Element St. Louis Midtown — Hotel in St. Louis

As a Titanium status member, I do not recommend Midtown Element St. Louis for your extended stay. Here is my experience after staying 43 days.

Pros:

The hotel is very clean. The layout of my room was decent and décor was tastefully done. The hotel bar isn’t actually a mini bar. It’s a full-service weekend night spot with an elevated view of the city. The gym is clean and you can actually get an ok workout in if you are in a pinch using their free weights and cardio machines. It is right across from a Fresh Thyme. This was amazing as you can walk to get fresh groceries.

Cons:

Valet is mandatory. It was initially an additional 25$ charge, but the sales rep knocked that down to 15$ a night since I was staying long term. A backpack was stolen out of my vehicle. I reported it to the front desk and to the valet. It’s a standard rule of thumb to never leave valuables with valet, however, their response was frightening. Not only did they not seemed surprised the valet member seemed to imply they already knew who it likely was. The front desk wrote up a report and nothing happened. The real kicker was when the valet reminded me that someone should never trust the valet.

Communication here is very poor, in fact, it is appalling. When you sign up for 30 days or more you are supposed to get back all the taxes/ fees that were added to the room. When I left, after 43 days, they closed the account and never refunded me. This wasn’t the problem. These things tend to happen and usually a quick call to correct the manner is in order and all is well. Not the case here. I called every day for a week leaving voicemails and emails to a manager, the general manager, and even the sales rep who sold me the room. No response. It wasn’t until I responded to their internal survey that a response was given. And the response from the manager came to the tune of “sorry the front desk didn’t know what they were doing.” That wasn’t the case. The front desk people transferred endless calls and gave me email addresses.

The last and greatest issue is this. My trust in the Marriot line of hotels led me not be skeptical of the billing. When I made the initial call to the sales rep, I was offered a discounted room rate because my connection to a healthcare system in the region. The rep led me to believe the rate included the taxes/ fees mentioned , however it did not. They even sent me the breakdown and said to not worry about how “crazy it looked” because it would be adjusted later. Not the case. The room rate was before taxes. It ended up costing me roughly 1500$ extra for 43 days. I ended my stay. Take care...

We stayed here from 3/26-3/30. They were busy, so it was a bit understandable that they couldn't find one of their "10" luggage carts, so we had to lug our things to our room little by little. My husband attempted to wait for it and about 20-30 minutes of waiting and we just decided to carry it ourselves. Not the hotel's fault but still annoying. We called for extra towels because there were only two towels for a room that they allow 4 people in. We called twice, and waited 1.5 hours (a whole movie was watched) and my husband still had to go downstairs to get towels. If you are COVID cautious, I wouldn't go here. They have signage on the elevators that it is only one family/group at a time. No one follows this, not even their own employees. I had to get off the elevator with my children because I didn't feel safe. No one was enforcing, and why would they when the employees are also not following the rules. The front desk employee named Lilian, (she told us this was her name) needs additional training on how to talk to guests. I called the front desk for an issue with the door, instead of telling me that someone will be up shortly, she hangs up the phone. Another instance we booked pool time from 5:30 p.m.-6 p.m. They allow up to two families in the pool area. There were already two families in there. It was 5:32 p.m. when we went to the pool. I went to the front desk to ask Lilian about it, and she said in a very condescending manner, "There are two families signed up for 5:30 p.m. already." I pointed at my name on the list and said, "Yes, that's my last name." And she still said,"It's for 5:30." I proceed to tell her, "It's already past 5:30." Why did I have to argue with her for her to ask one of the families to leave,  when it clearly isn't their time slot anymore? Valet parking employees were wonderful...

Not what you'd expect for the price range of the rooms and how they make it seem luxurious. Some things were nice like calling down for the valet to bring your vehicle around front when you are about to leave, getting requested items brought to your room promptly, and being able to call down to have a breakfast plate made for you. Some things were disappointing, like the constant smoking of cigarettes around the few entrances/exits, the absolutely filthy laundry machines, and the thermostats in the rooms not being reliable.

Some standouts for exceptional service:

Valet- Chris 👍👍, Paul 👍👍, Jay 👍👍

Front desk- Scott👍👍, Cha'Mar 👍👍

Breakfast- Colesha 👍👍, Keisha👍👍, and Trey 👍👍

Housemen- Charles 👍👍, Lee 👍👍

They have a free "relax" hour and a half during the weekday evenings for free beer, wine, bread, cheese, and olives. The best was the gouda cheese and the seasoned bread. The worst was the wine on tap. They did have a blonde ale for a bit that was tasty. They did go back to budweiser or bud light.

One huge drawback is that there is a bar on the 7th floor that hosts very unsavory characters who inadvertently cross paths with guests on their way to or from the establishment, in varying levels of intoxication. They blast loud music up until around 11-1130 and get rowdy in the lobby or out front.

The area is relatively safe for the surrounding block, with the hotel right next to Saint Louis University and the new Foundry shopping and dining area across Forest Park Parkway.

The free bike rental was fun! We also had access to several paid electric scooter brands either right in front of the hotel or a short walk across the road to...