The Last Hotel STL

Check out my room here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITTIKrDZ9GI

If the perfect St. Louis getaway to you doesn’t include a chain hotel, be sure to check out the Last Hotel STL.

Located within the city’s Garment District in a renovated art deco-styled building, this boutique hotel tips it’s hat to its history while maintaining modern lodging and style.

The hotel boasts a great location. Not far from clubs, theaters and other venues. And its isolation from other local lodging gives it an exclusive and almost insider vibe.

Parking can be difficult to find. Spaces on the street are shared between the other businesses on the block and can be quite expensive for more than overnight stay. So use the valet service if you have anything better to do than repeatedly drive around in circles.

The staff are very friendly and accommodating. I never had to go looking for someone to get my car or answer a question. They really seem proud of the hotel and enjoy working there.

The Garment District as a whole has yet to be fully developed. So there are not many restaurants nearby. But if you are very nice, they will tell you all the little hang outs to find the best pizza and chicken.  That kind of insider information is worth making friends.

The lobby is very spacious and has lots of seating for casual gatherings, conversations or just hanging out. It also boasts a pool table adjacent to where the lobby-level bar once was.  There was no in-house restaurant or bar available during my stay-although there is space for these-and even signs touting their existence. Even a rooftop bar, which was also missing. Maybe they will open up again soon? Now that I know it once housed a bar, it seems to me a waste of a good rooftop not to put it back.

There are exercise facilities on hand. And the gym and pools (inside and out) are nicer than the ones often offered by chains. But maybe this is just because the hotel doesn’t make it a point to cater to families so it is missing the obligatory amount of urine and the single, abandoned water wing that seems to be a part of every Best Western experience?

The rooms are very stylish and expansive. They are loaded with old architectural features, touches of modern art and lots of windows and natural light.  The views don’t compare to other hotels situated in more picturesque parts of town, but since you can hear everything going on outside the hotel well into the early morning hours, sunrise does seem to make the Last Hotel STL more quiet and peaceful. So there’s that. The bathroom is roomy enough to easily accommodate a family of five The furniture is well spaced for the room. The mattress was meh, but that goes with the trend of so many hotels nowadays. Putting emphasis on what kind of coffee or soap to stock the rooms instead of focusing on how guests will actually sleep.

But no outside sound insulation so you can hear everything.

EVERYTHING.

It’s so close to so many clubs, it is almost impossible to get a quiet night’s sleep-especially on weekends.

From a car door closing to a conversation, all the noise from the street travels straight up the building and right into your room. So if you are a light sleeper, or someone who is sensitive to random shouting, tires squealing and other merriment, pack some ear plugs.

Another great feature of the hotel was the price-much lower compared to other hotels in the area. This might be due to the lack of other common amenities, but my wallet certainly appreciated it.

My takeaway: pack the white noise machine and enjoy.

Do you have a hotel or inn you would like me to review? Let me know on Facebook, Instagram or at toilandtroublemediagroup@gmail.com

The Hyatt Regency at the Arch

Check out my room here! https://youtu.be/KTiuZtOcwys

Staying downtown is a one-of-a-kind experience in every city, but with its famous arch, St. Louis stands out. Naturally, there are a couple of hotels that take advantage of their views of the structure. Not the least of which is the Hyatt Regency at the Arch.

Located within walking distance, the building itself stands out.  Its regal architecture giving a graceful nod to the city’s heritage.  At night, the view from the Arch-sided rooms is stunning. But they do cost extra, so you might want to consider the splurge for a special occasion or when you have time to explore the city properly.

Aside from the grand, almost cavernous lobby, its three full-service restaurants and a Starbucks, my experience as a guest was disappointing. The front desk staff are efficient, if not slightly inexperienced. When I asked to pay in advance for Erin’s valet service (more about that in a moment), the young man behind the counter looked at me puzzled before replying that I could only do that if I was paying for an extra room.

That’s not true, and another member of the department quickly stepped in to remedy the situation, but it was still an odd response.

The valet and guest services staff were also very helpful and approachable, but housekeeping was meh. They seemed to stock towels and toiletries in my room consistently, but routinely overlooked hair and toilet paper-two things I am less willing to forgive. As a frequent traveler with a tight schedule, I want to spend my time focusing on my trip-not rationing toilet paper and pondering the origins of some random body hair stuck to the shower.

While the bed was made and fresh towels and coffee pods were left out, the room was noticeably dingey. The nightstands weren’t wiped down, the shower curtain was covered in soap and strands of hair were scattered about.  I reported this to a very nice man at the guest services desk and when I returned later, the shower curtain had been replaced, but the hair remained.

Sigh.

The coil mattress was unremarkable (for a Super 8, that is) and not at all worthy of the prestigious chain and its inflated prices.  And I noticed several general upkeep issues as well-far more than I expected for a global chain. Not all of the lights worked in my room, the water pressure for both the shower and toilet were poor-resulting in double flushes and less than satisfying showers. The rooms were not very well insulated and resulted in my hearing every guest and maintenance person that walked by.  

The HVAC system was also sub-par. The room felt clammy and uncomfortable. The only way to counter its excessive humidity was to increase the temperature, leaving me with the choice of either feeling sweaty or soggy.

Also, no self-parking was available the entire length of my stay-which was understandable for an evening or a special event, but days without access to this amenity resulted in an automatic fee hikes for valet services that really should have been comped by the hotel. In the hospitality business, if you offer it, you should be prepared to provide it.  The lower-end hotels manage to do this just fine.

My takeaway: Just stay at the Super 8 and use the savings to see the Arch up close.

Do you have a hotel you would like me to review? Send me a line at toilandtroublemediagroup@gmail.com

St. Louis Union Station Hotel

Check out my room here! https://youtu.be/pKkG37jNBNg

I admit it, I’m a pretty shallow consumer when it comes to picking hotels. I tend to gravitate towards initial appearances.  When my schedule took me back to St. Louis, I liked what I saw and decided to stay at the Hilton Curio’s St. Louis Union Station Hotel.

I really need to stop doing that!

The facility itself is gorgeous. A former railway station, the building now houses the hotel, several event spaces, three restaurants and an aquarium. It has also become the center of a mid-sized midway including carnival games, a mini-golf course, a Ferris wheel, several additional eateries and a koi pond that holds musical fire and light shows every hour. On the surface, you would think a hotel that boasts those kinds of attractions would have its act together when it comes to hospitality.

And like me, you would be wrong.

During my stay, I was planning to meet up with my husband, Dave. He had made the reservation weeks before and the plan was to travel separately and meet up later that night. But my schedule called for me to be in town earlier and I arrived around one in the afternoon. Exhausted and saddled with my luggage, portable office and laptop, I hoped to drop them off in my room before my next meeting to avoid the possibility of them being stolen from my car.

I looked up the hotel’s number on the website and called, asking if it was possible to check in early. I was told I could, so long as I could provide ID and the method of payment. No problem, I thought.  As usual, we had made the reservation with my credit card.

When I arrived, the woman at the front desk looked annoyed and asked if I had Dave with me. Momentarily thinking about the question, I replied, “Well, not in my roller luggage.” It was peculiar, to be sure, but I supposed I couldn’t fault her for asking.

Appearing less than amused, she then asked if I had the confirmation code.

Of course, I didn’t. Whoever asks for those? 

She then informed me that I couldn’t check in without Dave’s approval. Put out but not wanting to be a jerk, I called him to obtain it, using my speaker phone feature so she could hear.

He was still on the road when he answered and offered to provide whatever identifying information was needed to let me in the room. But the desk representative insisted he provide the confirmation code, which naturally he didn’t have either and would have required him to pull off the highway to look up.

With three other front desk workers looking on, she shrugged. I was out of luck.

In the past, when I have not been able to check in for one reason or another, the front desk staff have always offered to put me in another room temporarily or hold my luggage until the matter was resolved. The woman at the front counter could definitely see we had a reservation and that I had the predetermined method of payment in hand. But to my dismay, none of this mattered. After driving over five hours to get there, the Hilton left me hanging.

I wasn’t even offered a cart or pointed in the direction of an elevator. In full view of four front desk staff members, I lugged my luggage back down two flights of stairs and through the pass way before having to exit the building and walk all the way around to my parking spot.

If that wasn’t inconvenient enough, I had to pull all of my luggage into the public restroom with me to use the facilities.

All the while, the four of them watched me struggle without saying a word. As a small bruise began to form on my forearm, I consoled myself that at least my floor show was entertaining.

That said, the housekeeping, door man, valets and bar waitstaff were fantastic. It’s a shame they aren’t assigned to other places within the hotel with more public contact.  But the entire hotel felt very segmented and categorized and no one went out of their lane. The kitchen staff ran with the kitchen staff, the doorman and valet stuck by the door.

And it was apparent that practice really left some major gaps in the hotel’s abilities to handle spontaneous day-to-day customer service issues. Dishes remained outside rooms overnight and well into the following day because the kitchen didn’t appear to communicate room service to housekeeping. Security didn’t alert the doorman when they were restricting access to parts of the hotel for special events.

Nor could these groups count on the front desk for help. Those guys were as useless as a snowplow in the tropics.

At one point during my stay, a young housekeeper was wrangling a cart packed for an extended hike on the Appalachian Trail when a cleanser bottle fell and spilled everywhere. In spite of dozens of employees skuttling about, no one was there to help her clean it up-or even help her get the massively awkward cart in and out of the elevator.

It just seems like too big a place to do that. Which is a bummer, because the she looked drained, not happy.

The experience for visitors isn’t much better. For newcomers, the facility itself is very difficult to navigate. Common spaces like the lobby, pass way and court yard are ridiculously spaced with lots of massive gaps.

Very few ramps or elevators are easily visible, causing visitors to drag their luggage up wide flights of stairs as I did. While this could pose obvious difficulties for older guests as well as those with small children or mobility issues, neurodivergent people and those with environmental sensitivities may also find this problematic. Disabled veterans with trauma-related issues may also find the acoustics and large number of potential concealment sites stressful.

And the elevators the hotel has are not clearly marked. Instead, they are often camouflaged by ornate doors which appear to be for employees only or behind locks requiring room keys to use. Many of the more direct passageways are obstructed this way too. I certainly got my steps in as I had to walk around the massive complex several times before and after check in and during the many private events during my stay.

At one point, after being dropped off outside one of the hotel’s main entrances, I was told the hotel had closed access by that side of the building that day and was redirected to another door.

When I reached that door, I was intercepted by three other hotel staff (special events staff, not doormen) who said I was not allowed to come inside that way either. Again, I was directed to go around to another entrance on a different side of the building.

Great! Just what I wanted! Another walk!

Besides being annoying, the confusion concerns me with the hotel’s overall safety in terms of fires and other evacuation scenarios. If nobody knows what’s going on, how can they safely direct guests? And likewise, how are guests supposed to exit if they cannot find the appropriate path without a hike?

Then there are the elevators which sometimes do not display the correct floor or even show up when called. The keypad is equally confusing, labeling the third-floor lobby as “lobby” but the floor signal displays 3 (or sometimes another number.) The lobby button on the keypad also routinely remains illuminated as if you haven’t reached the floor yet, leaving you to realize later that you missed it. I watched so many families and confused travelers go up and down the floors on their quest to simply go outside!

The rooms themselves are plenty big enough but are sorely plain and very disappointing when compared to the public spaces of the station itself. If I had to categorize the design theme, I would describe it as early modern Ho Jo.  Like Howard Johnson, the rooms are well arranged and clean, except for the fork I found in a bathroom nook along with a hairdryer and iron.

I’m not sure if it was there on purpose. It’s kind of hard not to discount logic at some point during your stay simply as a coping mechanism.

There was no vent in the bathroom, which makes sharing a room a little less convenient and something I did not expect from a high-end hotel. As were the mattresses, which were so-so and definitely not worth the cost of the stay.  I was further disappointed to find the literature left on the desk by the television informed guests that the Grand Hall Market and the Station Grille Restaurant were available for breakfast-at an additional charge.

But in the midst of the chaos, I discovered a way to eat breakfast for free.

Let me tell you more…

Tucked away on the third floor by rooms 3002-3319 is an Executive Lounge which serves continental breakfast for “members”. 

As I investigated, it began to feel like the Executive Lounge was the hotel’s version of Area 51. Members of what? I’m still not really sure.  This is not something the hotel advertises or offered as a program, as far as I could tell. The front desk staff said nothing about a promotional program or the existence of this space.

Then again, I’m not entirely sure they would say something if I was still struggling to get all my suitcases out of the public restroom.

About halfway down the hallway is a sign welcoming you to the space, before telling you that a train key is necessary to be permitted access, that you will have to present your key to the Lounge Attendant, and you are forbidden access if you do not have the key.

But if you arrive during the breakfast rush hour (somewhere between 8a and 9a), someone will invariably hold the door open for you. And the attendant, responsible for clearing tables, refilling coffee pots and re-stocking food and dishes, will be far too occupied to verify whether or not you have a train key.

Or perhaps it’s not the attendant’s job to check for keys? Maybe there is another key-person whose job it is to do that? This hotel loves it’s compartmentalization.

If you aren’t a jerk, you can enjoy an average hotel breakfast on them. Either way, the front desk will never know.

My takeaway: Very little value for the hype. Enjoy the public amenities but stay somewhere else.

Do you have a hotel you would like me to review? Send me a line at toilandtroublemediagroup@gmail.com