Holiday Inn Express & Suites Salinas, an IHG Hotel - Hotel in Salinas - 195 Kern St, USA

What was good: Great Staff, convenient location, super clean. What was bad: Too much road noise. This place overlooks a main road, in a slightly sketchy area. We were greeted with street racing, loud motorcycles and semi-s all night long. The A/C unit is ported in a way that amplifies all the noise, and there was no way to either close it, or keep the fan on 100% (it shuts off when temp is reached). Could not sleep at all. We traveled with 2 young ones and, got in late and we badly needed water. The water from the faucet was awful, so we went to get water from downstairs. Had to pay $2 a bottle for small Kirkland (Costco) water that literally pennies to purchase, and often used by normal hotels to give to guests for free. Not up-sale at a huge margin. Overall we overpaid for quality of the room, overpaid for the water. Could not sleep. Lastly, the room is really designed poorly. Layout is weird (1 king room) and the bathroom is designed for giants. Poor kids couldn't even reach the sinks.

This is one of the most modern holiday inns we have stayed! It looks like recently renovated so everything feels new and clean. Due to our status we were upgraded to a bigger room with a living area with couches. Staff were friendly and they also serve hot breakfast. The breakfast does close at 9:30pm sharp so get ready!

It's our first time staying in Salinas. This was the only hotel that we could find that seemed fairly new or remodeled and has good reviews. When we checked in, I was greeted and helped right away. The lady was super nice and told me they had a great breakfast with "real" bacon, not the fake paper thin kind. Sadly, we weren't able to try it because breakfast didn't start until 7 am. We needed to be at the event to set up at that time. We got to our room, it was nice and spacious. There were usb outlets and outlets everywhere to charge your devices. Some of the things that took me by surprise and caught me off guard: 1. Hand soap - They don't have the soap bar they usually give you to use. Instead, they have the one you pump on the wall. This was fine, but why have a soap dish if there's no soap? 2. Towels were super thin and rough. It felt like it's time for fresher fluffier towels. On the counter, they have a sign, how much each item is if you were to take it. From the towels to the blanket to the shower curtain. Seriously? 3. They have a sign that if you forget something, they have it for you. Even makeup remover. Construction people are told not to use towels, but they have wipes downstairs. The room overall was nice. Bed was comfy. The walls were just super thin. Constant slamming of doors. You can feel and see the wall shudder. It felt like you were right there. A kid kept running up and down above us. I think maybe it was just a busy weekend that it was super loud. You can hear people outside talking, just hanging out The room wasn't super rundown or moldy. Overall, it was decent. It's within walking distance to McDonald's and In n Out.

Upon initially booking the room, there was a little bit of a mixup on how many rooms we had booked (we had several employees staying there). I was frustrated at first and thought that the hotel wasn’t going to do anything about it, and after speaking with Veronica (the manager) she made everything right! I was very impressed with the customer service and her willingness to make sure we were taken care of! I have stayed in this particular hotel a number of times and the room have always been clean and on point with what you would expect at IHG express!

Good variety of free hot and cold breakfast foods are available every day. That said, adding a microwave in their serving area would be a welcome addition. Our room was nice, though the window screen had some tears in it. Wish the shower faucet handle had volume control capability so the amount of water could be set. Oh, the hydraulic door closing mechanism would slam our room’s door if we let it go; not ideal if one’s hands are full of luggage.

A good place to rest in between drives. You also have a free breakfast. Great location. It’s near a gas station and several fast food chains. The only downside i noticed is that the parking area would sometimes have a weird smell coming from the wind. I think it’s fertilizer or something. But would go back to rest and get in my way again.

After a great experience at Holiday Inn in Page, Arizona, we thought we were safe with booking this in Salinas as well, but boy were we wrong... Broken elevator, pool out of order, sub par breakfast, somewhat sketchy neighborhood and a I-dont-really-give-a-da*n-personel. Too bad on the Holiday Inn brand.

Very nice room and bathroom too. Big TV. Love the breakfast . Hot and cold . Had biscuits and gravy with a cheese omelet. Hot tea ☕️. The cinnamon buns were yummy, too