Holiday Inn Express & Suites Carlsbad Beach, an IHG Hotel - Carlsbad, California

Shaylee W.

We really enjoyed this hotel! The location was absolutely perfect for our impromptu weekend getaway. It’s close enough to Legoland it would have been a cheap Uber ride away had we not rented a car for the long weekend. It is not, however, close enough I’d consider walking to Legoland, especially not with children. The hotel was right down the street from the beach, a prime location with lots of parking on the sand and a rock divider between the water and the sand. This was something we were grateful for with young children experiencing the beach for the first time. The onsite hotel parking wasn’t free, but it was cheaper than other surrounding locations. The breakfast was hot and typical for a hotel. There were quite a few choices that rotated but stayed relatively similar. The outdoor pool was big and heated and the hot tub was nice enough. The Benihana’s restaurant was conveniently located in the parking lot of the hotel. Overall, our stay was very enjoyable. Should we ever find ourselves visiting Carlsbad again, we will be returning for another stay!

CoffeeGirlJ

We are loyalty members and also time share owners with holiday inn vacation club. We are used to great quality and excellent service with the brand but that was not the case this time. The room was dirty with sand in the beds, old keruig pod left in the machine, crumbs on the fridge but the worst part was the black mold on the ceiling in the shower. Scary and dangerous! The glass door to the shower was off track and I was scared the door would fall off and break glass. The window would only open a bit and we slept with the window open and a/c blasting because we couldn’t stand how bad the room smelled. If it wasn’t so late at night with kids we would have asked to move. They only provided 3 towels and wait was long to get more. The highlight was the excellent staff, they were kind, professional and helpful. The breakfast was lacking in variety and items. The pancakes were the only thing that was okay and the machine kept breaking and the syrup was out and never refilled. You can tell they tried to cut corners on everything with a huge syrup instead of individual ones, a huge gallon of milk instead of individual ones etc Talk about unsanitary with several kids and adults using the same big jugs of everything Not the save quality we’ve come to appreciate at other Holiday Inn properties. Never had such a bad experience!

RWhiskey

I thoroughly enjoyed my 3 day, 3 night stay at this hotel and would definitely stay here again. Excellent location, room was ready at 4:00p.m. check-in, friendly greeting by staff at check-in, and breakfast had plenty of options. Good restaurants minutes away and a shopping mall across the street. Strongly recommend this hotel.

Lindsey

Overall we had a great experience. We arrived a day early and they were able to accommodate us and give us a room. However, the room we were given hadn’t been cleaned yet so we had to go to a different one. Not too big of a deal. This was on a Sunday. The weekday staff was so friendly and helpful. Housekeeping did a phenomenal job cleaning up and even rearranged my kids’ stuffed animals in cute ways on the bed, the kids thought that was fun. However, come the next weekend it seems the weekend staff was lazy. They didn’t leave us any towels. They changed the trash and made the bed and that was it. We had some large trash items that didn’t fit in the small trash cans so we set them next to the trash. The weekday staff was great about taking care of those things for us but the weekend staff just left it there (even though it had food it in. We didn’t put it in the fridge because the container was too big and wouldn’t fit). Overall we enjoyed our stay but I think the weekend staff needs some training!

Cassim

The staff (Rodger) that greeted and checked in was very nice and welcoming. He was able to answer questions any questions I had. The location was perfect for a Legoland visit with the kids. We had 2 queens and a pull out couch for 2 adults and 4 kids. The kids went for a swim at night. Breakfast was very good, clean, and many options as well as Togo options such as fruit, yogurt, coffee. Overall we had a great stay!

burke

I have probably stayed at 20 HI Express properties over the past ten years, both in the States and in Europe. The experiences have all ranged from very good to excellent. Not this time.

Breakfast was a disaster. In the fridge, no yogurt, no hard boiled eggs, no individual milks. There was a gallon jug of milk from which you could pour a glass. Other than that, the fridge was empty. White bread and bagels only for the toaster — no other bread, no English muffins. And they were out of scrambled eggs. I had to wait 20 minutes for scrambled eggs to be cooked and delivered to the buffet. This is not what I expect from a HI Express breakfast.

The WiFi did not work reliably in the room. After 5 minutes, my browser would freeze. I had to log out and then log in again. At the suggestion of the front desk, I tried two different local networks. Neither worked. I finally just gave up on WiFi.

This roperty needs some serious help. It is not up to Holiday Inn Express standards. Not even close. I certainly will never stay at HI Express, Carlsbad again.

Fairgirl

I booked this IHG facility due to it's great price. However, to wake up and look out the window was such a bonus. I walked out the door and a very short walk (two blocks) and I was at the Pacific Ocean and doing a morning run. This is also located right off Interstate 5. The staff was super friendly, too.

KidMom

Unusual mildew smell in hallways. Too much noise from people above and outside door. Water damage in bathroom. Big size fridge. Microwave works. $12/night parking. No tub. Close to Legoland, beach and Ralph's store.