The Highlander Hotel

The Highlander was a decent stay. It very clearly was a former chain hotel that has been sold and revamped a bit. When checking in the front desk person was nice, but not overly friendly or welcoming. However, much more friendly than the person who checked us out. Who did not speak more than *maybe* one-two whole sentences to me during the process. The rooms were okay for our one night stay. I can tell that a lot, if not all, of the items in the room were new and that they've made some improvements, but not quite hitting the mark for the price in my opinion. Pros - I loved being able to control the heat/air conditioner. Pillows and bed were somewhat comfortable, the hotel was very quiet, and the kids I was chaperoning loved the pool area. Cons - not really much positive to say in regards to breakfast. It was a yogurt/parfait bar rather than anything substantial so we still had to pay for breakfast elsewhere. The vanity in my room was dusty and had a small bug on it, my comforter had a stain, the top sheet was kind of falling apart on the outside seam. Nothing super alarming to warrant a 1-2 rating, but not what I expected with the price of the room, prior reviews, and the photos.

a month ago

The Highlander was perfect for us Family of 5 with young kids looking for a quick swimming break from the Iowa winter Really cool atmosphere here. The pool area is awesome and the poolside rooms are super convenient. The best feature is the big pool. It is heated - the water temperature is sublime. It is 30” at the shallowest and 8’6” at the deepest which was great for us; it meant our three year old could stand up and play safely, while our older kids could swim deep and be a little more daring. The hot tub was really nice but all of us wish the temperature was hotter Our kids had a blast in the arcade - $20 was enough to keep us going for an hour. The common areas and bars are all really cool. The staff was great to us. We were there on a slow weeknight and they were really flexible and accommodating. There is a Chicago-industrial-chic vibe to the place. So, while it is clean and updated, it doesn’t have the same kind of modern finishes and look of other recently renovated/built hotels. But it is still nice in a groovy kind of way. We’ll be back!

2 months ago

Came here with my family, and had the best time ever! We have twin babys and we had an upstairs room. The owner gave us a room worth way more then we paid! It was by the pool, great view, luxury, etc. the MOST kindest and friendliest workers ever. I definitely recommend!!!!

2 weeks ago

I absolutely cannot say enough good things about this hotel! Hands down the best experience I have ever had. I have 2 month old twins, as well as two older kids who are 8 and 10. We came to have some fun over spring break. The poolside rooms were booked so we reserved a room on the second floor. It turns out the hotel doesn’t have an elevator but I was prepared to just carry the twins up the stairs in their car seats. I ran into the owner on the way to the stairs and she saw me with the double stroller, two kids, and all our luggage and baby stuff and she said absolutely not! She ended up having a poolside room that had just become available. They gave my kids tokens for the arcades while they quickly cleaned the room and got us right in. Everyone was so kind and accommodating. They helped me carry my things and could not have been sweeter.

2 weeks ago

My family and I decided to stay here for mini vacation. Upon our arrival Dylan greeted us and offered to bring our bags to the room. While we were able to take care of that aspect ourselves, we found there wasn’t a mini fridge in our room. When I told Dylan about it, he was able to quickly accommodate us by bringing a fridge from an unoccupied room. While this was a strong starting point, the experience only got better. Breakfast was fresh and delicious, the pool was awesome, the rest of the staff were friendly and accommodating and even the owner came to see how our visit was going. If you’re looking for a fantastic, independently owned business, this is the place for you. We’ll definitely swing through on our next visit and I highly recommend checking this spot out.

3 weeks ago

Not your "normal" white wash hotel by any means! This place was great! Huge bar, arcade and pinball machine games, 3 bars one being by the pool, the place was awesome. Only if all hotels could be privately owned and individualized. I hope it's successful in big ways. Service was great and the food (steak dinner) was also a plus. Definitely clean. Parking lot is huge (enough for big trucks as well) and seems to be trucker friendly as far as I was concerned. My only complaint which isn't to much of a complaint and more of a suggestion, rooms could use either an extra outlet or somewhere to plug your phone and or computer/tablet in. Unless I missed it in the room. Super cool hotel.......

2 months ago

I booked the Highlander Hotel for a weekend getaway, only to be sorely disappointed for my partner and me. The photos and advertisements online are incredibly misleading. I was under the impression that this was a luxury hotel, and from the moment we arrived on the grounds, we knew we had made a big mistake. The entire place looked run down, with chips and scuffs everywhere you looked. We didn’t know who was on staff and who was a friend and/or family of the staff. They all crowded around a service desk, talking about all the other guests. We booked a suite, and I’ve stayed in nicer motel rooms. The televisions were outdated and had no streaming capabilities. The floor in the bathroom had significant chips in the painting, and the dust was abysmal. We tried calling down to inquire about room service, but the phone did not work. When we went to the desk to ask about room service menus, they directed us to a bar down the hall to put in an order, which defeats the purpose of room service. Also, no one was tending to the bar, so we were unsure how to place an order. Moreover, it is difficult to tell what is open and what isn’t because of the lack of signs and employees stationed around the hotel. My partner pulled back the sheets on one of the beds in our suite and found large brown stains. They showed us rooms in similar conditions when asked if we could switch rooms. The only highlight is that the desk employee seemed accommodating and completely understood why we would be asking for a refund. The other person at the desk (maybe the manager) seemed annoyed that we were asking for compensation. I don’t want to blame it on the employees as it seems they were just trying to keep the place a float. My partner turned to me many times and said it seemed like “we were in a horror movie.” We are hoping that we are refunded without any hiccups but from the reviews that doesn’t seem to be the case. I’m really unsure how this place has so many 5/5 stars. For the price point which was around $400 for a night, we felt duped. We did not end up staying for more than an hour. Please do your research because everything is not what it’s seems with the Highlander.

a month ago

The Highlander has been renovated and is pretty cool. We didn’t get what I thought we’d get but there were also some nice surprises. The good: the pool is very nice as is the hot tub and the outdoor courtyard area. A ton of kids, though, as it was spring break. Our rooms were comfy and clean and the beds were also comfortable. The aesthetics of the entire hotel are cute and modern.the kids loved the arcade but some of the games were broken. Not a big deal. Some music in the arcade might be nice. The bad: basically zero water pressure in the shower and also not much for hot water for my morning shower at 9 am. Breakfast during the week was severely lacking (no toaster for my Bagel and no cold cereal). Eggs and sausage weren’t exactly hot. The restaurant was a conundrum. It was slammed on a Sunday night and the only server was the bartender. Our food took a long time and was also refrigerator-cold when we got it. The management was super cool and comped our meal and gave us free dessert and remade food. I will say the food was all delicious once it was at the right temp. The chocolate cake were given was so perfect. This hotel has some bugs to work out. More staff would help and a few more upgrades. One other thing: we reserved a suite and it was really just two adjoining rooms. Not exactly as it was sold by room pics on the website.

3 weeks ago