Let me start out by saying that we love Holiday Inn Express. Every time we travel we do our best to stay at them because we know they are consistently clean, friendly, non-smoking, and no pets allowed.
We have allergies so we can not stay in pet-friendly rooms.
When we went to check in we were told pets are never on the 3rd floor and only on the 1st....so we went against our better judgement and stayed on the third floor, trusting that no pets up there would mean no allergies.
On the third night there (we were in the middle of a move) we had been dealing with allergies and were not sure why. That day we saw a huge 75+ pound dog get off the elevator and go into a room...on the third floor. I went to the front desk and asked why this was happening and that we were not able to breathe because this dog was right next to us. The woman working said that the manager had approved it since they would be staying for a long period of time. They moved us to the 2nd floor that night but we left the next day.
If you are a pet-friendly hotel at least be consistent and truly only let them stay on one floor. I feel sorry for the next person to stay in that room on the third floor. God only knows how much hair and dander was left behind by that huge dog when the people think they are paying for a non-pet room.
Oh yeah, and the hallways all reek of cigarette smoke.