Four Points by Sheraton Mall of America Minneapolis Airport — Hotel in Richfield

Let me be brief and quick. I decided to take a trip to Minnesota to watch some Lucas Oil Pro Motocross in Millville MN. That event was 5 star. Amazing track. Amazing experience. However, I rented 2 rooms from the Four Points. Which by the way is a category 4 hotel. In case you don’t know what that means, @marriotbonvoy formerly Vistana Resorts ranks quality of their properties 1-7. 7 being the most expensive and fancy while 1 being your average $69 night at the roach motel. So a cat 4 is above average. Price range is roughly $179-$239 per night based on season. Being an owner comes with certain perks and benefits. Such as free room upgrade, welcome gifts, late check outs, free breakfast, free lounge and other perks provided the hotel has them. Moving on, I reserved 2 rooms for 4 nights. This particular hotel caters to airport and business customers. Let’s list the amenities it does NOT OFFER!!! NO shuttle to or from the airport - bad for business No room upgrade offered for owners No welcome gift for owners and business class Ice machines don’t work The room safes don’t work cause they lost the master key to set them. Even better they don’t tell you so when you lock your valuables in them, they have a janitor get a drill and literally crack open the safe for you. The restaurant is only open for the $13 dollar continental breakfast you get free at the Comfort Inn. The bar has been closed Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I was told it was a Monday to Friday bar, which is stupid since most people vacation on weekends. Then I was told it was closed cause a girl got sick. Entire state of Minnesota and they close their bar for 1 girl being sick. Horrible Wi-Fi is under guest settings which makes your phone or lap top vulnerable to hackers as well as its spotty and drops out constantly. Management and staff are generally clueless or don’t care. Had 2 employees tell me they hate working here cause it’s a dump. 9. Ladies, the water pressure for you hair is like having a faucet drip cause the valve is junk. Good luck to you girls with long hair. Add 20 minutes to shower time. That’s just a few issues I have with this place. If I had been billed as a category 2 (which is what this dump really is) I wouldn’t have cared about all the problems. I would have stayed at a Holiday Inn or Comfort Inn. But for this trip, I wanted to stay in a nicer hotel with stuff to offer so I opted to pay the category 4 pricing. I have never felt this way with any hotel, inn, resort or Airbnb in my life but I feel like I was ripped off on my 2 rooms. If I could dispute the charges on my credit card I would. Marriot Bonvoy you should be ashamed of this property. You need to lower the category to reflect its actual worth and reduce its per night rate by 40% if you wish to keep travelers using your...

I wish there was a half star option, so I could do 4.5 stars for the hotel, because it wasn't quite a 5 star experience, but it was better than a 4 star experience.

Let me first say that for the price paid, this was an exception value and a great location. Every staff member I interacted with was professional and courteous. I am a Bon Boy gold member, and since there was not an upgrade available, the young lady at the desk provided me a complimentary breakfast, which was above and beyond what she needed to do. That was kind of her.

The room was very nice. It had very nice amenities and the bed was extremely comfortable. I was at the end of the hallway, which I prefer to be at, as to limit the amount of noise, and I had a very quiet night's sleep. There was plenty of on site parking, complimentary, even when I came back to the property late, at approximately 11 pm.

My biggest complaint is the breakfast buffet. I know I had a complimentary breakfast, but I was able to upgrade to the buffet for $3 (plus a $3 tip as the server was excellent). The buffet full price is $17.99, which is about typical for a hotel breakfast buffet at higher end hotels. However, if you are going to have a premium price for your buffet, please put premium products in the buffet. Dried eggs, waffles, friend oatmeal, canned fruit and highly processed breakfast meats do not constitute a high end buffet to me. A simple add, in my opinion, would be an omelet station. The gentleman working behind the buffet was very friendly and spoke to me the two times I went up (once for fruit and once for the other items). He would make a great omelet chef as he was great small talk skills. This would add some of that value to your buffet. Also, no canned fruit, please. It was obvious it was an industrial sized can of pineapple that was just opened and place on the buffet. Fresh fruit makes a huge difference, and you can change seasonally, so it does not get to be an astronomical cost, plus that adds variety for guests who stay at your hotel regularly (business guests).

Overall, a very nice stay. I will gladly stay again, but I would love to see some of those changes to the breakfast buffet, then I will gladly give your property a five star rating.

Your staff, however, are absolutely five star. Every staff member I interacted with with house keepers to servers to front desk attendants were very courteous and professional. Please continue to encourage your staff to maintain that level of courtesy, because it makes all the difference to...

We encountered an unsatisfactory stay at your hotel. When we arrived, the receptionist tried selling us breakfast for the following morning, and didn't know based on our reservations that it came with the price we had pre-paid for our room; my husband had to get our paperwork from the car to prove this. We were off to our room, and walked in to find a queen-sized bed (we had reserved a king bed). We tried to use the telephone in the room to call the front desk, but it didn't work. We walked back down to the front desk very frustrated, and let them know that our first 15 minutes in the hotel hadn't been positive. Another receptionist helped out the first receptionist who had been working with us, and upgraded us to a King Suite, apologizing along the way. This room was very nice, and cozy, with working amenities. We reserved our place on the shuttle and were on our way shortly thereafter. At the end of our night, we waited nearly 40 minutes at the Mall of America for the shuttle to return, having been told earlier in the evening that the shuttles run every 30 minutes. We tried calling the hotel, however no one answered the six times we called. We took a taxi back. My husband joked that the doors of the hotel were probably going to be locked upon our return, and sure enough...they didn't work; the receptionist had to wave his hands and jump to get them to open. Upon letting him know that we had tried calling numerous times, he said that he was on the floor and that he was the only one on staff at the time. Letting him know of our frustrations with the lack of shuttle service, he replied very matter-of-factly, that the driver didn’t show up for work. I find it hard to believe that when a service you offer 24 hours a day has a driver who doesn't show up for work on a Saturday night, that another driver wouldn't have been called in to fulfill the advertised service. The room was comfortable to sleep in, and we slept well. In the morning, looking forward to breakfast that we had been told ran from 6-10 am, we learned by reading the ultra-fine print on the menu, that orders for breakfast had to be placed by 11pm. How were we supposed to know this?

Although the (upgraded) room was comfortable, and the pool being down for renovations didn't affect our plans, there was a definite lack of quality service and communication at this establishment. I have let some family and friends know of our experiences. Unfortunately, we'll be looking elsewhere next time we're in the Twin Cities needing a...