Holiday Inn Express & Suites Lawrence

Friendly front desk. Reasonable rates. Rooms were pretty clean. Great location to KU and Mass street. Good selection for breakfast. Very friendly breakfast staff, especially Phyllis. She asked us several times if she could get us anything else or take garbage. Small pool. Decent hot tub. 3 cardio machines for fitness center.

Very pleasant front desk attendant (Brett). Had a party of 20 that needed accommodated quickly and he figured things out for us. Did a good job of organizing and figuring out rooms for all of us.

I love Holiday Inn Expresses in general and this one is particularly good. Clean, well-​kept building, recently refurbished. I’m not sure what’s with the recent bad reviews but my recent stay was awesome. I travel a lot for business and so I have a lot of experience with places and this Holiday Inn Express was great. Friendly helpful staff from front desk to breakfast room; quiet and clean location; great proximity to University of Kansas and other Lawrence destinations. There is a walking/​jogging/​cycling path nearby that extends all the way to Clinton Lake and this Holiday Inn Express even provides free loaner bikes from an onsite fleet if you want to go for a ride. What impressed me most was that when my wife left a pair of earrings in our room, they not only called to let us know that they had them, but were also glad to drop them into the mail to us at once. Top notch in my opinion.

This place is horrible!!! I found a cockroach in the first 5 minutes! And my room reeked of cigarette smoke. Do NOT stay here!!!

Biggest disappointment ever.
My wife and I reserved a King Jacuzzi room 3 weeks prior to our 1 year anniversary. We paid for it in advance, and got our confirmation text/​email and made all of our weekend plans revolving around having a fun and relaxing weekend in this room.
Fast forward to check-in…we arrive at the hotel around 5:45pm or so, and proceed to get our room keys. We go to the room, fling open the door, and viola… a double queen standard room.(What the???) So my wife instantly gets her phone out to double check the email and make sure she reserved the room just as we had intended too. Sure enough, it says right there… confirmation #blahblahblah for a King Spa room w/​Jacuzzi tub. Okay, honest mistake, so we go back to the front counter and show the kid there our reservation. He looks at it and gets to clicking away on his computer. «Yup, I see it right here (for some reason didn’t see it the first time… but whatever, forgiven), let me get your room keys back and reprogram them, sorry ’bout that.» We get our new room number and head to the «proper» room. Key in door, fling it open, and at last, a king bed… with no sign of a Jacuzzi tub anywhere. I scratch my head, look at the wife, and we turn around and head back down to the front desk. After telling the young attendant that we booked this room 3 weeks prior and paid in advance because this was to celebrate our 1 year anniversary and needed the room we booked, he proceeds to inform us that there are no Jacuzzi rooms available. Let me pause here for a second and explain that I’ve had problems like this in the past, and in nearly any other case, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but in this case, it destroyed the whole weekend for my wife. Aside from that fact, I don’t know how this happens to begin with, but it’s usually an inconvenience to some degree.
We are IHG members, so we called them to see if they could help find us a room at another hotel that met our specifications, we got very little help, basically being told that there were NO King Jacuzzi rooms available in all of Lawrence/​Topeka/​Kansas City. Frustrated and ready to call it quits with these hotel chains, I made a 3^rd call and got a great guy named David that helped us set up a reservation at the Intercontinental at the Plaza in Kansas City. The hotel manager, who was informed of the situation, took VERY good care of us. We were SO impressed with the accommodations he provided to us due to the situation and the staff there was amazing. I’ve never heard of this hotel prior to this trip, but if we’re going to stay in the Kansas City area again, they will undoubtedly be my first call.
As for this Holiday Inn Express hotel… we will not be back.

They cancelled my room that I paid for in June with no notification untill we checked in today. They are booked full with a large wedding party… That’s odd. It’s all about the almighty dollar for this company! I will never use a holiday inn express again. Unheard of and poor front desk customer service.

The entire city is at your disposal from this hotel’s «tip of the spear» location. The rooms are clean and spacious, with most of the cutting-​edge amenitites. The complimentary breakfast is plentiful and the staff is attentive and friendly.
So why only 3 stars? Well, for starters, parking is only so-​so, the indoor pool/​hot tub/​fitness center pales in comparison to even the average hotel in 2012, and there are simply not enough rooms, so busy weekends turn the place into a zoo. It’s tough to ask a hotel to simply slap on an extra story, and it is probably the best hotel (not motel) in Lawrence, but damn if even other Holiday Inn Express locations outshine this one.
UPDATE: Forget that last line. The owner wrote me a very nice comment and private message, which indicates strongly to me an establishment deeply concerned with the customer experience — a rare thing, perhaps especially among hotels. Park in the next lot. Swim in one of Lawrence’s public pools. And maybe try not to book for busy football/​basketball weekends. All of those ultimately minor inconveniences pale in comparison to a hotel that’s aggressive about making sure your experience is a positive one.

I’ve stayed here only once, but it was for two nights. I am definitely a fan of this hotel. It’s located on the outskirts of Lawrence, but still just a couple of miles from the hopping Massachusetts Ave strip. The rooms here are quite large, clean, and well outfitted with amenities. The staff was so friendly from check-​in to check-​out and everywhere in between. They always greeted me when I came in the door and said a quick «have a nice day» as I exited the building. There were even free cookies in the lobby each afternoon.
The hotel was a nice, quiet place to get a good night’s rest. The bed was super comfortable and the pillows were even labeled as firm or soft.
The breakfast was pretty decent as far as hotel breakfasts go. There were the standards (juices, milk, coffee, bagels, muffins, etc.) as well as bacon, scrambled eggs w/​cheese, a pancake machine, and biscuits. The bacon and eggs were fine, but I wasn’t too much of a fan of the pancakes. They were a little rubbery tasting, but it was at least a nice option. The biscuits were OK as well. The breakfast attendant was super nice and helpful.
The hotel itself is within an easy walk to lots of shopping, dining, and some entertainment. There’s a movie theater directly behind it for starters. Wal-​Mart, Target, TJ Maxx, Michael’s, JC Penney, and a few others are all within a half mile/​10 minute walk. There’s a Culver’s, Jason’s Deli, a Mexican restaurant, and a Japanese steakhouse in the immediate area as well.
My only complaint with this hotel is the bug problem. There are a lot of crickets in Kansas and this place falls victim to that. I encountered a couple of bugs in my room over the two night stay, but I truly feel this is almost impossible to avoid given the area and the constantly opening entry way.
I would definitely stay here on future visits and be very comfortable.

Love this hotel. I think it’s my new fav! It’s a pretty new hotel so everything is nice and clean. I love that I can get a true suite here, like with a separate living area with a door to the bedroom. They are within walking distance to walmart, target, the movies and a few restaurants. They have a pool, hot tub, workout room, laundry room and a pretty decent breakfast. What more could you ask for in a hotel?!