Drury Plaza Hotel Milwaukee Downtown — Hotel in Milwaukee

I stayed at the Drury Plaza Hotel Milwaukee Downtown for the 2025 Organ Historical Society Convention. The hotel is located in a historic 1920s High Rise (Formerly a bank) on Water Street just a block or two West of the Milwaukee Riverwalk. The rooms are rather spacious and clean despite being an old aforementioned building. As is typical of Drury Properties I have stayed at these hotels offer a free hot breakfast (Complete with flapjacks which is a signature of the Plaza Hotels) and free evening reception with alcoholic beverages available for purchase. This hotel also had a smallish restaurant and bar. I did not partake of using the restaurant and bar since there were some restaurants such as the Milwaukee dining landmark Mader's not too terribly far away from the hotel. What I did partake of was the hotel's Indoor Swimming Pool and Hot Tub located in the basement of the hotel. The pool itself was rather smallish and relatively average in depth at the deep end of only five feet deep. Since it was the summer the pool water was kept at a relatively cool temperature. I am assuming if I stayed there in Autumn, Spring or even Winter the temperature would be different. The Hot Tub on the other hand was actually rather generous in both size, jets being rather strong and being the ideal place to be reunited with one of my friends who was also traveling for the same convention. My only three critiques about the hotel is that the elevators are small and finicky. If you want to go to floors 4-15 you need to scan your room key, there are also only two elevators that go down to the basement. the other elevators just go down to the lobby which means more than likely transferring to the Lobby-Basement Shuttle elevator or waiting for the only main elevator that goes down to the basement. Alternatively soundproofing can be a bit of an issue at night. I was on the seventh floor and I found that noise from the streets still managed to carry up that far. Fortunately by midnight or 1 A.M. I was hearing very little traffic noise or even loud music coming from car stereos. My last critique is that the rate for parking was rather steep at $25 per diem, but it did allow for parking in a safe and secure parking ramp as well as having the added bonus of come and go and pay for parking at the end of the hotel stay.||Regardless I think this hotel is a definite contender for hotels in Downtown Milwaukee. I would definitely consider possibly staying at this...

The hotel is very nice, and they offer a great hot breakfast, and even a kickback in the evening, which is food and drinks. (3 alcoholic drinks per adult free) But when we arrived, we parked in the no parking area and ran it to check in. The instructions from the front desk were terrible. She said we were on the 3rd floor and to park on the second floor. Well.. The parking garage is different. Level 2 is level 3 inside.. And you can only get into the hotel from level 3. We went to 3 and thought it was odd that our room number was 1206 being on the 3rd floor. Well.. It wasn't. So i called the desk and they said they couldnt give any information but I have 2 small children and going from elevator.. To elevator.. To cat walk... To garage is ALOT of work and alot to remember which goes where. You had to take the service elevator to go to the pool, or get off the elevator and walk down. It was very inconvenient and we understand that its a big place and we have to expect that but more direction from the front desk would have been helpful. As we were walking out of the hotel, my son walked out the doubke doors and into an entryway which we couldn't get out. We turned around to come back and the other door wouldnt open. There was a sign on the door that said the door didnt work, so it was partly our fault for not reading it, but we were talking and walking and enjoying our time. I feel they should have locked it off so people couldnt accidentally go in there. Or kids that take off running. My kids would have flipped had James and I not been in there with them. So i just feel locking it would be a good idea. Lastly, when we leave a hotel, we normally leave our keycards on the table. We were not told we would need them to get out of the parking lot. It was charged to my credit card, so we assumed we scanned going in.. Wouldnt think coming out. But again, there was no communication. So as far as hotels go, its beautiful, clean, large, comfortable, but the staff wasn't great. Also, when we were in the hot tub and pool.. It was scummy. There were alot of people in it and it could have been from all of them, but it was scummy and we didnt stay in long. Grossed us out. We would probably try it again now that we know the ins and outs, but very...

Drury plaza MKE checks almost all of the boxes. Definitely a good place to stay in the heart of Milwaukee (water street / Wisconsin ave).

We bought the room on expedia for a 1 nite midweek stay in march- total cost was $121 for a king room. Price was similar at Drury site but we chose to use some points and stored contact info from Expedia.

Parking in adjacent garage was easy- decent signage, in/ out privileges, $28 that was good until 5 pm the next day, could be billed to room, contactless via QR code, etc. Slight confusion because 2nd floor in garage is 3rd floor at hotel.

Check in a breeze. Room was ready and we got full instructions on afternoon Hospitality and breakfast, location of pool and gym, etc. Need key card to access elevators, public restrooms, etc.

Room was squeaky clean and decently appointed. Bed comfortable. We were on 8th floor and room had not great views. You need to insert room key into a digital switch in the room to enable turning on lights, heat , etc which I find annoying. The only other comment I will make on the room is the pillows- all 4 were the same And all too thick and firm for my liking. Why not provide a variety of pillow types? For example- 2 firm and 2 feather?

Desk and breakfast staff were all nice. The assistant GM- drew Russell - checked us in and the next morning was making the rounds of the breakfast buffet asking guests how their night was, anything he could do to make their stay better. He was outstanding as a representative of the hotel and exemplified great service and hospitality.

Work out room was fine. Fresh coffee was available at 5 am when I came down. Breakfast buffet opens later and was good. They had A grill and a person making pancakes - if would be great if they also made eggs to order.

I was surprised The desk team in the morning didn’t really know much about the “the hop” street car in terms of where the stops were, frequency, direction of travel, etc. there’s a training opportunity.

Will absolutely stay at Drury plaza...