Just like the title states this Marriot is attempting to be an upper class hotel, but falls short on many of the things that one comes to expect from a higher dollar, nicer hotel. I booked a "King whirlpool Suite" room for my wife and I for a weekend away from the kids, and this place left much to be desired.

First the good: Nice clean establishment from top to bottom. Clean comfortable bed and very nice clean sheets. Room was very nice, clean and furnished well. Two televisions in our suite, both flat screen and nice - with good (not great) channel selection. Temperature control in room was outstanding! Staff overall was fair to good and friendly as a whole.

Now the bad: The bathroom in the room as a whole was very outdated, with basic and bad tile throughout. No refridgerator in the room! I called on this and they said it was "by request only." In a suite? Really? Very loud water sounds from the room above us. Draining water from the tub (I'm guessing) woke us up in the morning. Also, at the breakfast buffet, we sat down and my coffee cup had a bunch of stains on the outside and was sticky! Also the pastries on the buffet looked great, but were dried out and crumbled at the first bite. I had purchased two breakfast buffets as a special with the room, but overheard that the regular price was $16.99! Not worth that at all!But the main issue was the whirlpool in the suite itself. The main reason I booked this room was for the "whirlpool suite," however the first time the whirlpool was used it only worked intermittently and the switch seemed defective. Later that night, it failed to work at all. Since it was late (about 11:00pm) we waited until morning to mention this to the front desk, as we did not want someone coming up there fixing it that night anyway, and just went to bed. The next morning we tried the whirlpool once again and it failed to function again! Upon checkout we mentioned it and were told that we should've called the previous night when it stopped working. I calmly explained to them that it was late and we didn't want a maintenance person invading our room that late and that's why I had waited to tell them. After discussing this for an extended peroid of time with no compensation offered, I was offered "a couple of drinks from Starbucks" as a compensation. Only these had to be used right then, that day, in their hotel lobby. I could also choose to have two cold drinks from their beverage cooler. I left feeling extremely unsatisfied and frustrated. I do not think that I should have been offered a free room for the problems with the whirlpool, however I think it would've been fair to at least discount the room down to a regular suite, since that what it basically turned out to be. When you are competing against other hotels like Hampton Inn and suites who have a 100% satisfaction gaurentee, failing to even offer me a discount on my room rubs me the wrong way! I have stayed at many Hampton Inn's and especially for the money, they treat the guest with much higher level of customer service.

So to sum it all up...Marriot needs to decide what kind of place it wants to be. If it's a high class top of the line motel they need to act like it in all regards. If not, then lower your prices by 50% so people get a fair price for what you are currently offering.

Let me put it this way - it took FOUR trips to the front desk to get functioning keys to open our room. One of those times they actually gave us the keys to someone else's room (needless to say we were quite surprised to see clothes and shoes already inside the room when we opened the door). When we returned to the front desk to share this with the hotel staff, their "apology" was minimal at best (we apparently were much more disturbed by this situation than they were). We would have viewed this much differently had the hotel staff been apologetic and acknowledged their mistake.

The hotel was extremely loud with many kids running around (some camped out in a group in the hallway for much of the evening) until 11pm. The hotel restaurant (Stacy's) can only be described as awkward (although the food was pretty good). Very quiet (even though there were about 6 other couples eating there) with no background music and one server for a Saturday night.

We were there using a Crowd Cut coupon so they gave us champagne and strawberries which were great. We also had a free pay-per-view movie which would have been great except the room set up had the television on the left side of the bed so it was not so comfortable to watch the movie from the bed--which, in itself is a small thing, but was just one more annoyance for our already annoying visit. We were very disappointed with this experience and we would not go back even with another discount coupon.

I stayed at the Marriott Southwest since our business event was held there. I attempted an early check-in but my room wasn't ready yet, which I understood. I had a king room which was surprisingly smaller than I expected, but it met my needs. The room was very clean, the bed was comfortable and flat screen TV was nice (although no golf channel!). The pool/hot tub area was very nice, although the pool was a little cool. There was also a sauna, workout area, and a nice locker room. Be aware, internet is not free in rooms. This is the right hotel for folks that have an expense allowance from their company.

You expect a certain amount of peace and quiet when you stay at a hotel. We you want to feel recharged and relaxed once you hit the road back to the "real" world. At the Minneapolis Marriott Southwest they delivered that atmosphere and more. On a recent one day visit I would observe that it probably was a quiet weekend, in terms of numbers of guests. The parking was plentiful and close to the door. The airy and modern feel of the lobby carried that serene feeling right up to the front desk. We were checked in with speed and were boarding elevators in no time. On a cold and blustery night, the hallway on our floor was freezing as the vents pumped out cold air for some reason.
Once inside the upper floor room, the temps were warm and cozy. The room very clean and tastefully decorated. The temp controls in the room adjusted quietly and precisely for comfort.
The bed was very comfortable and full of pillows. The TV and remote worked in tandem efficiency and were of good quality.
The breakfast buffet was full of the usual choices. The food was mild on taste but consistent in presentation. The service was wonderfully reserved but attentive.
I enjoyed the quiet and comfort of a hotel that was updated and working like how a professional operation should run.