Holiday Inn Barrie Hotel and Conference Centre

I will start by saying that I don't like leaving negative reviews, but I feel the need to share my impression after our recent stay here. I will also say that the staff at this hotel are very friendly and helpful and overall do their very best to make the customers' experience a pleasant one. However, I feel theirs is an uphill battle. So we paid about $180 for one night to stay at a hotel with on-site restaurant, gym, and pool facilities. This is a reasonable price for a hotel that has all these facilities in good working order. However, the building and facilities are woefully old and in need of sprucing up. The room we stayed in (standard double room on the third floor overlooking the courtyard) was clearly old enough to have been a smoking room at one point in time - you could smell it. We found three long hairs in our bed linens upon arrival. The place must have been quickly cleaned between occupants, but the caked on dust and grime in the corners of the carpet was visible all around the room from a good distance - a thin nozzle on the vacuum would have taken care of much of this. The bathroom was poorly cleaned, with fingerprints and water spots noticeable on shower fixtures and towel racks. The grout on the shower walls was pink in many areas due to mould. The coffee station in our room still had coffee grounds under the coffee maker - it hadn't even been lifted for a thorough clean. The TV did not have HD quality picture and the channel guide was not functional on the remote. Movie rental options were between $14 and $25 each - no thanks! Now for the workout/pool area - the gym equipment (literally every machine) was malfunctioning in some way. Everything looked like it needed a thorough scrub down (grime in corners and crevices of each piece of equipment). We left within 10 minutes. The pool deck and change room floor were covered in wet dirty footprints and hair. Seeing all this made it a little less pleasant an experience to get into the pool with any confidence - I really wasn't sure when was the last time they would have shocked the pool with chlorine. We had the sense that the management was under-staffing their facilities to save a few bucks and this was evident in everything. Next we went to the restaurant for dinner. My husband ordered the steak (their signature dish, apparently). He ordered medium rare. A plate with in-house made potato chips and a 10oz dry, brown all the way through steak arrived. The server (who was absolutely lovely, by the way) immediately took it back and brought him another one. This one with a slight pink center - closer to medium but not in any way rare. She graciously gave us a 50% discount, which we appreciated. Next morning's breakfast was fulsome and overall good. Again, the serving staff were lovely, pleasant, and quick - kudos to them! We were not going to complain about our experience and generally laughed the whole thing off, but I feel the need to share it here. I wish the motel-level facilities we got were better reflected in the room rate. I understand from reading other reviews and hotel responses that there is a capital improvement project in the works. Not sure if there are already updated rooms/suites available, but we would have appreciated having this communicated to us at the outset and would have likely upgraded if this was clear at the start. Hotel photos are not reflective of what we saw.
9 years ago (30-10-2017)

Great staff and rooms are kept in Gray confirm the beds are nice. The restaurant has good food. I came back here and anytime I'm working around here will choose this place.
9 years ago (02-11-2017)

The Holiday Inn Express on Bryan Drive, South End is my faverite hotel for the free Breakfast selection. Reasonable rates. Friendly staff & great location for shopping and restaurants in that area of Barrie South on Mapleview Dr All within walking distance. ***This Holiday Inn is shabby and looking old. It stinks of smoke and located near Hi way 400. In need of a total reno. Go to the other HI location & avoid this venue completely.
9 years ago (09-11-2017)

I was there for a baby shower today. It was in one of the many meeting trims they had. We were very well taken care of by the staff. They came in frequently to check on our needs and clear tables. The only thing I personally didn't totally love was the food that they catered. It was sandwich fixings and fruit veggies... the meat seems like an odd selection of unrecognizable deli meats and the buns felt like they were still thawing. That being said they served probably the best punch I've ever had in my life!!! Great venue!!
9 years ago (08-05-2017)

Check in first before bringing in bags. A long way for us to carry then get back to car. Room clean pool warm. No breakfast
9 years ago (09-10-2017)