Review of Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Olive Branch, an IHG Hotel 2*

As a IHG gold member who frequently stays with this hotel group, this was hands down one of the worst stays I've ever had. We arrived for a 4 day stay and the initial impression wasn't great, but not terrible either. The front desk worker was nowhere to be found and we had to wait quite a but for them to come up front to do their job. Once we finally got checked in and made it up to our room, we noticed a distinct odor that we couldn't quite place, but decided to ignore it because of how late it was and how tired we were. From here, things only managed to get worse. Bed ended up being unbearably hard and uncomfortable, and I woke next morning with extreme back and knee pain from it. That morning the elevator also broke down, which normally wouldn't be a huge deal, but not ideal to take the stairs with our infant in a carrier and sore back and knees from the bed. After breakfast we headed back up to grab a shower only to discover that there was no hot water at all. Not even luke warm like they had too many guests using it, just straight cold water. We tried to stay away from the hotel as much as possible to avoid any further issues, but on our final morning, we went down for breakfast only to discover they weren't really bothering with putting enough food out, I'm assuming since it was a weekday. No coffee, no milk, cinnamon rolls were empty with no fresh tray being warmed up, not even enough cereal in the dispenser for a full bowl. I asked the kitchen worker if they had any milk in the back, and she proceeded to act offended that I even asked with a "Do you see any in the cooler? No? Then I guess that means we're out" comment. I've never been so ready to check out of a hotel and head home as I have been with this one. We have family in the area that we visit frequently, and we will definitely stay somewhere else the next time we come to visit.