The Merrill Hotel & Conference Center, Muscatine, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel ★★★★

Pearls, Buttons and the Sunsets Twain Remembered

Muscatine sits on a bend where the Mississippi runs east to west, which is why the sunsets here arrive over the water rather than behind it. Mark Twain, who worked on the Muscatine Journal as a young man, said as much in print years later. The town's other claim is stranger: for a few decades around the turn of the twentieth century it cut buttons from the pearly shells of river mussels and supplied a large share of the world, which is how a small Iowa river town came to call itself the Pearl of the Mississippi. The Merrill stands on that riverfront, a modern hotel on a working levee, built to look at the water.

Why It Works

Small river cities rarely carry a hotel at this level, which is the first reason: Tribute Portfolio, AAA Four Diamond, a proper restaurant and a ballroom, all in a town most people would otherwise drive through. The second is the orientation. The building was planned around the view, so the good rooms and the dining room share the same stretch of water, and the sunsets Twain wrote about do the rest. The third is completeness for an event: a hundred and ten rooms, a grand ballroom, meeting space, an indoor pool and free self parking, which means a wedding or a conference never has to leave the block.

Why This Location

Mississippi Drive is the riverfront street and the hotel opens onto it, with the levee trail running past the door and downtown Muscatine a short walk inland. The Muscatine History and Industry Center, which tells the button story, and the Muscatine Art Center are both close, and the Mark Twain overlook sits above the town. On the larger scale, Muscatine is on the Great River Road about half an hour south of the Quad Cities and a couple of hours east of Des Moines, which makes it a natural overnight on a drive down the Mississippi. Iowa farmland starts at the edge of town, and the barges keep moving past the window.

Fast Facts

• Price: Premium

• Vibe: Riverfront, civic, polished, Midwestern

• Rooms: A hundred and ten rooms and suites, a good share of them facing the Mississippi

• Best For: Great River Road drivers, wedding and conference parties, business stays in Muscatine

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The west facing river frontage, aimed straight at the sunsets Mark Twain rated above any others he had seen

• Dining: Maxwell's On The River, New American cooking with panoramic river views

• Amenities: Grand ballroom and meeting rooms, indoor pool, fitness centre, gift shop, free self parking with valet available

• Attractions: Riverside Park and the levee trail, Muscatine History and Industry Center, Muscatine Art Center, Mark Twain overlook, the Quad Cities (about half an hour)

Rooms Facing the Current

A hundred and ten rooms and suites over the riverfront block, and the distinction that matters is which way they face. River side rooms take in the current, the bridge and the barge traffic, and they are the ones to insist on, particularly for the second half of the day. The rooms are contemporary and generously sized rather than characterful, which is the trade a new build makes against a historic conversion, and the finish holds to the Four Diamond standard. Suites add a sitting area. Wi-fi runs throughout, self parking is free, and valet is there for anyone who wants it.

Maxwell's, the Ballroom and the Wedding Season

Maxwell's On The River is the reason locals come in, which is always a good sign in a town this size. The cooking is New American, the room is glassed towards the water, and the sunset seating fills first. Next door, the Grand Ballroom and the meeting rooms carry the building's second life: Muscatine's weddings, conferences and civic dinners land here, and the riverfront frames all of them. The indoor pool and the fitness room cover the January mornings, when the Mississippi runs with ice and nobody is walking the levee. It is a hotel that works as the town's front room.