Hampton Inn & Suites Des Moines Downtown

I stayed here once before about 4-5 years ago and had an excellent stay. My time here this month, could may as well be described as a good hotel gone wrong. If 1-2 things go astray during my time, it's no big deal. Here are this list of errors/oversights related to my time here this week: zero recognition of HH or elite status, no body wash in the shower, no paper towels in the men's rest room, a less than desirable AM breakfast with no OJ and only a couple selections of bread. But the most unacceptable occurrence was prior to my check out time, with a do not disturb sign on the door, housekeeping entered my room without knocking using her master key! Out of habit, I had the dead bolt latched, but still when did HI housekeepers decide knocking on the door was unnecessary before entering? When reporting these to the front desk person, she did take note of them and at least indicated action would be taken further up the hotel chain of command. But also, seemed to lose track of the specific grievances and focused on only the most serious issues. I was particularly annoyed because for about the same rate here, I could have stayed at a couple of other Hilton properties in DSM, which I've had a much better experience staying. Really disappointing!

We booked a two queen bed hotel room with river view, but got a room with a king bed and couch with the view of the HVAC units at check-in. Perhaps that would have been an acceptable change, but we needed two beds. We were told by the front desk that because of a water issue, 20 queen rooms were not available. The only extra bedding in the room for the couch was one pillow in the closet. This hotel jacked up their rates for the weekend we were there due to the events at the ballpark, so I spent $500 to sleep on a couch for two nights at this hotel. Save your money and book a different hotel. Downtown Des Moines is safe and walkable, so you don't need the closest hotel to the ballpark.

Great location in downtown Des Moines. Lots of great food very close by and their rates were reasonable. We had one of the balcony rooms which was very large. It was clean and comfortable as we expect from this chain. It was great sitting out on the balcony at night, Des Moines was pretty quiet on those nights and the weather was perfect. Across the street are walking/bike paths that run along the Des Moines river too. They offer a parking garage and it is attached directly to the hotel, no walking outside is necessary. There is street parking there too but the garage is cheaper for long stays. Enjoyed our stay here and would come back again.

It's a nice hotel in a great location. But when you splurge for a balcony suite, you don't expect any negatives...and there were a couple of big ones. First, the window in the bedroom area did not have curtains you could close. Meaning, they want the sun to shine through the sheers and wake you up early so you get out of the room sooner. Second, the balcony had an incredibly bright light on it that could not be turned off. It had a light sensor and when it came on, it was on, period. We got back from the ballgame and wanted to sit out on the balcony and enjoy the beautiful night and view. The very bright light ruined it for us. They put the appearance of their building ahead of their customers.

The front desk staff was very friendly, the parking garage had plenty of space and was easy to get in and out of. Our balcony room was OK, The door to the balcony, however, would not lock and we had a storm so it kept blowing the door open, the rooms are decently clean however, the bed and the pillows were extremely uncomfortable. I was surprised there was no housekeeping when you stay multiple nights.