Hotels near Dodge House-Historic General, Council Bluffs

Check-in was quick and easy. The room was large. However, not the cleanest. I travel with antibacterial wipes, thankfully! The toilet lid had urine splashed on the back, and the corner by the tub had dirt and debris. On the duvet cover, there were particles of some variety, and black smudges in several places. One of the pillows also had fresh blue ink, so I'm assuming it was not changed. I also found mold, by the window the next morning when I woke with congestion. The hotel must be under some new management, as the room numbers were handwritten in black marker on the walls. I was on the north side, which was by the semi parking and noisy. Walls were thin I could hear conversations around me. The good... Location was easy, convenience store and restaurants next door, grab and go breakfast provided. Staff was responsive the next morning.

Overall, this would be a good hotel property - not amazing - but good. However, the insanely bright flashing light of the smoke detector (compared to smoke detectors in dozens of other hotels rooms I've stayed in through years of work-related and recreational travel) requires a WARNING: Bring a sleep mask. Or you may want to pack some masking tape or duct tape to temporarily cover the bulb of the smoke detector (of course, without doing anything that would interfere with its operation). This may not be an issue if you are not a heavy sleeper or if you find flashing lights restful. Even sleeping in a position that faced away from the detector, the intense, flashing, green light (about every 10 seconds) lit up the ceiling, walls, and sides of the pillow. I've experienced issues with flashing smoke detector lights before - but none like this one. Who was the unqualified buffoon at Marriott who selected this model for a room intended for sleep?! Apart from this [significant, for me] flashing-light-in-room issue, the hotel was decent. It seemed safe and reasonably clean. The rate was reasonable. The front desk staff were professional and competent. Bedding was comfortable. The location is convenient for accessing nearby downtown Omaha. The setting is a little bland - in the middle of an area of parking lots and sports venues. You'll need a car to get to more interesting areas of Council Bluffs & Omaha for meals, etc. The soundproofing is not great. We could hear our neighbors TV clearly most evenings as well as noise in the hallways. The hotel provides coffee but does not offer tea - in the rooms or in the front lobby. I guess the same genius who saved money by buying a combo smoke detector/lighthouse decided that lowering service another notch in order to save $0.50 per guest (on tea) was a smart idea for a business in the hospitality industry. A final note on the smoke detector. The light bulb on this model illuminates both on the outside (like most models) but also (deviously!) within the inside of the plastic frame - and the frame has a big grating. So even if you put a small piece of tape or a band-aid on the exposed, outside part of the bulb, you will still get to see some flash from within the grating. With apologize to the reader if this review seems a bit obsessed with the smoke detector, but I have stayed in literally hundreds of hotel rooms and not experienced a flashing smoke detector light THIS intense before. My primary goal for my hotel room is sleep, and it boggles my mind that someone chose a model with a very bright flashing light for a hotel room. Come prepared.

I booked through one of the many discount hotel websites. The website rated this hotel 8.5, but should be rated about a 5. We were told that this is an all non-smoking hotel. Yet our room reeked of smoke from previous smokers. I’m extremely sensitive with terrible allergies, so I tried spraying Lysol, but it didn’t help much. Most hotels leave the fan going in the room to sit it out, but this room was hot when we entered, which make the smell of smoke much worse. The room was “ok” but very basic. I could have gotten a much better hotel for the price we paid to stay here. Also, the website advertises “breakfast included” but when we asked about it, we were told it’s bah mmh “continental” style. Overall, this hotel could definitely benefit from some major fumigating and more upgrades. Especially the beds!

The air conditioning unit was shoty and would get very very loud at times. Our daughter and her fiance slept on the fold out couch bed. When I tried to get a blanket for them, I was told they didn't have any and I was given a sheet. The king bed was very nice. Nice location and attached to the ******.

This hotel was great! Everything was clean and the bed was amazing. I will say that the pillows are embarrassingly small. Of course, the bathroom was a little outdated but it was clean so it was fine. I will say while I was checking in, this gentleman named jerry was checking in in front of me. Apparently he stays for four days every week. He was upset because his usual room that he likes (odd number and on the end of the hallway) was taken already. He was incredibly hostile to the front desk worker. I forgot her name but she was a manager and had dark hair. She was very nice to this gentleman and handled the situation appropriately. Jerry was so hostile that she had to get security to come. He threatened her and cussed her up and down over this particular room. She literally had put him in the next room over, which should have been fine. Regardless this made me and my husband and the other guest have an extremely long wait to check in. This gentleman ended up yelling at all of us when he was finally done checking in. The way he treated this hotel employee made me want to go stay at Amstar because I didn’t feel safe. You would think that Harrah’s would care more about their employees safety than one single player who obviously just needs a place to stay for four days a week. Other than this awful check in experience, I enjoyed my stay.