We booked a room through Hotwire (we were told we saved about $80 - but this isn't an ad for them) for a Friday night during a college hockey tournament. I read all the reviews from the beginning of this year, and if there were problems before the renovation, they've certainly cleaned up nicely.
Check-in was quick and uneventful, and we were easily upgraded from two double beds to a King. The reviews are correct about the price for parking, though. $9 a night on weekends is pretty steep considering you can park about two blocks closer to the Xcel Energy Center (the primary draw of downtown St. Paul) for $5, and across the street from the arena for $12-$15.
The room was clean, comfortable, and for the most part, quiet. In fact, the only two picky things about the room were that the mini-fridge made a slight vibration noise when turned to the higher settings (but was whisper quiet on the lower settings), and the bathroom door stuck just a little bit. But other than that... it was a fine stay.
We didn't try the restaurant (we elected to eat at the games), and we didn't swim, but I will say the pool looked surprisingly small. It was about the size of three large hot tubs. More of a "dip-your-toes" pool than one you could swim laps in. But again, that wasn't important to us.
In lieu of vending machines, they have a 24-hour pantry with munchies, sandwiches, drinks and travel incidentals. While it wasn't as convenient as having vending on every floor, it does allow them to have a larger selection of items.
For a three-star hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn City Center in downtown St. Paul is a perfectly fine choice. I won't say it went out of it's way to wow us, but overall, we had no complaints.








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