A pleasant surprise! Staybridge Suites Minneapolis Bloomington, MN
Written: Feb 16 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: large rooms, low rates, friendly staff, free breakfast buffet, free shuttles
Cons: pool area had an ant problem
The Bottom Line: I was very pleased with this hotel & I would definitely stay there again.
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| eyestar's Full Review: Staybridge Suites |
I searched & search on the internet for a reasonably priced hotel in the Bloomington, MN area. I found the Staybridge Suites and saw only a couple reviews but both were positive so I decided to give it a try. I found a very good rate on the Holiday Inn site for $69 a night. We stayed in a 1 bedroom suite which included a queen bed, sofa bed & kitchenette. I had a few questions before reserving my room so found the e-mail address for the hotel & e-mailed them. I received a friendly return e-mail almost immediately, which really impressed me.
The hotel is a little hidden off the main road - it's behind the Country Inn & Suites & directly next to the Hilton Garden Inn. Across the street is the Clarion. There aren't many restaurants or places to shop close by. There is an Olive Garden, an Australian pub/restaurant, and I believe a Denny's. There is also a car dealership and a gym. The Hilton Garden Inn next to the hotel has a restaurant. The Hilton also provides room service for the Staybridge and the Hilton & Staybridge share free shuttle rides to & from the airport & Mall of America. The airport is about 10 miles away & the Mall of America is very close - it took us about 10 minutes to drive there.
Upon entering the hotel for the first time, I was very pleased. They have a nice entrance that goes into a sitting area with tables, couches, a large tv, and a gas fireplace all of which is very welcoming & inviting. The staff was very friendly and helpful, especially the lady that is in charge of the morning free breakfast buffet.
We were very pleased with our room. As I said above we stayed in a 1 bedroom suite which includes a queen bed, sofa bed & kitchenette. The kitchenette includes a full size refrigerator, stove, microwave, sink, and a dishwasher! There are also many cupboards and plates, cups, dishes included. We were very surprised about the dishwasher being in the room as well as the kitchen being stocked with dishes, dish soap, & dishwasher detergent. They also gave you a free bag of microwave popcorn. We were very impressed by all of this especially for $69 a night!
The tv is in the middle of the room and pulls out & can be rotated to one side or another so you can watch tv from the couch or the bed. There is also a wide variety of channels including HBO and a VCR is also in the room. Movies for the VCR are available to rent in the business center.
The room was very clean and everything worked well - there were only a few minor issues. The handles on both the kitchen sink & the bathroom sink stuck a little and were tricky to turn off. You had to hold down the toilet handle a little while to get the toilet to flush correctly. The dishwasher was very noisy so I'd suggest using it when you are going to leave the room. Our dishwasher also was a little dirty. The security lock on the door (the high one kids can't reach) would not latch. The sofa bed was fine, uncomfortable, but it worked well for our toddler. besides these few issues, we were very happy.
The pool was very nice. The pool itself was fairly warm and wasn't too deep, both of which I liked. The hot tub was large & worked well. There appears to be an ant problem in the pool room however as there were many ants all over the floor eating food that someone dropped which was a little gross. The floor in the pool area was a little dirty as well.
They hotel has a nice small convenience store open 24 hours a day and also a business center where you can get on the internet, print, fax, etc all for free which was great! We couldn't get the printer to work at first but did eventually figure it out. There were some kids playing computer games on the computers a lot of the time. There is also a small library room which had a bookshelf with board games.
The free breakfast buffet is AMAZING! I've never had such a nice free breakfast before. The lady who restocks the breakfast is super nice and helpful. They had waffles all days we were there made fresh by the staff. There was also a special dish each day - one day it was french toast, another day it was biscuits & gravy, & another an egg wrap omelet. They also have bagels, english muffins, bread, toast, yogurt, various types of cereal, a variety of fruit, milk, and four different types of juice available daily.
Some friends of ours used the hotels Park & Ride service which lets you keep your car at the hotel while you fly somewhere & they give you free shuttle rides to & from the airport. They also have free shuttles to the Mall of America.
The only other issue we had was the day we were leaving we were waiting for the airport shuttle around 7pm and there was a shady looking guy on a skateboard in the parking lot looking under people's cars which was a little scary. We were uncertain of exactly what he was up to, besides that the area seemed fine.
Overall we were very pleased with the hotel. Usually I stay at one of the Choice hotels (Comfort Inn, Sleep Inn, etc) but after this pleasant experience I think I will stay at Holiday Inn hotels from now on. I would definitely stay at this hotel again.
Recommended:
Yes
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eyestar
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Location: USA
Reviews written: 135
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