Hotels Near maX it PAWN in Saint Cloud

This is a brand new Hilton Garden Inn. As a result, everything in the building is in good condition and functional. I’ve heard the walls are thin in the rooms, but not enough to bother me - I’ve lost enough hearing that people can make a little noise and I don’t notice. Don’t expect the usual familiar Hilton Garden Inn breakfast. For some reason, there is a steakhouse connected to the hotel, called Mavericks. I had dinner there, grilled salmon. It was overcooked but edible. Even though the restaurant is physically connected to the hotel, THEY DO NOT HAVE ROOM SERVICE. Breakfast was full cooked to order, with “continental” items as well, although I’m not keen on eating cut fruit out of open pans even under a sneeze guard. They cut it off at 9 am so don’t sleep in or you will miss it. One weird touch is the morality screening on the business center computers. I was trying to look up my client, which is a beer, manufacturing company, and was blocked. No matter which browser I tried, I was told the site I was trying to access was in the “Alcohol and tobacco” category and was not allowed by the system administrator. Apparently, the hotel is run by someone of some very strict religious faith, such as Muslim, Amish or Quaker. Which is fine by me, although imposing one’s own beliefs on others, particularly for a period as short as a hotel stay, is a questionable and unfruitful business. I had my own laptop I could shift over to, but I imagine there are other people who might be in desperate need of these computers for similar purposes, and might find themselves in trouble.

There are a lot of pluses about this hotel: huge rooms, huge-r bathrooms, indoor pool, guest-accessible pc and monochrome printer that work perfectly, huge selection (in post-COVID terms) of breakfast options including hot items, DIY waffles, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, cereal and English muffins served by a friendly, energetic attendant. My “3” rating, however, is a result of the myriad stains in the carpet in our room, the fuzz in the corners of our bathroom, and the crusty muck I discovered when I slid the bedside table forward so I could plug my phone-charger into the available power outlet…all of which made me wonder about cleanliness standards overall. This would be a good hotel to choose if you have little kids who like to splash in the pool, since there’s an indoor pool here. However, for that same reason, it might be a good reason to choose to stay elsewhere if you’re looking for calm and quiet.

Very nice property, clean and comfortable. Typical, trustworthy and dependable Holiday Inn Express - you always know what you're going to get. Excellent linens, so smooth and comfortable, slept well. Nice big room, clean. Staff, especially the girls at breakfast, were friendly and helpful. Plenty of parking even though we took the last available room. We were in the room usually reserved for disabled so the bathroom was huge, but the lighting was not good for the size. Didn't use the pool but it was big and appeared quite nice. The breakfast was tasty and plenty of options. Located right off the freeway and walking distance to a couple of restaurants. Would stay again.

The property is really the only hotel in this community. It is basic accommodation, but it is VERY clean -- and it definitely could use a renovation! Stayed here while attending a conference nearby. Two of us were going to share a room. My roommate had called several weeks earlier and was told that when we checked out the bill could be split between us -- each of us paying one night. When I arrived, I was told I had to wait to check in until she arrived --since the room had been booked in her name. I offered to pay for one night and said that she would pay for other when she arrived, but that was not acceptable. I finally just paid for the 2 nights so that I could get into the room since my roommate was not going to arrive for several hours. Apparently the charge was going to go on the card immediately -- not at the end of our stay. The room smelled ”stale”. We ended up using the air conditioner to both cool the room and to just get some air movement in it to get rid of the stale smell. Opening the window was an option, but not a good one as there is a busy gas station just behind the hotel. B'fast was basic. 2 cold cereal choices , a few small containers of yogurt, bread to toast and a waffle maker. There were some packaged danish rolls (the kind you buy in bulk all individually packaged). There was coffee and 4 juice choices. Shower head was wonderful!!! Fan also worked VERY well in the toilet/shower. Towels were thread-bare as was the bathmat, but they did the job. TV channel selection -- plenty! Walls were thin. We could hear the TV in both of the adjoining rooms. The mattress was firm ... and with the air-con running through the night, we both slept very well! Room key card worked sporadically. Sometimes it would open it on the first try, sometimes we had to put it in 5 or 6 times before we got the 'green light' to open the door. Several of our colleagues had trouble entering the hotel late at night because their key card would not let them in and they had to ring the bell and wait for someone to come. We both were in early enough that this was not a problem for us personally. So a bit of a mixed review. Given we really just needed a place to sleep and have b'fast, this did the job.

Our experience with this hotel would have been a full 5 stars in non-COVID times. Everything was spotlessly clean and the front desk staff was very friendly. However, when entering the building, we were greeted by a sign indicating blatant disregard for our state’s current mask mandate. During our stay, we interacted with two front desk staff (neither masked) and a breakfast attendant who was masked. During our stay we only ran into one other person & child with a mask-no one else made effort. We have a child with an underlying health condition that we are trying to protect from this virus. We took a leap that the hotel would be following all CDC (as indicated on the website) and local public health guides. The sign at the entrance negated any presumed efforts leaving us questioning if any of the mitigation efforts (aside from plexiglass at front desk) were actually taken. Since we arrived after the cancellation time, our choices were limited. The breakfast was what we would have expected pre-COVID aside from the breads, muffins, etc. were individually wrapped in sandwich bags. For our situation, we grabbed a few granola bars and yogurt “to go”. We did observe the attendant very attentive to keeping the area stocked and sanitizing/cleaning after the various guests moved through the line. Others may not mind the lack of enforcement of the mandate, that’s their choice. However, in fairness to other guests who are relying on this compliance, we felt this disclosure should have been noted on the website.