Ames's BEST Kept Secret: Econo Lodge Ames (IA) Review!
Okay, buckle up buttercups, because we're diving headfirst into the… well, let's just call it the vibrant world of the Econo Lodge Ames, Iowa. Let's get real: this ain't the Ritz. But is it… America's Best Kept Secret? Well, that's a bold claim. But hey, for the price, and with some caveats, maybe… maybe it's almost true. Let's unravel this little gem, shall we? And, I'm not pulling any punches, people. This is the unvarnished truth.
SEO & The Good Stuff (And the Not-So-Good)
First, the formalities. We’re talking about a budget hotel in, you guessed it, Ames, Iowa. That means… think practicality, not posh. Right away, we need to hit those keywords, so here we go: Econo Lodge Ames (IA) Review, Budget Hotel Ames, Ames Hotels, Accessible Hotels Ames, Free Wi-Fi Ames, Pet-Friendly Hotels Ames, Clean Hotels Ames. Ding ding ding! We've got the SEO base covered.
Accessibility: A Mixed Bag for Some
- Accessibility: This is important. Does the Econo Lodge Ames accommodate everyone? Well, the website says they've got Facilities for disabled guests. But I didn’t specifically experience this, so I can't personally vouch for it. I’d call ahead and double-check your specific needs. Wheelchair accessible: I can say that the exterior seemed relatively flat, but again, call ahead to confirm the specific room and ramp situation.
- Elevator: They DO have an Elevator, which is crucial for anyone not wanting to climb stairs.
The Internet Zone (Because, Duh)
- Internet Access: Okay, this is important because the world revolves around being connected! Good news! Free Wi-Fi in all rooms! Praise be! And it was… mostly reliable during my stay.
- Internet: Didn't experience any major drop-outs.
- Internet [LAN]: Not sure if this is actually there, but I didn’t need it.
- Internet Services: Didn't see any other specific internet services offered, like printing.
- Wi-Fi in public areas: Yep, the lobby Wi-Fi seemed strong, too.
Things To Do… Not Really, Inside This Hotel
Okay, let's be honest. The amenities here aren't about bells and whistles.
- Ways to relax: There's not a ton of options here. You can watch TV, read a book, or… well, that's about it.
- Body scrub, Body wrap, Fitness center, Foot bath, Gym/fitness, Massage, Pool with view, Sauna, Spa, Spa/sauna, Steamroom, Swimming pool, Swimming pool [outdoor]: Nope, nope, nope, and triple nope. There is a very basic Swimming pool, but it's your standard, not-fancy-but-refreshing kind. Don't expect any poolside cabanas.
- However, you are in Ames. Which is a college town. And Iowa State University is nearby. So, you know, there's a world of things… outside the hotel.
Cleanliness and Safety: Keeping It Real (And Germ-Free… hopefully)
Alright, let's get to the important stuff during this pandemic weirdness-scape we live in:
- Anti-viral cleaning products: The website claims they use these. I can't prove it, but I didn't see anything that made me think they weren’t trying.
- Breakfast in room: Nope.
- Breakfast takeaway service: Nope.
- Cashless payment service: Yes, thank goodness for the age of technology! I used a credit card.
- Daily disinfection in common areas: I'm taking their word for it! Everything looked clean, but… I can't be 100% sure.
- Doctor/nurse on call: Never needed it, so I can't say.
- First aid kit: Probably somewhere!
- Hand sanitizer: Available in the lobby, I saw it in the lobby, which is a huge plus.
- Hot water linen and laundry washing: Well yes, obviously.
- Hygiene certification: Didn’t see one.
- Individually-wrapped food options: Not a factor.
- Physical distancing of at least 1 meter: They try. But it's up to you to maintain your distance.
- Professional-grade sanitizing services: Again, take their word for it.
- Room sanitization opt-out available: Okay, good.
- Rooms sanitized between stays: Yes, they claim they do this.
- Safe dining setup: No dining.
- Sanitized kitchen and tableware items: Didn't see a kitchen or tableware.
- Shared stationery removed: I assume this is a given… because who uses those anymore?
- Staff trained in safety protocol: Staff seemed pleasant and polite. Seemed like they knew what they were doing.
- Sterilizing equipment: Maybe? Who knows!
- Shared stationery removed: No stationery to be seen.
Dining, Drinking, and Snacking: Mostly a DIY Affair
Let’s be honest. Don’t come here expecting gourmand dining.
- A la carte in restaurant, Alternative meal arrangement, Asian breakfast, Asian cuisine in restaurant, Bar, Bottle of water, Breakfast [buffet], Breakfast service, Buffet in restaurant, Coffee/tea in restaurant, Coffee shop, Desserts in restaurant, Happy hour, International cuisine in restaurant, Poolside bar, Restaurants, Room service [24-hour], Salad in restaurant, Snack bar, Soup in restaurant, Vegetarian restaurant, Western breakfast, Western cuisine in restaurant: No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No. In other words, prepare to fend for yourself. There’s a very basic continental breakfast. Think pre-packaged pastries, some fruit, and coffee/tea. It does the job, but don't expect to be blown away.
- Room service [24-hour]: Nope.
- However, there are plenty of restaurants nearby. And Ames has a good number of options.
Services and Conveniences: Efficiency is Key
- Air conditioning in public area: Yes.
- Audio-visual equipment for special events: Nope
- Business facilities: Pretty basic.
- Cash withdrawal: No (unless you count the ATM down the street)
- Concierge: Nope.
- Contactless check-in/out: They have it.
- Convenience store: Didn’t see one in the hotel.
- Currency exchange: Nope.
- Daily housekeeping: Yes, yay.
- Doorman: Nope.
- Dry cleaning: Nope.
- Elevator: Yes.
- Essential condiments: Bring your own!
- Facilities for disabled guests: See above.
- Food delivery: Potentially! Check out food delivery services.
- Gift/souvenir shop: Nope.
- Indoor venue for special events, Outdoor venue for special events: Nope.
- Invoice provided: Yes.
- Ironing service: Yes, in-room.
- Laundry service: Yes, but not sure how efficient it is.
- Luggage storage: Yes.
- Meeting/banquet facilities, Meetings, Meeting stationery: Nope.
- On-site event hosting: Not really.
- Projector/LED display: Unlikely.
- Safety deposit boxes: In the room.
- Seminars: Doubtful.
- Shrine: Nope.
- Smoking area: Yes, outside.
- Terrace: Nope.
- Wi-Fi for special events: Nope.
- Xerox/fax in business center: No.
For the Kids (and the Kid in You)
- Babysitting service: Nope.
- Family/child friendly: Yes, it's kid-friendly.
- Kids facilities, Kids meal: Nope.
- However, Ames is a good place for kids. And cheap.
Access, Security, and Other Things
- CCTV in common areas, CCTV outside property: Yes, security.
- Check-in/out [express], Check-in/out [private]: Express is the best experience here.
- Couple's room: Yes, you could.
- Exterior corridor: Yes.
- Fire extinguisher: Yes; good!
- Front desk [24-hour]: Yes, important!
- Hotel chain: Yes.
- Non-smoking rooms: Yes.
- Pets allowed: Check with the hotel directly! Policies can change
Okay, buckle up buttercup, because this isn't your grandma's itinerary. We're diving headfirst into the potential glorious, and inevitable, chaos of a trip to Ames, Iowa – specifically, the ahem "charming" Econo Lodge. Here we go, raw and unfiltered:
Econo Lodge Ames: The Amesventure (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Continental Breakfast)
Day 1: Arrival and The Great Bed Bug Anxiety
- 1:00 PM: Arrive at the Des Moines International Airport (DSM). Already late because, of course, the flight was delayed. Spent the entire flight stressing about potential bed bugs. It's the new travel anxiety, apparently. I practically ironed my carry-on in the overhead bin. Airport coffee, predictably, tasted like regret.
- 2:30 PM: Pick up the rental car. Prayed it wasn't a lemon. (It wasn't…but the radio kept cutting out, which is probably a sign of cosmic displeasure with something.)
- 3:30 PM: Arrive, finally, at the Econo Lodge in Ames. The exterior…well, let’s just say it had a certain “lived-in” charm. (Read: slightly dilapidated). Check-in was fine, the person behind the counter was a bit too happy if you ask me. Makes you wonder.
- 3:45 PM: The Room. Deep Breath. Okay, not horrifying. Basic, yes. The floral bedspread… questionable. Immediately launched a room inspection for tiny, blood-sucking vampires. I used the flashlight on my phone, the one that's permanently angled and always falls out of your hand. Zero bugs detected. Victory! Small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
- 4:00 PM-5:00 PM: Settle in. Unpack. (Mostly. The suitcase is a disaster zone, let’s be real). Contemplate the age of the TV. Is that a tube? Anyway, time to watch some trash TV and de-stress. (Said trash TV may or may not have been a rerun of a show I despise, but that's what happens when you're tired and the remote is complicated.)
- 6:00 PM: Dinner at a local diner. Found “The Cafe.” It smelled like heaven. I had a giant burger and fries. In this small town, it felt like the only option, honestly. My waiter seemed to have been through it, and even just seeing him made me feel like a terrible human being for getting angry at not having the right shampoo in the shower earlier.
- 7:30 PM: Walk around in the dark, by myself. I saw some streetlights, but it was dark. Found a park; that was nice.
- 8:45 PM: Back to the room, and into bed. Wrote in my journal. Thinking about how I miss my partner.
- 9:00 PM: Reading. Trying to relax. The anxiety about the bedbugs comes back. It's a cycle.
- 10:00 PM: Attempted sleep. Failed. Kept hearing… things. Like, the building settling? Or ghosts? Definitely the ghosts. (Or maybe just the AC unit.)
Day 2: Iowa State University and the Mystery of the Missing Coffee
- 7:00 AM: The Continental Breakfast. THIS is where the real adventure begins. Woke up at 7, eager for that sacred coffee. Downstairs I go. Now here's an anecdote: the coffee machine was broken. The horror! The humanity! I was close to tears. Luckily, there was instant coffee. Instant coffee, in the 21st century. I almost wept with joy. So I made some instant, and it tasted like… instant coffee. (But I drank it anyway. Desperate times).
- 7:30 AM: Scrolled through the news a while. Another coffee. Today's objective, Iowa State University, because, hey, why not?
- 9:00 AM: Actual trip to the campus of Iowa State University. The campus is beautiful. The buildings are old and stately. But I am not a college student anymore, so I feel very, very old. Maybe the coffee was a bad choice.
- 9:30 AM: I wandered through the main buildings, feeling like some kind of ghost. The architecture is interesting. I saw a small pond with ducks. Cute.
- 11:00 AM: Went to the University Bookstore. I did not buy anything. Too many sweaters.
- 12:00 PM: Lunch at a random "food truck" (it was a permanent structure, but the sign said "food truck"). Decent. I ordered way too much food. And the coffee was terrible. I swear, there's a coffee conspiracy in Ames.
- 1:00 PM: Visit a building. The art was so-so. Nothing I couldn't make at home.
- 3:00 PM: Back to the Room. The bed is great. I'm starting to like it.
- THE GREAT BED BUG ANXIETY REVISITED
- 4:00 PM: Nap! The only thing that the Econo Lodge does right.
- 6:00 PM: Dinner. Attempted to find a restaurant, but it was too late to pick. Ended up with something from the gas station. It was pretty bad. I ended up throwing it away and eating the snacks I got at the bookstore.
- 7:00 PM: Bed, I'm getting tired of this. I think tomorrow I will get out of town.
Day 3: Escape and a Slightly Sad Farewell to Ames
- 7:00 AM: Breakfast! Same instant coffee. Sigh.
- 8:00 AM: Attempted to check out and leave. The doors lock from the outside. I got locked inside the lobby for 30 minutes.
- 8:30 AM: Finally, I'm able to check out. Time to go.
- 9:00 AM: Hit the road. Goodbye, Ames. You were…certainly an experience. The Econo Lodge, in particular, was a character. Quirky, flawed, but also… kind of memorable.
- 9:30 AM: I'm already thinking about my next adventure. Maybe I'll check to make sure a bed is bedbug free before making a reservation, but probably not.
- 10:00 AM: Gone.
And that's it! The documented chaos. Remember: this is just a suggestion, a guideline. Stuff will go wrong. You'll get lost, you'll eat mediocre food, and maybe (like DEFINITELY) you'll panic over bed bugs. That's part of the fun, right? Happy travels! (And may your coffee always be hot, even if it's instant.)
Lexington Getaway: Unwind at Country Inn & Suites!
Econo Lodge Ames: They Keep Secrets… But Should They? (An Honest Review, Probably)
Okay, spill it! What *is* the "BEST Kept Secret" everyone's talking about? Is it the free continental breakfast or is it… something *else*?
Alright, alright, settle down. The "secret"... well, it *might* be that nobody *expects* much from an Econo Lodge. So, when it's… *slightly* less terrible than expected, boom! "Best Kept Secret." Honestly, I think the real secret is how they get away with it. Seriously, the bar is set subterranean. But, sometimes, just sometimes, it scrapes the bottom of the okay-ish barrel. The breakfast is your standard, predictable hotel fare - stale bagels you could probably use to tile a small room, a waffle maker that's seen better days (and probably made a lot of questionable breakfasts), and those little yogurt cups that always feel a little… judgy. But hey, it's *free*. And sometimes... sometimes that's enough, right?
Let’s talk about the rooms. Are we talking Motel 6 vibes, or something slightly more… dignified? Like, can you breathe in them without developing a fear of dust mites?
Okay, so dignity isn’t exactly the keyword here. Think… experienced. Think *lived in*. I wouldn’t say it’s a straight-up biohazard, but let's just say my allergies were… *challenged*. My first thought when I walked in was, "Wow. They *really* like floral patterns." The carpet? Oh, the carpet. I'm pretty sure it's the same carpet that carpeted the lobby when the hotel opened during the Clinton administration. And the… smell. It’s a mix of cleaning product, old air, and a faint whisper of… *something else*. I'm not sure what. I chose to not ask. I'm pretty sure I saw a rogue dust bunny the size of a small dog lurking in the corner. But, on the plus side, the bed... was actually reasonably comfortable. Unexpected, but welcomed.
The bathroom? Don’t even get me *started*. Is it mold, mildew, or just a general sense of "I’m not sure I want to touch anything"?
The bathroom… oh, the *bathroom*. This is where the Econo Lodge experience truly shines, if by "shines" you mean "radiates a persistent, low-level anxiety." Look, the shower *worked*. That's a win, right? But the grout… the grout was a tapestry of questionable colors and textures. I genuinely considered bringing my own bleach and a toothbrush just to feel like I was contributing to humanity. And the lighting? Dim. Like, "I'm pretty sure a vampire could survive in here" dim. I wouldn’t recommend shaving in there; you'd likely emerge looking like a Picasso painting. Then again, a good hot shower is always nice after a long day in the car. Even if it looked like the shower was slowly taking over the bathroom.
Let's get real. Is the location actually, well, *convenient*? Or are we talking about a place that’s closer to a cornfield than the actual city of Ames? Because as someone who doesn't want to spend too much time on the road, this matters.
Alright, this is the one area where Econo Lodge Ames actually delivers. I mean, it's *in* Ames. Not *way* out, but not exactly *in* the thick of things. It's a reasonable drive to most places. You're not going to spend the entire day trying to find your way through rural Iowa. Honestly, the location is probably the best part, which is good because it's the only thing they truly *can* control. Close enough to things, far enough from… *everything else*.
About that free continental breakfast. Anything noteworthy, or am I better off hitting up a diner? I'm a breakfast person you see.
Oh, the breakfast. It's a battle. A daily struggle between your hunger and your sanity. You *could* survive on the lukewarm coffee and the questionable pastries, or you could venture out. My advice? Hit the diner. Seriously. My personal experience? The coffee was weak, the bagels were stale, and the "fruit" was some sort of canned concoction that looked vaguely suspicious. But hey, free is free. So, I ate it. And survived. Barely. But remember... that pancake machine? Oh yeah, the pancake machine. That was something else entirely. Imagine a robot designed to make pancakes, but it's powered by pure existential dread. The pancakes emerged as perfectly round discs... that tasted... well, like existential dread. Maybe skip the pancakes.
Okay, so... what's the *best* part about staying here? Can we even find one?
Look, the *best* part? Probably the price. Let's be honest, you're not going to the Econo Lodge for luxury. You're going for affordability. Sometimes, you just need a place to crash for the night, and you don't want to break the bank. And, on that front, it delivers. The staff? They seem generally nice enough. They're probably used to dealing with… well, *us*. They're probably the real "best kept secret." Put up with us, and maybe that gets them a free bagel... somehow.
Worst part? The obvious suspects or something unexpected that haunts your dreams now?
The worst part... It's a tie between the carpet and the lingering feeling you *might* be sleeping in a room where something vaguely unsettling has happened. Like, maybe a small, polite ghost just wandered the halls. Really, the carpet. The carpet is a menace. And also the feeling that maybe the "clean" sheets were truly truly *clean*. Oh, and the noise! I swear, I think I could hear the plumbing from three rooms over. And then there's that distinct smell wafting in from somewhere that was somewhere in between "old socks," and "slightly burnt toast." So yeah, probably the carpet, the noise, and the smell. But when you're on a budget... one must suffer.
Would you recommend it? Be honest! What's the actual verdict?
Okay. The verdict. Look... If you *absolutely* need a cheap place to stay in Ames and you are willing to sacrifice your standards of cleanliness, comfort, and sanity, then yes. Go for it. If you're expecting a spa retreat or a luxurious getaway, then *absolutely not*. You'll be disappointed. Deeply. But, you know, sometimes you just need a place to sleep, and the Econo Lodge does that. It's not glamorous. It's not perfect. It is... an experience. Maybe you'll laugh about it later? I'm hoping to. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go scrub myself with bleach. And probably cry a little.
