Stayed here many times since opening and I concur with the posts thus far...
- Parking was chargeable when I first started staying, but I haven't received any parking charges for a while, so it must indeed be free now. I usually use the covered parking in the rear of the hotel.
- Lobby and some of the decor is definitely not your typical Four Points. Not sure how to describe it, but here's a picture of the lobby area...
- Have never gotten upgraded here, so I agree it is probably something you will need to ask/arm-twist to get
- FWIW, my local client teams in Seattle/Bellevue told me that this area is OK, but not great -- but also that I should not park my rental car on the street as the area around Pacific Highway can have problems with car theft.
- Not much in the way of restaurants around the hotel, mainly just a few fast food outlets. Haven't done it myself, but I think if you go towards the center of Des Moines on the coast, there should be more options. I usually just ended up making the trek over to Southcenter for restaurants/shopping/etc.
I'm a bigger fan of the downtown Four Points location (which gives consistent upgrades and great service -- usually the difference for me is $20-30 extra per night), but this property is a good value price-wise if you're OK with the slightly inconvenient location.