Holiday Inn Express & Suites Alamogordo

Pros: -Breakfast decent, plenty of food -Free bottled water, major plus!!! -Cookies in the afternoon -Can borrow free sleds to use for White Sand National Park, major plus!!! -great location!!! -Dove shampoo, conditioner, lotion and soap Cons: -Coffee machine broke during breakfast. Thank goodness was able to make coffee in the room -super noisy. People were up after midnight and woke up super early around 530am. Had a room close to the elevator so wasn’t able the sleep all night with all the foot traffic -indoor pool didn’t look clean, was yellow/greenish

Beds were great, room was nice, staff friendly. Breakfast was good. Bathroom looked clean but had a strong odor of mold/mildew; I spilled some powder on the bathroom floor and when I wiped it up I discovered the floor was very dirty (tissue was black!). Was a little disappointed there was no discount offered due to the broken elevator, but overall still a decent stay.

I know hotels are franchises now, so it's only as good as the management. I've always had good luck with Holiday Inn Express Hotels. This was a nice, standard hotel and my room was standard, clean and comfortable (the television didn't work but I didn't really watch any tv anyway). It's near the main drag and also near all sorts of eating establishments. The front desk staff and cleaning staff are all friendly and helpful. Probably the most interesting thing to me was the amount of overhead security cameras the hotel had on my floor - several spaced on the ceilings all the way down the hallway. All the other hotels at which I stayed during my 12-day 3,771-mile trip had absolutely no security cameras. I was fine with the security camera thing - made me feel a little better and I'm hoping they are not there just for show. The view is nothing to write home about. My windows looked out on a very large area of junk, scrubby trees, and hot, dusty ground. Checkout was easy as there is someone staffing the front desk at all times. I did not partake of their morning breakfast offering so I can't say anything about that.

Good location. Clean rooms, comfortable beds and a good hot shower. The breakfast was delicious. Pancakes, sausage, eggs, fruit, toast, cereal. Free bottles of water which is good because the tap water is gross. Definitely would stay here again. I liked that the mini fridge had a separate freezer compartment to refreeze our cold packs for the cooler.

We chose to stay at this hotel because of its close location to White Sands National Park. I was nervous because we were staying over Easter weekend, and we weren't sure what places would be open to eat. Knowing there was a fridge and microwave, it was a relief to know we could at least heat something up. Fast forward to our trip, and we arrived 12 hours later than we were supposed to. We were scheduled to arrive at 10 am, not ended up not getting in until 10pm. What a relief when we arrived to check in, and the front desk manager was so kind and offered us water upon arrival and quickly got us checked into our room! It was so clean and spacious! I usually just stay at the cheapest hotel I can find, but with it being Easter, I wanted to have something nicer, and this completely exceeded my expectations! The beds were clean and soft. The shower pressure was amazing! The next morning breakfast was served and it was delicious!! Everything was cooked fresh with so many options to choose from! White Sands National Park was a quick 15 minute drive, so we spent the morning and day exploring, came back to freshen up and eat dinner at a nearby restaurant that was a quick walk to, and we went back to White Sands NP for the sunset. We also used the pool, which my kids, husband, and I had to ourselves and we had a blast! Overall, I would highly recommend staying here with its prime location, and clean, comfortable amenities!