Astrophsx

The Element Omaha Midtown Crossing had its grand opening today. It seems about a week ago they stopped taking reservations and were going to delay the opening, but they started to take reservations again this week and I was able to book a room.

The website shows the BAR M-F for the cheapest room at $129 and the weekend rate is $99. Though I was able to call and get the smallest room with a king sized bed for $69.

The opening was very nice. They had a ribbon cutting, speeches, free alcohol and free food. The manager and employees are very very friendly and seem very excited to be working at the hotel. It seems that they will continue the free light dinner service Mon-Thurs with complimentary alcohol. I was very impressed with the customer service.

I think like most other Element hotels, they've had some issues during their opening. The internet has gone down a few times and it seems half of the rooms on the 8th floor do not have working televisions (including mine). I'm sure all of the small issues will be worked out quickly.

One major issues may come from rooms facing Dodge street, which is most odd numbered rooms. The road noise even up to the 8th floor during the day
was fairly noticeable during heavy and light traffic. I was able to get another room. I'm not sure if the noise gets any better at night, this may not be an issue for some but I'm a light sleeper. The smallest rooms with a king size bed have smaller refrigerators that are also pretty noisy when they cycle. Noise from the cycling refrigerator has often been complained about on tripadvisor, but it looks as if all other rooms with full sized refrigerators got new models and I have not had any issues with the noise from the fridge.

This is currently the newest element hotel. The only other element I've been to is in Baltimore. There seems to be a few small differences.

- The rooms feel 5-10% smaller for some reason in the Omaha hotel, but I could be wrong.

- They do not give out bottles of water, each sink now has a separate tap for filtered water to make the hotel more "green".

- The televisions in Omaha are a newer line of Philips that seem to have a much better picture and flip through the channels much faster. They still have not fixed the problem of having the televison mounted on a decent swivel stand.

- The connection bar for the inputs to the television is apparently suppose to have a bluetooth features where you should be able to stream audio from your itouch or iphone. I have yet to see this in action.

- Two button flush on the toilets and an improved clock next to the bed.

Minneapolis

Thank you for the very thorough review of the Element Midtown. Very excited to have a SPG option in the Omaha area again after all these years.

What is the parking situation like at the hotel?

Astrophsx

There is a brand new parking garage located next to the hotel. I believe the hotel charges $8 per day and you have unlimited in and out. But... since the hotel is new, every time you want to leave the garage you need to ask the hotel for a ticket. I think they will be doing this for the first month. Plenty of parking in the garage.

I'll post some photos of the one bedroom suite. The manager also told me there are plans to have local restaurants deliver room service for only a $2 fee per order.

Astrophsx

Finished my third stay at this hotel this weekend. Looks like they are no longer charging for parking. My first stay I was charged $8, but my second and third stay I was not charged for parking. I was upgraded again to a suite, but this time it was facing dodge street. The noise is pretty loud from the street, about 5x's as loud compared to the other side of the hotel. The noise from the full sized fridge cycling is somewhat noisy... I was thinking that since these are brand new refrigerators this issue would be fixed.

I did have some issues... Around 2pm we had a person walk in without knocking on our door right after we returned from lunch. They had a clip board and quickly apologized and walked out. They did not state who they were or what they were doing. It's the second time that I have stayed at an Element hotel and had someone walk into the room. I talked quickly with a manager and he seemed very puzzled. I asked if they were doing room checks and he said that they were not at that time, but that there were cable tv repair men in the hotel but they were suppose to only be on the 5th floor which is unopened. The cleaning ladies on each stay have also come to clean the room around 4pm, knocked and tried to enter the room... even though the do not disturb magnet was displayed on the door.

Overall it's a very nice hotel. The staff is very friendly and helpful. I still think it's the best place to stay in Omaha, but I am wondering if I should contact the corporate office about unwanted people entering or trying to enter the room.

bsdstone

Staying here right now...for two days.

Pros:
-Room is visually impressive...clean lines, new and well laid out.
-Love the eco friendliness of this place...for example they have a "half flush or full flush" button the toilet
-Like that the TV Swivels so you can watch it from the couch, desk, or bed.
-Staying in a studio and it's well outfitted for a long stay.
-Great restaurants in walking distance...Crave=YUM!

Cons:
-Desk chair is comfortable but has no arm rests.
-Wish they had a list of TV channels
-Not much else so far, I'm impressed!

I think I'm going to like this brand...I hope they get some more properties where I would be traveling with my family!
I'll definitely make this my place to stay in Omaha...nice to see SPG is back.

Astrophsx

I think a huge plus for long term stays is the market on the backside of the hotel. I'm not sure if they've started the room service provided by the local restaurants, but that would be a plus as well.

Bsdstone, could you report back if you had to pay for parking? I've stayed 3 times now at that property and was only charged my first stay.

bsdstone

I'm sipping on a Hogue Chardonnay from said market as I type this.
No indication of room service yet.

Will do, I'm checking out Friday morning.

bsdstone

OK, so I went to the Gym tonight...WOW! They have some of the new Lifetime fitness equipment that has TV screens and Ipod hook ups that allow you to record your workouts. They also have free weights, and about 6 strength training machines...very nice! I was in there for 45 minutes and nobody came in...it was like my own private gym! :-)

I tried Cantina Laredo across the street for dinner tonight (take out) and it was pretty tasty! Loving my stay here!^

Astrophsx

The gym is very nice. It looks like they may have finally put in those free weights. The equipment is really great. I like how they give you free headphone to plug in to watch tv. The only downside is that the water cooler was not plugged in and there was no cup.

Cantina Laredo was excellent. Great fajitas and they make the guacamole at the table!

Did you get a room facing Dodge street? Wonder if you thought the road noise was as bad as I've had. I don't know how a hotel goes about fixing that. You'd think they would have thought about that before building the hotel, Omaha has some of the nosiest streets in the midwest.

czj48

It's good to see a viable Starwood presence in Omaha.

I've only stayed at one Element so far, in Denver. It was very good and I am looking forward to Omaha in 2011.

Thanks for the reviews.

bsdstone

The cooler was plugged in and the cups were there! ^

I had take out...Cilantro Chicken salad and Queso and Chips...YUM!

I'm facing south, so I'm away from Dodge st. Dodge is a pretty busy road, so I could imagine the noise is pretty bad.

One down side is that they still are having problems with the parking...couldn't get out this morning, and couldn't get in this afternoon...everyone was very apologetic and said they were working on the problem...but it was still annoying!

bsdstone

As a follow up to the posts, above...no charge for parking!^

Da5id

In the summer, Jazz on the Green has been relocated to this complex. Also, Delice has opened a new restaurant after moving from the Old Market. They are a long time Omaha staple known for pastries and light fare.

You guys have us thinking about going there on a points stay even though we only live a few miles away

Minneapolis

Is Blanc Bottle and Burger bar open yet?

This is a Kansas City high-end burger joint and it is amazing.

Astrophsx

It was not open when I was there. It's on the same block as the movie theaters at the very end.