Hampton by Hilton Hotels in Kaw Township

I was close to changing hotels prior to staying based on poor reviews, but decided because of the location we could deal with any issues that may have been unsatisfactory. Good thing we kept our reservations here as their wasn't anything unsatisfactory about the trip. The front desk team was very nice and quick to get more towels or anything needed. The Shower was amazing which consistently stayed hot and high water pressure for 4 of us to use back to back. The location is very convenient to all of the downtown activities. They have a shuffleboard table in the lobby that we played often. We went to the PS Speakeasy in the basement of the hotel that was nice. The Restaurant located on site was easy to get drinks at. Valet parking is $30-$35, but we self parked at the garage next door for $18 and easy to get to. The only comment I would make is I wish they had a pantry as we had $30 F&B credit per day, but did not get to use a days worth based on our flight schedule, it would have been nice to use it.

The check in was very good, an agent with a spontaneous smile assigned us a very quiet room with a beautiful view. The super clean room, with everything you need, excellent bed, towels, amenities, we didn't have to request anything. Delicious dinner, reasonable price, convenient parking in the building, very good service.

Darrell (shuttle driver) was the highlight of the stay. He was very personable, energetic and made our whole party feel welcome. The front desk team coud take some notes on hospitality from Darrell. The hotel is centrally located but the building is a little dated.

I’ve now stayed at almost every 21C hotel (I haven’t been to Iowa). Gets an overall five stars with some stronger points and some weaker points. Strong: the artwork this time around was poignant, the thought provoking, and cohesive. The restaurant and restaurant staff were outstanding (The Savoy, reviewed separately). Their room service was awesome too. The beds at 21C have always been comfy and I like their toiletry products. Weaker: The front desk staff was a mixed bag. Generally helpful and nice, but I was received more coolly here than some other places. Housekeeping. I 1000% understand we are still struggling with COVID and the economy and labor issues. And I don’t know who had my room previously, but there were several small shards of glass in the seating area, there was a pair of underwear behind the couch (which I didn’t touch and left there), and I somehow found a pair of dried up old contact lenses on the bedspread. Please note, the room was generally clean and well appointed, but the three things I mentioned were pretty big things. Also, if we aren’t going to go back to having minibars (which I’m fine with), can we have mini fridges in the rooms? I get you’re trying to up-sell room service, but I would just like to be able to chill my water or have something cool to drink without asking for a (too small) bucket of ice. Would stay again. The positive far outweighs the negative. Tip: no valet parking, but there is a garage across the street that charges 10 bucks a night.

Westin is yet another business masking a massive decrease in service behind “pandemic safety.” The hotel itself is nice. Beds are new and comfortable, rooms are spacious, and the fitness room is well appointed. It’s the only hotel I’ve stayed in recently that had a comfortable HVAC system. The fan can be set to stay on, so the air remains fresh when heating/cooling aren’t running which helped me sleep. Rooms have a mini-fridge and a lovely big TV. However, I stayed six nights and my room was only visited by housekeeping once. They didn’t even bother to restock the in-room coffee, provide more shampoo, or refresh towels. I had to stop at the front desk. This was ostensibly for pandemic safety but I wasn’t in my room so any risk from simply replenishing supplies was purely imaginary. The hotel restaurant is only open for breakfast and the rest of the day service is only in the bar. The bar was somewhat understaffed and waits for drinks got lengthy in the evening. Coffee was only available in the morning. All of this is fine at AirBnB rates, but Westin is still charging as if they are a four-star hotel. What am I paying for if there is so little service? I also can’t recommend anyone book a conference here. I was attending a hobby conference where we were paying out of pocket. Westin didn’t provide any signage and allowed a ravenous horde of people from a professional conference to descend on our limited snacks. They messed up an expensive Friday dessert event by running out of food. Rooms were shifted around on short notice and some of our classes were crammed into a tiny, stuffy, room for six hours. To add insult to injury on Saturday night the hotel hosted a frat party and drunk kids roamed the halls singing loudly, laughing, and banging on doors until 3 AM. Westin didn’t have enough staff to keep these unruly guests under control. I am unlikely to stay here again without asking a LOT of questions in advance and frankly Marriott should be ashamed.

Parking in the underground parking lot is very convenient. Talk to the front desk when you check out. There is no charge when you leave the garage. The hotel lobby is not bad, the rooms are relatively old, but the hotels in the central cities of the United States are almost not old. The room was quite large, the air conditioning was very noisy, and when it didn't stop, the cold wind was blown for a while and the hot wind was blown for a while. I booked a room with breakfast, but at the end of the day breakfast was still charged separately, and I was drunk. The quality of reception staff at the reception varies, and there are a few female receptionists who come here for a while, business operations are unskilled, and their attitudes are very general.

Overall the experience at the hotel was very good, however, check in was lengthy and I had another issue at checkout I'll explain later. There was only one lady at the front managing to check in a long line of people. I can only imagine that they are still short staffed after Covid times. I had checked in 24 hours prior and chosen a room on my phone app, but our room was not ready and was given another. No problem..just glad to get one after the wait. The lady was pleasant checking us in but never apologized for the wait or welcomed us as Diamond members. Room was small but overall clean. Would have liked to have a comfortable chair to sit in but not one in the room. Breakfast was a buffet and overall average/good. Now the part not so good...apparently Hilton is now giving credits for breakfasts for (Gold & Diamond levels). It's put into your account to be used to offset the amount you spent. The amount can be different depending on the hotel. In most cases you will end of paying more due to taxes. I find this offensive and in my case the bookkeeping got messed up and it ended up being added in rather than taken out. I had to end up calling the hotel on two occasions to get it worked out...but it did happen. I appreciated the help of JoAnn and Robert and the bookkeeping department. In addition when checking out, I received my statement, it only showed parking that was owed. I was assured that the breakfast & credits were already sorted out. That was not the case as I found out a day later. Because Hilton President did handle my situation quickly I gave a very good rating!