We were booked to stay at this hotel the night of Dec. 11. We were fairly confident in this choice as my husband and I used to live in this neighborhood, and had actually booked rooms here for out-of-town guests to our wedding in 2008. Unfortunately, we did not have a good experience. We were assigned a room next to the breakfast area, sharing a wall with an extremely loud (vibrating-the-walls-loud) ice machine. When we asked for a different room, we were told the machine was "warming up," that it would quiet down later, and besides, if we wanted a different room, we would have to wait until 6pm to "see" if another became available (they were fully booked). We decided to just stick with what we had.

Fortunately, we carefully checked the room for bedbugs before we brought in our luggage. At first, the room seemed spotless. The mattress appeared brand-new (in hindsight, probably a red flag). However, when we lifted the mattress and bed skirt and
inspected the box spring, we saw a dead bedbug and other evidence of an infestation. We immediately reported this to the front desk, who didn't argue with us; she told us to contact Expedia for a refund, which we did. Ended up staying with friends.

My husband and I have stayed in this hotel twice. It’s really a perfect location for us when we visit friends in the Park Slope neighborhood. The hotel is right on the R line and very easy to get to from Manhattan. It’s not in the most picturesque block, but I felt safe walking around after midnight on the weekend. The rooms are adequate. Some might say small. But we’ve gotten a corner room before which was more spacious. But in NY, we don’t visit for the room. It’s all about location and price and this Holiday Inn is perfect for us.

Nothing like having a stranger steps from the entrance to the hotel, asking us if we wanted anything, to make me ill at ease while walking in the area at night. As a woman, I would only recommend venturing out at night with at least one companion. The hotel itself was ok, nothing remarkable, except possibly the fact that they have HBO.

The hotel block looks a little rundown, but the surrounding area seemed safe. Hotel staff was helpful and the room was very clean. A bit small, but larger than some rooms I've stayed in at other New York hotels. There is only 1 elevator so it can take a very long time during check-in/check out hours.

Free breakfast was OK. The hot food was average maybe even slightly below. The only highlight : They had a pancake machine that made pretty good pancakes ...for a machine. The rest of the food you would find at any continental hotel breakfast.

Close to Park Slope and only a 20 min taxi ride to Manhattan. There is also the subway and R train.

Transportation Tip: It's not always easy to get a yellow taxi to take you to and from Manhattan. The hotel hooked us up with a 'black car' service our first night. It was only a little bit more expensive than a regular taxi but you were in a clean luxury car and it made the trip much more enjoyable. We used the service the whole time we were there.