Hampton Inn Minneapolis NW Maple Grove

I couldn't even get a couple of questions answered before giving my card information. I called about a reservation and "Brent" asked for the number of beds, date, name and billing address. When I said I had questions before booking, the line went dead. Maybe it was an accident, so I called back. "Brent" answered, told me to call when I was ready to book a room, and hung up again. I'm normally kind and understanding, but that rudeness angered me. I was looking to spend a couple hundred dollars for one night, possibly on a regular basis for convenience. After cooling off for a couple of days, I decided to contact a manager rather than post a bad review based on one employee. I tried to reach one and got routed to a Super 8 front desk. They gave me a number for the Crown Plaza Plymouth front desk, supposedly to speak with manager Devon Milligan, but it was the Super 8 desk and they'd never heard of Devon Milligan. I'm in awe. I tried to report this directly instead of reviewing, but couldn't even ask my questions. I definitely wouldn't give it 4.4 stars.

The staff were very nice and accommodating, and there were free cookies in the evening and a great selection of tea. The mattress was comfortable, the water pressure good, and the toiletries nice, though I only got a few drops of hair conditioner. The body lotion smelled lovely, and there was a fountain and bottle refill station in the lobby. The room was stuffy and muggy even though October weather was moderate and neither heat nor AC was needed. I left the fan on while we went out to dinner, but the air still wasn't fresh when we got back. The AC vent looked quite dirty. Breakfast was typical for Hampton Inn. Coffee was over in the lobby, up and down two or three steps from the food, so it would have been nicer to have it nearby. There was no Splenda by the coffee or in the room, only a few packets randomly among the condiments. The oatmeal was gluey and barely warm. Unripe bananas and red “delicious” apples were the only fresh fruit, and the cheap yogurt had lots of preservatives. The coffee was pretty bad. Sleep was impossible because of the noise. I bring earplugs, but they didn't help: at 10 p.m. I could hear voices in the next room as if there were no wall, then even the guests snoring. My room faced the freeway and traffic was very loud all night. At 4 a.m. a sudden bathroom noise nearly gave me a heart attack. It was probably the neighbors using the toilet, but it sounded like a tsunami, even through earplugs. At 6 the alarm clock started blaring, though I hadn't set it and didn't need to get up till 7. It seems to remember an alarm once it's been set, which is a bad model for a hotel. If you have to stay, ask for a room away from the freeway.

The location is great, but the service was below par. The vending machine took our money several times and gave little or nothing back. There wasn't an adults-only pool or hot tub, and the hot tub wasn't hot. A minor who was told to leave said she'd peed in it. Nobody was at the welcome desk, so we had to wait while other employees looked for management.

Kids were still partying in the conference room at 10:39 p.m. while their parents drank in the lobby, and I wanted to go to bed. The hotel lets children run everywhere, including the pool, hot tub and conference room, all night. Last night they kept the party going until 1 a.m. right across from my room, screaming and playing actual hockey with nets set up in the conference room. There's video attached. Stay somewhere else if you value your sanity.