Hotel Lotus Kansas City Merriam

The room was clean and breakfast was good during our two-night stay. The problem was the heat: the hotel controls it, and there’s no way to turn it off or switch to cooling. It stayed at 83 all day, even with the window open, which was really uncomfortable. I wouldn’t stay here in winter again.

The lobby smell is horrid, it’s practically burned into my nostrils. The elevator felt like a death trap; we used it once, then walked the four flights of stairs for the rest of the stay. There were stains on the sheets, hair on the supposedly clean towels, and hair in the tub. The air conditioning in our room didn’t work, and we heard other guests saying theirs was broken too. One of the five worst hotels I’ve stayed in. Wouldn’t recommend it.

The location worked well for my family because it’s very close to IKEA. The rooms and hallways were clean and had what we needed. When we arrived, staff were using industrial dryers on the hallway carpets because they’d recently shampooed them. They explained they wanted to keep guests from getting damp socks if they walked out of their rooms that way, which I thought was considerate. Service was good overall. The only hiccup was that the front desk attendant didn’t know how to use the computer I wanted to print from. He said he was new and hadn’t been trained on it yet, but offered to have me wait for the next scheduled attendant to help.

I’m usually a big chain hotel snob, so I wasn’t sure about staying here at first, but I loved it. The staff were great from the start, and the lobby and hallways smelled really clean. You can see they’re working on updates, and it didn’t take away from the stay. The bed and pillows were comfy, with a couple extra pillows, and the room temperature control was easy to use and responded quickly. Shower pressure was above average. After a long trip, the pool and hot tub felt great. Breakfast was delicious, and I got way too excited about the pancake maker. Waving my hand and getting fresh pancakes made me feel like a kid again. It was easy to get around from here, and we’ll be back next time we’re in town.