Holiday Inn Express Anderson-I-85

I stayed here with my wife this past weekend for a friend’s wedding. The greeting staff was a little less than cordial. We were in a rush to leave when we first arrived in order to make it to the rehearsal dinner a few miles down the road so I did not want to go by my first observation, but my interaction with most of the hotel staff was similar. The exception being a couple of the cleaning ladies. They were generally very friendly and would smile.
My first interaction with the room was okay. My key did not work. My wife’s did. We dropped our belongings off in the room on the third floor and my first impression was positive. The room seemed pretty spacious. It had a 32-​inch TV and a king-​sized bed. I didn’t get to see the sauna tub or the bathroom at the time. We dropped our things and walked out.
When we returned I approached the desk to report my keycard not working. The lady did a few swipes with a new card and gave me the key. We went up to turn in for the night. My keycard did not work again. My wife’s still worked, so I resolved to ask them about my keycard again the next day.
The bathroom was generally nice, but I could tell it was a bit old. The bathtub or jacuzzi or whatever you want to call it was fairly small in size. The bathroom was well put together. You can expect clean towels, some novelty shampoo/​soap as usual, and rags. There is a closet to hang things in as well as an iron and a board. There are extra pillows. There is a mini-​fridge and a microwave and both of them worked just fine. The TV was alright, but the edges of every channel were slightly clipped in the TV. We didn’t bother to take the time to fix it as it was a minor nuisance and it may have been an outside issue. The internet was fairly easy to connect to, but it was spotty at best. We had difficulty re-​connecting a couple of times on different devices. I had to renew the DHCP to get one to connect. Another device couldn’t do it, so it just stopped working. The air conditioner/​heater worked really well in the room. However, it should be noted that there was no thermostat reading on the device. It just indicated «hotter and cooler» and allowed you to change the fan speed. I had no idea how hot or cold I was going to make it in the room by adjusting the settings. I just left it on until we were comfortable (or uncomfortable in one instance) and then turned it off myself.
The bed was pretty comfortable. No real complaints there.
The complimentary breakfast lasted until 10 am. There was a pretty decent selection as far as hotel food goes. I have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express before and it seemed pretty consistent with the fare I experienced before. There was coffee, milk, water, apple juice and orange juice (the juices were definitely from concentrate). They had a few selections of cereal and oatmeal. They had a few grains such as English muffins, biscuits, bagels and cinnamon rolls. They had jam and toast. They had gravy. The biscuits were a bit hard the first morning. They were better the second morning. The gravy was less than exciting. The «scrambled eggs» were made from a powdered mix I believe. They were edible, but not fantastic as should be expected. They had a small selection of fruits such as bananas and apples. They also had a few things of yogurt with the milk selection. They had a pancake machine that made little flapjacks. They were pretty decent. The first morning they served paper-​thin bacon and it was okay. Don’t expect amazing bacon. The second morning they had patty sausage. It was nasty and bland.
Upon returning the next evening I had my keycard replaced again. It worked this time. I guess third time is the charm.
There was a noise in the bathroom at one point that sounded like a vacuum in a vent shaft (although slightly muffled). The hot water wasn’t all that great. In fact, the last morning there the water actually went out at one point after taking a 20-​minute shower. It just all the sudden lost water pressure and there was no more. I just joked to my wife that I was glad I was able to rinse the shampoo out of my hair before it decided to cut me off. The checkout was pretty simple. We just left our keys and such in the envelope and grabbed our things and left.
The location of the hotel was pretty obscure but it was still surrounded by a few amenities. There is a gas station directly in front of the hotel. There is a KFC/​Pizza Hut combo across the street to the left facing from the front of the hotel. There is a Waffle House a little to the right and a McDonald’s to the right. The last two can be accessed easily by foot by walking to the right out of the hotel and down a set of stairs near the pool. The Waffle House was okay. I can’t really comment on the other two restaurants.
Overall I found the price for the hotel to be a bit on the steep side. It was about 175 for a Friday and Saturday at a hotel in the middle of nowhere. I probably would not stay here again given the choice.

I stayed here during another visit to South Carolina. I like the place. The location is very close to the highway, I-​85. The people are friendly and willing to help. Their receptionist, Amanda, described me the direction step by step from Charlotte Airport. My room is clean and the amenities are acceptable. Their gym is a bit small. But as long as you’re the only one there, it will do.
PS: I think they have re-​named the street. Their most current business card shows 410 Alliance Parkway, Anderson, SC 29 621. But, they have the same phone number. As long as you take Exit 27, Highway 81 — you just cant miss it. It is located behind Waffle House, close to Kentucky Fried Chicken and across from a gas station.