IHG is crazy - Holiday Inn Express and other related properties

[csziggy]

Went down the early part of this week to help my sister sort stuff out at Mom's house and stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. Their beds are 30" high at the mattress. It is very hard for me to get up onto the bed, especially if my back is acting up.

I complained at the desk and was told this is IHG's new standard bed height. The mattress and box spring is on a 10.5" base. They went out of their way to make the beds the height of a normal table. Are their room designers all basketball players?

Now I am short with legs short for my height but even my 6'1" husband found the beds uncomfortably tall. I'm calling their customer service to let them know that I will NOT be staying at an IHG property until their beds return to a sane height that is not a major challenge to clamber up onto.

Has anyone else run into beds at hotels that are an unreasonable height?

[elleng]

1. No, but good idea to contact them.

Glad you survived enough to write about it!

[greyl]

2. Problem overlooked by the ADA.

High beds are supposedly more upscale, but maybe they do it just to hinder bedbug infestation.

Interesting discussion about it here:

Best response by a hotel when told by a chair user that her bed was too high happened in Dallas back in 1996, when I attended a White House sponsored conference of Pw/Ds.

The hotel hosting this event had just signed a consent decree with the Dept. of Justice to avoid being sued over ADA violations, and had done major, major work to make themselves accessible. The event was the trail run/debut of the revamped facilities, and hotel management were on high alert to make sure there weren't any complaints from the 200 people with disabilities who were there for this event.

One of the of the conference organizers was a chair user from the National Council on Disability (NCD). As one of the hoo-hahs there, was given one of the hotel's best suites, and had invited a bunch of people up to her room for a get together right after everyone checked in.

Just before people arrived for the meet and greet, the woman from NCD had discovered that one of the accessibility problems the hotel had failed to correct was the bed height. The four poster, solid oak, king sized bed in her room was lovely, but way too high to allow her to transfer, so right before everyone was about to arrive in her suite, she put in a call to management to come and take the mattress off the frame to solve the problem.

http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/showthread.php?121781-Hotel-Beds-Too-High

[csziggy]

4. I actually did ask about their accessible rooms and was told the beds were the same height

I don't see how anyone with serious mobility problems could get onto that bed height, much less someone in a chair.

I've had both knees replaced and currently am suffering from impinged nerves to my legs due to an unstable L5 vertebrae so I am aware of accessibility issues. I love the story about the hotel cutting the legs off the beds. It's crazy that the ADA does not cover something so basic as a height that is accessible. According to that thread hotel beds now are 27-30" high.

Maybe I can complain enough to start a movement.

[Quemado]

3. Thanks for the heads up

I wouldn't stay in a hotel with beds as you described.

[csziggy]

5. I only stayed there because there was no choice

For some reason, maybe the MLK holiday weekend, there were no other rooms close to my mother's house. We were down there to help my sister sort through Mom's stuff (she passed away in September). All the closest hotels and motels were booked solid all the way to Tampa, an hour drive away in good traffic.

I had not stayed at an IHG property since a disastrous stay at the Crowne Plaza Asheville (North Carolina) in August 2017. Although they had normal height beds the toilet flooded three times during our stay. Not once were we offered a replacement room and when our dirty clothes got soaked they washed but did not dry the clothes. The last three days of our vacation we had souring clothes in a garbage bag in our car - we could not find a place with a dryer to at least dry them out. We did get refunded for most of two nights, but it did not make up for the disgusting moldy smell of the room or our clothes. The attitude of the assistant manager was awful.

Now IHG is likely on my permanent "Do not stay" list - and we will be spending three months in Britain with thousands of dollars in hotel costs so I can threaten them with a big loss of money.

[TJKatd]

6. I stay only at Marriott properties...

At all price points. Newer ones and more recently refurbed ones all seem to have tall beds.

[csziggy]

7. In that town the only decent places are the Holiday Inn and a Hampton Inn

We've been staying at the Hampton Inn. While their beds are tall, they are manageable. This past several days (Sunday through last night) the Holiday Inn was the only place within forty miles that had a room.

Soon I have to start making reservations for our stay in Britain will be checking reviews about bed heights!

[TJKatd]

8. In the UK, I bet...

You find shorter beds. I've been there 3 times, and the type of bed with just a matress (no box springs) was pretty common. Makes for a shorter bed.

Have fun there! I love going.

[csziggy]

9. This will be our first ( and maybe only) trip to Britain

We're cruising over on the Queen Elizabeth, spending two and a half months bird watching, sight seeing, and doing genealogical research. I'll be taking a needlework class and we will go on a needlework tour in the middle. Then we cruise back via the Caribbean on a Royal Caribbean ship.

Trip of a lifetime!

[TJKatd]

10. How awesome!

Hope to do something like that some day. Time has always been the limiting factor, so far.

Have a great time!

[csziggy]

13. We're both retired so we have as much time as we want

We were going to be dipping deeply into our retirement funds but my mother has left me better off than I expected so we won't have to pinch pennies as much as we thought.

The biggest limitation is how long we can stand to be away from home and our cat.

[TJKatd]

11. Just thought of something I highly recommend...

My wife and I splurged and hired a personal tour guide for one day while we were in London. We love looking at the churches and cathedrals, and were able to get a guide who specializes in them. A kind, 70-something man, who showed us so much. Was well-known everywhere we went and was able to get us in areas off limits to regular tourists. Bu the time I tipped him, it cost us about $500 for the day, plus we paid for his lunch.

[csziggy]

12. That is a great idea! We have six days in London so we'll have time for it, too

The tour ends at the London airport Hilton for those who are simply flying back to the US. We're going to move to a hotel next to the British Museum and plan maybe two days there. Then I want to go to the Victoria & Albert since it is famous for its needlework collection and my husband wants to go to the National Library. That's as far as we've gotten for planning in London but I know I want to see more needlework and we'd like to do some genealogical research, plus my husband would like to see more museums that cover natural history (his great grandfather was head of the Bell Museum at U of Minnesota).

We could do that in other places, too. There is an online group called BirdingPal.org where you can arrange for a local expert (usually amateur) to show you the best birding locations near them. Those are usually free, but they suggest you pay for fuel and food.

We're joining the RSPB, and the British, Scottish, and Welsh National Heritage organizations so we will have passes into their properties.

[TJKatd]

18. A few more thoughts, and I'll stop!

I love helping people with ideas about London. Please ignore if the last thing you need is more advice HAHA. Here were some of my favs in London and Windsor:

--WIndsor Castle: Take the tour. You get to see a lot, including many rooms you've probably seen before on TV. Get out and see Great Windsor Park by the castle. It's not uncommon to see a member of the Royal Family on horseback.
--Trouping the Colour (if you happen to be there on June 8): iI's the Queen's birthday parade down the Mall, in front of Buckingham Palace. When we went in 2012, we say all the senior royals in the parade. Afterwards, they all appeared on the balcony, while 1000s of Brits showed their patriotic furvour. Was a lot of fun!
--National Portrait Gallery
--Churchill War Rooms: Underground bunker system where Churchill directed the war. Must see, if you love history.
--Tower of London: You can see the Crown Jewels
--Afternoon tea at Clairidges: fun to dress up for before heading to dinner and a musical
--St Paul's Cathedral: Massive and beautiful
-Westminster Abbey: Tour late in the afternoon, then stay behind to attend an Evensong service. About a 30 minute service of music and short readings. Casual dress is ok.

[Little Star]

14. I'm not very tall and have short legs....

the bed height is a real issue when you need a ladder to get in and out. However, when my husband and I got married back in the day. We spent our honeymoon first night at a Sheraton with silk sheets in the honeymoon suite. The bed height wasn't bad but we kept slipping off the damn bed. Hard to sleep when you can't remain on the bed.

[csziggy]

15. LOL! I've never slept on silk sheets - but my husband likes sateen cotten ones

I find them too slippery and don't like them. Back in the day my Mom used to iron our sheets and I like a nice crisp one like a high count percale sheet. Anything over 300 count makes me happy so I'm not too hard to satisfy.

[Kali]

16. and the trend for bar stools everywhere...

bad knees aren't conducive to climbing UP to sit DOWN either!
trying to dress on the edge of a too tall bed is ridiculous.

[csziggy]

17. Tell me about it - I blew out my left knee in 2001

While I am short enough that getting onto a bar stool with good knees was hard, after I messed up my knees it was nearly impossible. Good thing I never hung out in bars!

I pretty much had to dress standing - not advisable for someone with balance and mobility problems. Those beds are DANGEROUS! I'm surprised no one has gotten hurt from trying to get on them.

[Kali]

19. they have those stupid bar stools and tall tables everywhere now

they are even in mcdonalds!