Hilton Garden Inn Dubuque Downtown

The lobby is nice, and the hotel connects to an arcade, several restaurants, and a casino. That setup has a downside: on our visit, five teenage girls who had kept us awake also wouldn’t let anyone into the pool’s jacuzzi. The hotel is connected to the arcade and casino, so it seems children may be left unsupervised while their parents gamble. Adults coming from the casino were noisy and rude too. With the major highway nearby, there’s also plenty of road noise. If you want a quiet night’s sleep, don’t stay here. Children ran and yelled in the hallways and banged room doors while staff ignored it. A room full of unsupervised teenagers kept us awake until 1:30 am. Knocking didn’t work over the music and shouting, and our calls to the front desk went unanswered, so I had to go there in person and complain. The night clerk was rude, apparently because I interrupted her chatting with other staff. In the morning, breakfast was disappointing. We ordered omelets instead of the buffet and waited 30 minutes for a greasy egg square wrapped around some fillings. The meat and potatoes seemed to come from cold, dry buffet food. If you have to eat here, the buffet gets food to you right away. It also lets you get your own drinks instead of waiting for a server. The restaurant is understaffed even on weekdays, so expect to wait. The attached chain restaurant is open only for dinner.

The room was comfortable and clean, and the location was nice. The heater, vent, or fan made noise off and on through the night, so I let the front desk know someone should check it. Autumn was super kind and helpful when we checked in.

The rooms are comfortable and clean, and the front desk staff have taken great care of us. They’ve been amazing.

We had a reasonable rate on a Thursday, though it’s higher on weekends, and we’ll go back. The rooms are nice, with a large LG TV. You can reach Houlihans and Q casino without going outside, and there’s also a smaller bar and restaurant by the casino with good food and enjoyable staff. There’s a large game room too. Whether you gamble or not, Hilton Garden is a good choice if you want a nice room for a fair price.