We stayed in a double room for an extended weekend over Thanksgiving. The best part of the hotel is indeed it's location. Right off the freeway, next door to the movie theater, across the street from Applebees, Subway, mini mart, and very close to a Target. The room itself was okay. Nothing special, nothing terrible. The complimentary breakfast is as basic as it gets. It's a great place to get some sleep, not much to do there if you are hanging out.

Overall, the rooms were nice...seemed a little older than other Country Inn & Suites we've stayed at, but for the most part, good. The pool area was nice, and the breakfast was good.

The location is the hotel's best feature - right across the parking lot from a large movie theater, near several restaurant options, and near the interstate. Just a short drive to Cabela's and the outlet mall.

Given everything else, our stay would've been fine. The major problem is that we specifically reserved a non-smoking room (months in advance), and as soon as we entered the room, we found that we'd been placed in a smoking room. We asked for a different room but were told that the hotel was full and there were no other rooms available. This hotel stay had been a Christmas gift paid for by family members; otherwise, we would've left and gone to another hotel. The stale smoke was so thick in the room, we found it intolerable. The fact that the hotel staff didn't try to rectify the situation in any way was really disappointing.

I got upgraded to the better and bigger room, a suite. The room decor was dated and the carpet and furniture - same. The women who were the front desk hosts were not too helpful - gruff and rough. But maybe this can change shift by shift. For breakfast, they did not restock the raisin bran and other healthy cereals. I had to chase them to refill. And they seemed to be irritated that I should ask them to do this. The breakfast was really crappy.

Positives: The beds were fairly comfortable, it seemed pretty clean, it was quiet, nice location and easy to find right off the exit of I-35. There were plenty of places to eat around the hotel and there is a convenience store across the street. Also a 10-movie plex theater is right next door...About a one minute walk away. Just a few miles from the Cabela's and Outlet Mall shopping and 45 minutes from Mall of America.
Negatives: The swimming pool is a little small, could get crowded pretty easily but this is a little smaller hotel than other Country Inns we've stayed at. The breakfast left something to be desired...Very little selection. All I remember is bagels, toast and waffles.
But overall the stay was quite satisfactory and we would consider staying here again.