Candlewood Suites Champaign-Urbana Univ Area by IHG

Reviews

• RL

  Rafe Lawton

  1 day ago
  5.0
  Terry was amazing!! Took all the stress of travel away welcoming us in and getting us a room immediately!
• OL

  Ovid Liu

  5 days ago
  1.0
  I am posting this publicly because IHG has failed at every stage of handling this issue — first during the stay itself, and then again in the way the complaint has been handled afterward. Case #: 10593683943 During my stay at Candlewood Suites Champaign, I was in room 219. The guests in room 217 were loud, disruptive, and smoking cigarettes throughout the night. I finally had to contact the front desk at approximately 2:30 AM. The disturbance briefly stopped, then started again around 5:00 AM. This resulted in a night of severely interrupted sleep in what should have been a quiet, safe, and smoke-free hotel environment — the bare minimum any guest should expect — and I still had to pay $150 for this stay. What makes this even worse is the hotel’s response. The front desk acknowledged the problem and said they were “really sorry,” but claimed they had no power to do anything for me other than charge the offending room a $250 smoking fee. So to be clear: IHG was apparently able to penalize the guests who violated policy, but was not willing or able to offer any compensation to the guest whose stay was ruined by it. IHG found a way to collect money from the problem, but not a way to make things right for the customer who suffered the consequences. And the failure did not stop at the hotel level. On 5/14/26 at 11:25 AM, I followed up through the Diamond Elite line and was told my case was under review. I was also told that a live IHG Customer Relations representative would call me back. That callback never happened. Instead, what I have received is the same empty response over and over: “Your case is under review.” No meaningful update. No urgency. No ownership. No follow-through on the callback that was promised. As a long-standing Diamond Elite member, this is more than disappointing — it is a clear example of a company failing both in service delivery and in accountability after the fact. At this point, this is no longer just about one bad hotel stay. It is about IHG’s apparent inability or unwillingness to resolve a legitimate complaint with professionalism, urgency, and basic fairness. Here are the facts: • I was subjected to an overnight disturbance caused by another room. • Smoking was taking place despite the expectation of a smoke-free environment. • I had to involve the front desk in the middle of the night. • The disturbance resumed again hours later. • The hotel acknowledged the violation strongly enough to impose a $250 smoking fee on the offending room. • Yet I was offered nothing for the ruined stay and still had to pay $150. • IHG then promised a live Customer Relations callback. • IHG failed to deliver that callback. • Since then, I have largely been met with bots, scripted replies, and vague reassurances. That is not customer care. That is not accountability. And it is certainly not what a Diamond Elite member should have to deal with after a stay like this. IHG still has an opportunity to correct this, but the continued lack of direct contact and broken follow-through only reinforce how poorly this has been handled.
• DS

  Doug Stahnke

  May 12, 2026
  2.0
  The fridge had a freezer with an icemaker, which did not work. Ice was only available from the clerk at the front desk. You may have to wait. We had an ant parade in our room. need to exterminate. Floor above us creaked when people walked around - hard to sleep with that noise. Elevator out of service. lucky we were on the first floor.
• CL

  Chris List

  May 6, 2026
  1.0
  If you are a long term traveler or travel for work, I would not stay here. If you're a weekend traveler, this property could work for you. I recommend getting a room on the first floor if possible as the elevator is the worst elevator I have ever ridden in. When it works (see below) it is slow. It is faster to walk to the end of the hall, down the stairs and to the lobby from the third floor than it is to call the elevator and wait. It also goes through periods where it gets very jerky and makes terrible noises before going down for a day or two. I will start off by saying that the staff is, for the most part, excellent. The front desk, maintenance and housekeeping do what they can with what they're given. They are part of the reason I didn't leave sooner. The people that worked there that were unpleasant were all gone by the time I left. Starting in November of 2024, I have stayed at this hotel for 18 months across 2.5 years, moving out in April of 2026. I travel for work, so this kind of stay is pretty normal. Shortly after I arrived in November 2024, the ice machine broke. (It remains broken to this day.) That wasn't too much of a problem because the icemaker in the refrigerator in my room worked, though that seems to be the exception. The hotel went through a remodel and it seems like a lot of money was spent giving the hotel a new look. That did not include the ice machine. Apparently corporate says that since you can ask for ice at the front desk, it is acceptable that the ice machine has been broken for so long. When I returned in November of 2025, it was quite clear that things had gotten worse and that the owners do not care about this property. One of the two washing machines in the laundry room was broken. I was told it would be replaced in January of 2026, but when I moved out in the middle of April, it still hadn't been replaced. For someone who is living away from home, it is important to have things like working laundry facilities. The wind caught one of the exterior doors and slammed it open, breaking the outer pane of glass. Rather than fix it, they cleaned up the glass and slapped a piece of paper on the door warning of broken glass. Before I left, I was told that at times the phones stopped working, the garbage stopped getting picked up for a short period of time and the security cameras no longer work. The old GM moved on to a better property and the new GM and manager were quite young. They expressed their frustration that the owners refused to do anything to keep the property up and felt like they'd been hired because they were young and it would be easy to blame them for the systemic problems in the hotel. Both of them have since left of their own accord. I have not met the GM that replaced the two younger guys. As of today, the second washing machine is also broken, leaving the hotel with no working laundry facilities. The owners are too cheap to replace the washing machines. The elevator is also broken again. According to a guest there it failed in spectacular fashion and is expected to be out of service for at least four weeks. Given the rate at which things get fixed at this property, I would expect it will be longer. I could write more about what a dump this place has turned into, but this is long enough. If you've made it this far, congratulations.
• DT

  Derek Thompson

  May 4, 2026
  5.0
  There was small difficultilty with the room and Loni at the front office assisted us and got us situated with another room, customer service was amazing! She needs a raise!

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