Residence Inn By Marriott Des Moines Ankeny

The rooms were nice, but breakfast was missing a lot when we went, and the staff seemed a bit overworked. That's probably management's fault. We picked this place for the pool so a bunch of girls could swim and hang out, but it was freezing. It was a real miss for us. They could have told us ahead of time, since we might have found another place, or offered a discount or something.

We were able to sleep thanks to the dark-out curtains in the bedroom and the bathroom door. The Ankeny airport's rotating light was shining into the bathroom, so being able to close it off helped. Lovely hotel in a great location.

This looks like a great property for a longer stay, with lots of nearby restaurants. My room had a comfortable sofa and bed, and a well-equipped kitchenette: a mid-sized refrigerator, two-eye electric stove, deep sink with garbage disposal, and small dishwasher. The walk-in shower was spacious. The gym was nicely equipped, and the guest laundry had plenty of commercial machines. One wash and dry load cost $3, and single-use detergent boxes were available for sale in the sundry store.

Breakfast was good and the location is nice, but this didn't feel like the usual clean Marriott. There was debris around the bathroom, the curtains were stained and staff knew about it, the door latch was broken off, and the shower drained very slowly. The pull-out sofa had crumbs and no bedding. There was only one staff member on Friday evening. Two of us ended up with athletes foot after our stay. I accidentally left a new shirt with the tags on, jeans, and a scarf hanging in the closet. It's now day 2 after checkout, and the cleaning staff still haven't turned them in. That's disappointing. We stopped at a Hilton across the street that looked really nice. This was not the typical Residence Inn clean, safe, and honest you would expect.