Stay Report - 11/17-11/18

Location: The hotel is located just west of downtown St. Louis in an area near the Enterprise Center (where the St. Louis Blues play), the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial and the Stifel Theater. The Union Station Metrolink station is a 0.3 mile walk away which means the hotel is a 30 minute, $2.50 ride to STL. You can also easily walk to the Amtrak Station from here.





Hotel: The hotel is unlike anywhere I've ever stayed and I mean that in a very good way. They have managed to incorporate the former Union Station (and filming location for Escape from New York!) into a hotel. It can be a little confusing as the rambling nature of the building and the lack of good signage leads to getting lost easily. The check in area is located just off the great hall (the great hall has a bar and restaurant and at night there's a light show on the ceilings). On the same level as the .lobby is a small executive lounge. Rooms are in different parts of the hotel including the clock tower which means different elevators and corridors depending on where your room is.







Check In: There was no dedicated HHonors desk so I ended up waiting a few minutes to get checked in. The agent said "I see you're Diamond, let me see what the best possible room I can give you is" so I momentarily got my hopes up for a suite only to get upgraded just from a King Bed Deluxe to an Grand Hall Luxury King despite numerous suites for sale. Oh well.



Room: The Grand Hall Rooms are all train themed. The hallways have old Pullman Advertisements framed as art and each room has a different train theme. Mine was the Cardinal. The room itself had a large bed, large TV, work area and chair. The bathroom was also really nice with a large walk in shower. Wifi worked well and there were outlets near the bed.









Lounge: The lounge is open from 6-8 PM. There's breakfast from 6:30-9:30 AM daily, appetizers from 5-7:30 PM daily and dessert from 7:30 to 8 PM. In the evening they had two hot dishes (a fried cheese and an artichoke pastry plus cheese, crackers, fruit and vegetables and dip. Breakfast had scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, breads, oatmeal, cereal and fruit. Service in the lounge was excellent.



This is a really fun hotel for the rail buff and the rooms and service were good enough for me to come back. I enjoyed my stay a lot.