My best friend chose this hotel for her wedding reception and it seemed logical to stay there for the entire wedding weekend. After driving down from Chicago on Friday, we arrived at the hotel at 4:30 p.m. Our room, which we had reserved well in advance, was not ready. As we were all bridesmaids, we had to stand and hold our full length dresses so they would not wrinkle in the middle of the reception area. We stood there for an 30 minutes. Finally, our room was ready, but when we went there (Now 45 minutes before the rehearsal dinner)- it was not the room we had reserved for the 3 of us- it was a double bed with a chair- not 2 queens. So, we trekked (it was quite a distance, with all of our luggage and dresses) back to the front desk, and again had to wait 30 minutes before a room could be cleaned for us. It was now 5:30, we all had to change, and we finally got a room. We of course were late to the wedding rehearsal. Our first night's stay was horrific- our air conditioner sounded like a jet engine- it would come on and go off- no sleep was actually had. We left by 8 am and when we returned our room was not cleaned. We left again for the wedding and pictures, and when we came back before the evening reception- our room was still not cleaned. I had to go to the front desk for clean towels (the hotel uses well water- I felt dirtier after the shower than before). Post reception, we returned to our room and went to sleep with our jet engine air conditioner (our room could not be switched because there was some kind of event going on that weekend). At 4 AM, someone from the hotel knocked on the door- LOUDLY. They had brought by our bill. These people had all my credit card info- and yet, they still knocked on our door at 4AM. When I attempted to check out, which took an hour, I did not have time to speak with a manager- if one was even on site (I had a flight out of O'Hare- 2+hours away 3 hours from the time I actually go to check out). I sent a letter to the hotel, describing the hell of our time there, and I received a letter from the manager, chiding me for not coming to management right away. They also made a housekeeper write me a letter apologizing. The best part- they gave me a free voucher to stay there in the future. I tore it up. You could not pay me to stay there again.

After reading the reviews on this website I wasn't thrilled about staying here, but this is where my cousin was getting married and the whole family stayed at this hotel. The desk staff weren't overly friendly, but I didn't have a problem with them. The breakfast buffet was average. The ballroom was very pretty and the reception area was nice. I did call ahead and ask if a refrigerator was available because my daughter was on amoxicillan for an earache and it had to be cold. I was told fridges were usually $20 extra but because it was a medical reason it would be free and it was already in our room and cold when we checked in. I thought that was pretty great. The pool was large and heated. There were also two hot tubs. One warm and the other hot. I didn't hear any of the guests complain. Overall not a bad stay and the wedding was beautiful.

Now called the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel, I stayed here before when it was a Holiday Inn Select. My memories of the Holiday Inn were great. My memories of this most recent stay as an unbranded hotel are not so great. What happened? As I entered the hotel I was impressed as usual by the lovely lobby. Checking in was painless and my room was large and near an entrance to the large parking lot. I noticed almost immediately that there was a lot of dust on the furniture. A call to housekeeping brought a promise that this would be handled promptly - and a delightful housekeeper dusted and then asked if anything else was needed - she gave us her name and said to ask for her personally. I was impressed. The remainder of the stay was quite unpleasant. Room service hung up on me twice and then the phone rang for several minutes before someone picked up. I was told that the item I wanted was unavailable - that I must have an "old menu". I was told I could come to the desk and get a recent menu but no one could bring it to me. We decided to just eat at one of the restaurants. Service was inattentive, slow, and the quality of the food was way below the standards I was used to at this hotel. The servers spent more time flirting with one of the male employees than they did waiting tables. I wasn't the only one who complained to a very unfriendly male manager from the front desk. There was no one available to complain to who seemed to be a restaurant manager. When we returned to our room, there was a distinct odor of marijuana smoke coming from one of the rooms in our corridor. Calling to the front desk resulted in the comment "Gee, and they didn't invite us?" I didn't find that amusing at all. Someone knocked on our door to ask if we were "the ones getting high". I informed the gentleman I was the one who complained. He said he didn't smell anything and to let the desk know if we needed anything further.
We checked out - a task which was painfully slow due to only one person being at the desk when several people were checking out. I will not return to this hotel - sadly - because it was one of my favorite places to stay when visiting friends in Decatur and Springfield. I am not sure what company now manages this hotel but I can see why Holiday Inn wouldn't want to be affiliated. Aside from some very nice employees (especially the housekeeping staff), I wouldn't say there was much outside the attractiveness of the building to recommend any more. During my stay here in 2004, there was an enthusiasm and excitement from the employees that just isn't there now. If you want just a decent room (rather overpriced for the area, but some deals could be had here if you check them out) and a place to sleep, you'll be fine here. Don't expect the service to be great, but it is a large hotel with many nice rooms and suites.

Having enjoyed my stay in previous visits, I was surprised to see the negative reviews and hoped that they were wrong, but unfortunately, they were right on. I checked in with the Best Breaks rate, and expected to get breakfast included in our stay since that was the rate. The check-in desk said that they didn't honor that rate on weekends. Luckily I printed out my confirmation, and it didn't say anywhere about any exclusions. So, I called the 800# and spoke with guest relations who did agree that the hotel was to provide breakfast. So, Holiday Inn Guest relations spoke to the manager and told them to provide us breakfast, which they did. They also lied to us about their debit card policy. We had inadvertently left our AMEX on the dining room table at home, so thought it not a big deal to pay with our check card. Well, the hotel can hold up to $200 extra on your card along with what the hotel total is. Two employees at the hotel told us that it was our banking institutions policy, yet when we spoke to our bank, they said it was the hotel. So, once again I called the 800# of Holiday Inn and spoke with guest relations to sort it out. I explained what our bank told us and what the staff at our hotel told us. She sighed and apologized and explained that it was the hotel's policy. I am also a Priority Card member and discovered I was supposed to get a coupon for a discount at the bar restaurant and a free drink, which the hotel didn't offer. I asked if the hotel was under new management and the guest relations staff member did confirm that they were. To top it off, the housekeeping staff didn't empty the used coffee pot, and we had the Do Not Disturb sign on the door and check out isn't until noon, yet the cleaning staff knocked on our door at 10:15am to know when we would be vacating the room. All in all, a very bad experience and I'll drive the 30 minutes to stay in the Hyatt in Springfield over that Holiday Inn...unless the management changes over for the better....let's hope so!!