Holiday Inn Express & Suites Keystone

Your typical HIE, maybe a slightly more rustic lobby with a Buffalo head and Elk antlers in the drive up area.
Food is predictably bad, rooms old and a little dirty, wireless almost non-​functional, pool was closed while we were there…
Rates high because you’re close to Rount Mushmore.

Great place to stay for a quick trip to see mount Rushmore. We came during the off season though so this little town is a ghost town, nothing is open. You will have to make the 25 minute trip into rapid city for meals, groceries, etc.
The hotel itself is clean, well kept and quiet. Nice, warm, indoor pool and Jacuzzi. Laundry room.$ 1 to wash, $ 1 to dry.
Only negatives were some mold in the bathroom/​rust on the door frame and there was some trash left behind in the room from the previous occupants (empty kids fruit squeeze pack and dirty ear plugs).
Breakfast is good, standard little set up… delicious cinnamon rolls, eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy puts yogurt, cereal, variety of baked goods, juice and coffee.
Since its the off season, they are very short staffed and run with just one person even at breakfast time which is understandable but can be frustrating if you need something but feel guilty for asking the poor overworked soul.
Anyway, we enjoyed our stay and had a great time just beware, if you come during the off season, the whole area is closed, nothing to do.

Great experience at Holiday. Spacious room, fridge, microwave, coffee maker and hair dryer. What’s more little soaps, lotions and shampoos. Friendly staff. Didn’t have a chance to use pool and hot tub but I will try other time cause for sure I’ll be coming back. Breakfast was the most pleasant surprise eggs, links, toast, yogurts, oatmeal, muffins, orange juice and much more! For this price it was a steal. Thanks Holiday for best stay in town!

We had an excellent 3 day stay here. Very clean and courteous staff. Nice little breakfast for guests. Just a note: This area is seasonal for stores, attractions, and places to eat. We had a slight noisy heater/​AC but the room was warm enough on its own. The rooms, beds, pillows, shower, towels, tv, wifi were all good. Nice indoor swimming pool too. My first visit to Mt. Rushmore (it’s only 2 miles from here). If I come back I’ll definately stay here. Thank you Holiday Inn Express.

I attempted to book a room at this hotel because I am traveling across the country with my family as part of a military move.
When I called to book the room I requested a single king room as my wife and I are traveling by with our two toddlers. We find that it is easier for us to manage them during sleep time with the single large bed rather than two queens. The clerk told me that he was not allowed to book me to a single king room with a 4 person party.
I explained to him that each one of our stops along this trip (two so far) have been at different Holiday Inn Expresses which haven’t had any issues booking us to a single king bedroom on request. He then found it necessary to explain to me that all hotels are separate even though they may be Holiday Inn brand and that his manager told him he could not book 4 people to a king. I asked to speak with a manager and was told that there was no manager on duty. The clerk wasn’t exactly polite throughout this whole process especially given my IHG Platinum Elite status. :shrugs: Maybe he had a rough Monday?
So I called the Holiday Inn Express in Custer, SD which is 20 minutes away. They granted my request for a single king room without any issue.
Apparently, the management at this particular Holiday Inn Express has decided to adopt policies which are unfriendly to families with young children? I’m not sure about their logic there but I felt good about my decision to take my money elsewhere. Avoid this hotel if you have small children. 1 star to this hotel for being a special yellow snowflake in the Holiday Inn Express brand.

If you must stay in Keystone, then this hotel is definitely the best, but it still gets only one star. (Which really says something about the condition of the rest of the hotels in Keystone.) When we walked in the lobby, the guy at the front desk was explaining how the Internet works to an older gentleman. There was a couple in front of us waiting to check in. I’m not sure how long they had been waiting before we walked in, but we waited at least 15 minutes for the Internet discussion to conclude. (This is while another hotel employee was out front talking to a friend who was in a car outside.) As soon as the desk guy started to check the other couple in, the phone rang and instead of asking the caller to hold, he proceeded to have a long conversation with the caller. Eventually, he asked the caller to provide a call back number because he had guests waiting to check in. This whole process took another 5+ minutes. He finished checking the couple in and then got to us. The hallway of the hotel smelled like no fresh air had been allowed in for quite awhile. The room was a King suite, but not like what it sounds. Old, cheap furniture. Luckily, we only planned to stay one night. If I return to Mt. Rushmore again, I would opt to stay in another city farther away. I thought Keystone would be a great place because it was so close to Rushmore, but Ugh!

The gentleman at the front desk was kind and helpful and the room was fresh, modern, clean, and comfortable. No complaints!
They even have an indoor pool/​hot tub!

The room was clean but walls are paper thin so at 7 am when the children wake up you can’t sleep. The people next to us where making so much noise Running and yelling children!!! my girlfriend and I couldn’t sleep and when I called the office they said. («I don’t know what you want me to do its 7 am and quite time is over it starts at 10 pm and is over at 7 am»)Also the breakfast was disgusting. They call this a cheese omelette! It’s egg beater with a slice of packaged cheese. The problem is no place is open here in the spring so unless we want to drive another 12 miles your gonna starve. We are checking out now and going to Dead Wood to stay the rest of our vacation

Very clean and quiet hotel! Friendly staff. Great breakfast! We really enjoyed our stay and would recommend it to everyone!

Awesome hotel! The breakfast was phenomenal, you gotta have the cheese omelet. The location is great as well, would definitely stay there again!

Convenient location, maybe 2.5miles from Mt Rushmore, and a ½-​mile from downtown Keystone, a tourist town.
Great price for off-​season travel. I reserved a room in February at the rate of $ 65 for a nite, but then cancelled. However I did stay Sat nite, 12Apr2014 at the rate of $ 77 ($ 83 with taxes) 12−13Apr2014, and stayed.
Free wifi, indoor pool & hot tub (7am-​10pm), and free continental breakfast (6:30−9:30am) with fruit and yogurt, juice/​milk/​coffee, muffins/​bagels/​toast, hot eggs/​sausage/​biscuits and gravy. The hotel is about 10 years old and it was recently renovated.
Clean and spacious room. Two beds, 4-​cup coffee-​maker, mini-​freezer, microwave and ~34″ flat screen TV in room.
Nice staff and ample parking. If in the area again, I would certainly stay again.

Came here with my family during spring break and overall had a great experience! The only reason why not 5 stars was because we had a bee in our bathroom but my husband quickly took care of it. The breakfast was tasty with biscuits and gravy, cheese omlettes, hot cinnamon rolls, and a good variety of cereal. I love the nature feel of the hotel because as soon as you walk you get an array of taxidermy animals from a bison head to deer, a vulture, and even a mountain lion. The jacuzzi and pool were a favorite for my son. Since we came here during the offseason everything nearby was closed, I would definitely go into Rapid City to eat dinner instead of eating at the only place open next door. Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse were nearby and so I don’t regret staying here instead of the city. I definitely will be coming back and staying at this hotel the next time we come here.

My family and I thought it was great! Staff was super friendly, it was very clean, and most importantly the beds are awesome!!!

I stayed here a while back (just getting around to a review). It is a PERFECT location for Mt. Rushmore. There’s a little town area close by (beware, everything closes early) and Mt. Rushmore was only minutes away. On a more recent trip, I stayed in a Marriott at Rapid City — this Holiday Inn is MUCH better. The rooms were clean, the lobby is AMAZING, and the breakfast is very good.
If you are deciding between here and down in Rapid City, definitely pick here. It saves you the drive up to see Mt. Rushmore and it much quiter and more charming that Rapid City. NOT that there’s anything wrong with Rapid City — I’m not saying that. I’m just saying for Mt. Rushmore and quite peacefulness, this spot is perfect.
Next time I go back, I will definitely stay here again. Loved it.

We stayed here for four nights and everything was great,. Jeremy at the front desk was a true gem! I booked the room through Orbitz and it was all wrong, we needed a microwave, refridgerater, sofa couch and a crib. Jeremy hooked us up for the same cheap price, we had a problem with the wifi and again Jeremy came to our aid. Breakfast was hot and plenty, Being Christmas time the town was completely shut down which made it all the better to get around and see all the sights without the crowds. The pool and hot tub were clean and just the right tempetuare We had a great visit but the drive was way to much (22 hours) I would fly next time.

Moldy smell coming from the air conditioner. Enough said?
This is just down right a horrible experience here. I’m writing this review while trying to breath with my allergies due to the moldy smell coming from the air conditioner. I even tried contacting the front desk clerks and realized that the phone in our room actually doesn’t even work.
So instead, I have use my cell phone to call and the clerk lady said she would check and call me back. Half an hour passed by and to no surprise, no calls received from the front desk clerk. So I have to walk down in my PJ to hear this, «Well, the hotel is not old enough to have mold. We are booked solid so there’s nothing we could do. Don’t you have any allergies medicine you could take?»
Wow, I mean, Holiday Inn Express, Keystone, you’re so awesome at being horrible. Guest service? No such thing exists at this place. I’ll remember to bring my allergy medicine the next time I book a hotel with Holiday Inn, better yet, I’ll probably stop booking my stays at Holiday Inn from here on out.

Clean hotel. Close to Mount Rushmore. Parking is restricted so watch where you park. I felt there were way too many Employee parking spaces, it was practically the whole lot in front of the hotel. As good as it gets in HIE breakfast items. Will recommend to others that are traveling to Mount Rushmore.

The HIE was clean with friendly staff. We were able to check in 2 hour earlier so I bumped them to 4 stars.
I can see that parking would be an issue because of the small lot and the possibility of getting ticketed if you park on the street (which is totally stupid for a touristy town). But we were here off season so no worries for me.
I liked the complementary hot breakfast better at best western but it wasn’t bad.
The kids had fun in the pool and hot tub. Overall a successful stay. No problems.

Another successful Holiday Inn Express stay. They have become my look for hotel whenever we are able to get out of town.
This HIE had a nice lobby, a better than average free breakfast, and most importantly for the cold October days we were there an able heater.
A previous reviewer mentioned the desk staff and I must agree with them. The staff was slow to appear and, this was ludicrous to me in a tourist town, could not direct me to the nearest drug store (hint: It’s in the Krull Market in Hill City).

I almost feel sorry for this HIE; while it is supremely conveniently located in the middle of Keystone, it’s on an out-​of-​the-​way street just off the main street.
The room rate (probably because it’s off-​season) was more than fair ($ 79 for a king bed after AAA discount!) and the front desk was helpful, though it sometimes took a short time for someone to appear. The front lobby has a diorama of a deer, a bobcat, and an eagle in a forest setting, and just outside the lobby in the drop-​off area is the most HIDEOUS chandelier made out of antlers that really needs to be seen to be believed. Everything was done up in dark woods in the front area, and light pine wood in the room.
My baseline is not high for a hotel: Bed, shower, wi-​fi, and for all of this the service was great. The walls were a little thin but not terrible, and my quick stay was peaceful and restful.