Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Mason City, IA — Hotel in Mason City

So we booked a room online (March 22-24 2024) The room we booked was a little too small so they changed our room. Was supposed to be about a $20 a night difference. They put us on second floor room 201 which no one renting an executive suite wants since it has a storage room that sucks up most of the floor plan. Plus it’s right next to the pool and directly above the meeting/conference room. We get up to our room get the kids all settled in and go to the pool. Kids were in the pool a little over and hour and complained of burning eyes and their hair felt like straw. Got them fed and out to bed around ten. It was pretty noisy from what I thought was the pool. Around 11:30 I called the front desk to ask what time they were quieting down the noise kids weren’t sleeping and neither was I. He said it closes at 12. So 12:15 rolls around I go down to investigate the noise. It’s not the pool it’s the meeting room. Apparently there was a family reunion and a bunch of people were partying it up right under our room. I asked again when were they going to quiet down the room. He said in a bit. I also asked if the room was booked out for the second night of our stay and he said no. My husband actually went in the meeting room and got them to quiet down. Around 1 am. Next day I go to front desk and she was like oh we can discount your second night since your husband qualified for the work discount but I can’t do anything about the first night. They gave us a new room which was supposed to be the same as the executive we had on second floor. It was way bigger and much more quiet up there, but everyone was so exhausted from no sleep the first night we didn’t get to do much fun the second day. Kids did go back to the pool and same thing burning eyes and kids started coughing and hair was like straw. Third day (Sunday) exact same thing. Pretty sure they are under staffed (or lazy since they assure me they aren’t understaffed) never were there any towels in the pool room. Had to go ask everytime for towels. They said they can only wash so fast which I get but then you should have more towels on hand. I never had to wait for towels at the desk. They always handed us a stack. One time they gave us bath mats instead of towels which was frustrating. After getting home we realized the kids broke out in rashes from the pool and all of our swimsuits have lost their color. My daughters navy blue swimsuit is brown. (Wish I could show pictures the day she got in their pool to the day we came home. As I have the pictures on my phone.) edges of the pool are really sharp so we also have scrapes and the spa was missing several tiles. The weight room didn’t have cleaning towels and the equipment was dirty. Halls smelled of alcohol and vomit from the partiers blowing chunks all down the hall.

Called in today to see about refunding the first night and they said they were more than generous in a discount on the second night that first night shouldn’t be refunded. They took $80 off a $360...

Stayed here twice a few months ago. Two different occasions. Each for about a week. Here’s my take:

Pros: generally decent accommodations, rooms are nice in a general sense. Nice staff! Serve breakfast! pools, hot tub, vending machines, candy at front desk, some decent shows on tv (50 channels) handicap accessible rooms, SOLID adjustable AC units.

Cons: hot tub isn’t hot. More like a luke-warm tub. Bugs in my first room’s bathroom, also wasn’t cleaned very well. (Didn’t bother me much, just worth mentioning) No plungers! Enjoy praying to your God that it flushes after every dump, otherwise enjoy your walk of shame. dirty coffee makers in both rooms I stayed in. (Dead bug in the first machine) (yummy) they don’t give you enough toilet paper, tissues, or shower soap. Makes you feel like you have to ration it all, which ofc I did and provided me with a somewhat entertaining set of challenges for the week I stayed. “Will I run out of soap today?” “I wonder if I’ll be able to blow my nose tomorrow?” Who knows? Back to the plungers. I strongly believe each and every hotel room should have their own plunger, I think it should be illegal to make someone ask for a plunger at the desk or on the phone. “Hey, I literally just destroyed your toilet and all the surrounding rooms can smell the my heinous crime and they heard my screams and cries of anguish while I was releasing this demon monster of a duce into your toilet. So yeah can I borrow a plunger?” :)))))))) the trim and tiling job in every room is just so bad if u do any kind of quality home detail or home or retail construction, just be prepared. The gaps.. the gaps..

All in all, it’s not a bad hotel, I’d stay there again no problem. but it’s definitely got its flaws. Hopefully they can take away something positive from this.

“Criticism may not be nice or agreeable, but it’s necessary.” - a wise person

“Put plungers in your...

I wanted to give this place 5 stars, but it was so terribly noisy. We were given a room next to the lobby, across from the breakfast area and immediately next to the ice machine and vending machine. The property was not full, so there could have been quieter rooms. I tried to go to bed at 10 because I had to get up at 630am for an all day event. There was a men's hockey team partying loudly in the breakfast area across from our room. I assumed once it was a little later, the front desk would ask them to stop screaming. I finally called the desk at midnight and said there was yelling outside my room and I couldn't sleep and he responded, "Yeah, there are people hanging out down here." He then did offer to ask them to be quieter. Asking them to quiet down before midnight would have been helpful. They did quiet down somewhat, but were still loud. After they left, the staff spent the rest of the night likely cleaning up after them and loudly pushing furniture in the breakfast area around on the tile.

Around 4am a couple was at the ice machine outside our door loudly swearing at each other.

The noise continued all night. I slept maybe 2 hours total the whole night. It was an awful, awful night with a horrible, exhausted day the next day with my 9 hour business event.

Pros- Our room was clean, staff was nice and we really enjoyed the pool. The breakfast the next day was really nice. The shower was really nice and new.

Cons- The hot tub was empty and the pillows in the room are the size of throw pillows. There were no towel bars in the bathroom to hang your towels or other hooks besides the one on the back...