Hampton Inn & Suites St. Cloud, MN

I’ve been coming to St. Cloud for work for about six months, and this is usually where we stay. The rooms are great, but the staff are what make the place especially nice. I can only say good things about the establishment.

The room arrangements for my 80-year-old grandfather, who has Alzheimer’s, were upsetting. We’d been promised a first-floor room near the elevator, but he and my grandma ended up on the second floor, far down the hall, because they wanted adjoining rooms with a family member. They accepted that change, but when the key didn’t work, my grandma had to set him on the floor so she could go back to the desk for help. When we raised it, the hotel essentially said he should have requested a wheelchair. That missed why we were upset. My husband and I used this hotel for our wedding block because our venue has a contract with them. The main problems were with mid to upper management, not the front-line staff, and this became the worst vendor experience of our planning process. Guests were told our block didn’t exist, put on a waiting list management said wasn’t real, given a booking code the hotel itself had supplied but told it was invalid, or told they were on the block when they weren’t. Management blamed “staffing problems.” A few days before the wedding, my husband drove 1.5 hours to sort it out in person. Calls and emails often got no reply or a very late one. We weren’t told about staff turnover, which was apparently the explanation. Some guests were also told their rooms weren’t ready even though they arrived well after check-in time. At check-in, we were told we’d have to change rooms halfway through the weekend because the complimentary night from our venue contract had been booked separately from our paid nights. We couldn’t do that during our wedding. A team member fixed the arrangement, though we still had to return a key and get a new one for the same room. After we told our venue owner about the problems, they contacted the hotel. Management then called us without warning in the middle of our honeymoon. The conversation felt defensive and condescending, with no real apology or accountability. They said wedding blocks “aren’t really a thing” unless welcome gifts are involved, even though they had given us a discounted group rate. They also asked us to list guests who had problems while we were on vacation, despite my husband having already gone in person to resolve things. We gave a few examples and were told those guests were already on the list. The point was that they hadn’t been properly added until we escalated the issue. On that call, management kept citing “staffing issues” while also saying the management team was strong. The person we’d been dealing with had left or been fired during the process, and a manager had mishandled the block to begin with. There’s more I could say about the whole experience and that call, but this is already so dang long. The apology we eventually got felt half-hearted, blamed us, and said they’d do better “next time.” There won’t be a next time, and that’s fine. We don’t want more excuses or “apologies.” If you’re planning a wedding block, I’d warn you away. It wasn’t worth the stress.

The rooms were clean and comfortable, and the atmosphere was welcoming. Mine was brand new, though it still smelled of carpet glue. The beds were cozy and breakfast was standard Hampton style. The breakfast attendant vacuumed around guests while we were trying to eat quietly, which made me wonder if management had put too much on her plate. They didn’t disclose beforehand that the Hampton Inn in St. Cloud is under renovation. That and the breakfast experience kept me from giving five stars. It was okay overall. Once the work is finished, it should be a solid option for business or leisure in the area.

It’s clean and close to places to eat and shop. I could hear hallway noise in my room, though, and the walls seem a little thin. Maybe it was just room 420.