Cozy Rest Motel

You have been warned. Love the bullet-​resistant glass at the check-​in «kiosk.»
“Abandon hope all ye who enter here.”

Cozy Rest is one of those locations that you drive by and immediately want to cancel your purchase. DON’T DO IT.
As soon as you step in your room, you’ll understand why.
It might look sketchy from the outside, but once you’re in your room, you’re blanketed with more luxury than the $ 120 hotel down the street or across the city.

Gotta be honest, this was one of the nicest motels I’ve ever stayed at… on the inside.
The interior of my room wouldn’t look out of place in a much more expensive hotel. It was significantly cleaner and newer than a good number of more expensive hotels I’ve stayed at.
Exterior and location is about how other reviews have described. Nothing special, but I wouldn’t go so far to say it’s in a «bad area». We’re in Des Moines people, come on now.
Bottom line: Great place to drop your luggage and stay a night or two if you’re in the area for business or something similar. Cheap, clean, gets the job done.

I agree with others about this place being extremely BASIC lodging and not to expect more. I struggled with my rating and ultimately decided 3 stars would work. It’s probably the most mixed decision ever though… the neighborhood isn’t great. The exterior is pretty awful. The stairwell leading up to second floor rooms felt to me like a place to get robbed and stabbed. There was a young woman checking in with cash at the *bulletproof check in desk* and the whole transaction felt very rehearsed like she does it all of the time at this motel (just sayin’, lends a lot of credibility to other reviewers’ comments). However, I didn’t have any bad experiences with other guests at all. On the far side of the building were ground floor rooms with a lot of vehicles in disrepair. However, every car in the lot of the main building was nice and/​or covered with gear for hiking and cycling, making my husband and I feel right at home and reminding of us of many very spartan mom and pop hotels out West that draw in similar clientele who just need a bed and hot shower each night. Anyway, the price was low and the bathroom was completely brand new, the flooring and carpet in our room was brand new, and the best part of all was the bed. Large good quality mattress (I’m a Tempurpedic girl and this was good enough to keep me very happy even if I had to stay here for a week!), spotlessly clean sheets and a down alternative comforter, plenty of nice pillows, faux headboard attached to the wall and platform bed. Basically the bed here would fit in a NICE hotel. So it’s a very strange mix here of high quality in the very lowest quality situation. This isn’t a place I’d bring my mom or girlfriends, kids. This IS a place I found perfect for cheap sleep and shower on the final night of a lengthy trip with my six foot two bearded husband. (More than) enough said. Also, friendly polite staff and good free WiFi. Lastly, I don’t know why they can’t clean the (outdoor) stairs. I swear just being there for the night I was practically itching to sweep and wash them myself… that’s just odd.

Note we didn’t make it past check in. Also, I feel like I need to explain first why I even gathered the idea of staying here… We had been out of town the past 3 weekends and didn’t want to spend more on hotels. (I’m a Hyatt girl yes, boyfriend is cheap – you get it.) Well, let’s just stay here since we only need it for one night and it’s just for sleeping, right?
The room pictures looked great and updated. Better than I anticipated… pull up to an exhausted compound on the side of a busy street. Poor condition. The exterior in disrepair I would say. We sat in the parking lot where we saw women with their door wide open laying in plain view on the bed. We managed to gather ourselves to check in and out from behind the building following us in was a blonde lady with mouth sores. I’m in the process of handing my I.D. and debit card over before I see my boyfriend walk out to the truck. The lady started telling me how pretty I was, how we were such a cute couple, and laying it on even thicker about how gorgeous I was. I grab my cards before the clerk can process them because I see my boyfriend frantically waving me outside. He starts telling me how she started flirting with him and mentioned how the cops busted a prostitution ring earlier in the week.
I’m pretty sure this lady was either soliciting us, going to knock me out with a lead pipe to recruit me into prostitution, or high on drugs – probably all the above. Moral of the story: very shady, very uncomfortable, and very dangerous place.

We booked a night here but couldn’t go in. Way too creepy with questionable clientele hanging around the outside.

Pro: This place is great if you want something VERY BASIC — Just a bed to sleep for the night and the entire day you will be out of the room. Clean sheets. Non smelling rooms. Clean bathroom. Secure Door locks and sturdy room doors.
Con: Outdated. the bathroom fittings are outdated, plumbing is outdated. Electrical lines and outlets are outdated. Your room may have a refrigerator and a microwave over but you cannot use both of them together, else they will blow the trip switch somewhere. No iron box or hair dryer in room.