Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Waukegan/Gurnee by IHG

I booked the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Chicago North-Waukegan-Gurnee while attending my son’s Navy graduation, and unfortunately, this was one of the most unpleasant hotel stays I’ve had in a long time. The experience started poorly at check-in. I arrived around 2:30 p.m. for a 3:00 p.m. check-in and completely understood that I was early. However, I stood at the front desk for nearly 10 minutes while Ann answered phones, handled paperwork, and spoke with a coworker without acknowledging me. I was eventually told my room wasn’t ready and then watched approximately 7–10 other guests arrive and check in while I waited. I finally received my room around 3:25 p.m. Unfortunately, the issues continued. On our second day, the TV stopped working. We had people in our room after 11 p.m. attempting to repair it, and it still wasn’t fixed. Another maintenance employee returned the following afternoon and spent about 45 minutes before finally getting it working. We also received an unexpected call from maintenance asking to enter our room to check the sink for a possible clog. Any one of these issues might have been minor, but collectively they made the stay feel disruptive and unpleasant. I chose this property partly because of an excellent experience at another IHG hotel in San Francisco. Unfortunately, this stay was the complete opposite. What should’ve been a happy visit turned into a disaster. We checked out, and stayed at IHG Evanston. The service was much better.

Great service and stay. The room was perfect

Fantastic two night stay, great hotel, and would definitely stay again if in the area in the future! I originally had the Sonesta Select booked for months and changed to the Holiday Inn Express about 2 weeks before my trip, to have a room with a jetted tub. Worth extra $. I had room 309, right off the elevator, yet quiet, clean, comfortable, and loved the jetted tub, was very relaxing! Check in was great, two staff at the desk, both engaged, were friendly, and welcoming. We chatted about my roller coaster trips and travels! The fridge was nice and cold, ice cold AC, great shower pressure, soaps/shower gel were full, and I had no issues with the room. Spent hours in that jetted tub it was great! Breakfast was wonderful too, of course plenty of cinnamon rolls, bacon the first morning, sausage the next, items rotated, one morning was omelettes, other scrambled eggs, other items like biscuits and gravy, yogurts, etc. Love the coffee machines which are available 24 hours. Breakfast ended at 9:30 and was stocked until the end which is great! My only minor gripe is there were 3 bath towels for the room with a jetted tub, it was a 1 king, so not the end of the world, but some towels by the tub, especially to stand on after to dry off, would be nice, as I used a hand towel for that. One of the bath towels was a bit worn and when drying myself I could hear it tear a bit. Lots of food nearby and Six Flags was only about 10 minutes away. Would love to stay again some day!

Room was clean! Staff was helpful! Breakfast was good! Kids enjoyed the pool and hot tub! Would absolutely stay here again

Rooms were clean, breakfast had several choices, pool was amazing and staff very helpful and friendly.