd key card for 3 days stay. It caused a lot of inconvenience and reflected inconsistency in their operational standard and procedure.
Finally, the checkout process was quite inefficient, especially regarding breakfast charges. We wanted to pay upfront for the breakfast for our 3 nights stay, but had been advised by the hotel staff to settle the payment during checkout and simply inform the restaurant staff of our room number each day. However, at checkout, there were no proper records of our breakfast usage, and the staff had to verify this manually with the manager, resulting in a long delay.
Overall, the stay was let down by service inconsistencies, communication gaps, and operational inefficiencies. I hope the management can address these issues to improve the guest experience.
