My wife and I are planning to visit Memphis. We are thinking of staying at the Holiday Inn express Med. center midtown. We were wondering if anyone stayed there and is it in a good safe area. We heard some areas might not be safe.

I'd avoid that area. Stay on or around Beale St. If you paln to do the typical tourist areas, there are safer more convenient locations than the med center area.

Having visited Tennessee several times I'd avoid Holiday Inn altogether. They're very hit or miss. It's worth it to stay at a Marriott or Hilton.

We stayed at the Peabody last year . . just off Beale street and a really nice hotel. This is the one where the little duckies come down the elevator each morning and back up each evening.

http://www.peabodymemphis.com/

Use either Hotwire or Priceline and bid on a 4* in the downtown area. I did this on Hotwire and stayed in an excellent corner room at the Peabody for a few more $$$ than I would have paid for an economy hotel.

You definitely want to stay downtown. There are plenty of good hotels there including the Marriott Residence Inn (our current favorite), the Peabody, the Madison, the Doubletree, the Hampton Inn at Peabody Place (do NOT get a room on the hotel side of Beale Street because the noise is awful) and the Westin, among others.

The MAdison is a really nice, small Hotel downtown.

I don't know about statistics in Memphis, but my gut is usually right. My gut told me to be ultra careful in Memphis. It seemed very scary place. You want to stay in touristy places with lots of people. Be careful going to your car, etc. We stayed at the Peabody and enjoyed it.

Agreed - the area around the Med is not great. Assuming you're going for a typical tourist visit, stay downtown. There are some areas you want to avoid, but downtown is fine as long as you use your common sense.