The Depot enlarged the size of the full service hotel, now a Renaissance (long ago it was a Courtyard), by adding a floor on top of the more modern part of the building and getting rid of the indoor water park, but the historic part (mostly suites) remains. They seem to be converting the old train shed which was used for the skating rink and certain other functions into indoor function space, so there's lots of construction going on. AFAIK the RI part still badly needs a renovation. Moreover, with the additional rooms and event space, I'm not sure whether the garage is large enough for the property.

Personally, I like the Starwood properties, but they're all individual and somewhat quirky with advantages and disadvantages.

For the Skyway and a cool indoor pool, pick the Westin. It's very close to the light rail line from the airport, with a connection (at the USBank stadium) to St Paul.

W is located in a historic building with a historic bar and museum, plus viewing deck on top.

Ivy is LC, also built into a historic building and somewhat on the edge of downtown, near the convention center, with a skyway that's otherwise pretty useless (but it does go to a cheaper self parking facility, versus the hotel's valet garage).

LM is also in a historic building, sophisticated edgy vibe, but small rooms if you don't get a luxury suite. Heated bathroom floors, a fire pit in the courtyard, and an ice bar most winters. Not on skyway.

Aloft is close to USBank stadium (Vikings football, Ninja, X-games, etc.), stone arch bridge, Mill City Museum and farmer's market, but not really downtown and not on skyway. It's standard new built aloft with one genuine one bedroom corner suite (no guest powder room), connecting to an additional room. First come first served local (not airport) shuttle)

Midtown Sheraton is NOT downtown and IMO in a borderline sketchy neighborhood (but close to an indoor market and a local bus terminal) with insufficient parking (surface pay lot).

None of the suburban Starwoods are near the light rail line. AFAIK 4Pts is the only one with an airport shuttle (that also goes to Mall of America).

The Westin is located in a former bank building. Rooms and suites tend to be small. Unless there's been a recent renovation, it's the standard Westin relax furnishings/colors in rooms (green, tan, and ivory with light wood). Unfortunately there's no lounge, but the restaurant, called BANK, is very good and popular with locals, including for happy hour as well as meals.

There's no real lobby, just a hallway with the front desk and a spacious open business center. There's also no real obvious entrance; if you use valet parking, you're at the outside entrance to the restaurant and must walk around its perimeter to the front desk and hotel elevators.

To me, the Depot is the less desirable location. The Ivy is almost across the street from our concert hall with its small park that tends to host some events, such as food stands/trucks and outdoor concerts (no noise issues).

@pinniped:

Next weekend is in about five days, roughly July 20th to 22nd? Or do you mean the following weekend?

The annual Aquatennial event stretches over about four days, ending on July 21st with fireworks on the riverfront. There will be crowds and lots of stuff going on, mostly downtown, including a parade, a 5K run, food, beer, and music. It's family friendly but not just for kids. In previous years, IIRC there were some milk carton boat races on one of the lakes and I think some acrobatic water skiing exhibitions. This is a big deal in MN, probably the biggest event of the summer (excluding the state fair in St Paul around Labor Day).There's a detailed website with info, although I haven't been able to figure out whether the pins ($5 and good for freebies and discounts) can be purchased somewhere in person.

During the same time period the X-games come to USBank (Vikings football) stadium, which is fairly close to the Depot. The first day seems to be free, but then tickets are needed for everything, including the music and even to purchase souvenirs. I don't know how big this is. Then Sunday the stadium hosts the Harley Davidson flat track races.

When I drive past the Depot, it looks like the construction currently is all in the train shed, which would be across a small parking lot from the RI. I can't see whether this surface parking lot on hotel property is still open, but there's an underground garage with self parking for the same price. My concern with the current setup would be that when they enlarged the Renaissance at the Depot greatly, they apparently didn't add parking places. Even before the new top floor was added and when there were no hotel rooms in the waterpark area, whenever the hotel hosted events in their function space, the garage would get full.

BTW, MOA has Crayola Experience now for small kids. It was there a couple years ago for a month or so and some hotels were offering promos including tickets for it at that time.

For baseball, the Twins are playing *at* Kansas City Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I have reservations at the Renaissance downtown and also the Red Radisson. Both have pros and cons. Im leaning towards the Ren as I get breakfast as a Platinum and the rooms seem nice. Someone up thread mentioned flooding in the area. I woild imagine its subsuded now? For the 2 days in MSP i will not have a car and will use public transport, uber or walk if that makes a difference to location of the hotel.

I don't know where the flooding comments applied. There was bad flooding about an hour or two north of Minneapolis, and problems a couple hours to the south too, but AFAIK nothing downtown was affected beyond a day with very heavy rain toward the end of the pm rush hour that caused a traffic mess. I didn't see any water in the streets that went to the top of the curb, so I'd guess that a half foot in very scattered places and only for a short period of time was the limit around here.

The Radisson Red is close to the USBank/Vikings stadium but not much else and I consider it to be a boring neighborhood (next door to a big parking garage for the stadium, for example). It's good if you're going to some event at the stadium or its little patch of park, but otherwise I'd avoid the place. It's also IKEA style, suitable mostly for those who finished school within the last couple years.

ADDED: Minnesota Orchestra's Sommerfest also starts this weekend, with a marathon performance on Saturday. This usually includes some shorter outdoor concerts (I haven't examined this year's schedule in detail) with food trucks, etc. The food offerings can be fun even if you don't stay for the music. Location is roughly Nicollet Mall at 11th Street, about twelve blocks from the Depot, on the opposite end of downtown near the Walker Art Gallery.

There's also outdoor opera in the courtyard of Mill City Museum. IIRC it's Carmen with some shorter daytime performances that are more family friendly. I think this is new as previous summers they've done outdoor music and drinks one night a week with a variety of music (folk, rock, country, heavy metal, etc.) and the museum staying open late on those nights.