Tuxedo Park STL Bed & Breakfast Inn — Hotel in Webster Groves

I grew up in Webster Groves, and in late 2021, my wife and I came back for the holidays to visit my family whom we hadn't seen for several years because of the pandemic. At my mom's suggestion, we enjoyed a weeklong stay at the Tuxedo Park B & B, which she had read about, right there in Webster Groves. The building is a former church that's been beautifully restored and still held its magic. The guest rooms upstairs were so carefully redone with old-world details. We got to hear the full history of the renovation from the owners, Maureen and Bill. Or as we architects would call it, adaptive reuse- taking an old building and adapting it for a new use unrelated to its original function. || The presence of the grand piano in the old, vaulted church sanctuary, and the huge banquet table up on the former altar planted a seed of an idea in my head. My mother would be turning 90 in 2023, and we also had four other family members, including my wife, turning 60. A big birthday party in the old sanctuary-turned-living-room-and-dining-hall would be awesome! We made reservations for all four rooms, and were thus granted full use of the sanctuary for the party. || We spent the spring and summer further planning and coordinating with Maureen and Bill for a gathering of 25, plus four new babies, coming in from all over the country. Bill and Maureen did the catering for a fabulous meal, we set up many musicians in the family around the newly-tuned grand piano to play a short program of songs we'd only rehearsed remotely but were able to pull off surprisingly well, ate cake, told stories, showed old home movies, and eventually did karaoke late in the evening. || Thanks so much to Maureen and Bill for hosting the party of the century, an evening forever...

Meh. Disappointing. When I called to make a reservation, the attendant seemed annoyed that I wanted to book a reservation. She stated multiple times that check-in was at 3:00 pm and if I was going to be any later than that I needed to update her because she didn't want to sit around and wait for me. Parking is very limited and very specific. Apparently I parked in the wrong spot and was met with a sigh and look of frustration. I wasn't aware that they had dogs on the property until I got there. I love dogs..so no problem there but one dog is apparently very anxious and I don't think it is fair to the dog to have so many strangers coming and going from his home. Not to mention, lots of dog toys on the floor making a trip hazard, as well as a coating of dog hair-filled dust bunnies keeping the baseboards warm. Breakfast was supposed to be at 8:30 and wasn't served until 9:00 but to make matters worse, the gentleman served the bacon with his bare hands. I observed him coughing several times without washing his hands afterwards. The "make-up" washcloths had been left in the washer too long and had become musty. We felt unwelcome and more of a bother...

We were greeted by the owners and two barking dogs. I did not see anything about resident dogs on the website which I think is important in making a decision on where to stay. I’ve been dog bitten twice in my life and am petrified of them. The owners were very congenial and accommodating and said they would put the dogs away if we notify them ahead of time, which isn’t exactly convenient for a guest. The dogs barked at us once while we were in the common area which was completely unnerving. The website photos of extravagant breakfasts were lovely and looked delicious. We got fried eggs, toast and chicken sausage. The brochure stated breakfast was at 8:30. My husband started getting texts prior to 8 am needing to know what we wanted for breakfast because all the other guests were up and out. I don’t like leaving underwhelming reviews but we were truly underwhelmed by the breakfast part of the B&B classification. The building truly is remarkable. The owners were kind and accommodating to find safe storage for a large painting I had brought for an appraisal event being...