The Black Hawk Hotel

We drove home after arriving for our Friday night stay because we couldn’t find parking anywhere nearby. The street spaces were limited to two or three hours until 8 pm, and the only other lot with four-hour parking was a couple of blocks away. I can’t walk that far, so it wasn’t an option. We didn’t want to spend the evening moving the car or wait for the tire shop’s very full lot to clear after it closed at 5. The whole thing derailed our evening plans and was needlessly stressful. I’d looked into the hotel about a year earlier and remembered it had a lot behind the building if you requested a space when booking. There was no way to note that on our reservation. I later found out the reservation was made through a third-party company, not the hotel, and suspect they slipped in an extra $25 charge for cancellation protection or something. They couldn’t answer my parking question, so I contacted someone at the hotel. She assured me we could park on the street overnight and said the tire shop behind the hotel let guests use its lot on weekends after closing. She made street parking sound easy. When we couldn’t find a spot, we called from the car and spoke to Max. He said there was a 10-minute space behind the hotel for check-in, but that was occupied too. We asked for our money back and went home. Later, Max texted to say they couldn’t refund us because we canceled the same day. I’d make sure to book directly with the hotel, since there seem to be several sites posing as theirs for reservations. Also plan to park a couple of blocks away, carry your luggage and belongings to the hotel, and hope your car is safe overnight.

Right in the heart of Cedar Falls, this is a lovely historic hotel. The decor suits the building’s age, and our room was cozy, quiet, and clean. Staff were excellent and quick to respond to what we needed. I highly recommend it.

We were there for UNI Homecoming, and the location worked really well: plenty of good food nearby and only a two-block walk to the parade. The staff were lovely and took care of whatever we needed. The hotel is the second oldest, longest-running hotel in the US, so it’s old and a bit tired, but still lovely. They have live music on weekends, though we checked out Saturday and missed it. I’m sure it’s classy and enjoyable.

The Black Hawk Hotel is beautiful, with a lot of history that was fascinating to learn about. The employees and service were wonderful. Juan was especially personable and easy to talk with.