I stayed in this hotel for a week. First, the positives:

The room looked modern and clean. There was a fridge and coffee maker in the room. The fridge was quiet. I loved the ac/heater unit. It had a remote control, so if you are in bed and it is too loud, you can turn it down or shut it off. Hairdryer in the bathroom and mints on the night stand. The front desk people were the best I have seen anywhere. Absolutely friendly and helpful. They even opened breakfast up for our large group an hour early to accomodate our schedules. A+ for service!

The negatives: Popcorn ceiling in the bathroom was mildewed. You just can't clean a popcorn ceiling, I don't know what they were thinking. Ceiling in the rest of the room was trashed too, poorly drywalled and mismatched paint. I was on the street side of the hotel and it was SO noisy. The local younguns race around the strip with their loud exhausts and it sounded like the window was open, the sound insulation was zero. Most of the time the room didn't smell, I was in a non-smoking room. However, in the mornings smoke would rise, I assume, from the floor below and come in through the bathroom vents. Every morning I woke up with my eyes swollen shut. Must be a ton of allergens in the room. No power outlet by the coffee maker, so I had to perch it next to the tv or in the bathroom to make coffee.

Will only stay there again if everything else in town is booked up again, as was the case on this trip.

The only thing that has been updated in the last 20 years is the Holiday Inn Express sign outside. This is not the quality of hotel I have come to expect from this hotel chain.

Each time we walked into the room it smelled like body odor. There was mold on the bathroom ceiling. Some of the towels were in terrible shape - holes and long strings. The beds were awful. They need to be replaced very soon. It seemed as though there were no bed springs. It was very disappointing. I considered changing hotels, but there are none close to that location. Updates are needed!

I would try staying at another hotel in Keokuk before staying here. Parking very limited so we had to park across the busy street due to a wedding reception taking place at the Hotel. Only one slow elevator so we often times took the stairs. There were only two ice makers in the entire building, not one on each floor as in most multi-level hotels. Room had a strong smell of body odor. I complained to the front desk staff immediately and they stated that it was a common complaint and that they could send up an employee to spray air freshener. I declined to have this done. The windows do not open so there was no way to air out the room. The HVAC unit consisted of a window type air conditioner that was extremely loud and ran constantly. The bathroom is extremely small and included the vanity so only one person could get ready at a time. The bathroom had no exhaust fan so the mirror was always fogged up and again, no window to open so the room was humid. The hotel is located on the main busy street so the noise from loud motorcycles and thumping music resonates up to the room. The exercise room consists of a stairmaster, a treadmill and a bike. The pool is too deep for small children to enjoy as the shallow end is 4 ½ feet deep.