Ameristar Casino Hotel Council Bluffs — Hotel in Council Bluffs

We booked Ameristar Casino Hotel Council Bluffs for three nights, traveling nine hours from Wisconsin specifically so my husband could celebrate his birthday here on September 1. We brought our 4-year-old daughter and a whole lot of luggage, looking forward to enjoying the property.

Instead, this turned into one of the most inconvenient and disappointing hotel stays we’ve ever had.

On September 1, the hotel lost water around 1 PM due to a city water main break. When we returned from lunch at 3 PM, we were told it would be fixed in 4–6 hours. By 8 PM, staff admitted it wouldn’t be back until midnight or later. That meant no showers, no working toilets, no way to wash hands, and no way to flush waste already in the toilet.

By late evening, the room had become unsanitary, and with a child in tow, we had no choice but to pack everything up at 10:30 PM and leave to find another hotel. On my husband’s birthday. After driving all day. With a 4-year-old. This was the opposite of the relaxing evening we had planned.

The way this was handled was unacceptable. I understand a city water main break is not the hotel’s fault, but the lack of proactive communication or relocation assistance was. At a properly managed property, the protocol would have been to assist guests in moving to a comparable hotel, not just leave them stranded.

To make things worse, when I raised concerns, I was essentially told that we should be “satisfied” because we were given tiny 7oz water bottles to “make up” for not having running water, while sitting in a room with non-flushable toilets. That response was insulting.

And beyond the water outage, the property itself is not ADA-friendly and not allergy-friendly. As someone with severe smoke allergies, I nearly passed out from the poor ventilation in the casino. The hotel’s hallways and room were full of dust allergens, which is beyond unacceptable in 2025. For guests with health sensitivities, this environment is dangerous, not just uncomfortable.

All Ameristar did was not charge us for the unused nights after we left early. There was no discount, no compensation, no gesture of goodwill for the ruined birthday trip, the stress of repacking everything late at night, or the complete lack of basic hospitality.

I will say the security staff at 1835 Restaurant did an excellent job when I accidentally left my credit card at breakfast on September 1, they placed it in lost and found and returned it after checking my ID. That professionalism stood out. I do appreciate them for that.

But overall, this stay was a disaster. Ameristar failed to meet even the most basic expectations of hospitality, cleanliness, or guest care. I would not recommend this property to anyone, especially those traveling from out of state or with...

This is going to be a LONG review, so get ready.

This place seriously needs to be re-evaluated as a diamond hotel. They proudly display their 4-diamond awards behind the check in (as anyone would), but to be honest, it’s completely misleading.

Upon check-in, I was told there would be no turn down service. “The cleaners are not allowed to enter the rooms.” I can only suspect due to “Covid” (mind you, the bans have been lifts for about 2-3 months at this point). Furthermore, I was told I would have to request towels, toilet paper, and anything else I needed and come to the lobby myself and retrieve the items. (Let me pause here for a moment. The lobby is not “Just down the elevator”. This is a hotel/casino which main it is a fair walk just to get to the front desk, not to mention passing multiple restaurants and guests going to the casino itself. This in itself, in my opinion, is embarrassing and completely unprofessional. You’d think you could request items and the cleaners could leave them by the door - but I guess that’s too convenient for the hotel guests since the real money comes from the casino. ANYWAYS!) Also, we had to leave our trash by the door. We are a family of 3 on vacation which means we will eat out for every meal. Do you know how much trash that accumulates?! So, of course, I was to walk down to the lobby and ask for a large trash bag that stayed in our room the entire time.

Next, the parking. Given, they do offer “free valet”, but it was non-operative during our stay. If you have a handicapped sticker, you’re golden. They have at LEAST 20-30 handicapped spots all at the front entrance. If you don’t, look forward to a nice little walk from down the hill, because there is no parking available for you even remotely close to the entrance.

This place is not “family-friendly”. And I know what you’re thinking “Duh! It’s a casino/hotel”. Well, where I live, the casino/hotels ARE family -friendly. In fact, they are so family-friendly, that families will go out to eat there on a regular basis. We never once ate at this hotel. They had restrictions on everything, and those they didn’t had limited hours and a limited menu. Oh! And if you want breakfast the next morning, you’d better “call it in by 2am” or else you’re not getting squat.

The ONLY thing I can say is good about this hotel is the cleaning staff (for friendliness and personality only), the front desk staff (for at least being professional and know how to smile), and our room (it was clean upon arrival and we were able to check in early at no...

My mother wanted to go to a casino for her 80th birthday. I asked around which casino/hotel was the best to stay at and it was consensus that we should stay at the Ameristar. The issue first started when we tried to check in at 3:15 - I was told I would have to pay a $31.50 early check-in fee. I went back to look at my email reservation and didn't see anything about an early check-in charge. Maybe it was in the 'terms & conditions' but come on who really reads those? Now the lobby was basically desolate so were there not any clean rooms available? I even explained that I had my 80 year old mother & 84 year old aunt and it would be appreciated if they could give us a break but the girl behind the counter was NOT customer service oriented and wouldn't budge so I paid it. And, it was a trek to get to our rooms, by the time they both got up to their room they were completely out of breath. I left them to go scope out the casino since that was the reason we were there. I guess because the water level was low on the river, they had the 'quick' way to get to the casino closed off and had to go a different way which was almost 3 times as far. I knew that was going to be hard for them both so I asked about a wheelchair and was told there weren't any. Then I asked if they had any other ways to get 2 little old ladies to the casino and I got a shrug of the shoulders!!! What?? Again, where is the customer service?? We decided to go to dinner, not at the hotel, and we decided we would just go to Harrah's casino since it was easier to access (we were there earlier because my aunt and some free play). Their casino is basically right inside the door. When we got back to the Ameristar we asked the person behind the desk if they had a little shop where we could get some bottles of water and you would have thought we were robbing the place with the look we got - still don't know why? Anyway through some hard conversation we found out that they had some in the vending machines on each floor. Then, the next morning went down to get some coffee, get handed a menu, order a cappuccino and am told the espresso machine isn't working because a part has been on order for over a month. If I could have cancelled my reservation without getting penalized the day I checked in I would have in a heartbeat. I just feel so bad that it was a milestone birthday for my mother and was a pretty crappy experience, except for the casino...