Holiday Inn des Moines Dtwn - Mercy Area

Had surgery in the hospital across the street. They were very nice and they give you a hospital rate. But the beds are very hard stayed here only because of my surgery probably will never stay there again customer service desk lady was very kind they took my daughter to the hospital by ambulance so it was a walk in stay I did appreciate the kind words from the desk clerk

THE GOOD: Front desk staff was courteous and efficient. Rooms are spacious. Plenty of parking. THE BAD: Room decor is old and in need of replacement. Bathroom light was dim and flickered for about 15 minutes before full luminosity. Water in bathroom needed to run for about 10 minutes before it got hot enough to shower or wash your face or shave. Curtains were dirty. A/C blows directly on the bed. Breakfast was pretty underwhelming. THE WEIRD: They lock the front lobby doors at 7pm. Parking lot unexpectedly closed and we had to park across the street. OVERALL: Won’t stay again when I come back next year.

When we arrived we had sand in our bed, no big deal, could’ve just been from someone setting something on the bed. We told front desk and got new sheets and blankets. We later got walked in on while getting ready in our room by other guests who were given a room that we were already in. Guests were sorry and went down to get a new room, front desk agent apologized and got us new keys and free breakfast. They told us that night when we got new sheets to tell management in the morning about the sand so we could inform them. We did just that and were told no managers were around so they took a note for them and told housekeeping over the radio what happened. When we walked upstairs, housekeeping was now in our room, with our do not disturb sign up looking for the sand. We walked in and they asked us immediately where the sand was, we said we changed out the sheets before bed and the old were on the floor. Head of housekeeping (as confined by front desk) very rudely told us that that wouldn’t have happened and that they change the sheets before housekeeping even cleans the rooms. We told them that we wouldn’t just make that up and she picked up the sheets and left. We talked to the front desk again as her attitude and her telling us that that didn’t happened was the last straw. Incidents happen and none of it was ideal but when someone in a higher role is not even close to as helpful or friendly as all the front desk agents have been our whole stay, that’s where the real problem is. I have never had that kind of a dreadful experience with any other business ever. If it weren’t for her, I really think this would have been a great stay.

Make sure you bring your own food. Do not eat at the hotels restaurant. Do not eat the breakfast. Be careful of parking. Not a good area of Des Moines. Dangerous after dark.

We stayed here for a volleyball tournament - no super impressed Hotel was clean. The room was not big. We had 2 double beds but not much space to move around. You are right next to the highway and you hear traffic all night long. We could hear cars racing each other all night On Friday when we arrived we met to watch March Madness in the lobby and were told we could not have alcohol in the lobby. We could go to the conference room. But that was being used by another group and there was no TV. So that was frustrating because we wanted to talk to each other and were told we could but no alcohol. Overall fine if you are on your own but I would not rush to go back

Before arriving for a 5 night stay I read the reviews about this property being in need of a renovation. Yes…It does need a renovation. But the clean, large comfortable rooms and the super helpful staff make it fantastic place to stay! Special shout out to Shaun the maintenance engineer who helped us with a TV shoot in the ballroom. He was awesome!

Stayed here for RAGBRAI. Poor staffing and planning. Understaffed on arrival and departure days. Shuttle not available in early morning for airport departure for a number of riders. Asked for some packing tape. Staff didn’t even look, just said no. No customer service. Bartender was overwhelmed- she did a great job but with known bookings why didn’t management plan? Poor management at this property. Also, door locks are old… green lights on lock still would not open- happened to 4 of us… had to shake and bang door to get lock to disengage when lock like said open.

Great walking distance to Wells fargo Arena. Friendly staff, clean rooms, great atmosphere and a bar and restaurant inside. Right off the interstate, which is very convenient. Bathrooms were clean and organized. Easy check in and check out.