La Quinta by Wyndham Altoona Des Moines — Hotel in Altoona

Warning, long post about some bad customer service.

The building and location were fine, but the staff made my visit the worst. They were not friendly, they did not seem to know what they were doing and they would leave us standing there while they ignored us. I called for an early check in and I made sure they had a clean room. At check in I came in with all my bags and stood there for quite a while, as she was "busy" on the computer. Finally she asked if I was checking in or out (after seeing me walk in with all my bags). I told her I was checking in. She said "let me get someone, I am in housekeeping.". I thought well at least she tried. She went to get someone and a lady came to the counter and said check in wasn't until 3. I told her I called and was told I could do an early check in. She said who did you talk to? I did not know her name. She looked at the housekeeping lady and said, do we have any clean rooms? She was not sure. Then she said she must have talked to **. She said she will have to check you in. Then when that lady came up she was getting questioned (in front of me) about what she did to tell me I could check in. I did get checked in and went to my room. Once there I was working and on the phone with a client and I got a knock on the door, then a louder knock, and then a banging on the door. I came to the door and housekeeping said oh you just checked in. We are sorry. Later we came back in the evening and went to the bar, The lady did not seem to know what she was doing, then she served us, charged us, and then left. We waited for an hour at the bar for another drink and nobody showed up. We left the bar to go somewhere else to get service. When we walked back in, the lady said " Oh you were at the bar a while ago, did you need anything else?". I said no that was 2 hours ago we needed something. Later in the night, I called the front desk for a couple more towels. I was told to come downstairs to get them as she was the only person there. Going down to get them was not the problem, I just kept thinking how dangerous it is to tell a stranger you are the only staff member in the building.

We came down after breakfast was done at about 9:15, yes they were closing up, but there was still some stuff out so I just wanted to see if there was any bacon left. There was someone working, but I found her hiding from us. That was so odd.

At check out we stood at the counter for a while before being acknowledged yet again. I said I was checking out, and I was told I have already been checked out. There was not much eye contact until I said my experience was not good. If you want to just have a room that is clean, this place is fine for that. If you expect any kind of customer service, this is NOT the place, unless they find...

We stayed in the Altoona La Quinta for two nights in mid-March. I was pleasantly surprised that the second (Sunday) night wound up being $50 cheaper than what Expedia initially quoted me, especially because I already thought the prices were great compared to the hotels in downtown Des Moines. This is about 15 minutes away, and I honestly found it to be an overall better choice. Originally, I was going to book one of the big downtown hotels for the “luxury” aspect, but neither has a pool, and based on the pictures, the rooms didn’t look much better than what La Quinta offered in their King suites. I got two nights here for the price of one night downtown. Staff was friendly and helpful, the hotel looks and feels recently renovated, everything worked well (TVs, outlets, electronics), the bed was super comfortable, sheets and towels felt new. The King suite has two flat-screen TVs, one opposite to the bed and the opposite to the sofa. We had a basketball game muted on one and the Oscars ceremony on the other, loved having that option! One of the other reviews mentioned the nearby interstate was noisy - our room was facing it, and we heard nothing at all from the outside. Granted, the heater was on all night since it was cold out, but the windows are thick, I doubt you’d hear anything even with the heater off. I’ve had issues being able to regulate temperature in hotels in this price range in the past, the thermostat here worked like a charm. The hotel offers a small indoor pool, which was decent temperature and open until 10 pm. They also have a small gym open 24 hours a day. You can even bring your pet for $25 a night. Breakfast (buffet from 630-930 am) was about what you’d expect - the usual breakfast menu. I was happy with it. There are a few restaurants in the area, we ordered bbq from Jethro’s, which is right by the hotel, picked it up within ten minutes and brought the food to our room. Great food and prices, highly recommend! There is also a Perkins, which was disappointing since the food was undercooked. The only downside - and I have yet to find a hotel/motel under $150 where this isn’t an issue - is the wifi. While it worked great when being used, it logged me out every time my screen went to sleep, on every device we had (phones and iPads). Logging in over and over eventually became annoying, and I opted for my data instead. Overall, this hotel was actually my favorite part of our trip, and if we visit Des Moines again, I’ll book the same one. We had a bad experience with La Quinta in Omaha, which is downright gross and worse than I’d imagine any Motel 6 to be. I’m glad the Altoona La Quinta was able to restore our faith in...

Do not utilize them for their birthday party package!!! 1/10. They charged my card THREE times and then I couldn’t get ahold of anybody to return the money. I called at least three times and couldn’t reach anybody trained well enough to help me. The manager now alleges she tried to call me a week ago (she didn’t) to discuss having too many people there (I did), so they have now charged my card again. Okay, fine. I’ll pay $25 if that means I don’t have to tell a 9 year old her family has to leave. Do not lie to me though and say you called after I tried reaching you numerous times.

Now let’s talk about it further: the meeting room had a total of 6 chairs for a birthday party, so we utilized the lobby because a staff member offered it to us without us asking. Now she’s saying we couldn’t. Train your staff. Mind you, this staff member was absolutely fantastic and the only reason the review is getting a 1.

The pool room was so cold that the children had blue mouths and the birthday party ended early because nobody wanted to swim. We asked a staff member to turn the heat up in the water and at a minimum, in the room itself and he said he didn’t know how to fix it. He even admits that there has been a number of complaints about the same issue. Truly a miserable experience when the party is a POOL PARTY.

The pizza bundle is also absolute bogus. If you end up utilizing them, be sure to choose the lesser bundle. It’s misleading and states the pizza from Scornovacca’s would be $125. This is inaccurate. Be sure to ask for the details.

I hope the kind staff member that was actually present that day gets out of there. He was fantastic.

Edited to Add - yet another lie from our dearest manager, Gina Robertson. No arts and crafts were utilized at any point. Stop searching for anything to try to make me look bad. We had a table cloth on all tables we used. You look desperate to defend yourself. That’s not...