Holiday Inn Express Bilbao, An Ihg Hotel

“Overnight stay”

I stayed here for one night as I had a very early flight to catch the next morning. The hotel served its purpose. Check-in was quick and I had some help from Joshua at reception regarding allocation of a quiet room and helping me to ensure the room aircon was working (you need to insert the room k… more

I stayed here for one night as I had a very early flight to catch the next morning. The hotel served its purpose. Check-in was quick and I had some help from Joshua at reception regarding allocation of a quiet room and helping me to ensure the room aircon was working (you need to insert the room key card in the slot at the entrance to the room door and also make sure the room window is closed - kinda obvious I know, but I was tired after a long drive). Room is a little dated but ok and the bathroom could do with some maintenance (e.g. mould around the tiles in the bathroom). Room has tea/coffee and a kettle, TV (no English channels) a small sofa, clothes hanging space, but there is no mini fridge. Bed for me was comfortable. Cleaning standard was satisfactory. There doesn’t seem to be any soundproofing between neighbouring hotel bedrooms here (why does this seem so prevalent at hotels when the main purpose to stay at a hotel is sleep? Who wants to hear your hotel room neighbour’s TV, or the next-door guests talking, coughing or performing some other function? No one). Despite this I managed to sleep pretty well and was not disturbed by late night arriving guests going to their rooms (as some other reviewers mention). Bathroom has wall-mounted Dove toiletries. In the morning, took the second shuttle of the day back to the airport terminal (around 5.10am). I was worried that there might be a lot of people waiting but there was only me and one other passenger in the minibus, so it was all fine. However, going to the hotel from the airport terminal the day before during the afternoon, was problematic. You get picked up on the departures level at the premium parking bays. There are no signs outside to tell you where to wait. Waiting time was long; around 45 minutes. I had to go into the terminal and ask the lady at the airport information desk to call the hotel and send the minibus. It was definitely not running every 10-15 minutes during that afternoon. I do feel that customer service is somewhat lacking at this hotel and the standard offered does not reflect well on the IHG brand. One of the reception guys (not sure of his name but it was NOT Joshua who I did find helpful), seemed very abrupt. I went to him to check in, he told me he was dealing with someone else, but there was no one at his desk. He made me feel like I had done something wrong. Later on he was rather unsympathetic to a guest who came rushing back to the hotel in a taxi as he had left his passport somewhere in the hotel. The reception guy told him that he had to wait as he was busy dealing with someone checking in. If that was me I would have asked the guest checking in if he didn’t mind waiting while I tried to help the panicky person who had lost his passport. During the evening I went down to order some food at the bar, there was no one there apart from some guys chatting behind a door (they saw me but kept on chatting). One of the reception guys came over and asked if he could get me anything. I said I wanted some food and drink, he told me he couldn’t help with that! He then went to find the chatting guys, one of whom eventually came out around 2-3 minutes after finishing his chat. By then I’d lost interest and decided to go an eat at the Urbe restaurant next door where I was less than impressed (see my review of that establishment). It must be something in the air around this hotel as I found service at Urbe similarly brusque to that offered at the hotel. If I’m ever overnighting at Bilbao Airport I think I’ll try the neighbouring Hotel New Bilbao even though I’m an IHG Rewards member.

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“Good hotel, but bring earplugs”

Staff – lovely. Room – clean, cool, comfy. Free parking and early coffee – yes, please. Free express breakfast with coffee at 5 am was a great touch for travellers leaving early. But our room was by the lift (№100), and it felt like we were sleeping in the middle of a busy railway station. The roo… more

Staff – lovely. Room – clean, cool, comfy. Free parking and early coffee – yes, please. Free express breakfast with coffee at 5 am was a great touch for travellers leaving early. But our room was by the lift (№100), and it felt like we were sleeping in the middle of a busy railway station. The room was spotless and had good air conditioning, but… soundproofing is not the hotel’s strong suit. We could hear everything — people chatting in the corridor, children running and screaming (at midnight! 😩), and even conversations from the parking area, windows closed or not. Perfect for convenience. Not ideal for actual sleep.

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