Mark Twain Hotel

Terrible experience. This was once a beautiful hotel but no longer. There was no complitary coffee or breakfast they advertise. The staff was a joke, the rooms weren't nice, mold was growing in the freezer of the refrigerator in the room. Will never go back to this rundown place.

Stayed in this little gem a year ago, left a stellar review….came back and WOW! As soon as we pulled into parking lot, dirty, tired, from the lot to the building to the landscaping! Back door is no longer useable, wanted to use restrooms in lobby as we were instructed there was no way we could check in until 3. The lobby restroom had no toilet paper, no paper towels, floors discussing and a space heater!! 1st room heater wouldn’t work, plug in and wall had burn marks. Went to front desk, they refused to refund money… there is more….I’m going to just say RUN!!

Do NOT let the pictures in the description fool you---this is NOT a premier boutique hotel. In fact, it is exactly the opposite as advertised. I have stayed at a lot of hotels over the years, and we were in town for a volleyball tournament, and it was busy in the city as there was a country concert at the Civic Center, a big volleyball tournament, and also was St. Patty's day weekend. A few things to note if you choose to stay here: 1. MAJOR safety concerns. The window in our room (We stayed in one of the Century rooms with 2 double beds) did not open at all---so if there was a fire and couldn't get out of our room, we were stuck (and especially being at the end of the hall, that is a concern). We were in the lobby in the evening socializing and they ended up locking the entrance doors from the INSIDE! They were, evidently, overbooked, so as people came into the hotel to check in after 7:00 PM they were not able to even enter the hotel and instead were calling from the entrance doors, only to be told they had not more rooms available! How does that even happen? If you were already in a room, then you would scan your key card and someone would come and let you in by literally shoving open the only functioning entrance door. The other one was broken. Also, only one elevator is working and there are NO amenities beyond some terrible coffee in the lobby and a vending machine on Floor 5. 2. Security Issue #2---the check-in process was very sketchy---I was not even asked to show ID or a credit card for my room. I was just given keys and not even a room number. Had to go back and ask for that! (TBH---both of the workers at check-in reeked of *********). My in-room phone also did not work at all, so again, if I had an emergency there was no way to reach anyone beyond my cell phone. The morning of checkout there was no one at the front desk at 7:15 AM, and instead a sign that said to call an 800 number if something was needed, so I left. Another family I knew had strange people trying to get into their room at 1:00 am---and these strangers' keys WORKED for a room they were not actually staying in! Thankfully the security latch prevented them from fully getting in! So, they clearly are not verifying key cards regularly! 3. While our room was clean, as was the bathroom, there is no counter top in the bathroom---just a pedestal sink. So, getting ready is a challenge with nowhere to put things. The corner shower was VERY small---and I am 5'2, and I couldn't even bend over in the shower stall to pick something up. I would not say there are any luxurious bathroom amenties---just some shampoo and conditioner on the wall in the shower, but nothing else. No garbage can, either, so we used a shopping bag. There is a larger minifridge with a freezer on top, so that was nice. There was also a small coffee pot. 4. Blinds do not close all the way, so the lights from the parking lot and highway were very visible all night long. This hotel does have free parki

I reserved a room at this hotel on their website in May 2023 for Jan 2024 and received a confirmation email from Lisa. I saw on FB that the Mark Twain lost all reservations made in 2023 and that people were being turned away who had legitimate confirmation. So I checked on their website the day before my arrival and my reservation was still in their system. I called to check with the manager because I didn't want a surprise when I showed up the next day. No record of my reservation with Arianna, the manager. When asked why I wasn't notified of their technical glitch since all of my information was in their system according to their website, she said that she couldn't contact me if she didn't have my contact information. This is one of the biggest conventions Peoria hosts, so no other hotels in the area had space available. Arianna said that if I showed up, no matter what confirmation I had in hand or on line, there was no room for me. I see another review was just posted about this, so I can confirm that this is a complete mess of a hotel.

Memorial evening staying one night. Old hotel but remodel looked good. Room amenities all good. Bath room sink was plugged in room 203 view facing parking lot. Room phone could not get front desk ever. Lady on duty seemed to spend her time in her car parked by the front door. Nobody every at the desk. Door from parking lot to hotel was inoperable. Key card would not work to open door on room 203. Went down stairs and out to car parked by entry door to get the lady working desk to get me a new card. She went up with a male maintenance person to the door and said that some times on some of the rooms the handle had to go up instead of down. I said it would have been nice to have said something about that, she said well we don't know which rooms have that problem. I asked for a wake-up call at 6:15 AM but never came in. Attempts to call front desk never worked, probably out in the car smoking. The times that I went in and out, not body at the desk. I was billed $108 for a room quoted at $79, Peoria must have some high taxes. The room was nice and clean good amenities as they must be remodeling. The bathroom sink was plugged and would go down in about an hour. Maybe I just had bad luck. A call on Sunday night before Memorial Day was answered by a very young sounding person. I asked how far to St. Mary's Cathedral, after hemming and hawing he said maybe a half hour and then corrected to twenty minutes, sounded like another person coaching in the back ground. The reality is that it was eight minutes away and the cathedral could be seen from the room window. The AC unit would blow air on my face and had to put a chair in front of it so I could sleep. I have seen that problem in other places. There did not seem to be very many cars in the parking lot showing that not many had stayed there Memorial Day evening. No body at desk for check-out. A very impressive looking building from a distance with a very interesting lobby depicting Mark Twain. Maybe it was their off season time, but their should someone at the end the room phone and at the desk. I expected a bit of imperfection from a three star rating hotel, but this was a bit much. Draw your own conclusion. AG

To begin, I loved my room and it's view. I was very comfortable with it's layout. But, the general cleanliness was poor. The headboard behind the mattress was filthy. The carpet was stained. The bathroom toilet and sink were clogged. Staff was friendly but a last resort hotel.