"Unwelcoming, Rude and Unprofessional Leadership."
Overall Score1.0/ 5
These last two years have been very challenging for so many people. I work in the healthcare field and have been working very long hours during this time. Well this month, my two adult children, youngest child and I decided to take a much needed vacation together to heal, rejuvenate and find closure to some very difficult events that occurred within our family and to celebrate my oldest daughter's birthday. After exploring Airbnb, VRBO and many other options, I decided to rejoin Entertainment.com on July 18th. That same night, I found quite a few great deals but narrowed it down to the Holiday Inn Express. I pre purchased two rooms and our family felt very confident that we made the best choice because of the consistent quality and excellent customer service our family always experienced at several other Holiday Inn Express locations in the past. I have been an IHG member for many years. Unfortunately, this consistent quality and excellent customer service did not apply at all to the Winston Salem property. Before starting our four hour trip, I called the hotel to request adjoining rooms. I spoke to what seemed like a very kind lady by the name of Jamie. She stated that she would take care of it. Upon arrival, I entered an empty lobby and no one was at the front desk. I looked around to see if there was a bell to ring or someone waiting on the side. No one. Then I heard someone yell from behind the desk something like āwhat do you wantā. I could not see anyone so I kept looking to see who said that. The person yelled it again. I stated I was here to check in. I had to state it a couple of times before a young lady emerged so I could see her. The name āJamieā was on her name tag. I stated, āJamie, so you are Jamie. I talked to you on the phone.ā āWhat's your name?ā, Jamie roughly asked. I stated my name. Jamie then just proceeded to tell me that she could not find a second room reservation for me. She needed a second reservation number and she was unable to call me back to tell me because she did not have my phone number. Jamie stated that because I used a third party to purchase the rooms, she was not able to see the second room without another reservation number. She stated that I needed to call the third party I made the reservation through and ask them for the other reservation number. I tried to show her the reservation confirmation email I received, which broke down the two rooms I had pre purchased and showed the names for each room. Jamie REFUSED to even look at it ā instead she continued to just bark at me that I needed to call the third party and would not budge to assist or try to be even somewhat accommodating. It just has to be noted here that I still have not received any sort of welcome, kind greeting, smile or been asked how she could be of assistance. Granted, I am somewhat shell shocked, taken aback and very confused by now. I feel like I am being barked at and treated as if I created this problem by booking my rooms through a āthird partyā. I proceeded to step away from the front desk to try to figure out how to reach Entertainment.com or IHG on a Saturday afternoon. I submitted a call back request from the email confirmation I received. My calls to IHG kept disconnecting. By now I was getting perturbed because none of this made any sense and Jamie was proving to be very rude and unprofessional. She started to ask me something while I was trying my best to reach someone at ā as she said the āthird partyā. I told her to āhold onā. Well, she did not like that. At this point, I did not very much care what she liked. Meanwhile, my children are still waiting for me outside. Since it looked like it was going to be a while before I heard from Entertainment.com, I asked Jamie if there was anything she could do. She said no but I could just purchase another room. āWhy would I do that if I paid almost $600 for two rooms for three nights???ā, I asked. I asked if the manager was available. She said she was the manager. I figured because of her lack of decorum and customer service experience, that she must be an assistant or just new weekend manager. The name of the manager on duty was not posted behind the front desk and there were no business cards at the front desk. No phone number was posted at the front desk in case you had questions or comments either. I felt like I was in a real bind so I asked if I could just check into one of the rooms until this was sorted out. Jamie said sure, but I was beyond miffed at this point. I proceeded to tell her that her customer service skills were in need of much improvement ā okay were just plain awful. What was Jamie's solution? Well, she told me that I could just leave since I had an attitude from the beginning and she will not let me stay at the hotel. Yep, she said that. By now my oldest daughter came in to see what was taking so long. It was then that I noticed that even though I could see the two rooms I bought in my name on the confirmation and each room had the same reservation number, I had labeled the 2nd room in my daughters name. I really did not realize that the reservation would have gone specifically in her name with the same reservation number. So I asked Jamie if she happened to see my daughter's name. Guess whatā¦she did. Then she proceeded to say she asked me if there was another name and just proceeded to blame me and belittle me in front of my daughter. The main issue, among all the other issues, is if she had just taken a moment of her time (out of courtesy) to patiently review the email confirmation with me, I am positive this issue would have been resolved a lot sooner. You would think it would have ended there, but no, Jamie continued to be rude and disrespectful to me during check in. She kept talking directly to my daughter instead of me and just doing little things to talk down to me even when it came to the credit card for the room. Both rooms were already paid for and only my credit card info should have been needed for incidentals. She proceeded to insist that she needed a credit card for incidentals from my daughter which I know for a fact is not true. My daughter was very gracious about it but Jamie was just belittling. Then I realized that she did not realize that I was much older than I look. I look like I could be my kid's sibling. I set that straight. Jamie proceeded to realize who she was talking to and realize that all the proper information was already in her system ā but of course she refused to acknowledge anything or apologize for her deplorable behavior. I must state though that this was by far the worst check in experience of my life. I literally had to step outside at one point and laugh so that I would not totally lose it because she acted so horribly and was so unprofessional. I knew that there was no way I could get refunded if I cancelled at this point but if I did not know any better, it was as if she was trying to make this experience so bad that I would cancel and forfeit all the funds or be intimidated into buying another room. No guest should even be tempted to feel that way. Well, no way. She was not going to ruin our entire weekend and she did not. The kid's and I really enjoyed our time together. When we finally got to our rooms, Entertainment returned my call. The gentleman was wonderful and even ensured a microwave was delivered to the room (I was not about to deal with Miss Jamie again). The rest of the staff were very friendly and helpful. The breakfast was very limited ā which is understandable due to COVID shortages everywhere so you did not receive what was advertised. We were disappointed to see outdoor the pool closed this late in the summer. The exercise room was very minimal and only had one very old and loud treadmill. The overall quality of the Winston Salem Holiday Inn Express was not up to the quality we had become accustomed. Thankfully, the main thing the kid's and I needed was rest, relaxation and just some time to physically, mentally and spiritually refuel. Please beware of this Winston Salem property ā especially, Jamie, who by the way ended up being the General Manager of the property?!?! This is very unfortunate and I know that Jamie's demeanor, actions, words and attitude do not represent IHG and just perhaps there is a reasonable explanation. Either way, there is absolutely no excuse for Jamie's deplorable behavior. My comments will go to her superiors because corrective action must be taken.
Rabah P. (Group coordinator, booked 2 rooms), from
04-Aug-2021 Verified Review, stayed from Sat Jul 31 to Tue Aug 03 2021 at a $85.99 average nightly rate.