Gateway Hotel and Conference Center at Iowa State University

9.0

Wonderful

932 Guest reviews

9.0

Wonderful

932 Verified Reviews

Read all reviews

Cleanliness9.2/10

Service9.2/10

Comfort9.2/10

Condition8.8/10

Amenities8.8/10

Credit card machine down so had to leave out numbers on paper, no receipt, rude staff, pool shut down for kids but re-opened for adults under a lie about it being broken... just ridiculous issues...

Disappointing stay for the money we paid

In Ames for our child’s youth basketball state tournament. This is something we look forward to every year. We get to the hotel and all card readers were down and the front staff was not pleasant and rude. After we get checked in they then tell us the pool is out of order when an hour earlier other people on our team had been swimming with no issues. We went to the front desk to get some cups for our sodas and we were told we only could have 5 plastic cups. We then congregated in the pool area with our team and were told we had to be out of there at 10:00 because it was adult swim time. The guy was unpleasant especially when the pool was out of service anyway. The card reader on our door did not always work to get in our room, at one time we stiff their for 10 minutes before it took our card. Then pulled down the comforter to find black hairs on the pillow. Just a really bad experience at a hotel we have had really good luck with in the past. Disappointing service created a really bad atmosphere for our team. Especially the price we paid to stay and have no amenities.

This is not entirely a reflection on the property but I feel it is still within the hotel’s responsibility to all guests; a large number of families for sports teams were staying at the same time. When we arrived, the families had taken over the lobby and some kids tried to sell my husband some pizza slices while we were checking in. Our room had kids running up and down the hall yelling. I called the front desk after 10pm and they were very responsive, said they would do a walk through. I think they tried. Noise went on until closer to 11 pm when we fell asleep with tv on to drown out the noise. Not the hotel’s fault but still sorta ruined our stay.

Pool was not operational and have kids main reason for staying at this location. Check in was done by paper. Rooms weren’t ready until after 4

There was a ton of kids running around and being very chaotic and disruptive. I did not matter where my wife and I went. Their parents did nothing to reign in their kids and let their kids use the hotel as their personal gym. I wish the hotel staff were better able or allowed to remove guests who couldn't control their kids and were letting them roam in packs of 12-15 kids.

Even though they the system was down and had no key passes or credit card use the property did a pretty amazing job keeping things running fairly smooth

Problems at the Gateway

The room was way to dark! Poor lighting all around. Never did figure out how to use the silly shower hardware either! Who approves this stuff. Arrived and "system" was down. No key cards available. It happens?

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Comfortable and great location

The hotels computer system was down and they were unable to make keys. Staff were very accommodating to escort guests to their rooms and let us in. Great location for our visit to Iowa state. We will stay here again.

Was okay but not perfect

I arrived before check in, and they were able to get me a room.

Convenient location off freeway. Nice rooms with space to work between meetings.

The Gateway Hotel was an excellent place to stay to attend events at Iowa State University. Attending basketball games at Hilton Coliseum were easy to access with less than a 2 mile drive to the game. Hotel rooms were recently updated and included plenty of storage for our belongings, lights that provide various options, and wonderful beds. Decor in the lobby, restaurant, and conference center need updating, but we were told that these updates would be coming shortly.

Holiday Party

My holiday party was held here, the room was very nice, clean and recently updated. The breakfast buffet was very good also.

Quiet. Minutes from my daughter's dorm at Iowa State

None

Love

Nice hotel

Had a great time. Quick overnight.

I love this property for the proximity to Iowa State. The restaurant is very good and the breakfast provided was excellent. The swimming pool and exercise areas need updated. A great start would be go add full size towels in the swim area. Pillows are also really hard - adding some soft pillows would help the rooms.

Excellent access to Iowa State University.

Updated rooms and great hotel in college town

The room was nicely decorated. Very clean!! Close to campus!

Our family has CB een coming to this property for years!love the renovations they made but the charges for our little pup has now gone up

Repeat customers

We had a nice stay on a cold January weekend. Great location so we’ve stayed many times. Love the updated room decor and walk in shower. Front desk was very friendly. The only thing is my husband and I only received 1 daily breakfast buffet so he ate and I didn’t.

The toilet wouldn't flush. Had to sit all night and finally the water would go down by morning when we tried again.

I liked how clean and convenient the hotel was. The staff was friendly. I also appreciated the restaurant vouchers. The pool and jacuzzi area was clean and towels stocked. Lastly, I loved the University decor.

Great but no longer pet friendly.

We've always liked the Gateway and have stayed there regularly for decades. However, the recently added charge for pets per night is excessive and makes the place no longer "pet friendly" as advertised on Hotels.com. They would do well to go back to their old pet policy, which didn't charge extra. I'm sure they are losing repeat customers like us with the new policy.

Always clean, comfortable and reasonable cost

Reasonable prices

Return customers to this hotel. Continue to be very pleased with service, facilities, pool, and general ambience. Will continue to frequent this hotel. Many thanks!

The recent upgrade to the facility looks great. I would suggest that the hotel consider doing a better job maintaining sidewalks and parking lots as during our recent visit there was an ice storm. The hotel did not do much to apply salt to the sidewalks and parking lots. If a guest had fallen, the hotel would be fully liable for any injuries.

Unfortunately the hot tub was not working :( which was a big draw to the reservation but everything else was great!

Good customer service is welcoming. Food & Bar good.

Breakfast, room, products in bathroom, friendly staff. Mood lighting and room layout.

Great staff!

Location to ISU

It was close to Iowa State Stadium

Iowa All Star Orchestra

Nice hotel and room. The two bartenders in the Iowa Stater were fantastic!.Had breakfast in the same facility, not so good.

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Nice

We liked that we can eat and drink on the premises, but the breakfast buffet was just an average continental breakfast one would get free at another hotel, but it was very expensive. And the hottub was not working, pool room was cold.

Nice location, restaurant and very clean.

Close to ISU campus...bar inside hotel was excellent along with good breakfast buffet

Easy in and out for a quick stay. Lovely

Very Nice room at a very reasonable rate. I will definitely stay here again. Great breakfast was included.

Rooms large and appeared recently remodeled. Front desk helpful. Nice to have a bar and restaurant on-site. Plenty of parking, helping us avoid the traffic from the football game.

The only this we did not care for was the sliding bathroom barn door. Would like a full closing door for privacy.

Great hotel and location, but it would be nice to have a meal for two people instead of just one

Great stay close to IA state campus

Always been a great stay here whenever I'm in Ames. Hotel is always very clean and the staff have always been extremely friendly and helpful. Also close to IA State campus is a huge bonus.

Well cared for. Very nice room and bathroom. Clean. Very nice helpful staff. I will return.

Great place to stay very friendly staff

Great place to stay when in town for an Iowa State game!

Clean and quiet. Nicely remodeled room. Close to campus activities.

Convenient, quiet and nice amenities

Clean and easy access

This was our first stay at the Gateway and we loved it!

EV charging

Convinient and close to ISU. Could use friendlier staff. Breakfast is only good for one person! Pretty pricey for a limited item on breakfast menu! Good stay overall.

Clean and safe location with great staff

Everything was great...just wish there was a continental breakfast i stead of a pay restaurant.

The pillows are too small.

Love staying here every time!

I love staying at this hotel, it is always clean with friendly staff.

Good stay

The property seemed to be updated which was really nice. Breakfast was underwhelming at best.

This is my regular place to stay in Ames. This time I was in the Executive Section. The door to the parking lot had a security device (that would require the use of the room key) however it was not operational. This was made known to the staff. Breakfast was short staffed and slow; on the second day the venting system wasn't operational thus reducing menu choices. On balance good place to stay.

Great hotel! Excellent front desk service. Quiet! Pool was clean and Jacuzzi was nice.

Didn't like the hard beds...some would say extra firm. Also the A/C unit could use some updating. Very loud unit turning off and on all night long. Quiet hotel, not very busy at all. When I booked the room, there were very few rooms left?

We enjoyed our stay at the Gateway and we will definitely be back. It is conveniently located close to Iowa State’s campus which makes visiting our college student easy. The staff is extremely welcoming and helpful. Highly recommend!

Great Iowa State U hotel. Wished the room floors were cleaner. The entire hotel is updated and comfortable.

Great stay!

Our room at Gateway Hotel was clean and comfortable at an excellent value. Bed was comfortable, bathroom and shower were clean and in perfect working order. A compact ironing board and iron is available for wrinkled clothes. I liked the large window in our room with view of a nearby tree. On eco-friendliness front, it was refreshing to see a property not feel like they have to keep the grass on grounds super green, in September it's okay for plants to be a bit brown. One gripe is the mounted soap dispenser in my shower was completely empty. Staff refilled it quickly, but if I would have been a tight morning time schedule it would have irked me.

Customer service people are rude!

Favorite place to stay in Ames!

It was nice

Clean

Nice place.

Rooms are very clean and modern very nice staff

walking trails around the property

Excellent

Always clean and friendly. However we didn't get our breakfast coupons so we missed out on that. The pool area ceiling needs work, peeling and needs paint

Nice

Very enjoyable.

Great staff ! Easy parking

When we checked in they said we were on the 5th floor, followed by “is that ok?” Usually I like higher floors so I said great. 7:15 am the next morning I hear someone hammering. I layed there trying to ignore it and go back to sleep but the noise was too loud . I called down to the front desk, explained what I was hearing and asked if they could hold off hammering until later. Her response was “no. I am sorry but we are having our roof repaired so I can’t tell them to stop.” I can understand needing repairs, but it is unacceptable to not warn me that it would be going on right over my room at 7am before giving me my room.

Beautiful room-very modern and well appointed. Staff was cheerful and helpful. Would definitely stay again when in Ames.

Great place. Convenient for Iowa State Wilson Hall dorm. Preferred the weekend buffet breakfast over the menu as we walked out on Monday due to long wait to be seated and then told 20 more minutes for food delivery and food on Tuesday came with overcooked potatoes and burned toast. Had a leak from the room above into our shower about 1230 am on Monday morning but desk was very responsive and gave us additional passes for breakfast.

👍

Great service room was clean and nice

I loved how new the room was. I didn't care for the bar area. it seemed old but service was ok. the bartender had to leave early so it wasn't the staff's fault, and they had to close a bit early.

The hotel is clean and staff friendly.

Pros: Our room was super clean, probably the cleanest I've ever experienced. Our room was also had updated features and simply felt comfortable. The hotel is dog friendly so we had a dog friendly room. Our room didn't feel like it had other dogs present either because very few visited prior to us or the staff are just super diligent with cleaning. The hotel and surrounding areas were clean and quiet. Other than the lady who checked us in, the staff were friendly and kind. Cons: The lady who checked us in was not warm, welcoming or friendly. She wasn't mean or unkind but her body language, facial expressions and lack of conversation made it seem like we were an inconvenience. Not at all what I expect from any customer service representative. The hotel bar-restaurant stopped serving food at 8PM which was a major bummer. This is a conference center so I assumed many people stay for business related reasons which means long days and late nights. I'd expect and hope for food until at least 10PM. DoorDash is available if you have that app so I utilized that option otherwise you have to drive a little bit to get food. We didn't use the pool but it looked basic yet clean. Overall, we would return and just adjust a few things to fit our needs.

Enjoyed our stay!

They have recently upgraded the rooms, noticeable improvement.

We stay in Gateway most of time when we go to ISU for our son but this time there were 2 terrible issues this time: 1. The aircon in the room was not cooling properly and it was producing very bad motor sound and noise and we couldn’t sleep till 3am because of that. 2. Even when we have put D Not Disturb sign outside door hanging but at 10:15am one of your staff knocked the door asking when will we leave.

Helpful staff and very clean

Great experience. Customer service is good. I love the bathroom.

The floor in their new glass enclosed showers are extremely slippery. It’s a polished stone that when wet and soapy is like standing on ice. I had to put a towel down in the shower on the floor to keep from falling.

Favorite Hotel

Love this hotel! Very friendly staff, clean and comfy rooms. Pool, hot tub and sauna are always clean and fun. Great restaurant inside as well, friendly people and great food.

Clean and friendly staff. Always have a great stay