We arrived after sixteen hours of travel to a rude and unhelpful front desk. There was no bellman, so my husband had to load all of our luggage on the trolley and up to the fifth floor by himself. The front desk was so unwelcoming, it was hard to believe the staff chose a career in the "hospitality" business.
The rooms are tiny. We had adjoining rooms for our children and there was no way to keep the door open unless we stuck a hanger under the door.
On a positive side, the water park is great from small children. But I would never stay at this hotel again because the service was horrendous.

We stayed here with our teenage son last Spring and then recommended this hotel to our daughter's family because of the cute waterpark/pool area. Since the hotel used to be the train depot, the pool has a smokestack that goes off and spashes onto the waterpark area every several minutes.Our g'kids loved the pool and we liked the hot tub. We rented a bike a half block away and went over the scenic river bridge making several stops.We tried out a segway and toured beautiful St. Anthony Main area with streetcars, etc. If going in the winter, the attached former-depot turns into a sheltered ice-skating park. The hotel itself is top notch. Definitely four star quality. Had happy hour in the lounge and Caribou next door in the morning.

Was in Minneapolis for work in early December, and decided to try this hotel as my "home base" as I need to drive to various client locations that week. I'm always a bit apprehensive about choosing full service hotels, as it usually means running using valet parking, long walks to your room, and indifferent staff. Well, I was quite surprised.

As it was below freezing outdoors during my entire stay, I was thrilled that they had underground heated self parking (in the mornings, the car showed it was about 55 degrees). No scrapping of ice or snow, or shivering as the car warmed up. The entrance is a direct shot off of 35W and was very pleased that I didn't have to bundle up getting from the car to my hotel. The self parking is right under the hotel, and with your security key, can take the elevator directly to your floor.

There are two different sections of the hotel. The older "depot" section, and the newer "generic" hotel section. I was in the generic section. My room was nicely decorated. Not big, not small ... just a pretty standard hotel room. A little nicer than a regular Marriott, but not as nice as some of the Renaissances' I've stayed at before.

The concierge lounge was outstanding. The staff was very friendly and accomodating. I had some of the best breakfast pastries there, that I've had in a long time. Thank you for not going too cheap on the food cost. I get enough of that from other hotels.

Front desk staff was also great. I got there early in the day, and needed to find a spot to make a few conference calls. Fortunately, they had rooms available, and didn't put up a fuss about an early checking.

Didn't get a chance to walk around much this trip (did I say it was cold), but did not that it's a great spot for sports, and non-sport fans.

Not sure what all the concern about ants was ... I didn't see a single one.

Work event & football game. Perfect! If your coming into town for the game, this is within walking distance. Plenty of bars to hit on the way to and from the stadium. Lovely ice rink, watermark, bar and restaurant. Worth the $