OYO Hotel Pipestone MN, Canterbury Park

Check-in was quick and the staff were very friendly. I also appreciated the discounts for checking in for the first time, being from out of town, and paying cash. The front desk wasn’t available much. I called and left a note asking for another towel, but never got one or help with the fridge problem. There was no ice machine, which is a pain for travelers. Breakfast is included, which is a plus, but they should rethink the choices. Other places offer fruit, yogurt, bagels and cream cheese, pastries, juice, and keep more waffle batter available, especially when nobody’s at the desk. If you’re okay with cheap, safe lodging and no frills, this place covers the basics. If that’s not enough, keep looking. It was okay.

The building was in serious disrepair, but I was prepared to overlook that. Even with proof of purchase and confirmation emails, they turned me away and didn’t refund me. The excuse was something generic about an outdated system and new management. That felt like blatant theft, and this hotel is fraudulent. Please take the other warnings seriously and avoid staying here. If you do stay, at least pay in cash and don’t give them your card details. This place is shady, and I took a loss because of it. I’ll contact the Better Business Bureau and try to get the place investigated. Safe travels, everyone!

We left without checking in because the place didn’t feel safe. The parking lot and entrance were filthy, full of trash, and run down. One window on the second floor had a huge hole through it, maybe from a bullet or a rock, and nobody had even tried to cover it. There was no one at the desk around 8 pm on a Saturday. We waited and called out, but nobody came. The lobby smelled strongly of marijuana or something similar. I called the listed number, waited on hold for two minutes, then got disconnected without reaching anyone. At that point we decided to leave. What are you supposed to do when there’s no one there? I should have realized during booking that there was a reason this was the only hotel in the area with openings.

The smell hit me as soon as I came in through a side entrance. There was a wall of smoke, right beside a “no smoking” sign. I saw more of those signs on the way upstairs, along with a handwritten “OUT OF ORDER” note taped over the stairs sign at the top. I’m not sure what it meant, but I made it up safely. The room smelled just as bad. I ran the AC fan on max the whole time, and after three days and nights with the windows wide open, it had only eased a little. The carpet was stained and clearly wasn’t vacuumed or maintained regularly. I’m allergic to dust, and even with over-the-counter medicine I kept sneezing and had a runny nose. It felt as if smoke itself had crawled into the room and rotted in the carpet. The round table wobbled so much I couldn’t eat or work at it, so I ended up using it for storage. The bed seemed made to cause lower back problems. Both pillows were about two inches thick, and I woke up with a crick in my neck each morning. The chair had stains all over the seat, so I wouldn’t sit in it. There was nowhere else suitable for long-term virtual work, and I’m writing this on the bed with my neck aching and my spine bent like a shrimp. Traffic trucks passed on the nearby road all the time, and trains went by regularly too. I’m a light sleeper and hadn’t planned for the noise. Bring earplugs. I lost quite a few hours of sleep. Every night I settled into bed with my ears ringing a little from the traffic, a headache, and a migraine coming on from the smell. I wanted to be unconscious more than I wanted to look around. On the first night, just as my eyes were closing, I noticed something on the lampshade casting a shadow. I leaned closer and saw a clear-topped Pushpin stuck in it. I kept my shoes on because I was afraid of stepping on anything that might have fallen from the shade. I was so glad to leave. It felt like surviving a horror movie. I’m disappointed there’s been so little improvement, since I don’t seem to be the first person to write a review like this. This place took years off my life in a matter of days. It’s astounding. Future guests, be warned.