Residence Inn Des Moines Downtown

This is one of my preferred hotels in downtown Des Moines. It’s near what little nightlife exists downtown, but be warned that it’s also right on the train line. I always ask for rooms on the back of the hotel. Stick around for happy hour – they offer complementary food and beverages in the lobby three nights a week.
Why not five stars? One word: Maintenance. Every time I stay here, there’s a few problems with my room. Usually it’s related to brackets falling off walls, musty AC, dusty bathroom fan grills, … basic maintenance issues that seem to get ignored or overlooked here. As best I can tell, there’s ONE maintenance guy for the entire property, which leaves little time for preventative maintenance.

Great location. Great amount of space in the rooms. The staff was on it. I enjoyed my stay here with family.

REALLY want to like this hotel: easy parking (but expensive) nice basketball and outdoor lounge, grill, indoor pool, all kinds of amenities HOWEVER.
The train that runs right next to this place, literally right next door, the room shakes when the train goes by.
Upside is it seems infrequent but one rolled through at like 6:30 a.m. And I assure you it will wake you up.
When I checked in I wasn’t given the option of parking in street it when another person checked in later the desk agent told that guest that they could park on street if they moved by 8:00 a.m. — had to ask for bonus points and bottles of water when I checked in, I guess I didn’t get a very good front desk worker.
Rooms are nice, it seems like the people that did the construction though cut corners, bad caulking, etc.
Will probably stay at the Marriott on the other side of town, not sure I would come back here.

Traveled through for a tv show and stayed and filmed here for 3 days. The staff were beyond kind and accommodating. The rooms were large and very comfortable as well. Highly recommended.

LOVEDDDDDDDD THIS HOTEL!!! Probably the best hotel I’ve been in so far. Room as are like new studio apartments. Super clean and modern. Can’t say enough about this property. Their breakfast is on point too!
The hotel is also downtown and within walking distance to bars and restaurants! Can’t beat this place.
The only downside is there are train tracks across the street from the hotel and even though my room was on the other side I can only imagine what it sounded like for the rooms facing the tracks.

Great new spot. Breakfast is lacking some freshness especially when it comes to the (canned) fruit. Need to clean the grout in the rooms.
The basketball court outside is a pretty cool idea, if we’re here when it’s above 0 °F we’ll give it a shot.

I have stayed here numerous times and the rooms and staff have always been exceptional. 5 stars all the way.

I traditionally stay at the Embassy Suites across the river, but my colleague wanted to try this place since she had to stay for an additional few weeks… I have to say I am glad we stayed here.
The hotel feels cleaner and more modern than many of the other downtown hotels. It is also in close proximity (walking distance) to a number of bars, restaurants, and other venues allowing you to leave your car parked. I also like how the parking areas are attached to the hotel. I know this sounds strange, but the Embassy Suites has very limited parking underneath the hotel and forces you to park across the street in an open air lot. That’s fine when the weather is nice, not when it is dumping rain/​snow.
The rooms are large with a nice seating area and work area so your sleeping area can stay uncluttered and relaxing. I love having the small kitchenette to I can store extra food and water for those moments you don’t feel like getting dressed for a meal.
Just a few notes:
1) The baseball stadium is nearby and when the fireworks go off, you’ll hear it and see lots of flashing lights through the windows
2) The train passes right next to the hotel… literally some 30 feet from the front door. The hotel shakes a little but nothing to worry about.
3) The free wi-​fi is PAINFULLY slow. Although upgraded wi-​fi is only $ 4.99/night, it is a shame that hotels are following the airlines in charging for every little thing.

New
Clean
Spacious
Helpful front desk
Very nicely situated
Great craft beer across the street
Multiple good eats in the blocks surrounding
All in all — very nice!

PET FRIENDLY
Awesome staff always happy it makes your day better :) Hotel has big rooms good food a lot of variety to choose from even better on evenings they have what they call social it’s great it’s like HAPPY HOUR!!! :) if you’re traveling or on vacations and need to stay in a hotel stay here you won’t regret it ;)

Love the rooms and nice staff. The breakfast is nice but takes the ‘modern’ feel of the hotel away with all the wasteful plastic plates, etc. which is pretty ironic since they have little cards in the rooms saying ‘help our planet thrive.’ Not great options if you are vegetarian, meat in all the hot dishes.
Would also have appreciated if the staff would have set up the crib they provided… not really what I wanted to do after 18 straight hours of traveling and ended up having to call and ask for help setting it up.
Great showers and beds too, close to being a great hotel.

Fantastic stay! Our room was beautiful, clean, very comfortable. Very friendly, professional, and helpful staff. I would most certainly stay there again.
My only complaint would be the $ 100 pet fee, and we did consider canceling our reservation because of it. However, we found that most decent hotels in this are charge outrageous pet fees as well.
If it wasn’t for the pet fee, I would have given this hotel five stars.

This property opened mid January 2014 and still had the new car smell to it. Very modern design which we loved. Three different room types, all very comfortable. Located right down town, which puts it right in the heart of downtown and all it has to offer. The front desk was very helpful and friendly. They also have a free happy hour with small bites every night, along with a continental breakfast. When I come back to visit my family and friends, we will certainly stay here again.

I stayed at this hotel on a very busy week end (Drake Relays). Predictably the hotel room rates were almost double, $ 262 per night. I made my reservations through Marriott Rewards, cashing in points to avoid the rip off. Marriott Rewards was able to book two nights for next to nothing. During my first night, I was checking my bank activity and noticed the hotel applied a $ 262 charge to my account. I spoke with the General Mgr., Darrell, who said there was a «miscommunication» with Marriott Rewards, and he would honor the first night reward but not the second. I even showed Darrell the Marriott Rewards two night confirmation email. I told him if there was a problem, it was between the hotel and Marriott Rewards, and not with me. He refused to budge on the second night stay, and even suggested other hotels in the area. It was hard to believe the smugness of this guy. The Residence Inn is owned by Hawk Eye Hotels. Without wasting more of my time, I wonder if Hawk Eye Hotels cares how they represent themselves at their properties or with their partnership with Marriott. I am currently disputing the charge through my credit card company but assume Darrell will go to the mat for my $ 262 rather than do the right thing and work it out with his affiliate, Marriott Rewards.
The hotel wasn’t bad, if you like a crappy free breakfast, construction dust, a part of town with barely paved roads, and management that doesn’t care about it’s guests.

Stayed here for 3 nights. Each morning around 6:30am there was a loud train nearby. It shook the hotel and woke me up each morning. This happened again at 11pm. Not ideal for a business trip. My room was facing 2^nd ave so if you get a room on the other side of the hall, that may help with the noise and shaking but I’m not so sure. Other than that, I loved the stay. Rooms are very clean and modern. Decent workout facility for a hotel. Several treadmills, an elliptical and a bike. Nice set of free weights too. Parking in the garage is very convenient.

Stayed at the Residence Inn on Water Street for a week and a half. Had two different rooms. The room for the first week was very nice, on the 4^th floor. The room for the second week was nice but just not as nice as the first room — it had many scuff marks from previous guests and the bathroom had a strange odor. I would definitely stay here again.