The Highlander Hotel Hotels in Iowa City – GayOut Guide
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The Highlander Hotel

Google (803) 4.4
Tripadvisor (231) 4.6
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What reviewers say

Many visitors praise the Highlander Hotel for its friendly staff, enjoyable pool and courtyard, and live music. However, some guests have noted that the hotel appears dated and in need of upkeep, with one reviewer mentioning a lack of advertised breakfast options and another experiencing issues with credit card processing.

90
/ 100
GayOut Score
G4.4 🦉4.6
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Address
2525 Highlander Pl, Iowa City, IA 52245, USA
📞
Phone
(319) 302-9028
🌐
Website
www.highlanderhotel.us

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About this place The Highlander Hotel

The Highlander Hotel is a renovated mid-century hotel at 2525 Highlander Pl, off I-80 on the northern edge of Iowa City. It is a gay-friendly mainstream hotel, not a gay venue. The rooms and suites have a retro look, and the hotel has an indoor pool, a gym and a vinyl library with record players you can borrow for your room. It rates 4.4 from about 800 reviews. You will need a car or rideshare: downtown Iowa City and the University of Iowa campus are about ten minutes' drive. Rooms are scarce and pricier on Hawkeyes game weekends and graduation.

Features

Gay-friendly (straight venue) Card payments accepted Reservation required WiFi Year-round Pool Gym Gay-friendly (straight venue) Air conditioning

Insider Tips

Community Reviews

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Google Reviews

Verified by Google
4.4
★★★★★
803 reviews

Based on 803 Google reviews.

Naylan Aimee Lopez Cruz
Naylan Aimee Lopez Cruz Jun 2026
★★★★★

I loved it...every time I'm in that area I'll definitely stay there...for me everything was 100/10, I highly recommend it 👌🏻👌🏻

Sarah Jones
Sarah Jones Jun 2026
★☆☆☆☆

There was 1 employee on staff on Sunday evening and Monday morning. The complimentary breakfast was supposed to be coffee, eggs, bacon or sausage, biscuits and gravy, French toast, pastries and yogurt however the only thing available was yogurt and a premade breakfast sandwich. When asking the front desk about this the response was that he was the only staff member and breakfast varies based on who and what they have available. Lots of things at this location are advertised on the website when booking that are no actually available such as the adult swim area (really just means one hour in the evening the pool is only open to the adults), there is no bar in the pool area as advertised, half the arcade games do not work, the restaurant isn’t open all the time making room service unavailable a lot of the time, etc. The entire time we have been here they have not had more than 1 staff member here at once. This place is highly overpriced for what is actually being given.

Annette Lee
Annette Lee Jun 2026
★★★★★
Tom Anderson
Tom Anderson Jun 2026
★★★★★

Great experience, friendly, helpful staff, great pool and courtyard. Looking foreword to staying there again!

Marie dahlsten
Marie dahlsten May 2026
★☆☆☆☆

It looks nothing like the picture on the website we pulled up and wasn't even sure if it was open cause it looked abandoned and hasn't had any upkeep in a very long time we decided to cancel our stay and went to a different hotel as we didn't want to fafo ..

tina crawford
tina crawford May 2026
★★★★★
Aaron Cz
Aaron Cz May 2026
★★★★☆

A fine hotel, I'd stay again. Good spot off the highway, but kind of quiet area (not much else nearby/walkable). It's an older building that's been renovated, shows it age in some spots. Parking lot is a bit rough in spots. No issues with the staff, very friendly on brief encounter at check-in, other than issues with credit card processing. Check-out was easy via text. Room was fine, no notes.

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Last updated on 22 October 2026

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