Holiday Inn Express NICEVILLE-EGLIN AFB

Alberto was very helpful and polite during my stay. Plan on using Holiday Inn again next time I visit.

I arrived at 11:30pm after an arse kicker of a bumpy flight from the left coast. Behind the counter was Josh who provided me with the most sincerely friendly welcome ever. This is coming from someone who doesn’t like people. I’m sorry, it’s true, I probably don’t like you. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW IS: this isn’t the typical Holiday Inn express. It was clearly a motel at one point and had a minor scent of it. The fittings and bright work showed this to be the case. However the interactions with Josh and the manager the following morning left me with no choice but to give them a hard earned high fiver rating. I’m an avid SPG guy that prefers the Westin and the like, however not even at the St. Regis have I been so kindly received.

Had to make a quick overnight trip to Florida for a funeral so the family and I looked for a good, reasonably priced hotel near Fort Walton. The rates here were good, so we booked this HIE at Niceville. Wanted the beach, but needed cheaper rates, so here we stayed. This hotel isn’t the biggest Holiday Inn, or the fanciest, or located at the most exotic location, or even on the beach, but, this is the best Holiday Inn experience my family has ever had. The room was good; the breakfast was better the average hotel breakfast. The staff was awesome, from the front desk, to the manager, custodial staff, and special thanks to Mardi, one of the breakfast ladies. Thank you to all of them for the kindness they showed us… five stars to you all… Southern hospitality at its best.

This hotel is a 30 minute drive from the closest beach access point on the Gulf in Destin, and probably about the same to Ft. Walton Beach, and still had rooms available for under $ 200/​night a few days before Memorial Day Weekend.
Breakfast was very good, with Chobani and Special K among the healthier options, and a pancake machine that spits out a pancake in one minute after you press a button and set a plate next to it. (But no waffle maker.) They also had a free ice cream social one night with a freezer full of treats on sticks, as well as warm chocolate chip cookies set out one night, and at check-​in they offered me wine/​beer/​etc. These were unexpected and appreciated.
The room was extremely spacious, clean, and the beds and pillows were nice and comfy, and automatically hypoallergenic. No feathers or down anywhere, and since pets aren’t allowed, this is a great place for those of us with allergies.
The pool was clean and warm, but quite small and also in the parking lot, which was a little weird.
We booked through
for two nights, and then decided to add an extra night, so we called
and had them make us a new reservation and call the hotel to say that while we had two separate reservations, we did not want to have to move rooms after the first night. I also mentioned this at check in, but they left me a voicemail at noon our second day saying we needed to move our stuff, that I didn’t get until later that evening as I was out on the beach… so we just ignored it. No one ever contacted us about it again. I’m deducting the star for that, because we addressed it twice and then it made us worry the rest of our trip that they were going to deactivate our key or move all of our stuff without permission, which was spread all over the room and fridge, etc.
Additionally, like most hotels, the walls are paper thin both between rooms and facing the hallway so the whining 2 year old near our room had me wide awake at 8 am when I wanted to be sleeping.

I love my stay here every time The staff is so friendly and welcoming with a complimentary beverage at check in for all
I love the Managers special on Wednesday and ice cream in summer time The management makes everyone feel welcome and at home A +
Of course the standard yummy Holiday inn Express cinnamon rolls in the morning amongst many yummy breakfast items thanks Manager Kristen McDermott your business expertise is outstanding

Needed a hotel room for a quick overnight stop and this one was a nice one. Friendly staff and complimentary beer or wine at check in was a nice surprise. Room was clean, with two clean comfortable beds and free WiFi. Free breakfast hit the stop with the usual eggs, sausage links, coffee, etc.

The old building is definitely more quiet than the newer detached building in back. The area is nice for taking a walk along the bayou. There is a Ruby Tuesdays that you can walk to across the parking lot. They have a pool that is decent but tends to need vacuuming from leaves. Not sure why their rates are relatively high, this is just Niceville — they loose a star for this.

Keith the manager took great care of me and my billing. Offered a complimentary beer at check in! Great service.
Good breakfast, but the eggs were so so.
Only issue I had were the electric aroma devices in the room and hallways. These are nasty and I had to remove it from my outlet. In order to keep housekeeping from installing a new one, I put my ‘do not disturb’ sign on my door for my entire stay.
Next to Ruby Tuesday, Niceville’s epic party place. Convenient!
Thanks,
Craig

Got a non-​smoking room in one of the 4 or 5 buildings on the premises.
This 2^nd floor room was one of the non-​smoking rooms nestled among smoking rooms. As soon as we walked in to the hallway, we were overcome by smoke. YUK!
Our room was big and clean. Huge CA king sized bed with full kitchen, couch and dining room table.
The only bad thing was that the smoke from the hallway seeped into our room from the cracks around the door.
Perhaps this building should be designated smoking only since its really too late to make it a non-​smoking building.
Holiday Inn Express has free breakfast from 0600 – 0900 in the lobby area. A free newspaper is slid under your door early in the mornings.
This Holiday Inn Express is located right behind Ruby Tuesday’s in the adjoining parking lot.
This Holiday Inn Express is located about 5 mins from Eglin Air Force Bases Valparaiso entry gate.