Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham Bloomington/Minneapolis — Hotel in Bloomington

Stayed here in March 2013 for a weekend getaway. Can't say it's the worst place I've ever stayed (that honor is still reserved for the Beaver Motel in Prairie du Chien - where we had to plunge our own toilet!), but this Microtel is darn close. This is the worst parking lot I've ever seen, and even though I know snow removal is difficult with the winter we've had, there is no excuse for the lot to be neglected like this one was. There isn't even a place for temporary parking while you check in! First impressions were not good. And it went downhill from there. Lobby smelled musty and "off", then we got to our room, which at first glance wasn't bad. I've stayed in 3-star hotels with less space, and the TV set up high on top of the wardrobe is odd, but much more convenient for watching TV in bed, and really, when you're in a hotel where else do you watch TV? The real problem came when I went to the bathroom. I closed the door and immediately discovered used towels and washrags hanging on the hook behind the door - clearly overlooked by housekeeping. The "clean" towels were all slightly yellow (supposed to be white) and smelled awful. Then, when I went to shut off the light to leave the bathroom, I discovered hair clinging to the hairdryer on the wall, 5 inches from the light switch. There was one small bar of soap, but no shampoo or other toiletries provided. Then my mother-in-law opened the heater to adjust the room temperature and noted a pile of crumbs and crud in there. She was paying for the room and was not willing to complain, but if it had been me, I'd have promptly gone to the front desk, with my bags, and demanded my money back. There are plenty of hotels around, and I work too hard for my money to waste it on a filthy hotel. Anyway, Mom felt it was OK for $50/night so we stayed. Bed was comfortable enough, if you can close your mind off to the worries about what exactly would be living in this bed (really, if the bathroom isn't clean, what makes a person think the bedding is?). Next morning we went to breakfast, hoping for decent meal to get us through a day of shopping at the Mall of America. Hmmmm.... Stale bagels, decent muffins, corn flakes, instant oatmeal (but no hot water, so pretty difficult to eat that one) and coffee. That's it. No fruit, no yogurt, no pastries, nothing. All set on a 5' counter in a hallway, so anyone who does try to eat is tripping over everyone else. Positive part of our stay: there is a Denny's Restaurant right next door - they had awesome food and wonderful service - we actually ate there twice. SUMMARY: No matter why you are in Minneapolis area, you can find a much better deal than this Microtel. We stayed at a Hampton two months ago for the exact same price. The room was small, but it was sparkling clean. There was no pool, but then there wasn't one at the Microtel either. Breakfast at the Hampton was incredible (eggs, sausage, bacon, toast, bagels, muffins, danish, fresh fruit, yogurt, homemade oatmeal, cold cereal, waffles, milk, variety of juice, tea and more), and coffee with all the fixings was available 24 hours a day. They had a free shuttle available to MoA and airport. Needless to say, I have no objections to staying at Hampton again (just wouldn't do so for a family weekend with two teenage boys - lack of pool and small room don't work well in that situation), but you couldn't pay me to stay at...

If I could give 0 stars I would! I gave this hotel the benefit of the doubt despite the reviews. When I first got there, it seemed quite nice and smelled clean. The hotel room was nice and clean as well, albeit small, but that was okay with me.

I put down my stuff and never even opened my luggage bag. After an hour or two later, we got hungry so I went out to go eat with my roommate to the nearby Denny's and took my small purse bag with me. Also, before we both went out, I double checked to even make sure the door closed all the way and the two key cards were with me and my roommate. We both got back about almost an hour or so later. I went into my room and horrifyingly saw my luggage on the floor, searched through, and entirely unzipped everywhere possible.

I went down to complain to the front desk. Mohammed was the one working there at the time. Apparently, he could not do anything about it and then tried to explain that only our keys would be able to open the door. When we tried to explain that maybe the employees or cleaning staff have access. He explained that they would never do such a thing... He would not even look at the security cameras to see who went into the room and searched my luggage. Tried to play it off and say there weren't any cameras at that hallway (I even checked the hallway and there were indeed cameras pointed towards my door). He called management supposedly and talked to them on the phone in front of us. They were just repeating what Mohammed said back at us.

Luckily, I did not lose much of anything, except having to experience something that frightening and disturbing. Although, they even searched my roommates bag and only took his money. Fortunately, he only left behind around 15 dollars or so, in his bag at the hotel but, took the rest with him. I'm assuming they only wanted money... I'm glad I did not leave money back at that hotel room.

At least, he offered me a refund and after a while being very upset in my room with my roommate. I took the refund and booked another hotel at the Holiday Inn, which was 1000x much better, and the employees were very professional and kind, even offered a shuttle to get there.

Tldr: Money got stolen, baggage searched by sketchy employees. Front desk was not helpful and neither were management. Book a better hotel if you want a happier and better experience. Or book a room here, if you don't mind staying in a small room and having to lug baggage and personal belongings around with you as you go out. I for one, will not ever be booking a room at this hotel ever again.

Cons: Sketch hotel, uncomfortable. Pros: It's close by MoA and Walmart and...

This was one of a kind experience with Microtel. I have been to multiple Microtel's around Canada and USA and for the very first time I got told at 3:00pm (check in time) no room was ready. I have never bother to write a review about a company/place and hopefully this is the last time. This location's front desk people were kind, but not organized at all!! We called in advance (5 days before checking in) to see if we can check in an hour or 2 earlier then 3pm, but got told over the phone "it is no problem for checking in 1 or 2 hours early, but if it is an early morning check in around 9am or 10am please call 24 hours in advance to have a room ready". We ended up showing to the hotel at 3:00pm walked inside and got told rooms are not ready!! We were a bit upset but we brushed it off and got told to come back in 10 to 15 minutes (we asked the guy 2 times to make sure he was not bullshitting us, before we left). Came back at 3:15pm to check in again with all our stuff, and got told "No we need 30 more minutes" and this was a different guy at front desk now. At this point we were annoyed and super tired, so we got mad and got frustrated with the guy upfront. He was understanding and handled the situation well, but lied. I asked him that every room had to be cleaned today sarcastically? And he responded with "I am sorry, we are understaff with only 3 cleaners and have to clean all 60 rooms in the hotel". I might have come off a bit rude since I giggled from his response since there is no way that all 60 rooms in the hotel got cleared out at the same time on a Sunday morning shift and there are 60 new customers checking in on Sunday afternoon/evening. Also you never tell a customer that your work place is understaff, it just looks bad!!

Beside the whole hustle to do a quick 5min check in, which had turned into 30+ minutes check in, we walked into our room, which was a suite on the main floor. The room was really bad!! Carpet had stains, bedsheets seemed dirty and the bathroom mirror had duck tape as it "frame". We didn't have the energy to leave and find another hotel, so lucky we had brought our own pillows and blankets/sheets, and we went to bed and checked out the next morning (Monday morning) as soon as possible.

Overall, sadly to say lesson learned.It was our mistake not checking this hotel's review before booking. As well as if the hotel has old furniture still, we should have known that the furniture would be in a rough condition (carpet had stains everywhere) meaning the hotel is not good!! Location is great but hotel needs a MAJOR TLC, with...