Step Right in to the Holiday Inn Express

It was a grueling 14 hour road trip, fraught with detours, construction delays, road rage, too many energy drinks, too much coffee and some incredibly bad drivers. By the time we made it from New Hampshire to South Carolina for my sister's wedding we craved the anonymity, comfort and "Do Not Disturb" sign of a hotel room. It had been ages since I'd been back to Florence, SC, so we took my family's recommendation for a hotel - the Holiday Inn Express at the junction of I-95 and Hwy 327.

This particular Holiday Inn Express was built a mere two years ago, and still had that nice, fresh new hotel vibe to it as we pulled into the wrap around car port out front. The 4 story structure loomed over us as we pulled in at 11:00 AM after a full night of driving, road weary and in need of rest. We had made online reservations a few days before via their web site at http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hd/flosc, so honey and I entered the lobby with confirmation number clutched firmly in hand.

Little did we know, the official check in time at this hotel is 4:00 PM (check out time is at 11:00 AM - we had misread their web site instructions). I have to give kudos to the front desk staff at this Holiday Inn Express - they made us feel welcome from the moment we walked in the door, road dust trailing behind. They said it was no problem that we had arrived early, as driving trips were difficult to time perfectly, asked us to have a seat while they got our room ready, brought us coffee even though the complimentary breakfast was already over, and generally took excellent care of us from the moment we arrived.