Red Lion Inn & Suites Des Moines — Hotel in Des Moines

booked Red Lion Inn Des Moines because the rooms looked amazing online and I could use flyer miles. We were heading to a dog show and needed dog friendly rooms close to the show grounds. The room was big and the staff friendly, but the rest was truly terrifying. The hotel has 2 parking lots. The back is pretty dark and sketchy, and the front is small with narrow spaces. We were lucky to squeeze in front all nights. We were told there was security on staff from 6pm to 6am, but only saw him 2 of the non busy nights. ||||We had to walk our dogs in the back lot as there is no grass except in the back. Even in daylight, it was an experience. During our 4 day stay, we witnessed open drug use (I am not talking weed) every single day. We saw what appeared to be overt drug deals in front of the main office, as well as behind the building. People were allowing homeless/vagrants/addicts in the back door each night. There were bags of people’s personal belongings in hallways outside of the doors. Several young women who appeared to be sex workers and strung out came and left frequently each day. Some of these girls were seen in the office. We witnessed one young lady dressing at about 8 am in front of the office, blocking herself with an umbrella. One girl joked with me as I entered my room that it was her room. When we arrived, there was an ashtray in the room despite it being a non smoking hotel. Our room smelled like incense and the hallway smelled of cigarettes. Our freezer was stocked with someone else’s dinner (frozen corndog). There was a man who was greeted by a suspected prostitute by the back dumpster. She handed him something and then let him in the back door carrying what appeared to be a hardshell box (for gun/drugs?) She then left. Another guy was shooting some type of pellet gun at the sign in the morning. We were seriously the only non sketchy looking clients the entire weekend. The staff was very nice but were absolutely oblivious to the situation even when we told them our concerns. On a plus, the bed was comfortable and the towels were clean and fluffy. We did have to borrow pliers to adjust the AC unit and there was no turntable in the microwave. ||||We liked the room size and bed but definitely will not be...

booked Red Lion Inn Des Moines because the rooms looked amazing online and I could use flyer miles. We were heading to a dog show and needed dog friendly rooms close to the show grounds. The room was big and the staff friendly, but the rest was truly terrifying. The hotel has 2 parking lots. The back is pretty dark and sketchy, and the front is small with narrow spaces. We were lucky to squeeze in front all nights. We were told there was security on staff from 6pm to 6am, but only saw him 2 of the non busy nights. ||||We had to walk our dogs in the back lot as there is no grass except in the back. Even in daylight, it was an experience. During our 4 day stay, we witnessed open drug use (I am not talking weed) every single day. We saw what appeared to be overt drug deals in front of the main office, as well as behind the building. People were allowing homeless/vagrants/addicts in the back door each night. There were bags of people’s personal belongings in hallways outside of the doors. Several young women who appeared to be sex workers and strung out came and left frequently each day. Some of these girls were seen in the office. We witnessed one young lady dressing at about 8 am in front of the office, blocking herself with an umbrella. One girl joked with me as I entered my room that it was her room. When we arrived, there was an ashtray in the room despite it being a non smoking hotel. Our room smelled like incense and the hallway smelled of cigarettes. Our freezer was stocked with someone else’s dinner (frozen corndog). There was a man who was greeted by a suspected prostitute by the back dumpster. She handed him something and then let him in the back door carrying what appeared to be a hardshell box (for gun/drugs?) She then left. Another guy was shooting some type of pellet gun at the sign in the morning. We were seriously the only non sketchy looking clients the entire weekend. The staff was very nice but were absolutely oblivious to the situation even when we told them our concerns. On a plus, the bed was comfortable and the towels were clean and fluffy. We did have to borrow pliers to adjust the AC unit and there was no turntable in the microwave. ||||We liked the room size and bed but definitely will not be...

This is one of the worst hotels motels I've ever stayed at do not waste your time or money coming to this horrible horrible horrible place they extorted us in every way they could find an excuse to do so they charged us $20 for every guest we had in our room that stopped by even if it was for 20 seconds and one of which was one of their very own employees that was stopping by just to say hello because I went to high school with him they charged us $40 for having a stain the size of a quarter on the ironing board that could have been removed with a little elbow grease and soap this place also had the gumption to accuse me and my mother of stealing from another guest at the hotel simply because we had an adjoining room to his there's cameras all over this hotel they can clearly see that we did not enter nor leave with anything that didn't belong to us and they still pressed the issue and called me and my mother thieves they made us feel very uncomfortable and I think this place should be destroyed. The only small plus side to this horrible Hotel is the one employee that did have a heart and realized that we were being massively taken advantage of and extorted and even he was being taken advantage of by his own employer after working for only two weeks on the job he received his very first paycheck and it was only $300 for 72 hours. He stays on premises in his own hotel room and they charge him full rate to do so I have no idea how a person is supposed to live on $300 after busting their butts butts. If you want to have the worst experience of your life and feel totally degraded as a person I would definitely recommend staying at this hotel but if you're normal and not completely insane stay as far away from this...