Holiday Inn Express & Suites Coon Rapids-Blaine Area

I have stayed at several other HIEs before and this was definitely my worst experience. I would normally give an HIE 5 stars if it meets my expectations.
This one was different. The room obviously had not been occupied in a while. The clock was not set, the bed wasn’t quite as comfortable. And the event that really irritated me: I returned to my room the evening after my first night and the door was open. Not completely open, but about an inch away from being shut. Housekeeping hadn’t made sure that it closed after they were in the room. Fortunately, nothing was missing, but it was definitely concerning. I’m always a little concerned about security at hotels since I have had things stolen in hotels before, so this did not sit well with me. Because of this, I will not be staying at this hotel again and will stay elsewhere if I ever return to the area.

Pretty nice hotel given the area. (The city is very rough… locals call it «crapids»). Night clerk was very helpful and went out of her way to make sure things were great, in-​spite of a soccer tournament going in and the hotel full of kids. If I could rate them somewhere, they would have received negative 5 stars. Horrible group to share the hotel with!!!

2 night stay here was very pleasant. Hotel and room were clean and fresh smelling. Check in and out was smooth. Staff friendly. Would stay here again.

This is a clean friendly hotel. The staff goes out of their way to make sure you are happy. As an example, one of the staff overheard that we were working the night shift and one morning we got in and the maid hadn’t got to our room. She let us know that we could tell the front desk and they will have the cleaning staff clean our rooms first. Then she asked for our room numbers to tell the front desk for us. (I guess we didn’t do it quick enough for her. :)
The breakfast tables are kept clean and if they have messy guests, they pull the vacuum out and make sure the floor is clean again.
The pancake machine is rather unique. This is the first hotel I have been at where you just push a button, put your plate under the «pancake discharge chute» and get two perfect pancakes in a minute or so. How cool is that? They are hot and actually taste good. Everything else is standard HI-​Express. I was impressed that they made sure the eggs were not old and dry from keeping them out too long as some HI-​Express’ have fallen victim to. The front desk is great and even at 12:30AM they made a fresh pot of coffee when they saw us getting ready to go to work.
OK, I was disappointed by the «minibar» type fridge and the room doors are a dark old color that takes away from the interior, but I think the staff and cleanliness more than makes up for any deficiencies.