The Saint Paul Hotel — Hotel in Saint Paul

My wife and I stayed at The Saint Paul Hotel for our wedding this past weekend and let me tell you, we have nothing but great things to say.

Setting up our wedding block was a breeze. Even though there was a major concert going on the same weekend they worked with us to make sure we had enough rooms available, and that the block was open as long as possible.

Before we even got to the hotel we knew we were going to have a lot of logistics for them to handle. We were getting married at a different location and had a ton of supplies in our wedding party’s cars that were going to have to come up to our room and then make it to vehicles and then the venue. From the moment we arrived the concierge team was exceptionally helpful as well as polite.

We had a suite reserved for our wedding weekend. I had called ahead and found out that day of they have discounted upgrade rates for higher levels of rooms if they are available. We were in luck at check in when we found out the Ordway Suite was available for our stay. Between our wedding rate and the less expensive upgrade charge we barely paid half of the regular rate for that suite. Having a dining room, a living room, a wet bar, and two bathrooms was fantastic for us to host our wedding party coming and going as well as anyone who got there too early to check in.

Back to the concierge. The number of times we ran cart loads of stuff between our cars and the top floor of the hotel as well as vice versa probably should have counted for running a marathon. Not only did the folks helping us never once make us feel like a burden, they asked if they could get things from our cars for us when we did not actually need our cars. They were so helpful and patient with us the entire weekend. I can’t speak highly enough of that entire team.

They have a first come first serve courtesy shuttle that can take you around the downtown area. We were able to utilize this shuttle for our rehearsal which was easy and convenient. For our wedding we were able to book a 3 hour dedicated shuttle for getting our guests to the venue and a 3 hour dedicated shuttle to get our guests back from the wedding. They made our day of logistics a breeze. Not having to worry about anyone driving after a night of drinking and partying really gave us a peace of mind.

The food and drink at the hotel were also a bright spot. The room service was better than we expected it to be and a fair price for being room service. We had a lovely breakfast down at The Drake one morning. Mikey with the dining group also helped us set up a brunch for a large gathering of our wedding guests the morning after which everyone was very happy with. The Saint Paul Grill got rave reviews from several of our guests as did the lobby bar. I was personally impressed with the selection at the bar in the Saint Paul Grill. The bartender was extremely knowledgeable and was able to recommend some truly unique bourbons my cousin and I had not seen before.

Last but most certainly not least is the location. The convenience of being right downtown was great. We were able to walk right across the street to our rehearsal dinner at Meritage. Not to mention the views from our room overlooking the river with the fall colors was just fantastic.

All I can say is if you are looking for the highest quality service with folks who go the extra mile, look no further than The Saint Paul Hotel. You will not be...

Mediocre at a high price is worse than equally mediocre at a low price. Does this make it worse than any generic chain hotel? Nothing will be wrong but you might not be impressed.

I'd agree with other reviews that while the front and lobby look fancy and the service is competent (which you expect everywhere regardless of cost)... as soon as you get into the actual rooms it's just like any more moderately priced hotel you've ever stayed in. Nothing particularly impressive. I've stayed in cheaper motels with more impressive rooms, but here we're doing the "it looks vaguely antique and therefore must be expensive" shtick but it mostly just looks plain. To confirm what others have mentioned, the wooden chairs give antique but also creak loud enough that my wife thought she was going to wake the kiddos. The TVs are off angle postage stamps on a big blank wall from the bed, which is apparently where you're expected to watch from given the layout of the room. The fridge is teeny tiny, presumably to discourage outside drinks.

What kind of offends me is when hotels in the higher end of the cost spectrum like this engage in nickel and diming that makes them feel cheap and tacky despite the veneer of class. You're still going to have a water bottle in your room with a $6 price sticker on it (cringe) and a minibar that's essentially a scam (is it worth tripling the price to save a 4 minute walk to the Walgreens a couple blocks over? Is it "classy" to encourage your "guests" to bring in bags of refreshments from a gas station? $20 to add a microwave is bizarre.

Note that everything I've mentioned so far has been mentioned by other reviews in the past but, while they respond to every one with a "we take that very seriously," I'm still staring at the exact same issues unchanged, so apparently that's just blowing smoke. (If you think charging $6 for a bottle if water that costs $1.60 at retail is reasonable, just say that. Don't be disengenuous with people.)

The following points are more my opinion/value perception... but cheap hotels offer free breakfasts, but here you'll buy the same breakfast items for $5-15 each. No, not for the breakfast, I'm used to paying a flat fee for access to a higher end hotel breakfast, but here we have separate charges each for eggs, granola, sausage, every little thing until a simple meal hits dinner prices. Want a brunch drink? Orange juice and well vodka is going to be $10 and prices go up from there. Room service doesn't list the menu prices online but now I'm too afraid to call and ask (y'all know DoorDash etc means that you're now competing with every restaurant in the city, right?)

People are willing to pay for quality, but they also know how much things cost and dislike being shaken down for loose change when they're already paying a premium. It doesn't make one feel like a welcome guest. Charge higher rates if you need to, but don't microtransact people to death.

As to the location... the city has fantastic public transport and is possibly the most bikable in the country (grab a scooter). So, is a central location really relevant? Wherever you are in town, you can get where you want to be in a flash. My wife chose the hotel based purely on distance to her work function... and immediately regretted...

We booked two nights, Thur&Fri, because we had tickets to see The Foo-Fighters on Thursday night and planned to be twin cities tourists on Friday. Because I booked through a third party, when a work situation forced a change of plans the Hotel wasn't able to help us, but would have through a direct reservation. Kudos to them for that, as all they'd have needed was us telling them at check-in that our stay was shortened and we'd have gotten a refund or voucher for the second night. Valet service is a must, and a great value too boot. It's $5 more than self parking yourself for 24hours and has unlimited in/out. The street in front was clogged due to time of day, park construction goings on, and the concert traffic, but they came and assisted us while still half in the road! Top notch. Checking in was a breeze, and a pleasure do to the well appointed old world lobby. Couches and lounge chairs abound and the lobby bar offers waiter services for guests and those checking in. Really nice lobby, and I rarely even notice lobbies. Despite the age of the hotel, the rooms are finally appointed. Our standard King room, felt almost like a small Suite, with a chaise lounge between the king size bed and the buffet with TV mini bar, which doubles as your personal fridge, and the desk. The bathroom was huge, beautiful fixtures throughout, and very nice Linens and towels. Each lamp had its own switch on it which doubles as a dimmer switch. Both nightstands head to USB Outlets as well as a regular plug. Blackout curtains made it easy to sleep. And a comfortable bed made us feel right at home. Being indecisive, we ended up ordering room service for a quick snack before the concert. Told the operator about our time constraints and she assured us we would have our food in time. Our food arrived within two minutes of when she guessed and was very good. We had the crab cake salad and a chicken panini. The nice lady who brought our food asked if we were going to the concert, when we said yes she she mentioned how last time food Fighters were in town they had stayed in this very Hotel. We understood why they chose to stay here when we made our way to the show. The Saint Paul Hotel is in the middle of everything that we like to do while in town. We walked over to the xcel center and back with no fear of getting lost or run over. Once back to the hotel we went to sleep without any of the usual hotel noises bothering us. Maybe being near the end of the hall on the 8th floor helped, but I have to think the more solid construction style is a big part of the quiet room. We tried to have a late breakfast at the Main Street Cafe. Once seated in the near empty restaurant, we waited way more than 10 minutes before being offered water, or being asked anything before we were told that it's a strict change to lunch at 11. So we had the "buffet". We were not impressed with the salad bar and soup, nor waiting for someone to carve the turkey (our waitress had to once do to kitchen staff slacking). Overall a very disappointing meal. Even though they are affiliated, I'm not going to knock down the hotel's rating do to a bad lunch in one of several restaurants they have on site because not everyone staying in the hotel...