Gem Lake Vacations from $169

Staff were lovely! Room was clean and comfortable. Sheets were heavenly, with a very high thread count. But the amenities were a crisis. I was there for a conference. I misplaced my comb (or the housekeeping staff moved it while tidying) and couldn't find it for the second day. I had a 9 am paper. I phoned the front desk at 7 to figure out where I could purchase one or if they had one--most hotels I have stayed at do, announcing on a little placard "Forget something? We're here to help." They are not here to help at the Westin in Minneapolis. They told me I was out of luck: they don't keep combs, toothbrushes, etc., and informed me there was nowhere to purchase any before 10 am. (I'd tried en route home, but there was *also* nothing open after I left my last session at about 9.) When I'm not staying at hotels for conferences, I am a very happy state park camper. When you're in a tent, and the nearest city has 840 people, having to drive a few miles to get a comb or a toothbrush or a bottle of fizzy water or a twix bar is literally what you signed up for. But in the city of Minneapolis??!? There is urgent need of a vending machine and some basic amentities kept (for purchase or as a consideration to guests). Without it, if you forget your toothbrush, you may be spending your weekend networking like it's 1777. Loring Park is a short walk, if you need to find a branch to clean your teeth.

The rooms were clean, but there was a photographer in the lobby as we were trying to go to breakfast, so we were not able to walk through the lobby and therefore could not use our $15.00 food credit.

Clean, quiet and nice walking routes

Staff was courteous, room was clean, the hotel and room has unique decor, location for our travel was convenient! However, there were several maintenance issues. The faucet was not secure onto the vanity, the toilet seat was very loose, the tub did not hold water with the plug in proper position, the fan on the HVAC in the room was very loud, the TV clarity was very fuzzy (on all channels), the smoke/carbon alarm light was annoyingly bright, and then bed was not as comfortable as other comparable hotels. There were three parties going on in the conference areas of the hotel, which was fine, we didn't here much noise in our room even though we were very close to the atrium and main entry. Expecting the parties would be well over or quiet by 10pm we went to bed. But the parities carried into the hallways and right outside our window. One of the parities had a complete band playing the drums right outside and the people were quite loud until about 12:30am. So we didn't get much sleep. Coffee was available in the hotel room. However, if you wanted more coffee in the lobby it was $2.00. We would stay here again if it was our last option.

Airport shuttle and clean room