Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Des Moines West, IA — Hotel in Clive

UPDATED REVIEW & MORE STARS: My original review and star rating of this hotel reflected several serious issues with my reservation, service at the front desk and disinterest from everyone in fixing things.

I’m proud to report that shortly after this review published, we received a call from the hotel’s general manager. She was sincere in conveying apologies for our experience; genuinely interested in understanding the entire episode; and ready to deliver when she asked the most important question you can ask an unhappy customer:

“What—if anything—could I do that would make you feel better?”

We told her what we wanted was in this review. And she delivered on everything, immediately.

On the spot, she told us we’d get a refund of the prepaid room that was sold to someone else when we arrived. Then she told us the cost of staying at a different hotel chain that night would be paid by her as well.

She even went further, offering a handful of considerations that showed sincerity and her desire to make things right.

Below is the original negative review: everything I complained about is now fully fixed (expeditiously) by this GM.

We’ll stay here again, absolutely!

ORIGINAL NEGATIVE REVIEW BELOW: On July 6th of 2024, my aunts and I arrived at the Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Des Moines West after a long day on the road to find that our room reservations (made, prepaid and confirmed via Expedia) no longer existed:

The Country Inn & Suites by Radisson hotel re-sold the rooms we’d already purchased to other guests!

This was not a mere inconvenience:

One of my aunts traveling with me has a severe physical handicap—being fully paralyzed on her right side, requiring use of a wheelchair for mobility—and my bookings when traveling with her always require us to ensure she gets a fully-Handicapped Accessible room.

On the Expedia/Radisson itinerary, one of the paid-but-unavailable rooms specifically detailed my aunt’s reservation as “Room, 2 Queen Beds, Accessible, Non-Smoking, (Roll-in Shower).”

Worse still? This Radisson property had no other ADA handicap accessible rooms available They offered us a Standard Queen Room—with no accessible accommodations—which my wheelchair-bound aunt was physically incapable of accessing We were rudely told at the front desk to “call around to other hotels nearby”, leaving us to fend for ourselves with a woman confined to a wheelchair late into the night When we asked for the hotel to refund the money we’d prepaid for the rooms they resold, the hotel refused: they said it was “Expedia’s problem”, even though Expedia had reserved and confirmed our rooms here…a reservation the front desk admitted was in fact in their system. After much scrambling, we finally located another motel later that night with ADA-accessible accommodations. But because this Radisson refused to take us or refund our money, we had to pay for the new rooms while Radisson kept our money for our rooms they resold.

All I wanted was a reimbursement for a room reservation that was paid for and never used – a total of $160.27, which is small potatoes for a large hotel chain. We did everything right: they resold rooms that we’d booked and confirmed, yet this national hotel chain refused to either provide the promised room or give us back our money.

They refused.

After a lengthy battle with Expedia, their useless travel Insurer—Generali Global Assistance—insisted that this Radisson’s failure (and inability, due to their own actions) to accommodate a wheelchair-bound woman with the accessible room we booked…did not constitute a valid claim, and refused to cover our financial and time losses.

Being from Minnesota, I know most Iowans to be decent and considerate folks. But this Radisson’s management clearly does not care about their obligation to paid and confirmed guests…even those with total physical disabilities.

My recommendation is to stay away from Expedia, Generali Global Assistance and—most of all—avoid this Country Inn & Suites by Radisson in Des Moines West, IA.

A complete and...

TLDR: Nice pool & hot tub; clean; room needs updates; lousy mattress

Ratings (1-5; 5 is best): Pool: 5 Hot tub: 5 (one of the best - no awkward "ledge" at the top!) Cleanliness: 5 Breakfast: 4 Service: 3 Room: 2 Mattress: 1

Detailed review: This hotel is just "OK." The room was clean, but outdated. The bathroom especially needs a freshen-up quite badly, it looks dingy.

The paint on the bathroom ceiling (room 307) was peeling. There was a brown stain around the trim & sprinkler (see pics). They were laying carpet in some hallways, so maybe they are working on a major renovation. That would be great, because it's needed (especially bathrooms). I would gut the sink, tub, toilet, bathroom ceiling, fan, lights and just start over. The bathroom also smelled like smoke.

The mattress was just plain lousy!!! It was a very springy mattress that seemed like it cost $99 at a discount store 15 years ago. You can do better, Country Inn!

1 Bedroom suite did have an actual separate bedroom with a locking door, which is nice.

The price was fair.

Lastly, this was a bit awkward: In the morning I had already moved my stuff out of the room, left, came back, ate breakfast. Checkout was 11 AM, so at 9 AM I was going to go back to the room to chill for a bit. The housekeeping staff member was in the room cleaning and almost done when I got up there -- towels gathered, vacuum in the middle, cart in the room -- would have been too awkward to ask them to leave, so I gave up. Front desk told me their policy is to knock, and if no answer they just go in and start cleaning if it appears we have left. So I guess the moral is if you leave for errands, etc, don't put your stuff in your car! If they had mobile check-in and check-out like most modern hotels, this would not be an issue. Most other hotels will also message you via their app to make sure you're out, but it appears Choice Hotels doesn't have that option. I don't blame the staff member, but there really should be a better way to communicate that you have actually checked out.

Looking for signs of major renovations and updated, high-quality mattresses to determine if I will return or not. 3 out...

hotel

my fiancé was having a bbq with his unit (he’s in the army) & they were allowed to invite family/friends. he was so excited for us to visit johnston/west des moines. we were hyped & chose country inn because when we go out of town/state we always book with country inn. we’ve never had a rude manager, food is always 10/10, cleanliness 10/10, pool 10/10, room 10/10 & service 10/10.

I am super picky about where I stay just because a hotel should always be clean & presentable. for $120/night (military discount) this “suite” wasn’t really nice at all. it felt like a basic motel room. (nothing wrong with motel but I could’ve paid motel price if I was getting motel experience)

I don’t know if it’s because he’s on military discount but when i checked in, (which the lady I checked in with was so rude) they gave me a room that’s for people with disabilities… which ok, whatever but I hope someone didn’t need it bad & they only gave it to us because we’re on a discount.

we found out he had to be here earlier than expected for work related stuff & we live further so we drove late at night and got here around 5:00/6:00am, both my fiancé & I asked when we got here if we could check in early, even if it was like 11:00am/12:00pm when people check out. any room. any floor. because I was so tired, being pregnant, & I had my 9 month old baby with me & my sister is also only 11 yrs old. They were so quick to tell us no, not even check & didn’t take us until 2:45pm so, we don’t have family here & couldn’t stay with my boyfriend where he works. so, I drove around for hours & my daughter was so hot & tired because just as an adult 8/9 hours in the car is uncomfortable, imagine a baby. I never had a problem with checking in early. Ever. & normally I don’t ask check in early but this time I just had to ask.

Anyways, I will NEVER book here again. or any country inn. Workers here are rude as hell, price is dumb for what you’re getting, and my stay & experience overall is -100/10.

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