We were going to the train museum but heard the train was leaving in a few minutes so we decided to…read moreride. It was so cool!!! The ride was scenic, informative and very relaxing. Loved watching the engine refill with water and hearing the steam whistle blow. All the staff was pleasant and it was fun to talk with them. Learned a lot. Would go again.

I cannot recommend the 1880 Train's staff enough! We were on vacation in the Black Hills area of…read moreSouth Dakota in early September of 2025, and my wife broke her heel (on the 1st day of vacation, no less). We had reserved and prepaid for our tickets, as is recommended, for four adults in one of the end train cars, with a two hour layover planned in Keystone for lunch and sightseeing. This was well before my wife's accident. We arrived early for departure, not knowing what accommodations could be made to get her onto the train. Turns out, one of the cars is handicap accessible, and they were able to change our seats to that car, and our return train trip, so that my wife didn't have to hobble into Keystone on crutches and a boot. We were able to stay in the same car on the same train, with seats for the return trip just across the aisle (so we would get a different view on the way back). They went above and beyond to help us enjoy the trip and made my wife, who was in pain and feeling awful for "ruining" our vacation (she didn't) feel much better about the situation. Oh, and the countryside is gorgeous! We loved the train ride and the trivia shared on the journey. Would do this again in a heartbeat, but hopefully without any broken limbs! Thank you again, 1880 Train staff! You deserve a raise!

Wonderful experience! This was a fun train ride. Great way to get from Hill City to Keystone…read more without having to drive. Great views from the train and education about the area along the way. We were in the area for Operation Black Hills Cabin. Thank you for supporting their mission and for supporting wounded veterans.

The train ride is just ok. You ride through beautiful neighborhoods between Hill City and Keystone…read more You do get some history on the area and miscellaneous information that may be of interest while riding on the train. If I HAD to do again, I'd stay on the train and come right back to Hill City where we started from instead of spending 3.5 hours in Keystone. Not really that much to do there. In my honest opinion the train ride is not really worth the cost of the ticket unless of course you really enjoy riding on trains.

"The lightnin' rod, strike it hot It's gonna hit you like…read morethe Rushmore rock" (AC/DC) WHAT WENT WELL: The location is excellent, within a very walkable distance of many restaurants and Presidential statues. The room was decent sized, the beds were comfortable, the HVAC and Wi-Fi worked well, the room had a nice work desk, and the shower pressure and temperature were excellent. Bottles of water were available in the lobby for just one dollar with payment on the honor system. We had one dinner here and that was fantastic. The food servers and staff in general were very good. BREAKFAST REVIEW: The buffet had some good hot dishes, especially corned beef hash which is always appreciated. There were just two types of cereal, and there was just bread - no English muffins or bagels. There were zero Danishes, pastries, or muffins, which are pretty much standard in other hotel breakfasts. They had whole fruit for your yogurt and granola, but the cut fruit was obviously from a can. IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES: We saw many examples for improvement opportunities. The arms on the room's upholstered chair were badly worn out, and more significantly, the vinyl on both headboards were badly ripped and missing chunks. Our room had no refrigerator. We stayed at seven hotels on our tour, and this was the only hotel room without one. Even the peephole on the door was an issue, it was set so high on the door, I couldn't even see through it when I stood on tippy toes. There were enough electrical plugs in the room for for charging, but the two on the nightstand didn't work. The bathtub floor was chipped and was extremely slippery. Thank goodness there were grab-bars on two walls. The tub drained slowly, even with the drain removed, which is how we found it when we took occupancy. The water pooled for a while before it emptied.

Love this hotel! We had an excellent experience on our first stay so we decided to book a multi…read morenight stay over the Thanksgiving weekend! Such a beautiful hotel. Excellent bar-grille on site as well as a restaurant. Spacious comfortable rooms. Yes, there's a gym too! Easy walking distance to checkout local shops and restaurants.

I truly do not understand all of the negative reviews about this hotel. We stayed here for a few…read moredays during our Dakotas vacation and could not have been more pleased with our stay. My top reason for booking here was for it's location being in the heart of downtown Rapid City, but also because of how nice it looked. I thought I was being bamboozled when I saw it was only $86 a night to book! I knew nothing prior to our stay that it was 'haunted' until seeing a section of the gift shop dedicated to American Horror Story, which prompted my Google search. The hotel definitely feels vintage but no weird occurrences, but maybe the ghosts here are just chill. ;) There is so much nearby that we were able to walk to, like restaurants, a barcade and even a comic book store. There is plenty of street parking as well as a parking garage across the street. We got lucky with a corner room and I felt like it was pretty spacious for the price. Not to mention great views of the Black Hills! Great choice of a place to stay when visiting Rapid City!

This is a nice enough historic hotel right in the middle of Rapid City…read more I stayed for 3 nights with my family. We had a one bedroom suite. The suite was very small, barely bigger than the king bed in the bedroom and the sofabed in the living room. The bathroom was pretty tiny, not big enough for 4 towels without hanging them on random doorknobs. There was no door between the two rooms. We arrived around 5PM, and our room was not ready yet. We were given two $15 vouchers for Starbucks to be used the next day only for the inconvenience. That was nice. When I made the reservation, I noted that there would be 4 of us in the room. When we got to the room, there were only 2 towels in the room, and there were no pillows for the sofabed. Also, the sofabed was brand new, and so the moving straps had not been removed, and the sofabed could not be opened. I had to call down to the front desk to bring scissors to open up the sofabed and to bring up more towels and pillows. The bed was comfortable, although the pillows were not great. The bathroom, as mentioned, was small with very little counter or shelf space. The shower/bath combo was cramped with a cloth curtain. Water pressure was not great, and even on the hottest setting, the water wasn't very warm and was very susceptible to getting colder. We were in town to visit the nearby sites, so we were out of the room most of the days. Imagine my surprise after returning that no housekeeping came after our first night. That was weird. After our second night, the housekeeper had come and made up the bedroom but not the living room (sofabed not made). She (she left a card with her name, Melaney) took the towels and again left only two clean towels. She did not take out the trash in any room. I was exhausted after a full day of driving and sightseeing, and the last thing I wanted to do was call down to the front desk to ask for two more towels and fresh sheets for the sofabed. It was very frustrating. Parking. The hotel itself only offers valet parking. There is a lot of street parking, and it is only $1/hour from 7am to 6pm on weekdays, $0.50/hour from 9am to 5pm on Saturdays. There's an app, so you can remember your space # and pay from your phone in the morning. The location really is wonderful, and there are neat historical things about the hotel. The kids loved looking at all the pictures and the stuffed bison heads. The staff was friendly, even if the hotel wasn't run particularly well.

This Holiday Inn has inside that is more like a full service hotel than your typical Holiday. It is…read morealso a quick walk to Main Street which is a huge plus. Housekeeping did just an average job. The buffet was also just average and this Holiday Inn charged for it albeit a reasonable price. Parking is free. Overall it was a decent experience in an area with limited downtown hotels.

As a spire member, I expected more on this hotel. I requested housekeeping service 3 times and for…read moresome reason, there is no communication between the front desk and housekeeping department. Finally, one of the front desk clerk at night was apologetic and made sure the housekeeping service was made in the morning. We didn't need the service anymore. We just requested for replacement of towels. Other than that, it's a good hotel. About 17 minutes away from the airport. Hotel shuttle to and from the airport is available. The drivers are awesome and informative. Front desk staff were amazing. Our room is big and very clean. When we finally met the housekeepers, they assisted us with our supply needs. Ample parking for everyone. There's a restaurant at the lobby. Elevators were fast. About 20 minutes away from Mt. Rushmore. We highly recommend this locations. One of the best Holiday Inn we've visited so far. 8-19 to 8-24, 2021

Traveling from Wisconsin to our home in San Diego, California we needed to stop in Rapid City,…read moreSouth Dakota. Days Inn by Wyndham West Rapid City offered a room for a less expensive rate than most hotels in the area. We did not expect anything elaborate. We were just in town to get a repair job at a local Honda dealership and to see Mount Rushmore. We needed a room for only 2 nights. We encountered some problems. The air conditioning unit in the room was erratic. On July 18th and 19th in 2024, daytime highs reached the upper 80's and lower 90's. With the room air conditioning unit set to the coolest settings and running continuously, the room sometimes stayed warm for hours. It was sometimes a bit hard to sleep because the room stayed too warm for the first few hours, but we would wake up freezing at 2 AM. On the first morning, the dining area was very warm. On the morning we checked out, the front desk attendant failed to monitor the breakfast area and eggs ran out very early. That same morning, we observed the front desk attendant many times as we loaded up our vehicle with luggage - which took several trips as we had a lot of luggage. The front desk clerk was usually on our floor, sitting in one of the chairs by the elevator, engaged in conversation on his phone. In the bathroom, the toilet is under a shelf preventing the toilet seat from staying raised, a major inconvenience for the simple act of male urination. This was my first stay in a Days Inn since the 1970's. I had pleasant experiences with Days Inn back in those years. I cannot say that about my stay in July 2024. I do not think I will stay at a Days Inn facility again.

The ceiling in the bathroom was peeling and hanging down by like a foot. In the morning debris had…read morefallen from the ceiling onto the floor. The sheets, and everything in the room was stained. It was absolutly disgustingn and should be shut down. The smell and the service was terrible. I showed pictures to my family and they said that they had stayed in nicer places during their mission trips in THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES.

I rarely compliment the "free" hotel breakfasts, but this one satisfied. This Holiday Inn had a…read moremore extensive breakfast buffet than the downtown Holiday which charged. The rooms were relatively large and clean. Being located on an interstate it's probably not the best part of town. Unfortunately, the TV screen had a lot of static to the point I just turned it off. Parking is free and staff were friendly. Thank you for a decent desk chair so I could work!

I wanted to give this one 4 stars. Really did. I normally give members of this chain 3 stars but…read morefelt this one maybe had a little more to offer. Maybe I found the staff friendly. Maybe it was the extra effort exerted in the breakfast area during COVID when most places are doing grab bags. Maybe it was the fact that I didn't hear freeway noise even though my room faced it. Or maybe it was the extra touches in the pool area for the kiddies. But I didn't. While the hotel has eye appeal the fact is that the furnishings need to be updated. This review comes towards the tail end of a two week business trip that has had me in a different HIX nearly every night. This was the first one that didn't have a microwave in the room. But most importantly, it was the mattress. This was the hardest mattress I slept on this entire trip. Exhausted as I was it still took awhile to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. Having said all that, I am still sticking to my 3 star rating. I felt this had a little more family vacation appeal than most and mattresses can always be replaced.

The front desk lady was very rude. The air conditioner does not work. The bathroom was not clean…read more The room was clean enough. But the fridge was not. They brought us a rollaway bed, it does not fit in the room. We spent 2 nights here. The same lady worked the front desk both nights. She was not any friendlier the 2nd night. There is a dog down the hall that has been barking for over an hour. Front desk lady does not care.

There hasn't been a review of this place for awhile, so I'm going to add my opinion here. I stayed…read morein a filthy dump a short distance away two nights ago, so I was desperate for an affordable option. I booked this room through Priceline for the same price as the filthy dump down the street and it is a 180 degree difference. The room is clean, the pillows are plump, there are tons of tv channels, the wi-fi is working and I am happy! The only negative thing I can say is that the front desk person seems very unhappy in her work. I'm not a person that needs a South Dakota "nice" interaction, but eye contact and a pleasant tone of voice, rather than inaudible mumbling, would have been adequate.

We just spent 5 nights starting Monday to Friday (August 2025) before Labor Day weekend…read more I don't agree with all the bad reviews but maybe management has changed because the staff could not have been nicer. Yes it was a little dated but clean. We basically had the pool/hot tub to ourselves. Thought the price was well worth the stay and would stay again in the future. Sadly the Perkins has closed so you need to find a breakfast place.There is coffee in the lobby every morning. The attached bar and staff were nice but no food. I'll give 5 stars because the reviews may be a little outdated.

We were in search of a hotel that would accept our dog. We found this place. We called to enquire…read moreand Jerry was happy to receive us for 2 nights. He was very polite and helpful. Very pleasant to work with. We were delighted with the quality of the room for what little we paid for! This room we got is so spacious! The layout is very ergonormic, the TV was working well, the remote was working well, the internet was strong. Refrigerator, coffee maker and microwave all worked well. I didn't use the iron and board and hairdryer. The room was clean and smelled fresh. The AC worked and kept the room at a comfortable temperature (70F). In the bathroom, the water pressure was strong, same for the faucet at the sink. The little tubes of shampoo, conditioner, soap were all nicely laid out. They even have make-up cleansing sheets! The towels were soft and thicker than expected. Lots of towels in various sizes were available. We got 4 pillows per person on each bed! All soft and fluffy. Bed was comfortable, not too soft and not too hard, as Golilocks would say "Just right". We had 2 comfortable nights' sleep. Thank you Grand Gateway & Jerry.