Drury Plaza Hotel Columbia East — Hotel in Columbia Township

Pros and Cons!!

Hello! I am going to make pros and cons list of my recent stay at Drury Plaza Hotel in Columbia East. Now, I am not going to go all Karen on you I promise but, I am 17 years old and wanted to step into my 78 years old grandma’s shoes for a bit and “call in to complain.” However, I am not calling in hopes of a discount off my next stay or a cute coupon, I am writing a review for the people to read and decide weather or not they would like to stay here. My mom and I are currently on a quick trip through Missouri touring nearby college’s. We are usual occupants of a Holiday Inn and that was were our last nights stay was at in Kurtsville. However, we decided to spend a little extra this time simply because of the nonexistent hot-tub in the Holiday Inn swimming area.

To start, I would like to list the pros. The Dinner food was of the quality of the price. It was good and had many options including hotdogs and nachos for kids (however my mom and I did have a cheeky nacho ourselves ; ) ). The fountain drinks are available at all times which is great! Overall, I had a good Dinner but I am unfortunately not able to write anything about the breakfast as I am currently writing this while getting ready for bed at my stay. Speaking of, the bed is also good and soft and comfortable. Your probably wondering about the reason we are here…was the hot-tub nice? Yes! It was very relaxing and my mom and I enjoyed our time at the pool as well. They also have let us check later which is great since our college tour doesn’t start until 1:30.

Now, for some cons (which most of includes things to do with the shower so if your a person who normally skips showers at hotels some of this wouldn’t count for you) (also heads up for men!!! some of the shower stuff wouldn’t count for you either). To start, the toilet paper was not the best. My previous nights stay at the Holiday Inn had better toilet paper than the one at this hotel. It was very thin. There was also a smoker by the pool which I don’t think is allowed. Now, here comes the shower part. Some might say this is all my fault but for my thick haired lady’s out there you know shaving is basically an, at max, every other day experience. Sadly, for this trip I forgot to bring a razor. Luckily, the market downstairs had one which could be charged to our room. However, the razor is very cheap, which is not bad at all, especially if you want to get a very close shave. Problem is that there was no shaving cream also for sale. Why have razors for sale and not shaving cream?? Anyway, because of the lack of cream and sharp blades, I did end up nicking myself. Not only that though, with the wrong move of my hand I ending up shaving off the tops of the finger nails leaving my left middle finger a cracked bloody mess for the rest of my shower. But, that is not all. The shower doors are sliding ones, however, they would not stay shut, at least in my room. I had to shove a wash rag in the conner in order to keep the door shut, which should not happen in my opinion. The provided body wash, shampoo, and conditioner was good though at least.

Thanks for reading my pros...

It was really hard to rate this one, I do not like giving bad reviews. Drury Hotels are one of my absolute favorite hotels! You get a dinner buffet And a breakfast buffet! Dinner buffet which is free, comes with Three alcoholic drinks PER adult in the room. They're kind of light on the alcohol, but it's a Very nice addition. I also love not having to lug a wallet around. The heated pool! Most (to my knowledge) Drury hotels have an inside/outside combo pool and I love it! It's heated and in the winter you can swim right under the window wall to the outside! The steam wafting off the warm pool into the cold air at night, is... magical. The gym here was... tiny. Itty bitty and some of the equipment didn't work right. Our biggest gripe was the room. We got there, family of 4 sharing a one, two bed, room. We unpack, hanging clothes, laying items out, organizing before we start relaxing and having fun. My lil' bro (18) wants to start with a shower. He takes a VERY long shower. Turns out it was broken. The shower head only worked a little and most of the water shot from below. It was also super clogged. He had to wash his head under the faucet. He called it an almost bubble bath. We go and tell them, they give us a replacement room (right across from ours). We tell them we've already unpacked, could we just use the other one to shower in and stay in ours? The answer was no. My mom was upset because we would have to individually move everything we unpacked or repack to move it with less repetitive legwork. The room wasn't going to be rented back out. They told my mom we couldn't stay in our first room because maintenance would want in first thing in the morning, but they could have gone in later! They could have even met us in the middle and said we could use the original room as well if we were out by 9am instead of the 11am checkout time. My mom then asked for some kind of compensation for all the trouble which was also a no-go. No reasonable accommodation or explanation. No compensation/discount for the inconvenience. Then the plumbing in the second room was terrible. We didn't dare say Anything because we didn't want to Have to move rooms AGAIN and the shower at least Worked (it just made a horrible loud grinding noise sometimes). The shower head unfortunately sucked, no shower head options and it was weak, almost no pressure (same showerhead in both rooms). Also important to note, neither of the bathrooms locked which might be the norm now. The buffets were good. The morning buffet staff were Very Nice and Very Fun. Lovely pool, nice hot tub. Gym meh. Dining area Very nice. Location is really good. Some staff amazing, some meh. The soda machine stayed on and available All Night! We Loved that as we stayed up all night playing board games in the very nice dining area. I hope this helped someone! Stay safe and good luck!!! (Sorry I don't have more pictures, I wasn't actually planning on reviewing and the video was originally meant for my friend in...

Check-in Process: Simple, Booked the Room through Expedia last minute as one of the other hotels we had originally booked had issues in their recent reviews. The staff was extremely friendly and Helpful.

Bathroom: Good - Decent Size single sink plenty of counter space, In the shower the soap and shampoo dispensers are refillable which makes using it easy. The shower itself was very large comparably to other hotels and the GLASS doors are a nice touch compared to the usual crap curtains. Bad - No Complaints this was a great bathroom.

Bedroom: Good - Comfortable Beds, Has mini Fridge and a Desk along with a trash can. Plenty of outlets available on both sides of both queen beds which was great. Internet was included and worked great. They also gave 3 pillows which is great they weren't the marshmallow soft ones which was also a plus. Bad - It is right off the freeway so of course there is some freeway noise. Our room 426 had a parking lot light that was EXTREMELY bright, luckily the curtains blocked most of the light but just wanted to call it out.

Parking: Parking was free and is located directly in front and behind the hotel this is not a issue at all.Its connected to TGI Fridays so there is overflow there as well.

Room Cleaning: Room was cleaned as we left for the day as expected. Only weird thing was that they didn't actually make the bed, not sure if that's a policy or not but everything else was done as expected.

Perks: TONS... Coffee, Tea, Soda Machines available 24hrs a day! A hot breakfast including eggs, sausage, waffles, bagels included. Drinks and snacks in the evening awesome. Gym and Pool were available although we didn't use them.

Room Overall: Room, 2 Queen Beds Priced at $142.00 a night I dont think there is any hotel in the area this clean and full of perks. A good value!

Area recommendations: Walmart is close by if anything is needed or forgotten TGIFRIDAYS right next door

If you happen to be in Columbia, visiting your kid at Mizzou or any other college nearby this is a GREAT choice! Trip type College Visit Room: 8 out of 10 Service: 10 out of 10 Location: 10 out of...