Arrival: I've stayed at this hotel a few times already, and the staff is always friendly, especially at the front desk. Super easy check-in process. There's a small convenience shop in the front lobby with some items for purchase. They offer a few complimentary toiletries if you forget something, and they leave out a plate of chocolate chip cookies for guests in the lobby!

Location: Excellent location right on Mira Mesa Boulevard. There are plenty of shopping centers and restaurants nearby, and it is close to the freeway. In the same parking lot is another hotel, Denny's, and a few other eateries. Directly across the street is a shopping center with a Trader Joe's. About a 20 minute drive to SAN airport.

Room: The rooms are spacious, clean, and updated with comfortable beds and a decent size bathroom. Rooms are equipped with a closet, hair dryer, TV, microwave, mini fridge, coffee/tea maker, plenty of outlets, and ample lighting. Nothing to complain about in this regard.

Amenities: The rates include breakfast. The breakfast spread is pretty good and has a mix of hot (freshly made pancakes, eggs, sausage, toast, Cinnabon cinnamon buns, oatmeal) and cold (yogurt, fresh fruit, cereal, hard boiled eggs). Complimentary tea/coffee and citrus-infused water available around the clock. The gym is well-equipped with a few treadmills, ellipticals, weights, yoga mats, towels, water, bowl of fresh fruit, and a restroom. At different times they were out of water in the cooler, disinfectant wipes for the equipment, and soap in the bathroom.

I’ll start by pointing out the things we might have overlooked: 1)the one and only elevator breaking down 2)elevator later getting stuck 3)front sliding doors getting taped off 4)parking issues 5)lack of cleaning staff

Our biggest problems are with the charge for a night that we didn’t use. Our group was told we could check out a day early without charge. My husband had made sure the day before that this was true. He had to leave before me to get our boys to the their game with the rest of the team. Others from our group had already checked out with no problem. I thought I would be doing the same; checking out and then heading to the airport to catch my flight home. Instead I was “greeted” by a staff member who seemed preoccupied and upset about something prior to her coming to the front desk. She tells me that I will be charged for that additional night on our 2 rooms. I explain that there is miscommunication as my husband had already taken care of that. She wanted nothing to do with what I had to say. I asked to speak to someone else in charge and it gets worse. My husband had then gotten a hold of me and wanted to speak to her from my phone to explain the situation. He’s trying to take care of this on speaker in his truck while driving an hour away with my sons and a friend. The manager does not want to speak to my husband and continues to proceed and process the extra charge. It gets even worse. I find out on the way to the airport that my husband ended up calling her at the hotel and she takes the route to make erroneous accusations about me. That takes unprofessional and disrespect to another level. We won’t stand for this kind of flat out lying. We are a family and community of character. Our society has let to much of this new defamation of character approach go to far. We can only hope that the Holiday Inn corporation will take this matter seriously and act accordingly. As for us we are sticking to another establishment where the customer is always treated with truth and respect.