After finishing off Utah by spending a couple of weeks in Salt Lake City and then driving down to Page, AZ for a few days to hike Upper Antelope Canyon, it was time to move on to the 27th state of our 50 state road trip – Nebraska.
Our first stop there was Scottsbluff and we booked an 8 night stay at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Scottsbluff-Gering. We booked using IHG One Rewards points and it ended up being a decent stay for the most part. They proactively upgraded us before we arrived thanks to my elite status with IHG, their breakfast options were good and it was good value when booked with points. On the downside, they have an excessive pet fee that cost us almost $250.
Here’s a full review of our stay at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Scottsbluff-Gering.
Check-In
We’d stayed overnight in Grand Junction on our way from Page, AZ to Scottsbluff. It was still a long drive from Grand Junction, so we didn’t arrive in Scottsbluff until about 6:30pm. When checking in we were pleased when they advised that they’d proactively upgraded us to a Junior Suite due to my Diamond status.
IHG properties in the US have historically been incredibly poor with providing room upgrades, but they rebranded their loyalty program as IHG One Rewards recently and apparently provided training and reminders to hotels as to what elite benefits members should expect to receive. This was our first IHG stay since that rebranding, so getting an upgrade to a Junior Suite at a Holiday Inn Express without even having to ask hopefully bodes well for the future of the loyalty program.
Seeing as we travel with our dog, they gave us a room on the first floor as those are apparently the pet-friendly rooms.
Junior Suite
The suite enters into the living room, with the bedroom at the far end and the bathroom in the middle on the left.
Living Room
On the right side of the living room area was a sleeper sofa and a coffee table. There were power outlets on both sides of the couch which I appreciated because not all hotels provide easily accessible outlets like that. There was also a good amount of space on both sides of the couch which provided some helpful storage space for things like our portable kitchen.
On the opposite side of the room was a wall-mounted TV with a couple of small ottomans beneath it. We pushed those over into the bedroom to make it easier for Truffles to get up and down from the bed.
Beneath the TV was a power strip with both power outlets and USB ports.
To the left of the TV was a closet that contained bedding for the sleeper sofa along with an iron and ironing board. On the side of the closet was a small switch that turned on lighting on the top of the closet. That was useful when we wanted dim lighting in the living room rather than the regular lighting from the lamps over the couch.
To the right of the TV was a good-sized mini fridge, microwave and Keurig coffee maker.
The living room led through to the bedroom. What was a little disappointing is that there wasn’t a door closing off the bedroom. That would’ve been nice to have because it would’ve meant I could work in the living room with the light on at night without it disturbing Shae when she went to sleep.
Bedroom
The bedroom area had a king bed that was comfortable to sleep on, with blackout blinds that worked pretty well. Both sides of the bed had power outlets and USB ports.
On the opposite side of the bedroom was a desk and office chair. To the right of that was a dresser and a wall-mounted TV above that.
To the right of the dresser was another closet, although this one was empty other than for a few hangers.
Bathroom
Between the bedroom and living area was a long bathroom sink which provided some additional storage space beneath. I’m not a fan of when sinks aren’t in the bathroom because it means that when using it at night and the other person is asleep, you have to use it in the dark. It was nice having so much countertop space either side of the sink though.
The bathroom itself had a good-sized walk-in shower, with toiletries mounted to the wall. The shower was awesome – it had fantastic water pressure and so was nice and refreshing.
Breakfast
The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Scottsbluff-Gering serves breakfast from 6am-10am every day of the week. That was lovely because it meant we didn’t have to be up as early in order to get food in the morning.
The hotel offered a good selection of breakfast items each morning. There were several hot options that rotated each morning, along with all kinds of other breakfast options. There was plenty of variety and it was kept well stocked, so we never had any problems with having enough to choose from for breakfast.
There was also a coffee and tea station that was available 24/7.
Amenities
The hotel has several useful amenities for guests. One of the amenities we appreciated the most was the guest laundry room that had two washing machines and two dryers, with each type only costing $1 per load – far more convenient and cheaper than going to a laundromat.
If you don’t have your own laundry detergent, there’s a vending machine on the wall in the laundry room where you can buy that.
There’s a fitness room, although it was a little sparse with only three pieces of equipment. I don’t think there were any weights either, but perhaps I neglected to get a photo of those.
There’s also an indoor swimming pool and whirlpool.
Next to the front desk is a business center with a couple of computers and a printer.
There was a pantry next to the front desk too which had drinks, snacks, toiletries, etc. for sale.
Outside the swimming pool was an outdoor area with some tables and chairs.
Pet Policy
The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Scottsbluff-Gering is a pet-friendly hotel. They allow up to two dogs per room and there’s a weight limit of 80 lbs.
Unfortunately the pet fee is excessive as it’s $30 per night. That’s not necessarily terrible if you’re only staying one night, but we were staying 8 nights and so were charged $240 which is ridiculous. The hotel should have some kind of upper limit for how much they charge as a pet fee because it’s not like extra cleaning is required when someone with a dog stays for a week versus only a night or two. What made it even more frustrating for us is that Truffles is hypoallergenic and so doesn’t shed, meaning there was no extra cleaning required in the first place.
The hotel has some grassy areas around the property, including right outside the front of the hotel.
Service
Service at the hotel was good, although there wasn’t anything particularly notable about it either other than the fact that we got the proactive room upgrade .
Wi-Fi
The Wi-Fi connection and speed was good, although it was a little annoying having to log back in every 24 hours.
Check-In & Check-Out Times
The check-in time at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Scottsbluff-Gering is 3pm, while check-out is at 12pm.
Location
The hotel is on the eastern side of Scottsbluff, but is within a short drive of grocery stores, restaurants, etc. It’s only a 15 minute drive to Scotts Bluff National Monument and about 25 minutes from Chimney Rock.
Parking
The hotel offers free parking and there are plenty of spaces all around the property.
Cost
We booked our stay using IHG One Rewards points. We booked an 8 night stay because if you have the IHG Premier credit card like we do, IHG offers every 4th night free when booking with points. That meant we got both the 4th and 8th nights free.
IHG has dynamic award pricing, so the hotel charged between 16,000 and 23,000 points per night during our dates. With the 4th night free benefit and a 10% points rebate from also having the IHG Select credit card, our net cost was 13,613 IHG One Rewards points per night. We bought those points for 0.5cpp (cents per point), so that effectively made our cost $68.06 per night. That’s great value considering the cash price for a room was between $115 and $157 per night during our dates.
Final Thoughts
Scottsbluff didn’t have a ton of pet-friendly hotel options for us, so being able to book the Holiday Inn Express for good value when using points was great. We appreciated them providing an upgrade to a Junior Suite without us even asking and their breakfast offering was good.
There wasn’t anything particularly negative about our stay other than the fact that they overcharge pet owners who stay there.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Scottsbluff-Gering two paws out of four – pawful! The hotel was quiet which was good, but she’s only giving them two paws to register her disapproval at how much they charged for having her with us as it impacts on her treat allowance 😉
Our Rating
Room = 4.4 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.3 / 5
Food = 4.4 / 5
Location = 4.1 / 5
Service = 3.6 / 5
Overall Value = 4.4 / 5
Total = 4.2 / 5
Address
Holiday Inn Express & Suites, 1821 Frontage Rd, Scottsbluff, NE 69361
Leave a Reply