Renaissance Des Moines Savery Hotel
401 Locust Street
Des Moines, IA 50309
I saw a few pubs that looked intesting on google maps
You are about a 1/4 mile from the nightlife...of course I dont know what your age is or anything like that, but there are several nice places.
Johnny's All American Bar is nice place, good food and big.
Then you have Legends, Peoples, Heroes, The Hessen House, The Bait Shop. These are some of the places I frequent (or infrequent anymore).
Downtown is always fun, lots of fun places, but it can get crazy with all the kids out running around!