My husband and I stayed here recently, and while the physical hotel is similar to other Holiday Inn…read moreExpresses, the service and little extras put this one above the rest. We paid $152 a night including taxes and fees (booked directly through the hotel, not a third party).
This hotel is right off Highway 401, so very convenient. We had a room facing the Brockville Convention Centre and not facing the highway, so noise was not a problem. It is within walking distance to a few shops, restaurants, and fast food joints. It's a Holiday Inn Express, so the rooms are pretty basic. No fridge, no microwave. However, you get free hot breakfast buffet, free WiFi and free parking.
The rooms were clean. I carry Clorox wipes with me when I stay in hotels and I wipe down all the hard surfaces. The wipes came out white (not grey or black), so I was happy. There were some stains on the fabric computer chair at the desk though, so this was a bit off-putting, but I've seen much worse at other hotels.
They have a small fitness centre and pool. I didn't use the pool, but I saw it because the pool and fitness centre are separated by a glass wall. I think it's a bit weird to have to look at people in the pool while you're on the elliptical, but I guess the glass wall makes the fitness centre look and feel not as small. The fitness centre is tiny. The sign says maximum room capacity is 6 people (!) The room only has 1 elliptical, 2 stationary bikes and a treadmill, no free weights/dumbbells, so I have no idea what the other 2 people would be doing, lol. I was a bit disappointed that there weren't any weights, but given the small space, I guess that's understandable. So I had to be a cardio bunny during our stay, haha.
The breakfast buffet was good and comparable to other Holiday Inn Expresses. We stayed for 2 nights and the breakfast selection did not change. The hot breakfast was turkey sausage, pork sausage and scrambled eggs. They had a pancake machine. They had cinnamon buns, muffins, bagels, English muffins, and bread. They had oatmeal (with toppings you can add like raisins, walnuts, brown sugar and cinnamon), 4 types of cereal, yogurt, and boiled eggs. They had juices, coffee, tea and hot chocolate (the last 3 are available 24/7).
All the staff were exceptionally nice. Stella was very warm and welcoming.
They also give you Tic-Tacs in your room when you arrive and housekeeping writes you a nice welcome note. After our first night there, I left a thank-you note for housekeeping along with our tip and mentioned that I loved the Tic-Tacs. When we returned, our room attendant (Kylie) wrote me a nice note back and gave me extra Tic-Tacs! How nice was that?
They also called our room on the second night that we were there to ask us if everything was ok with our room (they may have called us on our first night there but we weren't in our room so we don't know).
This HIE also has free popcorn in the lobby everyday from 7pm-9pm. We didn't have the opportunity to have any, but I think that it's a very nice extra.
WiFi was fast and reliable. Parking was plentiful.
We would definitely stay at this hotel again.