A few days after Shae’s surgery, we decided to move on to Bend, OR from Ontario, OR. This would give us a more comfortable hotel to stay in, while also providing me with a few more options of things to do while she rested up.
We booked a stay at the Holiday Inn Express Bend because it was great value when using points. I figured we’d have a solid stay there because Holiday Inn Express properties tend to be consistent, but it ended up being our best ever experience at a Holiday Inn Express. In fact, when it came to service it was one of our best ever experiences at any hotel we’ve ever stayed at.
Here’s a full review of our 2.5 week stay at the Holiday Inn Express Bend, OR.
Check-In
We’d booked a room with a king bed, but when checking in we asked if it would be possible to get an Accessible room to make it easier for Shae when bathing.
The only Accessible room they had available was on the third floor, but we were only supposed to be on the first or second floor as that’s where the pet-friendly rooms are. This is where the excellent service began because rather than insisting that we couldn’t have an Accessible room, they were willing to accommodate our request despite having our dog Truffles with us.
Something that wouldn’t be noticeable for most people but was appreciated by us – the Holiday Inn Express has luggage carts that are slightly larger than most other hotels and they all wheeled along easily. We travel full-time and so bring everything we own in to hotels with us. Having large carts that can be pushed easily when completely loaded up isn’t too common, so it was nice to have it be so easy when checking in and out.
Bedroom
We were given room 320 which was fairly close to the elevator. Despite that, it wasn’t noisy; I don’t know if the room was well soundproofed, if the guests there were quiet or if there just weren’t many other guests on our floor, but it was nice for us – and even more so for Truffles! – that we rarely heard anyone walk by.
When entering the room the bathroom was through a sliding door on the right, while the bedroom and living area were straight ahead.
Before getting to the bedroom, there was a short entry hallway which had a mini fridge and microwave on the right. Some hotel mini fridges are so cold that they freeze your items, while others barely stay below room temperature; we had a Goldilocks mini fridge as it was just right.
On the opposite side of the hallway were a couple of shelves, one of which held a Keurig coffee maker.
Here’s the layout of the bedroom and living area.
The king bed was very comfortable and had nice, long pillows. There were power outlets on both sides of the bed, as well as an ottoman on each side beneath the bedside shelving. Those ottomans were useful as we were able to put them at the foot of the bed to make it easier for Truffles to get up and down.
To the left of the bed was a sleeper sofa and a moveable side table. My only minor complaint is that it would’ve been nice to have had either a slightly larger moveable side table or two of those tables. That’s because it was a little too small for two people to use when having dinner.
On the opposite side of the room was a desk and office chair, as well as a comfortable sort-of armchair.
To the left of the desk was a dresser and luggage bench. Above the bench were a few hooks, while above the dresser was a good-sized TV. From what I can remember, the TV had a good channel selection, but we plugged in our Fire TV Stick anyway to have even more options.
To the left of the luggage bench was a closet. Due to this being an accessible room, the shelves and railing were lower than they’d be in a standard room. Inside the closet was a safe, a short ironing board and an iron.
Rather than having blackout curtains, our room had blinds which could be automatically raised and lowered using a remote. The blinds worked pretty well to keep the room dark at night and in the morning.
Bathroom
There was a sliding door to enter the bathroom. I’m not normally a fan of that setup as it tends to be louder at night and in the morning than a regular door, meaning it can wake up another person who’s sleeping in your room. However, I can understand why they’d have that kind of door in an accessible room as it’d be easier for someone with limited mobility to open and close.
The edge of the bath was lower which made it easier for Shae to get in and out. There were a few railings in there, along with large bottles of refillable shampoo, conditioner and shower gel.
It also had two shower heads – a regular one higher up and a handheld shower head lower down.
Breakfast
The Holiday Inn Express Bend was offering a full cooked breakfast during our stay (October/November 2021) and had a very good selection of items. That included several hot options each day; there were always hash browns, sausage gravy, eggs of some kind as well as some other kind of meat like sausage patties or bacon. That’s on top of the biscuits and cinnamon rolls on offer, along with all kinds of other breakfast items.
Breakfast was served from 6:30am-9:30am on weekdays and 7am-10am on weekends. I’m not an early riser, so I appreciated that they didn’t have breakfast end at 9am. They also had a coffee and tea station available 24/7, but I forgot to take a photo of that.
I was also impressed with how well stocked breakfast was every morning during our 2.5 week stay. I don’t remember ever seeing any food item missing, even just before breakfast was due to end. It was also nice that they didn’t start clearing up breakfast early like some hotels do – everything was available until 9:30am or 10am depending on the day.
Amenities
The hotel has an indoor swimming pool and fitness room. Due to COVID concerns, guests had to book a time slot to use these, although they didn’t ever seem to be busy.
The Holiday Inn Express Bend has guest laundry facilities. Those can be found on the second floor and consists of one washing machine and one dryer. The washing machine cost $3.25 per load, while the dryer was $2 per load. While that’s a little more expensive than some other hotels charge for self-service guest laundry, it was still slightly cheaper – and certainly more convenient – than having to go to the laundromat.
There was a business center in the lobby which had a couple of computers and a printer.
To the left of the front desk was a pantry area where you could buy snacks, drinks and microwaveable meals.
At the back of the hotel was an outdoor seating area.
Pet Policy
The Holiday Inn Express Bend is a pet-friendly hotel. There’s a pet fee of $30 per night for the first three nights, so it maxes out at $90 on stays longer than that. You’re also allowed up to two dogs per room.
The hotel has a few grassy areas around the property where your dog can do their business, while there’s a sidewalk straight outside the hotel if you want to safely take your dog for a longer walk. There’s a residential area when heading down the road to the right and then right again at the roundabout, so that helped Truffles get some sniffs in.
Bend has a few dog parks. We took her to Riverbend Dog Park a few times; while it’s not the most stunningly beautiful dog park itself, the small dog side had plenty of space for Truffles to run around, while the large dog side was very spacious.
Riverbend Dog Park is also right next to the Deschutes River that has a lovely riverwalk where you can take your pup for a longer walk.
Service
I mentioned it at the start of the review, but service at the Holiday Inn Express Bend was sensational. Every single staff member we interacted with was unfailingly kind, friendly and helpful, from the front desk to the breakfast crew to the maintenance workers and housekeeping.
The best thing was that it seemed completely genuine too – like they actually cared about guests having a wonderful stay. We stayed a total of 18 nights and so got to see them be lovely not only to us but all guests.
There were lots of little things that enhanced the service they provided. For example, I got back to the grocery store one evening and was carrying quite a few bags to prevent the need to make a second trip from the car. One of the front desk staff members offered to help me take the bags up to our room. I was fine, but that was just one small example of their thoughtfulness that went beyond what you’d normally expect.
Best of all, Truffles got so much attention from them. Every time we walked through the lobby, she wanted to run behind the front desk to say hi to everybody. It wasn’t even that she was hoping to get treats – she just loved them all.
Oregon had a mask mandate indoors during our time there; the hotel staff were all very good about wearing their masks which is something a lot of other hotels haven’t always been consistent about.
Wi-Fi
Both the Wi-Fi connection and internet speed at the hotel were good. What was a little strange is that my phone wouldn’t stay connected to their Wi-Fi for more than 10 minutes, but I didn’t have any issues with my laptop which was the most important thing.
Check-In & Check-Out Times
The check-in time at the Holiday Inn Express Bend is 4pm and check-out is at 12pm.
Location
The hotel is located on the south side of Bend. There’s an Albertsons grocery store and Walmart Supercenter a couple of minutes down the road, along with a few restaurants nearby.
The Last Blockbuster on the Planet and Deschutes Brewery are both about 10 minutes away to the north, while the High Desert Museum is five minutes to the south and Newberry National Volcanic Monument is 10 minutes to the south.
Parking
The hotel offers free parking; there are a few spaces at the front of the property, with lots more along the side and at the rear of the property.
Cost
We booked our stay at the Holiday Inn Express Bend using IHG Rewards points because they were only charging 20,000 points per night.
It got even better than that though. We have the IHG Premier credit card which offers every fourth night free on award stays. We also have the IHG Select credit card which offers a 10% points rebate when booking award stays. That means that rather than costing 360,000 points for our 18 night stay, our net cost was 252,000 points, or an average of 14,000 points per night.
That’s excellent value because we bought IHG points recently when they were being sold for half a cent per point. That means the 14,000 points per night effectively cost us $70 per night which was much lower than the $144.77 – $164.54 price they were charging during our dates depending on the night.
Final Thoughts
Shae, Truffles and I all greatly enjoyed our stay at the Holiday Inn Express Bend. Our room was fairly spacious and very clean, it was quiet, they had a decent cooked breakfast every morning and exceptional staff.
We missed out on visiting Crater Lake National Park during our stay as the roads had closed for the winter season, so we plan to return in the future. If we stay in Bend again, it’ll most definitely be at the Holiday Inn Express as it was one of our favorite hotel stays and is great value when redeeming points.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles awards the hotel the much-coveted four paws with a golden tail wag – the highest rating a hotel can get! She enjoyed how quiet it was and getting to go for walks around the neighborhood, but most of all she adored all the love and attention she got from all the staff there.
Our Rating
Room = 4.6 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.5 / 5
Food = 4.7 / 5
Location = 4.5 / 5
Service = 5 / 5
Overall Value = 4.8 / 5 (based on the points value)
Total = 4.68 / 5
Address
Holiday Inn Express, 61070 S Hwy 97, Bend, OR 97702
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