Holiday Inn Express & Suites Ames by IHG — Hotel in Ames

This is a nice clean hotel and I recommend staying here but you should know a coupe issues that I had.

First, I hung a do not disturb sign on my door all day long as I stayed there two nights in a row. The maid took it upon themselves to go into my room anyway and move my things around, make the bed and mess with my stuff in the bathroom. I really don't know what else I could do to keep the maids out of the room. I really don't need them doing anything in the room as there are always extra towels, and nothing needs to be changed. This is very disturbing as I would have been really upset had there been something of significant value that I didn't want them around.

Also, the workout room was useless. They had one treadmill that didn't work as it stopped while you are running.... can you say dangerous?? The stationary bike did not work... well you could peddle it and try to turn the knob to have more resistance but it just had a loud banging sound as you peddled and the electronics didn't work either. The elliptical machine with the arms also didn't work as it had a continuous banging with every rotation. They had two other pieces of equipment that I saw someone else get frustrated with. The shame is that they have decent branded equipment but no one must go in there to maintain it. And a minor thing but other than the treadmill there was no holder on any machine for the remote, or a bottle of water, your keycard, phone, etc. so you end up setting your stuff on the ground hoping no one tramples it

I still recommend the property. I would just find a way to padlock the door if you stay two nights... and go for a walk instead of using their workout center.

That said, the check-in staff...

We checked in for a three night seminar in Ames, IA. We were not given a choice of hotel by our company and I was a little worried that they'd picked a lower quality one.

Boy was I pleasantly surprised! Check-in was an absolute breeze - they had everything printed up and only needed a signature. I was exhausted when I reached my room so just wanted to relax a bit before bed. The room was perfect. I've never slept on such a comfortable hotel bed and I seriously wanted to take one of the pillows home with me.. I have neck problems but these pillows were better than the special one I had left at home.

After a stressful day at the seminar, I decided to relax in the pool. I'm pretty sure I was the only one to use it all week - the other guests' loss because the water felt so good. The pool was clean and warm.

I must make mention too of the gentleman in charge of breakfast. He was so friendly, helpful and kept the food fresh. Every morning he gave us a cheerful greeting and told us to have a good day when we were done eating. I really appreciated his attention to the details that made the start of each day better. Kudos to him.

This is the fourth hotel I have stayed in the past 12 months and by far the very best. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the Keurig in my room - I loved it! I use a Keurig at home and would have brought coffee pods if I had known this hotel would have one in my room.

The only one thing I struggled with was the desk height compared to the chair height made writing at the desk a bit uncomfortable but they had a comfy chair for me to sit in by the window so that worked just fine.

Thank you for your excellent service and making my three night stay...

I checked in late on a Friday evening, and was only staying one night but had planned on sleeping in and chilling at the hotel before I had to leave for a sporting event in the late morning. However in the early morning I reached over to my phone that was on the bedside table and when I looked at the time and my phone lit up I saw that it was covered by tiny ants. At that point I was up and looking at everything including my water bottle that I had drank out of in the night that was also on the night stand beside the bed. I got up packed all my stuff and checked out, I felt dirty and crawly. At the point of packing and getting ready I noticed that the bathroom ceiling looked like it had a water leak at one point and wasn't repaired to look nice, there was no exhaust fan in the bathroom and everything felt very very damp. The furniture was worn and there was a tear in the fabric. I opened the curtains and looked out the window and the window was very dirty and the frame was filthy on the inside. I was on the ground floor so I don't know if the ant problem was on all the floors or just ground level. At checkout there was just a box to leave keyes. I remained standing there until someone came out of a back office and when the gentlemen appeared I explained the ant situation and the only response I got was that he would let maintenance know. I emailed the manager on the very same day and have not...