AmericInn by Wyndham Sartell

The kids had a great time in the pool, and breakfast was good. Staff were friendly, too. It’s an older hotel and could use a few updates, but it was still a good place to stay. The location felt quiet and safe, away from the really busy areas.

The pool was in terrible shape, with scum on the tiles that people had written in, missing tiles, and big clumps of hair floating in the hot tub. Guests also couldn’t use the pool during swimming lessons and other business rentals. When I asked about that, staff were curt and condescending. We even saw employees airing workplace drama in front of guests during breakfast. Our room was filthy, too. There were used earplugs with ear wax in the directory book, peeling yellow marks all over the dirty shower and tub, and sticky yellow goo inside the ice bucket. I wouldn’t let my kids sit in the tub. I was surprised after reading reviews that said the place was clean. All in all, it was an unpleasant stay with a dirty room, an unavailable pool, and rude, dramatic staff.

We’ve stayed here many times and keep coming back. My daughter and I liked sitting by the fire with hot chocolate, and making fresh waffles at breakfast was such a treat. The common areas and amenities are fantastic, and the staff are the friendliest in town, always welcoming and attentive. Thanks to everyone for making our Thanksgiving stay wonderful.

The way this was handled was awful. At checkout, we paid $171.73 for a room that slept two people, even though we’d booked a king deluxe suite for five, with a king bed and a pullout couch. When we got back home the next day, the GM said the hotel had offered a solution we declined and would refund only $50 plus applicable taxes and fees because we stayed the night. A half price second room after we’d already paid full price for the room we booked wasn’t a fair solution. We travel often, and this was the worst hotel customer service we’ve had. Our kids had to sleep on the couch and floor, and one used his winter jacket as a pillow so he wouldn’t put his head on the hotel floor. That wasn’t acceptable or sanitary. We won’t recommend or use this hotel if our sports teams return to Sartell, and we’ll share what happened with our athletic communities. We’d arrived for a sports tournament with several families. Breakfast was good, the pool was great for the kids though towels ran out more than once, and there was plenty of parking. We checked in at 3pm, left our bags, went to team dinner, then swam and played games in the lobby before bed. Only when we were ready to sleep did we notice a ‘DO NOT OPEN’ sign and a zip tie on the pullout couch. At the desk, I was told the check-in person should have warned me, but she hadn’t. There were no cots left. I asked for a manager, but none was on staff. The night manager offered a second room at half price, suggested I stay in my room, or said I could leave and drive over an hour home, then call the General Manager during business hours. It was after 11pm and one of my children was already asleep, so leaving wasn’t an option. The desk had only two extra blankets and the same limited number of pillows. I hoped to make a makeshift pillow bed for the kids, but we had to get more blankets from our vehicle. Our room had no bedding for the pullout, which was apparently out of order. A reasonable fix would have been a room change at check-in, a free second room just for sleeping while we used ours for everything else, or a full refund because staff didn’t tell me we were getting a room different from what we’d booked and paid for. When I asked why nobody told us at check-in, I was told the staff member didn’t work often and might not have known, and that the GM would have told us if she had checked us in. Training and knowing how the hotel operates are management responsibilities, not the customer’s.