DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel St Paul Downtown — Attraction in Saint Paul

FOR BRIDES TO BE.

Although the venue is stunning I would warn all couples to be extremely cautious when booking this venue. Adena is very nice and will say yes to anything and everything you ask for/about up front, but when it comes time to execute thing she will tell you no and you will have to fight tooth and nail for things she originally said absolutely no problem to in the first place. We had a few major issues with this venue and in hind site wish we had not used them.

Here are just a few of the many things that happened to us.

1. We had agreed the cake would be cut by 8pm and then be served to the head table and tables 1-3. Our cake was cut at 7:15, however the front three tables were never served cake, instead our expensive wedding cake was left in the back for the staff to enjoy.

2. There are approximately 30 hotel rooms that over look the reception hall, when booking the venue my husband and I specifically asked Adena if we could block off the rooms being that we did not want stranger to be overlooking our wedding. She without hesitation told us not to worry because they automatically block those rooms off for wedding guests and will not sell the remaining rooms unless the hotel fills up. Giving that our wedding was on Black Friday she was confident they would not fill up. Not only were our guests not given the rooms over looking the reception, instead being out on the 17th floor and having to be asked to be moved to a room with a view of the reception, they also sold the remains rooms to random guests even though the hotel was no where near full occupancy. When I spoke to the front desk to ask them to please give the remaining guests who hadn’t checked in yet a room with a few he told me they were at 50% occupancy for the night of our wedding.

3. In the contract they charged us hourly for security, however not only did we not see one single security guard our entire wedding but we had three different wedding crasher that walked in in street clothes, were served alcohol by the bartender from our OPEN BAR, and sat down and started eating dessert before a family member noticed and asked them to leave.

4. We had welcome bags for all of the guests staying at the hotel, however even though we were told it was no problem to have them handed out at check in, only about half of our guests received our welcome bag. I. The bag was a timeline of events for the weekend and unfortunately some of our guests missed activities they would have loved to have attended because the front desk never gave them their welcome bag.

5. Finally my husband is a huge ping pong fanatic and was really excited when Adena told us they had a ping pong table we could set up in our reception. At the final detailing when I asked her about it she said she would have to “see what she could do” and wasn’t sure if they could set it up. After reminding her how when touring she said we could absolutely use no questions asked she said we could put it in cocktail hour. I then asked for it to be put in the reception hall instead as we wanted guests to be able to go and forth between there and the dance floor. For whatever reason this was a big deal and we had to fight to have the ping pong table at our reception like SHE had...

We stayed at this location for one night because we were attending a later-evening Minnesota Wild game at Xcel Energy Center.

First of all, the parking. Following directions to the hotel leads to a covered circular drive that would be suitable for people unloading in inclement weather, but only after you've done the loop do you see a sign that parking can be found at the next left turn, in the large garage for Town Centre. That garage is convenient, and again, fully covered, and we had a very short walk to an elevator to access the lobby. Constant signs telling people to secure all valuables and lock their cars don't encourage confidence in the security of the facility, though.

Our check-in was done in about a minute. We were provided with keys and hot, tasty cookies.

Our room was on the 16th floor. I'd hoped that meant a nice view, but no. We could see an ugly roof and tall buildings. The room was u-shaped. The bedroom included a bed, desk, office chair, two upholstered chairs, and TV, while the hall right outside the bathroom had a nook with a coffee pot and mini fridge. The bathroom is TINY. Like, the door almost hits the toilet as it opens. There is a bathroom counter, thankfully. The shower wasn't hard to operate but sprayed with so much power that water bounced off the opposite wall to create a puddle on the floor just outside the curtain.

The room and overall facilities look incredibly worn. The bedside clock showed a time several hours ahead, and we found that it apparently requires a screwdriver to change the time, so we couldn't fix it. I hurriedly put a water bottle in the fridge before we went to the game, and I was annoyed the next morning to find that it was half frozen. Some previous guest had apparently put the fridge's cold setting to the max. The freezer box had so much crusted ice (see picture) that it's almost unusable. I set the cold to midrange so that the next people hopefully don't have items ruined, but the hotel should really do something about the ice.

The bed was extremely comfortable. The air conditioner ran almost constantly, which was surprisingly since it was in the 20s outside during our stay, and that created the only noise. On the 16th floor, we heard nothing from the road. Nothing from the hallway or other floors, either.

Now, to the issue of accessing the game, which was the big reason we stayed here. The front desk kindly supplied us with printed directions to use the skyways. Those directions were not up-to-date. Using the skyways at 5pm on Friday, when the corridors were empty except for us for about 90% of the way, was pretty creepy. We thought they'd be busier as we came back from the game, but they were not, but we did end up helping a pair of women who were also staying at the hotel, as they were looking at the same directions and feeling lost.

The next morning, check-out was fast as my husband used the app, and we just had to drop our keys in a box. Our car was fine in the neighboring garage.

I'm left feeling like this was an okay place for our needs, but I don't think I'd be enthused about...

SUPER EASY CHECK-IN AWARD 🥇 GREAT FRONT DESK STAFF AWARD 🥇 FREE COOKIES & BOTTLED WATER AWARD 🥇 EASY ACESS FROM PARKING GARAGE TO HOTEL AWARD 🥇

Stayed at Doubletree Hilton St Paul downtown on February 24, 2024 for an event at the Palace Theater (“Rock From The Heart” charity event rock concert for 80’s icon Sebastian Bach) which was 1&1/2 blocks away. A skyway walk from the hotel directly through the Northwest bank building was attainable to within a block of the theater, so in cold weather you wouldn’t have to wear a huge coat just to make it to the Palace Theatre door. Better yet you don’t have to hold onto a bulky coat while at the event. However, once the event was over later that evening, the Northwest bank entrance was locked. You then had to walk the block and a half back, which was a brisk 12 minute walk back to the Doubletree. Numerous homeless people and dirty sidewalks were present. The hotel itself was clean warm and safe, with personable and helpful front desk staff. Access from the attached parking garage to the hotel was easy with an elevator plainly marked from the garage to the hotel entrance. Check-in was a breeze, and we each were given a freshly baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookie and a bottle of water. *Different from other hotels that leave water bottles in your room and expect you to pay $4 per bottle if you use them! The room was small as compared to other hotels we’ve stayed in. Bathroom was very small but functional, with a hot shower, abundant towels and complimentary shampoo, conditioner, bar and facial soaps and a hairdryer. The room was smaller as well, with only one floor to ceiling window about 6 feet wide, which actually banked open about 5 inches to the outside, with no screen. We were in room 1155 on the 11th floor. The room had a refrigerator with a small freezer and small microwave, coffee machine, ice bucket and glasses; and there’s a keypad-lockable safe in the single dresser. A mirrored closet had plenty of hangers for coats and clothes. An iron was also tucked away into the closet. Bed was comfortable with two pillows each, nightstands on both sides. There were no USB charging ports on either nightstand. There was one port on a lamp on the desk table, which had an office-type chair. There is an electrical plug-in on either side of the bed, so bring an adapter to charge your devices. There is an internet connection available inside the hotel. A 40-something inch flatscreen TV with remote is included. There is a restaurant in the hotel (Rival House) but we didn’t utilize it, therefore I cannot review it here. It looked very clean and neat with a placard showing daily specials. We paid around $140 for the room, reserving it months in advance using the hotel website. Overall a comfortable stay at this Doubletree Hilton. Rooms and hallways were clean. Did everything we needed....