Holiday Inn Express Bakersfield Central

Pros: kind staff, breakfast in the morning, free parking, nice location off the freeway. We went on a weekend and were pleasantly surprised that the hotel wasn't too busy. This made parking, breakfast, and elevator access easy. They also cleaned our room daily, which was nice. Cons: one of the two elevators is broken, construction in lobby, walls are super thin. At night I could hear the stomping of feet above throughout the night. The walls are thin and I could hear the passing trains in the night. There was a noise in the room that was loud. I think the refrigerator was broken. Sleep quality is the only area where I wasn't satisfied.

This hotel is easy on/off highway 99. Close to so many restaurants. Very clean, quiet and spacious. Complimentary breakfast area very clean. Small fitness area. Nice lobby area with a nice sitting area.

The front desk agent today at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites I stayed at last night was horribly, horribly rude. Her name, I believe was Maravella. She was stressed out by guests who arrived too early and took it out on me and my autistic daughter. She called at, by the clock in the room, 1:03. We had arrived at after 3 am and they had given us a 1 pm check out. When she called we had our back packs on and I was trying to get us out the door. I told her I was trying to get us out of the room and she continued to rudely berate me and threaten to charge me for another night. I explained I was trying to get my autistic daughter out and she said, "I don't care. What does that have to do with me? You need to get out so that the people checking in can get it." She has 0 customer service skills. When I tried to talk to her about it at checkout she doubled down on the rude. All I did was say, "By calling and being rude, all you did is make it take longer for us to get out of the room." She immediately got super defensive and loud and said she wasn't rude, I was. I said she acted the same on the phone as she was acting now and she then blamed her behavior on me and me being rude. As I was leaving she muttered Karen underneath her breath. Which I am not. I have never, ever complained about any of my stays in IHG hotels. I have stayed in this one several times and never complained. You can even see my positive review from 2020 below. She was HORRIBLE. She wouldn't even check me out and was just an awful person. She didn't even know who I was when I walked up but there was no smile, no greeting, no "how may I help you?" Just stared at me. I didn't inform hotel management because the awful woman at the front desk told me to leave. I never raised my voice but she definitely raised hers. She yelled at me. She called me rude, and then when we were face to face when I tried to explain that we were a few minutes late because my autistic daughter was having a hard time, she again said, "What does that have to do with me? I don't care about that." She clearly lacks not only all customer service skills but also lacks common human empathy. My daughter was literally right there with tears still in her eyes. She needs to learn about how to treat people who are different, like my non-verbal, high care needs autistic daughter, with kindness and respect. If she can't, I can only imagine the problems she will continue to cause with other disabled people.

Be careful about rates. This hotel will charge you $50 per person extra if you have more than 2 people. The booking websites won’t show you this. The IHG website will show this but it looks like other IHG hotels in the area won’t and I know other brands won’t. I’ve never had a hotel charge extra for 4 people in a two queen bed. I’d choose another hotel.

Worst experience ever at a hotel. Rude and condescending receptionist who didn't allow us to check in. Had to find a new hotel last minute late at night.