The Elms Resort & Spa, Excelsior Springs

Old, dirty, run down and way overpriced. Cockroaches and giant water bugs (trust me, they look like Madagascar roaches, they are that big) were in the rooms and in the hallways. All shoes, clothes, luggage had to be stored on top of the nightstands because of this. Save your money and eat downtown at a cafe instead. Spa was run down, dingy as well, very old although I had a wonderful massage therapist. The soaking bath could have been done at home before I showed up, it's nothing special. I think history is lacking simply because you are constantly distracted by the filth and bugs. The staff was helpful though.

like: great spa dislike: noisy rooms ( think dueling lawnmowers in your room all night ) uncomfortable beds tiny rooms, even smaller showers rooms not ready on time, not ready even after the late check in indifferent employees

Took my husband here for his birthday present, $179.00 for the Jacuzzi Suite. It was advertised as a two person Jacuzzi... that was a joke it barely holds one person, and it was so loud you couldn't here yourself think. The beds were hard as a rock, no wonder why there was a spa there you need a massage to recover from your nights sleep! The furniture is very out of date.. not "antique" per the era of the hotel just OLD. Paint was dirty in the room. Oh and if you want to go to the indoor hot tub and lap pool you have to go outside.. mind you it was 2 degrees outside when we were there! Oh and the massage, was in a cold room and they couldn't give us a blanket becuase "it would have to be washed" so they gave me an extra towel! So nice of them, we give them 170 for a couples massage and we got an extra towel.. so sweet! So disappointed and such a waste of money.

Hubby & I stayed there in Aug 2009 and it was okay. The hotel was pretty boring...it did offer massage-type services for extra cost, but they were WAY overpriced so Hubby & I went somewhere else for our "couples massages". We did decide to stay @ hotel and eat their "all you can eat buffet" of seafood,prime rib & pasta it was very good and worth the price. We would have spent that much in traveling to another restaurant and eating out anyways. I do have to comment on the swimming pools-the outside pool had NO diving board and really could use some upkeep as well as the sidewalks out in pool area were all gravelly-like and hard on the feet. The inside pool area was not very good either it looked its age and worked its age as well!! One jacuzzi was nice & hot and the other didn't work at all. It is true as another reviewer wrote...the tv only has about 10 channels who wants to watch about channels "offering The Elms services" (their own channel) and nothing else but news type channels? Over all it was "OK" only because in the month of July The Elms offered a specail for a standard room for the rate of $78 if you made reservations online otherwise I would not have spent a penny more. It simply wasn't worth it....maybe that was different back in Al Capone Days when he stayed there, probably cause there wasn't much of nothing else back then! The only excitement in that hotel that night was what happened in our room...we could have done all that at home and saved our money!! Hope you have better luck than we did, but I would seriously doubt it. If you have the $ to spend check out Cresent Inn on the Lake in Excelsior Springs/Liberty MO thats where we'll be next year!!

This motel is a bit over rated. We had a family wedding in the area and although the motel was clean one of our family's reservations was completely messed up and they were charged more than double...they did fix the charge before they left. The bathrooms are extremely small and many of the rooms have only showers. In the morning, we were awakened by barking dogs...the motel site says no pets; however there were two dogs there and one of them had an accident in the hall, NIce, but nothing special.

I wanted to spend one night away from my family just to relax and rejuvenate. I checked into all sorts of locations - hotels, B&Bs - in the Kansas City area and settled on the Elms. The Elms had such a rich history, was close, had a spa onsite, had restaurants on site. I thought it would be prefect and I figured that whatever I decided to do, I could without leaving the hotel. The building and grounds are beautiful. I got a last minute deal and got a suite for the price of a regular room. The suite was very spacious and clean. I was looking to have great food while during my stay and planned on treating myself. The week of my stay I called the hotel and asked about dining options. I was told there was room service, a dining room restaurant and a 5 star dining restaurant, the Adega. I was so looking forward to trying the fine dining restaurant as it touts seasonal prix fixe menus. After checked in I decided to look at the menus for all the dining options. I first looked for the room service menu. There was not one in my room so I called down to the front desk. The girl there was extremely rude and told me that I would have to walk down to the lobby and look at the podium outside the dining room to see what it offered and was told that that is what room service options I would have as well. I did that and noticed two things - there was a Saturday night buffet and secondly, I couldn't find a menu for the fine dining restaurant. I walked to the front desk and asked where I could find the menu for the fine dining restaurant and the same rude girl there told me it was closed for renovation. I mentioned that I had called earlier that week and was not told that. She just shrugged her shoulders and turned around. I would never had booked at the Elms had I known that the fine dining restaurant was closed. Around dinnertime, I decided my options were to try the BBQ place just down the street or just go to the regular dining room there at the Elms. Since I was a by myself that night, I didn't really want to be walking down the street in the dark so I went to the dining room and the waitress really pushed the buffet. I went and looked at it, but it looked like a bunch of soggy, lukewarm, overcooked food. Not what I was looking for. I asked for a menu and ordered beef medallions. It was supposed to come with a salad, but I was told to go to the buffet and get one from there. The service was incredibly slow the entire time I was in the dining room. It was very clear that they expected you to order from the buffet. When my medallions arrived, I was so disappointed. There were a few strips of beef covered in a congealed gravy, not a pinot noir sauce like the menu stated. The baked potato was good, although I am sure it was pulled off the buffet line as well. There were some limp veggies on the plate as well. The beef was so grisly I could hardly eat it. It didn't taste like anything really. I never was asked how my meal was or anything. I wanted to order dessert and was told to go grab something off the buffet. So disappointed in my dining experience. I went back to my room, had a great night sleep and left early in the morning before breakfast - I wasn't going to chance having to eat there again! So, even though I loved the history and atmosphere of the Elms, I would not stay there again nor recommend it. I should have stayed at one of the hotels on the Plaza if I was really looking for a great overall stay and I should have eaten at the BBQ restaurant down the street had I wanted good food! The Elms has a long way to go to live up to their storied reputation and to achieve 5 star class. Rude employees, uninformed employees, false advertising (saying that the fine dining restaurant is open) and bad food is not going to get them there anytime soon.

i will never stay here again it is the most boring place i ever stayed people are nice but it was not worth the price. i froze to death in my room and there is only about ten channels to watch on television and the spa needs a total remodel do not waste your money on the spa you will be sorry.

We stayed there in Feb 2008 we had purchased a gift certificate at a fund raiser, and it seems like we got the worst room the hotel had to offer, when we got to the room it was dreary and cold I sat down on the end of the bed and the head of the bed lifted off the floor the frame for the bed was to small for the mattress, we walked around the property it was attractive, When we returned to the room still cold we turned the heat up and it was very noisy(all night) I went to take a shower and the bath room had a draft I looked under the sink and they had been working on the plumbing as there was a plastic bowl to catch the water from the pipes and there was a big hole in the wall where the cold air was comming from. When we went to check out the next morning they had charged our cc for the room for some reason forgot to apply the gift cert. That was fixed quickly but just another issue for us to deal with. Hotel has allot of potential if the owners will just put som dollars into it.

I went up to the Elms for lunch and boy I do I wish I would have gone some where else. I ordered a hamburer for I figure how could you go wrong. Well the outside of hte patty was burnt and inside pink. The wait staff was extremely poor which was sas sine there were only 3 tables being occupied while I was there.

We stay there whenever we can, its a beautiful hotel and the grounds couldnt be better, it was well kept overall. the staff was friendly and our room couldnt have been better, anyone who loves history would love this hotel, the woodwork and tile floors are in thier orginal condition. The downstairs pool is a must a one off akind in the US.