Holiday Inn Express Chelmsford by IHG

Room was clean. Staff was nice. Breakfast was awesome.

So I did not actually stay here so I cannot actually speak about the rooms or the hotel itself, but you cannot check in until 3pm and the pool closes at 3pm. I found that kinda crazy as I booked the room specifically for the indoor pool for my 2 and 5 year old. Long story short, our house was having work done so we took the kids locally for a night to swim. It was close by, decently priced and advertised indoor pool when I was searching for a hotel for the night. I showed up early to check in, about 2:30pm, and saw a sign stating the pool was closed. As I am checking in, the girl at the front said she could open it up if it were just me but since I had kids she could not due to no lifeguard? I found that odd as my husband and I would be responsible for our own kids. I've never been to a hotel pool that had a lifeguard on duty unless a larger resort or something. I told her to please cancel then as the whole point of this booking was for the pool and no where on the website did it say pool closed at 3pm. Even if the kids wanted to use the pool the next day, we had to check out at 10am, so it was pointless. I did book it online and in the filter search criteria I made sure to include indoor pool, and this hotel came up. There was no hours or anything showing the pool closes at 3pm, ironically the same time as check in. She told me I had to cancel online since that is how I booked it. I proceeded to do that, and got my email confirmation that I had indeed cancelled my reservation. 2 weeks passed, and the charge had not been refunded. I called the hotel and they told me I was listed as a "no show". That really made me angry because I physically showed up to check in, early if anything, and the girl told me I could cancel online and that is what I did. No other info was given to me such as you can't cancel or it's non refundable. Nothing of the sort, just "you have to cancel through booking.com since that is how you reserved the room". Since they marked me as a "no show" I could not get refunded. I was transferred to the manager who told me to call booking.com for the refund as they do not charge. I called Booking.com and they told me the charges go straight through the hotel. I've spent days calling back and forth, calling the hotel and booking.com and booking.com keeps telling me the hotel is the one that charged so they have to refund me. Booking.com sent the hotel an email trying to get it sorted out for me, telling them that I should be refunded as I did show up, the pool was falsely advertised in their end, and I did everything I was told to do. Nothing was ever said about no cancellations allowed. I even got a confirmation email showing my reservation was cancelled appropriately! The hotel refuses to acknowledge and never gave me the money back, not even a partial refund, nothing. If anything they were rude and not helpful at all. Booking.com/priceline has been very helpful in trying to get my refund for me, I understand the hotel charged me so they have to refund me. This was in February, nothing has been sorted, no help on the hotel's end, nothing, very disappointing.

Pool pictures online are very deceiving.. the smallest pool I have ever seen in my life at a hotel (see picture) with about 5 or 6 chairs for people to use and the lifeguard uses one of them (never seen a lifeguard at a hotel pool before) and the most restricted pool hours I’ve ever seen. Was only open from 4-8 and 5-9 during our stay and I have kids so it was very disappointing. All of that should be posted on their website. Our hotel room was small and not very clean. Shower was run down with wear/tear on the bottom and the towels always had other peoples hair on them and were crunchy and felt like they had residue on them. I gave 3 stars and not 2 because of the breakfast buffet and staff that ran it. Buffet had a variety of options and one woman went above and beyond to be kind to us.

As someone from the area, I’ve passed by this hotel many times and finally decided to try it. I was really impressed with the cleanliness and quality of service. The staff was friendly and professional, and the room had all the modern amenities needed for a comfortable stay. It’s a great option for a short getaway without going far.

Clean accommodations with a great lobby/cafeteria area. All of the electrical outlets in the room are worn out and charging devices has been problematic.

I can’t pronounce the name of the town this is in, but…. I always enjoy a stay at a holiday inn express, especially the breakfast in the morning!

Comfortable rooms and bedding. Fresh coffee 24 7 Big hotel right off highway. Ecinomical rates

What a joke of a hotel. 115$+ for a night and the pool is only open from 8am - noon..so the pool is only open for 4 hours and only first thing in the morning before check in. Thats the most insane pool hours ive ever heard. Canceled our second night to go stay down the road. With small children this is the #1 thing they look forward to. HA to add onto that the next morning tried to use the pool within the alloted time and they said that it won't actually be open until 8:30-9 because the lifeguard is late. So less time 🤣

Hotel its self is nice. Wish they had longer pool hours. Also someone in a neighboring room was harassing me pounding on my door saying she called the cops and the front desk on me even tho I did nothing wrong and only left the room to grab breakfast. Front desk never reached out and chips never showed. They should make a rule where you cannot harass other people in the hotel because I think the lady was just insane. She even has some dude pounding on her door (509) at 11pm at night that woke up my toddler. Was thinking about staying another night but after dealing with the crazy lady I didn’t feel safe to stay.

Very friendly staff and nice amenities. Hotel seems a little old and could use some updating but that's not a reason not to stay here. Beds were comfortable and clean and the complimentary breakfast was nice and changed slightly each morning. The pool had confusing operating hours but was clean. If we come back into town in the future, I would definitely consider staying here again.

Excellent. Very clean and professional. AND free coffee 👍.