As full-time travelers we normally strive to stay in unique or specialty style hotels. Let’s face it though, more often than not we usually end up staying in a chain hotel. When this happens, it’s usually a pretty generic experience that’s more “meh” than “yay!” Recently however, we had the opportunity to stay in the Harrisburg Holiday Inn Express while visiting, PA. I’m happy to report that we had a warm, friendly, and positive experience that exceeded our expectations and Zoe’s as well.
Upon our arrival at the Holiday Inn Express we found an open and inviting lobby that had a comfortable work space. The staff was positive and friendly. The check-in process was pretty fast and they put us in a downstairs room, near the exit to make for quick access in and out of the building to walk Zoe. They also surprised us when they gave us a little welcome bag for Zoe with a bowl and some treats. That’s normally the type of service found at a boutique hotel not a chain, needless to say we were pretty pleased.
While the lobby was warm and welcoming, the real measure of a hotel is the comfort of the room and even more importantly the bed. Well I’m happy to report that in this respect the Holiday Inn Express did extremely well. Our bed was just the right combination of soft and supportive, and the room had a comfortable amount of work space.
On top of a comfortable space to work and sleep, the property had the usual bonus amenities like a pool and conference space (if that’s your sort of thing). The other point where the Holiday Inn Express really stood out though was it’s hot breakfast. Most hotels that offer complimentary breakfasts have the usual dry stale toast, petrified muffins, and tepid burnt coffee. Well, instead of the usual drivel, we enjoyed a nice breakfast of hot eggs, warm cinnamon buns, and they even had a nifty little automatic pancake maker that made little silver dollar pancakes.
