University Plaza Hotel and Convention Center Springfield, Springfield, United States of America

This hotel has two primary issues that compel me to give it a 1-star rating. First, the cleanliness of the room was hugely problematic. I checked-in to my room in the early evening, and when I returned to the hotel at night and pulled back the comforter, it was quickly visable that the sheets were covered with dog hair and there were blood spots on one pillow. Thus is was very clear that the sheets were not changed since the previous guests (and their dog) stayed in the room. It took 40 minutes before the issue was resolved and we had clean sheets on the bed. While remaking the bed, the housekeeper found a rubber snake under the fitted sheet, which is further evidence, in addition to the dog fur and blood, that the sheets were clearly not changed between guests. Furthermore, the shower did not drain well, and hair and other unidentifiable gunk would come up from the drain and sit in tub once it had fully drained an hour or so after showering. The second big issue is that the walls are thin and from my room we could hear a baby crying from next doors from t 11:30 PM throughout various points in the night. Also, the internal lobby is an echo chamber which amplified sounds coming from all of the youth groups staying at the hotel, and this noise came into the room until well past midnight. The manager in the morning was pleasant and apologetic, though because we booked through a travel site could not do anything to make us whole. I would not stay here again.

The hotel room was fairly clean and comfortable with the exception of the sink, which wouldn’t drain, and the air vent, which was FULL OF MOLD! We we arrived I thought there was a funky dampness in our room (the cleaning staff, or someone, had left one of those little drying machines plugged in) so I peaked around, including in the air ducts. There was a spongy material lining the duct that blows the air back into the room, and was was caked with black and grey mold. It was late night when I noticed and our baby was alseep, so I just turned off the air so it would stop blowing mold all over us. I told the front desk in the morning, and she said she would tell the cleaning people. There is no way in hell any clean service person could or would do anything about this issue... you’d have to unscrew the vent and get new parts, clean the HVAC, etc. I’m guessing the entire hotel is having his mold issue and they are just papering over it rather than truly resolving it based on other reviews. The filter was also super filthy and looked like it hadn’t been changed in years. The “salt water pool” was also murkey and smelled weird (aka dirty).

Arrived at 5pm and room was still not available at 5:30pm (check in was supposed to be at 4pm). We got the room to change clothes in before our concert which was easy walking distance and started at 6:15. The manager was very curt about giving us a different room than we had booked and said that our only option would be to put us on a wait list and check in after the concert which ended at 11pm. We ended up changing clothes in the lobby restroom. When we arrived back at the hotel at 11:15pm, there was only one person working the front desk and she was involved with other guests on the phone wanting to change rooms for 20 minutes. She did offer us free breakfast but it ended at 10am on a Sunday morning. This was a most unsatisfying visit for a room that cost over $130 a night in Springfield, Missouri. The only reason we chose this hotel was that it was only a 5 minute walk to the concert at the college arena and that did not work out well.

The entire atrium was under major construction directly outside my door (all rooms are on the atrium). Hammering started at 8am. Unbelievable that this place is servicing guests in this condition. All the furniture is tarped and the lobby bar wouldn't even stay open after 9pm with customers at seated at ALL bar stools. There is no breakfast room service at all. Room service doesn't open for food at all until after check out at 11:30. Upon check-in, the front desk clerk was very un-inviting. No smile greeting and when I asked for the luggage valet she responded "well he's 40 minutes away." I said excuse me? She said "yeah he will have to come from the airport." This was a problem as it was like 4 degrees outside and I am a disabled amputee. I finally found a security guard and a coffee shop attendant to help me grab my medication, shaving kit and and iPad out. Other guests escorted me to my room without my wheelchair. (Which was quite scary for me with strangers.). Once in my king size room I was less than thrilled with the layout and sparse furnishing. I had a single chair in a far (remember I'm disabled and in my room with no wheelchair at this point) corner and a tiny tv stand. Let's just say my stay at this 4 to 5 Star JQH Resort hotel was miserable. Sorry to so so negative. I just had much higher expectations for The University Plaza.

I can understand how crazy the weather is and how it can be hard to gauge whether to use heat or air. But it was so incredibly hot in the lobby area. We had considered having a drink at the bar but by the time we got from our room, down the elevator and to the bar, we were both sweating. Same for the next morning. We would have loved to stay for the buffet breakfast but it was too warm to do so. My only other issue was that out tub did not drain. It made it difficult to try to take a shower longer than a few minutes. Now for the good! The hotel is absolutely stunning! The lobby is beautiful. I loved all the seating available. It seemed very inviting (except the temp). The bed was super comfortable. I loved the pillows and the blanket. The staff were all very polite and friendly, very bubbly. I will definitely stay here again if I am in Springfield again. The closeness to the JQH Arena fit our needs perfectly. Close enough to walk but not close enough to deal with the noise. I believe it’s about 3-4 blocks walk.