Stoney Creek Hotel Kansas City - Independence — Hotel in Independence

I made this reservation as a surprise weekend for my husband. But it ended up, a weekend of not getting any sleep because of guests that stayed above us; who apparently like to start at 11:00pm at night, getting their steps in (walking hard) for hours!

We stayed from 8/22 to 8/24 (8/22 was also crazy due to the KC Chiefs game). Upon arrival (which I arrived about 7:45pm), and was told that they had overbooked and they apologized that they could not give me the room that I reserved (which was paid in full on 8/17); so they upgraded my room to the Cosmo King Suite. This room was really nice, but upon checking the room, I noticed there were no remotes for the (2) TVs in the suite and I couldn't open the patio doors. Went back downstairs to the front desk and told them and they informed me that due to the wood rotting on the balcony, they have permanently locked down the patio door. As for the remotes, they had one left in the drawer at the front desk, which then needed batteries. I had to wait for almost 10 minutes, for the front desk clerk to test if the remote worked, get batteries and then test again. Didn't get settled into the room till about 8:10pm. We also noticed that there was no hotel services information posted anywhere...like the hotel's wi-fi. We had to call down to get that information. Which by the way, if you stay at this hotel and need wi-fi, you will need to bring a hotspot as the hotel clerk informed us that the hotel wi-fi is not that great; even she has to bring her own hotspot to do some work. And if the hotel is at capacity, the wi-fi is even worse. So, if you have to connect for work, or connecting a roku type device, you will need to use a hotspot device or your hotspot service on your cell phone; even to use cast or screen mirroring features. I would suggest you bring a roku (or any type of streaming device) as the TV is only setup for their cable pkg (which doesn't offer much of movie channels, but does offer ESPN for the sports fans). The TV does not have SmartTV Apps and does not connect to their wi-fi (feature was locked down).

If you don't care for being kept up all not due to heavy walking above you, you may want to request a room on the 4th floor (top floor).

They do not have a decent pantry area (where you buy drinks or snacks from a vending area). And what machine they do have, it only takes debit or credit cards; no cash. And that weekend, the debit card/credit card was not working. If you want ice, you have to go to the 2nd floor.

We also thought it strange that upon checking in at 7:45pm, there were several house cleaning people in the hall, working to clean rooms. We had a hard time, getting the hotel's luggage cart around them to take our luggage to our room. The floors were dusty and dirty...our socks & feet were dirty. We found out later, they just finished pulling the carpet out of several of the rooms and installed laminate flooring.

There is a microwave and mini fridge in the room. There is a TV in the bathroom over the 2 person jacuzzi tub. The shower is huge...you can fit about 4 people in there. LOL! The furniture is quite outdated. The decor does not necessarily fit the exterior style of the hotel. It's a western theme decor.

The trail around the lake and waterfall is quiet and beautiful! And is wheelchair friendly & accessible. On the backside, it connects also with a park that has park benches and a play area. If you want to add something special to your stay, bring a lock (one that would go on a locker) with your names/initials on it and clip it to the bridge along the trail. But definitely take the opportunity to get a picture by the waterfall!

Upon checking out, we spoke with the lady at the front desk about the difficulties with the room and asked for a manager, and she stated there was not one on duty. We thought this was odd since it was a Sunday, when several guests were checking out. 4 out of 5 stars on the space of the king suite and...

We were greeted at the entrance to the hotel where two garbage cans were overflowing and the concrete floor around them filthy; this should have been our first clue. Upon check-in there was a sign on the desk that said the pool was closed for maintenance for 4 days. The main reason we chose this hotel over others was for the outdoor pool. This should have been communicated when we made our reservation, totally unacceptable. (during our entire 4 day stay we never saw any work being done). The check-in process was easy and we walked to our room, 102, and the outside of the door was filthy, our third missed clue. Where things got really gross was inside the room. I'm not exaggerating when I say I have never seen a more filthy hotel room including fishing cabins in Northern canada. There was thick dust on the shelf above the coat rack and on the faux leather chair in the corner; not the surface of the chair but really bad where the arms meet the back. The carpet was really gross where it met the walls. Everything looked like it had only been surface cleaned. We went to use a wall plug behind the end tables and it was so gross. I'll bet it hasn't been cleaned behind the bed and behind both end tables, anywhere that wasn't easy to reach, in 2 years, in fact probably not since it was last built or remodeled. There was a chunk of leftover tomato and some food splatter in the microwave. There was what looked like lipstick or makeup on our sheets . It made me wonder if they even changed the bedding! I spoke with the person at the desk that night and politely told them how dirty the room was and asked if they could have someone deep clean it the next morning. She said she would make a note and have it taken care of. The next morning after returning around noon the housekeeping service was outside of the room next to us so I assumed we were next. No one ever showed and when I finally stuck my head out the door they were gone. I went to the front desk and asked for extra wash rags to clean it myself as we didn't want to go to the trouble of packing up and leaving. I asked for the general manager, Tassie, and told her about the issues. Now if I were the general manager I would want to see for myself if it was that bad but she just said she would send her staff to tend to it. Within a few minutes two ladies, one who was the inspector for the cleaning staff, came and said it'll take a few minutes would we mind stepping out. I pointed out everything and told her I would like for her to take as long as necessary to get it completely clean and that I didn't think it was unreasonable to expect a three-star hotel to be spotless for their guests. After our discussion the two housekeepers did do an adequate job and cleaned everything i pointed out and I made a point of thanking them for their effort. For a three-star hotel to have a room this bad is unacceptable and the responsibility falls on the shoulder of the general manager. This is the person who hires and oversees the staff is doing their job properly. With all of the issues I've mentioned to me it's obvious there's a management issue and the wrong people are in supervisory positions. The next time I come to Kansas City, which is at least once a year, I will definitely be...

By far THE BEST hotel we stayed in on our 12 day cross country vacation with a family of six. We stayed in what can only be called a totally incredible cabin themed suite! A king sized bed, a bunkbed with a full size bed on bottom and a twin on top. And an oversized, totally awesome hide-a-bed (that thing put some of the queen size beds we saw in other hotels to shame! Super comfortable...and BIG!!)

This room EASILY fit all six of us with PLENTY of room to spare. My kids LOVED the gargantuan big screen TV too. We melted into the super comfortable beds too. But that's just the start!

When you walk into the hotel, be sure & look around the lobby. There's a full size Buffalo above the main entrance (seriously! It's freaking awesome!) there's antler themed chandeliers, there's a baby grand that plays itself (sooo cool!), and it just has a really upscale feel to it!

The pool is outstanding! There's a hot tub and a really nice kid friendly pool. The pool even extends to an outdoor patio area too. Seriously! If you have a chance, check it out! My kids were in HEAVEN!!!

Out behind the hotel is an awesome patio area as well, but keep walking out past the hotel and you'll see a walking path that surrounds an incredible pond! Come out here in the evening and watch an incredible sunset with waterfowl for background noise! Then hang around to watch as fireflies dance all around and frogs croak. Walk a little to the left of the pool on the walking path and look across the pond and you'll see a lighted waterfall (Dead serious!) dropping into the pond. I spent a good hour behind the hotel just taking it all in after dark. It was incredible! My kids LOVED seeing the fireflies too. We were just in complete awe of the surrounding this hotel is in.

Walk back in and you're treated to an incredibly modern hotel with outstanding staff! The front desk staff were by far the nicest and happiest we met on our cross country trip. The desk clerk we met when we checked in was just an all around happy guy and was a breath of fresh air from other places we'd stayed. Can't say enough good about the staff here!

I mentioned to them that the pool was low on towels and immediately one of the staff wheeled a whole cart full of fresh towels to the pool. Holy cow this place is awesome!

The breakfast is totally awesome! Hot, fresh, and with lots of different options. That was some of the best breakfast food we had on the whole trip! Just can't say enough good about this place. Super accommodating staff, incredible room, extremely reasonable rate, and with an incredible ambience around the whole hotel. Seriously! If you have the time, take a walk back behind the hotel. You won't be disappointed! We would DEFINITELY stay here again and have been raving to all our friends about how awesome it was! Stay here!...