Hilton Garden Inn Mankato Downtown

Our dogs loved the green lawn across the street, and the view from our room was pretty. We also had a good time thrifting in Mankato. The dog policy was a big reason we chose this hotel, despite the higher price for a family stay-cation, and the person who checked me in was very nice. The parking instructions were missing, so we drove through the ramp and circled back before my husband got out to ask how it worked. Getting from the third-floor parking through the skyway meant passing through several doors to reach the elevators. A key card was needed for almost everywhere except the lobby, which felt secure. But after reaching our seventh-floor room, we had to go back down to the first floor for a cart to carry our things up from parking. My daughter had been excited about the pool, but it was too cold for her to stay in longer than about five minutes. She also thought the hot tub might not have been clean. The hallways smelled odd and felt very humid, even though the weather outside was cool. Our room wasn't special for the price: the tub was too small for an adult to soak in, the bathroom mirror had strange spots, and the main room stayed dim with all the lights on. One of the two queen beds left me in pain all night, and later my husband and I both had lower back and hip pain and had to lie down at home for the afternoon. I wouldn't recommend this hotel.

Arch + Cable saved our wedding day. They stepped in when the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Mankato failed to provide the suite we had contracted, and their customer service was the best I've ever had. The hotel was modern, clean, friendly, and chic. I only wish the rest of our weekend had gone that smoothly. We had booked a suite and a room block for our wedding. At check-in, the front desk staff seemed nervous but didn't explain the problem. I was told the hotel was full and the system wouldn't let her check me in. She then walked off to hug and chat with friends while I was meant to be getting my hair done in the contracted suite. A supervisor eventually explained that a regular guest was in our suite. They said they'd get him out, clean it, and check us in, and placed us in a junior suite for the time being so I could start getting ready. Hours passed without progress. At 1 a.m. we still didn't have our suite. I woke at 3 a.m. in a panic, went downstairs, and was told to wait until 7 for the manager, despite my wedding party needing the suite in a few hours. Ryan arrived around 3 a.m. and seemed annoyed to be there. He was dismissive and irritated, treated me as if I were the problem, and gave excuses instead of solutions: one suite had been out of service for over six months, and the conference room was too dirty to clean in time. There was no accountability or urgency. We left at 4 a.m. and called Arch + Cable. At checkout, still in the junior suite, staff gave me attitude when I tried to cancel the suite they hadn't provided. An older red-haired woman said she couldn't promise we wouldn't be charged for canceling a room we never received. Staff kept saying they couldn't do anything without the manager. I left messages for three managers at 3 a.m. and got no return call. I had to call again on our honeymoon. The general manager said he hadn't called because he thought staff had handled it, although they had repeatedly said they couldn't fix it. After our wedding, we woke to an email saying we'd be charged for a late cancellation on a room they never had available for us to check in. The disruption spilled into the wedding day. We had to change the schedule on the fly, and our replacement hotel wasn't connected to the venue, so after the ceremony we were left standing around the reception space with nowhere else to go. Our caterer panicked and thought dinner had to start early. I ended up comforting the caterer on my wedding day because of the chain reaction from Hilton's mistake. My decorator also told me Hilton had done something similar to her friend on their wedding day, so this didn't seem isolated. The hotel itself also had small rooms, cracked lamp shades, and worn, dingy spaces, on top of the worst customer service I've experienced. The GM eventually offered some compensation and paid for our Arch + Cable stay, but that didn't make up for the business from our room block or the chaos caused. If you have an important event, I wouldn't book the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Mankato. They didn't communicate or follow through on their promises, and left us to sort out the mess.

I was there for my friends' wedding, and my own room was decent. The event itself eventually went smoothly in the event center, but the way Hilton treated the bride and groom overshadowed what should have been a joyful start to their marriage. I won't recommend this location again. They'd reserved the event center and a block of rooms a full year ahead, including a suite for their wedding night. When they arrived, the hotel first said it had no record of the reservation, then admitted the suite had been double-booked and given to a “regular guest” instead of the couple who had booked their wedding there nearly a year earlier. Staff went back and forth with them for hours, into the early morning of the wedding day. Despite repeated promises, nothing was resolved. Around 3 or 4 a.m., just hours before the ceremony, my friends had to find another hotel and got little to no sleep. Hilton staff didn't offer a genuine apology or make things right, just excuses and assurances they didn't keep. For a wedding or large event, I'd book somewhere else and spare yourself that stress. Arch + Cable is a minute or three down the road. The lack of professionalism, communication, and empathy we saw was shocking.

We had to move to another room because the door in room 514 had no security plate and only closed halfway. Even while locked, it could be opened with very little force. Before noticing that, we'd started unpacking in a room that smelled musty. I later heard a staff member say several rooms lacked that security plate. The replacement room was marked non-smoking but smelled of dog and cigarette smoke. With three women staying there and paying $260, we expected basic safety at a minimum. I'd strongly suggest staying somewhere else.