I really enjoyed my stay here at Montebello. It was a last minute decision to take a road trip and we literally googled this bed & breakfast place while still in the car! Luckily it must have been a low season and there was only one other room occupied besides ours. The rooms were superbly clean and well decorated to make you feel right at home. The complimentary wine and chocolates on arrival were a nice surprise. The views were lovely and the hosts were friendly and showed us around the place but left us alone to explore which is what we wanted anyway. We had a lovely romantic getaway here and have only fond memories to take away!

We had the distinct pleasure to stay at the MonteBello Bed & Breakfast Inn in Ames Iowa Sept 30 and Oct 1st 2011 for Iowa State college family weekend. This is a place we really enjoyed. Having stayed at many different B&B's throughout the country this was one of our favorites. The innkeepers (Daphne and Jaime Reyes) were simply fabulous hosts and the entire place was so well kept and clean. It is relatively close to campus making it a really nice place to stay for college parents. The rooms as mentioned before were extremely clean, well appointed and the beds very comfortable. The breakfasts were scrumptious and plentiful. We would highly recommend this Bed and Breakfast as we ourselves will definitely return when in Ames.

My wife and I went here for our baby-moon, a last get away before our baby arrives. We live in Des Moines so we have about a 45 minute drive to get to the B&B. We got a late start and didn't arrive until 8:30pm. The parking lot was bursting and we had to walk pretty far for a small place like this. When we went in we walked in on a loud party of 20-30 people. After about 90 seconds of uncomfortable waiting for someone to check us in the inn keeper who was there the whole time came over and introduced herself. She explained that all the other guests were family and that they were having 3 birthday parties simultaneously. About this time a young girl (about age 6) walks up and starts rubbing her face on my leg and then my wifes pregnant belly. She starts meowing like a cat and I realize that she's pretending to be an animal...it's not the innkeeper's fault that her grandchild is acting like an animal but she then decides this girl should check us into our room. We go upstairs and the girl shows us to our room and tells us that if we see any bugs or mice that we should inform her grandfather because he'll take care of them. I'm thinking 'what the heck?" bugs? mice? We close the door to our room and it still sounds like we're part of the loud alcohol enhanced family party. At this point we're both thirsty and deicde to see if we can get some tea or something before bed. The innkeeper again is scarce and so her family asks us if we want birthday cake. We ask if we can have something to drink. They offer us a number of choices and we take a drink back to our room. At this point we'd like to start to relax but the party downstairs is so lound we have to raise our voices to speak to each other. We decide maybe we can drown out the din by turning on the TV but we have to turn it up to hear what's playing as we begin to channel surf we realize there is no cable so we basically have network tv to choose from which is underwhelming to be sure. So I turn to my laptop to play a netflix movie even at maximum volume the movie is difficult to hear, the bed is cheap and hard - the springs are poking me as I sit there and my pregnant wife is also very uncomfortable even with 4 pillows. I look over and say "Do you want to go home?" we agree that we're going to have a horrible night's sleep and that the party which is now playing some kind of Incan war chant music is reaching some kind of crescendo. I approach the innkeeper and explain our problems and let her know we'd like to leave. She really wants us to stay and insists she'll quiet the party down soon but we have no desire to stay any longer and leave.

The good:
Beautiful home (if you like southwest latino decor)
convenient location (not far from I 35, easy to get to)
Pricing (fairly reasonablle for a nights stay and even a basic breakfast)

The bad:
1. Any good innkeeper would have disclosed that they were planning a huge family party and that they could not assure a quiet evening
2. We had originally booked for the previous weekend (and would have missed the loud party) but the innkeeper called back and advised that she was looking at the wrong weekend and had no rooms available when we initially booked
3. The bed is horrible - think of the worst hotel bed you've ever slept on and figure they bought it at the same place.
4.Bugs? Mice? We didn't see any but that's unacceptable to wait until check in to warn about them
5. Amenities- Bathroom was low on toilet tissue, there were no ensuite beverages asside from tap water, the room was furnished with cheap looking pieces compared to the common areas.

Parting thoughts - We wanted to like this place, we had been planning on visiting for years (literally) but from the resvation process until we left the place reeked of 'amateur hour'. I'm sure they are fine enough people but some just aren't cut out for the hospitality business. How in the world this place got 2008 innkeeper of the year award is a mystery to me. Instead of a relaxing baby-moon we got to spend 45 minutes driving home at 10:00 at night discussing how horribly disapointed we were. One week later we still have received no apology.

Montebello is a great place.....inviting decor, large rooms, good breakfast, and hosts who work especially hard to make every stay the best. It's a good location for attending University events and the edge of town setting is perfect. We return several times a year just for the fun of it....and to visit hosts Daphne and Jaime and hear more about Mexico..