Garden Motel, Mount Pocono

We just returned from an overnight stay at the Holiday Inn Express Mt Pocono location. Our experience was so horrific that we have sworn off EVER staying at another Holiday Inn Express as long as we live!! The location is absolutely filthy. The common areas as well as our room had not been properly vacuumed in YEARS! Our room was COVERED in crumbs. Our sheets had stains on them and our bathroom was not properly cleaned. The bedspreads are worn as are the chairs in the room. The boxsprings and mattresses are yellow with age. The shower handle was coming off the wall and the faucet made a horrilbe screeching noise when the shower was turned on. When we called down to the front desk to complain, we were told that they had to check to see if anyone from housekeeping was still there - no apologies - nothing. When my husband asked what if there wasn't anyone there, the response was someone will clean the room. While a nice young fellow (not part of housekeeping) finally came to our room, he could only do a cursory job of cleaning because the filth was so great in our room it would have taken him 6 hours to scrub the grim off and get to all the crumbs. BTW, we were refused another room because the hotel was booked. Not everyone had checked in yet but WE were made to wait as our room was re-cleaned. While waiting for our room to be cleaned, I went to my parent's room, which was down the hall, to see if their room was clean. While their bathroom and sheets were ok, the floor was also covered in crumbs! The fellow who cleaned our room told us the housekeepers don't like to vacuum - obviously!!! The next morning we went down for breakfast and noticed the hallways and common areas were just covered in dirt and crumbs. Those areas should have been vacuumed first thing in the morning. In the dining area, there was a 3' x 1' area in which crumbs had been swept up and then left there - I suppose to eventually be vacuumed up but the employee working breakfast just kept on walking right over it. The breakfast was sparse and void of any fruit. Three little hard boiled eggs sat on a plate. At one point the employee brought out a tray of donuts and everyone attacked it because there was little else that was edible. We travel by car frequently and when arranging for short overnight trips we always select either a Holidy Inn Express or Fairfield Inn because we know we will get a reasonably priced stay in a clean and maintained property. That has changed. We will not assume the Holiday Inn will be acceptable and will instead look to Fairfield Inns! BTW, we booked our room at a rate of $119 but at check-in we were charged a rate of $89. We heard others talking at breakfast who were complaining they had booked a room at a rate of $109 but were charged $119. Another women was quoted $99 but was charged $119. If you dare to stay here, make sure you get your quote in writing!! Do yourself a favor. If you have to stay in the area, look to Stroudsberg or East Stroudsberg as it really isn't that far away.