Ramada by Wyndham Sioux City

The discounted last-minute rate was good, but I wish we'd read the reviews and taken photos. Room 223 was filthy. I wiped down the whole place, and my wipes picked up a lot of dirt and grime. The bedding was stained, the drawers were dirty, the left light fixture didn't work, and dirt was packed between the phone buttons. Something had exploded in the fridge and frozen over, and there was water inside the ironing equipment. The toilet barely flushed. We could hear the neighbors and a barking dog, the pool was out of order, and the TV had to be at full volume to hear it. The AC broke our first night, and the window wouldn't stay open unless we propped it up. Maintenance man Glenn was the bright spot. He was kind and fixed the AC quickly, very late at night. We appreciated how promptly he looked after us.

I didn't feel comfortable touching anything in the room. The beds had just two thin sheets and no blanket like the ones shown in the pictures, and the scratched mirror and dirty-looking bathtub didn't help. The hallway smelled of cigarette smoke. I didn't see an elevator, though I'm not sure whether the hotel has one. I watched an elderly woman struggle up the stairs, and she was complaining about the smell too. If you're traveling with kids, I'd avoid this hotel and spend extra for a decent night's rest.

The ceiling over the bathroom toilet had been patched and still dripped now and then. When I told the front desk, I had to push to get another room, and they offered one reluctantly. The desk person called maintenance, but the maintenance guy apparently never came. The room itself was in awful shape, with big clumps of dust hanging off the wall, a disastrous-looking tub, and a faucet that kept dripping. The lobby couch had a huge gash in it too. Clearly upkeep isn't a priority. This place is gross and needs a major overhaul or to be torn down.

The women I dealt with this weekend were friendly, pleasant, and professional. They're the reason this gets one star. The hotel itself deserves none. The room was old, the mattress lumpy, and the bathroom was about the size of a closet. The toilet tank wouldn't refill unless I took off the lid and pushed the float down. The shower was ridiculous: hot water for a few minutes, then it turned ice cold, with no warm setting. Even the free breakfast was a joke. I came expecting a nice RAMADA, and it just wasn't.