Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham Ames

Room was good and close to the ISU campus where we were spending our evenings at hockey games. Also just a short drive to Historic Downtown Ames for post-game activities. Downside was primarily the difficulty in communication with site staff, and, not feeling welcome at this facility.

This is not a fancy hotel, but it’s very clean, affordable rates, and nice employees. For us it was a quick stop needing a place to sleep. It was quiet and comfortable and provided breakfast in the morning.

Travelers beware. The only good thing about staying here was the location, and that's not saying much due to the fact that there are multiple other hotels in the immediate area. Here is a timeline of the events of staying here. -We checked in at 430pm on Sunday. An hour and a half past check in time. We went to our room only to find the first of many issues. The room was uncleaned. I'm not talking some cobwebs that were undusted. I mean the entire room was uncleaned from the last guests who stayed in there. Dirty bedding on the floor, trash not taken out, poop on the toilet, someone's open half used travel sized toothpaste, dirty shower, you get the point. -We went back to the desk to let them know, thinking that this must just be fluke and they'll get us a new room and it'll be all fine! Mistakes happen! We were wrong. Very. Very. Wrong. -We did get moved to a new room, that's fine. We lightly checked the room and had to get on with our plans to see family. When we got back to the room, we noticed weird moldy spots along the bottom of the exterior of the bathtub- whatever I guess we can move past that. Then we tried to use the tv which did not load anything. That's fine, we have our phones and can just stream something there. Then we went to get into bed only to find blood(and other mysterious things) stained bedding. Every layer that we peeled back, we only found more. Now to give some context, that's a top sheet/comforter/bottom sheet/fitted sheet/mattress pad- all of which were stained. Then we got the mattress cover which was full of hair. Like. Human head hair. I am genuinely still confused as to how that much human hair gets onto that under all of the other things. That was my breaking point. (Room 126) -We went to the front desk once again to let the lady there know what was going on. She was passive aggressive about it. We showed her the room and the issues with the tv(BTW her solution to that was just watch channel 8- because that one worked). She moved us to another room which she watched us inspect before saying it was okay to be moved to. (Room 112) One of the beds(near window) had stains on the comforter, so we checked the other bed and while pulling back the bedding on it, she made a comment about us pulling back the bedding and checking. Saying "They only deep clean rooms once a month because they don't have time to, so if you're going that far under the bedding you'll find hair". WHAT. So we asked her when the last time there was a deep clean done on this room. Her response was "this month" and when we said something about it only being the 4th of January, she back tracked and said "last month some time". We made peace with the lowest part of the bed having a few hairs on it. The first bed in the room was kind of okay. We tested the tv in this room with her, which she told us to just use channel 8 again. Maybe 1/3 of the channels listed on it actually loaded in. We ended up buying a roku and streaming onto the tv from my phones wifi hotspot. -We thought the issues would end there. But then my husband went to get breakfast from the lobby where he noticed a roach running across the breakfast counter. He saw it go under the toaster, so he lifted up the toaster only to find the roach circus and crew underneath it. They all scurried in different directions. When he let the man at the desk now, his response was "Haha, I've gotta spray!" WHAT. They clearly have an infestation with how many he saw in there. We did not eat the food after that. Throughout all of these issues, we were never told sorry but were told that it was housekeepings fault. None of the rooms have equipment that matches what is shown in online listings- all have different microwaves and fridges. I have stayed in many Microtel locations and have never had an experience this poor. For less money, I could have stayed elsewhere with less issues. One of the emergency exits was also blocked off with a piece of wood. TLDR; Blood stained bedding, unclean, roaches in the breakfast, poor tv access, unfriendly staff.

Excellent value for the money. The rooms were clean. The lobby was warm and welcoming. The staff were very kind and helpful. And the breakfast was decent for how inexpensive it is to stay there.

Update: 2025 still a great stay ! 2024: on my annual trip to Iowa. Great stay, wonderful new Manager. Room quality was excellent. Ty ❤️ On a business trip. I really loved my stay. Hotel was super clean and comfy. My stay price was amazing. Very safe and clean area as well. This is my annual trip so I definitely will be back again. Ty !

If I could give zero stars I would! This was the worst hotel I have ever stayed in and I travel alot. The staff was incredibly rude and if that wasn’t enough the room smelt like cigarettes or wet towels or something. We woke up to ants covering everything including in our bed and as we got up to get out of thr disgusting room we looked on the side of the bed and there was throw up or something on the sheets…not from us! I’m horrified. I then asked for a refund and the front desk refused saying I needed to wait until the owner comes back from being out of the country. Do Not Go There!!!!!

Upon checking into my room, exhausted from attending my son's football game, I noticed a stain on the ceiling. I woke up the next morning and realized it was mold. There was also mold in the bathroom. My face was puffy from mold exposure and the carpet was also damp. This was not what I expected and unfortunately I have no other choice for my future reservations as there is little to no availability. I am hoping my next stay is better and that Microtel rectifies the situation.

A great choice for the price

Would recommend.

This place is gross. We had 4 rooms, and 3 of the 4 smelled so bad. They were clearly previous smoking rooms converted to non. The rooms were damp and made the smell worse. No screen on the window and we woke up to ants crawling on the windowsill and all over the seat in front of the window. We couldn't check out soon enough. Hallways have major stains on the carpets and the buildup of black dirt in the elevator cracks and corners of the bathroom floors is disgusting. Not sure how this place has ever passed inspection by Wyndham.

Ok budget place to stay overall. Reasonable price