Holiday Inn St. Joseph Riverfront/Hist.

We travel with 3 dogs, so there were limited options in St. Joseph for a Thanksgiving visit. We stayed at this Holiday Inn (now Radisson) because the pet fee is only $ 25 per day for all 3 dogs, but wish we had just paid extra for a nicer/​cleaner place.
The mattress is basically a padded trampoline, and the pillows are ridiculous. I think the sheets might be 10 thread count, and the towels are super rough. The rooms are really run down and just feel dirty. At least I expected it to be crappy and had the foresight to bring a scented Glade candle, because the room smelled like musty old wet carpet.
Drinking makes everything better, but the bar downstairs closed early due to lack of guests so we couldn’t even drink to make the stay better.
If you are used to major hotel chains like Marriott/​Hilton with a minimum quality standard, do NOT stay here because it is pretty nasty. We don’t regularly stay at Holiday Inn’s, but I can’t imagine rooms with a major chain ever being this run down.

What a dump, my children are scared to stay here. It looks beautiful until you hit your room. The door key barley works, ac doesn’t work, black mold, bathroom ceiling falling apart. Who in the hell is in charge of this dump? Avoid at all costs, we are kinda stuck because we didn’t arrive until after 10 and all the hotels are booked. Going to have to burn our belongings when we leave.

Would never stay here again, outdated, bugs in my room, late check out is a joke (housekeeping will keep knocking on your door regardless), overall really bad experience!

My husband and I stayed 5 nights, at this Holiday Inn. You can tell, this Hotel has seen better days.
Our room had a very noisy AC… The lamps were stained… the carpet was in rough shape. The door handle came off, in my husband’s hand. (Lol). The hair dryer didn’t work and when maintenance came, to fix it, he just walked right in, after one knock. I was less than dressed. The pool and the hot tub were in poor shape. BUT, on the other hand, the Staff was wonderful, the food and bar were great.

This place exceeded my expectations. It was pretty clean and comfortable.
Had minimal staff interaction, but it was all positive — including no hesitation to allow us a late checkout.
Pretty big pool in a large room with several tables & chairs. Also a hot tub and sauna.
Exercise room could be better — the weight machine worked, but no free weights.
There is a business center. I peaked in but didn’t go in or spend time there.
I think this place has been updated since some of the previous reviews and pictures.
No convenient outlets by side of bed to plug in cell phone.
The term «riverfront» is kind of a joke. It’s not really riverfront or river view.
To get nit-​picky about cleaning, the bathroom floor could have been cleaner, the windows were dirty, and one of the pillows had several small black hairs on it.

This is my second stay at this particular holiday inn. I stay at holiday inns a lot for business travel and like the Ihg rewards, but I will not be staying here again.
The first stay here I had a room with an odd layout and a shower that didn’t drain. I’m typically not picky so I dealt with it and let them know on check out. On this stay the first room got the bed spread was visibly dirty and there was visible hair on the pillow– obviously not cleaned. I picked up the phone to call the desk and the phone didn’t work. So I walked down and they promptly gave me another room. This one seemed ok aside from a smell. I went to use the restroom and realized the smell was because there was unflushed feces in the toilet (who knows for how long). Which pretty much tells me they did not clean the bathroom. Again, I’m currently dealing with it, will let them know on check out, but 2 bad stays in a row– I’ll be going elsewhere from now on.
Only redeeming quality is the people at the desk seem nice, which prevents me just from asking for a refund right away. Not sure who if anyone they have clean these rooms but they do a terrible job.

Found this little gem on Priceline, and glad I did. What a terrific place to spend some time. We came to St. Jo to do some genealogy research and didn’t plan on spending very much time in the room. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate, so we stayed in a little more that we had planned. Check in was fast and friendly with Elizabeth being helpful, cheerful, and very informative. The room was spacious and very comfortable. I didn’t think it to be dated at all. We stayed on the west side, so can’t say anything about train noise. Slept very well, as the bedding was very comfortable. There was a circus going on at the Civic Arena and parking was a bit scarce, but not impossible. We were close to downtown and it was easy to get to the other parts of the city. Each time we’d go by the desk, Elizabeth was still friendly and cheerful. What a great place!

Priceline considers this a 3-​star property and, while it is based on service availability, it’s important to note that the hotel is a bit dated and may not live up to a lot of 3-​star expectations. Depending on your needs and purpose for staying, this property may or may not be a good fit.
The good:
1) The banquet buffet food was surprisingly good as were the event staff. With only a couple of visible servers clearing plates and refilling water pitchers, it was impressive how smoothly a 50-​plus person dinner ran.
2) While quoted rates are not a great value, discounted ones aren’t bad. You can get a room here for about $ 70/​night (inclusive of taxes). Bidding on a space isn’t as risky when you consider that St. Joe isn’t particularly large and doesn’t have very many full service hotels.
3) Parking is free and the property is convenient to the highway.
4) The pool area is interesting for a hotel pool and provides a nice place to relax.
The not-​as-​good:
1) Though a «riverfront» hotel, the view of said river is obscured by the highway and a power station located directly behind the hotel.
2) In passing, the hotel may mention that there’s a complimentary breakfast. While the on-​site restaurant serves from a menu (for an additional charge), it’s only the coffee and granola bars that are actually complimentary. These items can be found immediately to the right of the entrance, near the front desk. To-​go cups are available.
3) There have been some updates to the rooms (stone countertops and flat screen TVs), but the overall look is quite standard and unremarkable for the class. For a workmanlike business trip, most of the bases seem to be covered. For a leisurely experience though, it might be worth considering another property in town.

I stayed at this hotel, so I will review the hotel and then the bar/​restaurant. The Hotel is very nice. The rooms are equally nice. Nice size flat screens and a real comfy bed. There are many rooms here so its not hard to get a room for the night. The staff is fun and outgoing. They really make you feel good about your stay there. There is a area in the lobby where you can get free coffee and some breakfast bars in the mourning. Nice touch. I would definitely stay here again. Its also in a prime location to some real good places to eat at.
As for the 36^th street bar and restaurant, This place is amazing. They have flat screens all over the place. The bar is really big so finding a spot to sit isn’t a problem. The first time I went I had the Cajun Cat fish, it was good. It had too many spices on it. I was told by my co worker that it indeed have too much. It was still very good. The rest of the meal was very good. Since I stayed at this hotel for like a month, I ate this place at least 2 days week. A coworker and I would go down there have hamburgers most of the time. What was real cool was that you could customize your burger with just about every option you want. Even though it was not on the menu you could get done your way. The staff is super cool and a lot of fun. You will have a great time there and eat some real good food.

Old hotel with fairly updated furnishings. Good customer service. Rooms are a bit smaller than normal. Parking a bit inconvenient.

I read some poor reviews of this hotel but I stayed there last week for two nights and I have to say that I was surprised. The room was clean except the window. The AC worked well and the service was good. The pool area was very nicely kept. The TV in the room was a LG 32″ and they had HD programming on it, a very nice touch. The internet speed was decent, DSL speeds. My room was located on the far south side of the building, next to the laundry facilities but I heard no noise whatsoever. The restaurant in the hotel, the 36^th Street Restaurant, was nice. The food was good and the service was prompt. I would definitely stay there again. There was plenty of bang for the buck. The only issues I observed were the smudges on the window and the finish below the air conditioning (something that no one else would observe) was sloppy.

Let me preface this review by telling you I am a hotel veteran of historic proportions. My job had me living in hotels every Mon-​Thurs for nearly 5 years. I used Priceline a lot, so not only did I spend nearly 1000 nights in hotels, but it was probably in about 250 different hotels! That said, this Holiday Inn ranked right down there with the worst ever! It advertises that it is on the riverfront in downtown St Joseph. Well it is near the river, but this part of town is absolutely dead at night! If you want to do or see anything at all you need to get back in your car to do it. So my first night in I didn’t feel like going back out, so I ate in the hotel restaurant. I walk in and see about 10 guys in the bar area, which reaks of cigarettes. There are 6 – 8 televisions… every single one of them showing the Royals baseball game! Seriously… guys they suck!!! There were two hockey playoff games on that would have been better. Heck, reruns of the A Team would have been better! So I opted to eat in the dining room which I had all to myself. Funny though I only saw my waitress 2 times. Wonder what she was busy doing? Just when I was feeling lonely, a little mouse sauntered across the floor! Now mice usually run very fast worried about getting spotted, but this little guy acted like he was the house pet! I told the waitress but she didn’t seem to care, she just brought me my bill. My room had some chicks bra and panties lying on the floor behind the dresser! The WIFI was free, as was the parking. The gym had my favorite stair stepper, but they only had 2 treadmills and 1 was broken. If you are coming to St Joseph get a hotel near the intersection of I-​29 and Hwy 36. Better location

It’s a hotel. It’s a Holiday Inn. It’s basically what you would expect. Rooms are nice. Probably even a step above your average Holiday Inn. Good bedding. Small fridge and microwave in some rooms. Ok bathroom. Hallways aren’t creepy. Restaurant in hotel. Indoor pool. Decent lobby. Free wifi. Odd parking situation (off-​site or a few spaces around back). Nice staff.