Staycation at the Holiday Inn Express!

The boys and I wanted to get away for a little vacation before the end of summer. We wanted to stay local but not in Calgary, so we decided that Airdrie fit the bill! After researching some rooms through expedia.ca, I decided on the Holiday Inn Express in Airdrie. After booking, I sent an email off to the hotel asking if they could make it special for my newly 7-year-old because it was his birthday and it was their first time staying in a hotel. They exceeded anything I could have imagined!

Check-in went smoothly, and we were in our room within 10 minutes of arrival. There is a large parking lot with ample free parking available on site. Upon entering our room, we were completely blown away by the arrangements that met us! The staff had gone totally above and beyond anything that I could have even imagined.

This is what we walked into! A room that was beautifully decorated, gift bags for ALL THREE kids with candies and little toys, and a birthday card. I was totally blown away! I did not expect them to go to this level of trouble, but it was just fantastic.

We spent our whole day in the pool, and when it was time to snuggle into bed, we discovered that the wifi wasn't working. I called the front desk and they explained that they were having some trouble with their WiFi, but asked if there was anything they could do to accommodate us. I asked if there was any way they could comp us a movie - she said absolutely! We hung up and then the phone rang about 10 seconds later - it was the front desk again... only this time they were asking if we wanted popcorn! Heck yes, we do! What a stay!! The kids ended up picking Avengers: Endgame and we drifted off to sleep in the super comfortable beds. 

The popcorn they brought us to watch with our movie

The next morning, we woke up to grab "continental breakfast". I was expecting pastries, fruit, and coffee because the continental breakfasts at the hotels I have stayed at in the past have been very "meh". However, the Holiday Inn Express has a HOT breakfast that includes omelettes, pancakes, bacon, sausage, oatmeal, and other great dishes! It tasted great and the staff was very good at keeping up the demand for food. The person that was tasked with keeping the breakfast area clean and stocked was amazing and even though it was VERY busy, she kept her cool and made it look easy! 

We enjoyed our stay so much, that we ended up extending our stay by one night so that the kids could be in the pool for the day. 

Pool features a waterslide

Hot tub

We had it all to ourselves ALL DAY! Talk about AWESOME! They swam so much that they had friction marks from their floaties!

After swimming for 8 hours pretty much straight, we retired to our room and had some dinner, which was very easy to prepare considering our room had a mini-kitchen (microwave, mini-fridge, coffee maker, bar sink)

This night was remarkably different, and with different staff. Again, the WiFi was not working, which bummed out my kids because they had their tablets so they could watch Netflix or YouTube. I called the front desk and asked if they could comp us another movie because there was nothing on TV (my kids are a little old for Treehouse, but too young for YTV). I was told there was no way for them to do that. I explained that they had done it the previous night and was met with an "I will look into it." I knew that meant we were not getting another movie, so my kids were really disappointed. However - it was merely an inconvenience for us, had I been staying for business or needing to get some work done while my kids were at the pool, I would have been very upset. I do understand that the WiFi being out was beyond their control, but the front staff on the second night was not very accommodating. The next morning, check out was a breeze and we were on our way back home!

All in all - I would 100% stay there again and have already made the decision that if we were to go on a trip somewhere, I would be trying to stay at a Holiday Inn Express if we could. The food was great, the pool was awesome, beds were comfortable. It was clean and well maintained. I would (and have!) recommended HIE's to people since.

Have you ever stayed at a good hotel? What about a bad one? Leave your comments below!

-B