First, the good: The hotel is pretty much brand new. We stayed September 14, 2024; several staff told us the hotel had been open only two months. Everything is still very clean. Our room was quiet, the bed was comfortable, the pillows were decent -- not the normal hotel-quality thin with no support. The hallways, entry, lobby, and eating area all were clean. There was plenty of parking right outside the door. The free breakfast was nice, with a lot of options, including both food and drink. The bathroom was nice, and we had plenty of towels! Of course, there were just two of us in a double queen room that normally would have four people in the room, so we had more towels than two might normally have. WiFi was nice and strong and consistent, and connecting as a Hilton Honors member was quick and easy.
Now the not so good: This hotel is not ready for Prime Time.
I have never seen thinner bacon at a hotel breakfast. It was tasty, but my goodness was it thin! There were no pure egg dishes -- no large, heated chafing dish with scrambled eggs that is common now at many -- most? -- hotel breakfasts. They did have pre-made egg and sausage sandwiches (wrapped in sealed plastic, so they were made off-site) in a warming dish. To say they were warm is accurate; to say they were warm food would not be accurate; they were really warm only when "warm" means, "not cold." And, therefore, the sandwich I had was not particularly tasty.
But the primary reason for the two-star review is about more than extraordinarily thin bacon and a not-good breakfast sandwich. When we checked in, we were given one set of key cards for access to the room (one card for each of us); neither of those cards worked. We quickly got a replacement set; neither of *those* cards worked. We quickly got a third set; neither of **those** cards worked. The desk clerk was apologetic and said that they had been having problems with *all* their key cards, for *all* rooms. (From the tone of her voice, I assumed that meant locked rooms used by staff, as well as guest rooms.) We finally were given an "emergency backup" key card (her phrase) -- ONE emergency backup key card. (If you're counting, that was three trips to the front desk from outside our room, after checking in, to get keys that might or might not work.) That emergency card worked, FINALLY! But it worked only on the day we checked in! The next morning, when we got back to the room after breakfast, the emergency card **did not** work. Fortunately, by then I had created the electronic key on my phone, which *did* work. The clerk at checkout (different from the clerk on duty when we checked in) said that, yes, they had had nothing but problems with the company that did the keys for all room doors, and apologized for the inconvenience.
After two months, Hilton should be demanding that heads are rolling at whatever company was used for the door key cards. That is simply unconscionable, and absolutely unacceptable -- from the key card company's perspective, from Hilton's perspective, and also from the guest's perspective, of course. And, really, this should have been caught and addressed satisfactorily long before Hilton said, "OK, things are good, let's open the doors." (The front doors, that is, because they couldn't be opening the room doors!)
The fact that this hotel is actually two Hilton brands in one makes it worse, because now two brands in Hilton's family have irritated customers. Both Tru and Home2Suites are in the building, and the two share the entire building -- front desk, lobby, breakfast, hallways, elevators, etc. The dividing line is marked only by a very subtle change in the color scheme in the carpeting in the hallways -- no signs, no differentiation in doorknobs or room number signs, just the carpeting. I mean, that's OK, and it won't bother anyone, but that also makes me wonder why Hilton did that? And, of course, it's beyond me why Hilton wouldn't be bringing down hellfire on whatever inept key card company is now ruining the experience for guests at TWO hotels.
Other things: there was a wide variety of snacks and fruits and candies in the lobby. I overheard one guest say at breakfast that it was great to get a free candy bar. But there are no signs that say things are free, just as there are no signs with prices. This includes the pre-packaged Hilton paper bags with two bottles of water, which have always been standard for Hilton Honors members. (The clerk at check-in did not mention them.) A little communication there from the hotel(s) would be appreciated. And, the TV was nice, except that the feed would freeze, regularly, for a few seconds to as many as 10-12 seconds. The feed didn't skip, it just froze. When it came back, it picked up right where it had been, so you didn't miss anything. But it happened regularly, and that's a disconcerting way to watch a movie!
One last thing: at both the bathroom sink and in the shower, the soap dispensers (including hand cream at the sink and shampoo, soap, and conditioner in the shower) were long cloth tubes mounted vertically. To get anything out of these tubes, you squeezed them, and whatever was inside came out the bottom. Yes, that's explained on the tubes, but I found it nigh impossible to get just a little of whatever -- soap, shampoo, hand cream -- from any of the tubes. My hand wasn't overflowing, but I got far more than I needed, and more than I would ever give myself from a bottle or more normal dispenser.
Would I stay here again? Not right now. There's a lot to be fixed, and neither guests nor front desk staff need the headaches from room keys that don't work. Most important, if I knew I didn't need to worry about the key cards, I would be more favorably inclined to stay. It's near a busy north-south thoroughfare in Ankeny, so one can get to wherever one might be going pretty easily. And if I knew the TV was fixed, that would help, too.
So, beware. If this is the area where you need to be, there are a number of other hotels within a very short drive of this building. I've long been a Hilton fan, but I'd stay away from this one until they figure things out.
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