Hilton Garden Inn Minneapolis Downtown — Hotel in Minneapolis

Wish we would have gotten to see the pool but we didn't have time. We decided last minute to find a room instead of driving back home, so I wasn't expecting to find much available without spending a small fortune. The X Games were also that same weekend so I knew there was going to be limited availability at any hotel in the area. I was surprised to find a room at a Hilton for the price we paid. I think after taxes and fees it was about $122 for one night for my husband and I. When I booked the reservation I didn't realize this hotel was valet parking only which was another $28 dollars. Ouch. I don't stay at hotels very often so I assumed there would be parking, but that was my mistake, not theirs. We checked in around 2am and the young man at the front door was super friendly and very very helpful with showing us where we could park for a cheaper price, and how to navigate the road construction so we could find the parking garage AND our way back. We were allowed to park out front to bring our bags up to our room and then we went to park for the night. And FYI.....the parking garage we used was about a block away and was a MUCH shorter distance that what we expected after looking it up on Google Maps. It took longer to drive there, due to the road construction and one way streets, than it did to walk back to the hotel. The young man at the front desk was also very very nice. Our room was clean and the hotel was very quiet.....until the road construction started on a Saturday morning right outside our window. 🙄It's wasn't awful but it was kind of annoying. Even the next morning, when people were awake and little kids running around, we didn't hear a thing outside of our door. But I have to say my favorite part was the noon check out time!! We ordered pizza shortly after arriving so we were up til about 4am so it was nice to be able to still get some sleep before we started our drive back home. We paid about $8 extra to have a complimentary breakfast buffet for each of us which ended up turning out to be a GREAT deal! Cost wise, anyways. We accidentally end up with a bill that wasn't ours and seen that it was about $34 for 2 buffet meals at regular price. Now the food was just ok, typical buffet food I guess but it is not worth $15/$16 a person, unless you can eat 4+ plates of food. I wish we had just saved the $8 and went to Dennys. Lol. But overall, it was a very nice, clean hotel and I would definitely stay...

This hotel is aggressively mediocre. It actually seems like they work very hard at this mediocrity, snatching "okay" from the jaws of "great" at every opportunity. All the amenities they list are there, but they are offered in such a way that you know a marketing employee had a lot of fun with them.

The front desk staff were the most unsmiling, dismissive people I've interacted with at a hotel. I avoided talking to them whenever I could after the first interaction. I understand they have a hard job, and that dealing with confused travelers has to wear on the soul, but would a genuine smile have ended the world?

The room did have a refrigerator. It was off, and hot, when we arrived. We had to get ice from the ice machine to keep our perishables at temperature while the refrigerator cooled down.

The bed looked sharp! This was unfortunately because it had a single sheet and a thin, cheap comforter sewn to fit it. I would have had to bother housekeeping for actual blankets, or hit up a Target, if I hadn't brought my own.

There was a single, solitary outlet next to the bed. This may be enough for people who just want to charge a phone, but there was no reason not to have two or three charging ports. I had to go buy a power strip so I could plug in what I needed to keep on the bedside table. It was okay...but why work so hard to provide so little?

The showerhead was a cheap one that tended to sputter. It also pointed directly at a grab rail and couldn't be swiveled. Showers were challenging.

The advertised blackout curtains were white, and thus glowed when sunlight hit them. They did very little to darken the room. I could have read a book by the morning light with those drawn. Further, the valence curtains can't be drawn fully over the windows to compensate.

The "valet only" policy, which costs $28 a day, felt like a chance to nickle-and-dime us. It also made stops to drop off shopping items inconvenient. I knew this was a policy when I booked, and I accepted it, but it is definitely an inconvenience.

In truth, it felt like Hilton was trying to nickle-and-dime us at every opportunity, either through trying to sneak in charges for things like faster internet, or through charging for services that should have come with the room, or cheaping out on little things that would have elevated the experience.

I will not be back to Hilton. There are lots of...

Under regular circumstances, I probably wouldn't have stayed here--my company usually books us at the Crowne Plaza a few blocks away, which is much closer to our office. However, I arrived in MSP the same night as a home Vikings game against the Packers, and the Crowne was booked. With that said, I really enjoyed my stay here, even though it did require a daily 7-block walk to and from the office.

My room was spotless, the king-size bed was very comfortable, and the staff was outstanding. They were all very friendly, and from a maintenance standpoint, I ended up in an elevator with two maintenance men handing off outstanding items during a shift change--the point being issues are being attended to quickly. Room service was expedient, and the prices weren't unreasonable. The food in general exceeded my expectations.

While I didn't utilize the fitness center or pool personally, when I stopped in for a look, both facilities looked to be in great shape. For anyone who isn't using their smartphone for an airline boarding pass, there's an ATM-like station on site by the business center for you to print out your passes. The business center itself looked to be in good working order. The restaurant was relaxing, and just outside there's an outside lounge with fire pit.

The only caveat I might have is that, depending on the season and weather, lack of direct connectivity to the Minneapolis Skyway system might make things difficult for some--the closest access point is about 2 blocks away. For my stay, the weather was reasonable, and for anyone staying here specifically for convention center events, the location is hard to beat. I can't speak for parking, but the walk to the closest light-rail stop is pretty easy, taking no more than 15-20 minutes. Even with the longer walk, I'd be more than happy to stay here again on any subsequent trips to Minneapolis, and enthusiastically recommend it to anyone else considering it as a...