GUWonder

11th street and 2nd Avenue. Too far from the river for me. (Rather near to the Hyatt Regency.)

bigjim

Just returned from a one night stay at this hotel. Was upgraded to 7th floor Club Level. Executive Lounge was nice - note: the lounge attendant said that there is a 2 limit drink limit and they don't have the ability to sell you more that you have to go downstairs to the main bar. I don't have a problem with that. Food was very good - steak tips in pastry, crab cakes, cheese/fruit/veggies, cookies.

The actual room was ok. I was at the end of the hallway next to the EMPTY Executive suite. The furnishings appeared to have been pulled out of about 10 different hotel rooms and thrown into mine - none of the furniture matched, none of the lamps matched but it all appeared to be decent quality stuff. The room was large. My only complaints are that too much light came in around the doorway at night and the inability to adjust the temperature in the room beyong about a 5 degree range. It apparently is some type of centralized heating/cooling system and while there was a thermostat, the temp doesn't change a whole lot in the room.

The work out area is nice AND completely empty at 5:30 p.m., which I found to be very unusual - but not complaining. The hotel feels a lot more like a 4 Points than a Sheraton to me.

bigjim

Just completed a three-night stay. I was upgraded to the SPG Preferred Guest Floor (4th). I did not have a "Club Level" room behind the glass doors on the 4th floor. I don't know if the rooms are any different there.

My room was a bit run-down. The wall around the bed looked like it had some type of permanent stain around it - it was pretty gross. The desk chair fabric had a huge rip in it. Centralized heating/cooling system - it had a winter/summer mode and then high/med/low. In addition there was a heater in the bathroom that was running full blast when I checked in and there was no on/off switch. I had to call front desk to get someone to come up and turn it off.

The food in the club lounge is ok - nothing spectacular, but not bad. There is still a computer in the club lounge but you have to pry up the attendant in order to use it. Free wine is still there. In addition, I received two free bottles of water in my room each day.

BTW the hotel advertises a computer survey that you must complete during your stay (within 24 hours of your date of checkout) in order to receive 500 points. You must use their computer system in order to complete the survey, otherwise the link won't show up. I'm chasing the points now because the stay posted but not the survey points.

I posted regarding the Bloomington property also, and both of these properties feel more like 4 Points properties instead of Sheratons.

fly co to see the yanks

i think there are other EXTENSIVE threads on the minneapolis starwood properties. i have lived in them for the better part of the last five months and have written quite a bit.

all you need to know (or almost all you need to know) is that these are not properties where you would ever want to vacation. they are business person hotels and their sole purpose in life is a crash pad between meetings, dinners, etc. in a word, the properties are "serviceable."

having said that, for the most part the staffs at each property are very, very nice. i've had a few rotten apples, but they are far and few between.

the managers at each property are great. ahmed at minnetonka is great and andreas and max at the one in bloomington are top notch.

fly co to see the yanks

1) there is no difference in front of or behind the glass. if you got your bottles of water, there is no difference.

2) the hotel recently lossed the person that takes care of posting the points for these surveys. but, they have the list of names and are going to take care of it. i also emailed ahmed about the survey points and he is on it.

3) i disagree. i think this is solidly a sheraton. it is MUCH better than the four points minneapolis. no comparison whatsoever. you wouldn't see a club like this at the four points. and, although i have never used it, there is a nice pool and hot tub. the four points also gives only one small bottle of water even when it is a suite with two people listed in the room. (are we supposed to share that tiny bottle of water?) no, this is definitely a sheraton and correctly branded.

bigjim

On the latter we can agree to disagree and I do recognize that Starwood apparently agrees with you, for now. I've never stayed in the four points minneapolis but I have stayed at a few other Four Points including but not limited to the NYC Chelsea and Four Points Huntsville and Four Points Tuscaloosa. Both had rooms that were better equipped and in better condition than these Sheratons. Both the Huntsville and Tuscaloosa locations have club lounges with decent food. The size of the bottle of water is the same for me but yes, I did get two instead of one in the Minneapoolis Sheratons. I would prefer the 4 Points designation because then we'd get free internet access in our rooms.

Rolling Stone

LOL - I'm sure the management of the hotel won't like this comment - the rooms in the smaller tower were renovated within the last six months. All the rooms have the same decor - it may a bit eclectic to some, but at least it doesn't look like a cookie cutter Marriott room.

I strongly disagree with your Four Points comment though - it is definitely a Sheraton - and a big, busy one at that.

bigjim

I might be expecting more out of Sheraton's than others. I've always expected Sheraton's to be of a higher quality and offer more facility-wise than Four Points. Although, I think that my experience with Four Points has been much more positive than others have had. If it's the sheer number of rooms, I will concede that this should be branded a Sheraton.

I actually liked the room and the quality of the furnishings - I see where the designer was trying to go, but I don't think that they quite pulled it off.

ohmark

Mariott's cookie cutter is cutting better cookies these days.

http://www.experiencemarriott.com/en/select_version.htm

fly co to see the yanks

i agree. definitely deserved of the sheraton moniker. the pool, the hot tub, the gym, the lounge (with great hours and decent victuals) etc. all give the hotel the sheraton branding. i couldn't imagine this hotel being a four points.

NoSevens

What is the closest Starwood property that is located close to the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul?

Is it difficult getting in, parking and out of the area for hockey games?

Starwood-aside, are there hotels within walking distance of the Xcel Center?

One last question, are scalper abundant for Minnesota Wild games and are they generally ignored by the police?

Thanks for any info.

fly co to see the yanks

there are literally scads of threads on starwood's minneapolis properties. please do a Search and pose your queries in the most applicable <<existing>> thread.

NoSevens

Yes, I did do a search and did not find anything about the location relative to the Xcel Energy Center.

Before jumping in with your answer, did you even read my specific question? Not sure why people insist on patrolling threads.

UpgradeMe

SPG.com allows you to search for hotels by distance from a given location. Using that and/or mapquest would answer this question.

Using Expedia.com or checking the websites of major hotel chains would tell you all you need to know about hotels in downtown St. Paul.

I'm still trying to figure out what parking and scalper questions have to do with Starwood.

NoSevens

Absolutely nothing to do with Starwood, except I'm hoping that someone with local knowledge of the hotels in the area would also know the ins and outs of logistics and ticket availability environment. Parking is very relevant as if it is difficult to get in and out of the area and expensive to park, may forgo my Starwood stay for the sake of convenience.

Similar to many, many other discussions on this forum about local restaurants, attractions, transportation, climate etc. not directly related to Starwood but revolve around a trip.

For example, here in Ottawa, the Westin and Sheraton are not close to the Corel Centre at all, but you end up driving to the arena regardless of where you stay so there's not advantage to staying at a close non-Starwood property. If the game is sold out, don't worry, there's always a bunch of scalpers outside and police generally turn a blind eye.

On the other side of things, I've learned from these forums that even though many San Francisco Giant games are sold out, very easy to get tickets at face value.