The pitch is one sentence: an enclosed skyway connects the hotel directly to Mall of America, its five hundred-plus shops, Nickelodeon Universe and the SEA LIFE aquarium, which in a Minnesota January is not convenience but survival. Minneapolis-Saint Paul airport is ten minutes away, and the Blue Line light rail runs from the mall into downtown Minneapolis.
Opened in 2013, the hotel carries far more design ambition than its brief required: 500 sharp, colour-blocked rooms with excellent beds, an indoor pool, and public spaces that would not embarrass a downtown flagship. FireLake Grill House and Cocktail Bar is the unexpected asset, a Midwestern farm-to-table grill that draws locals on its own merits, which is not something often said of hotels attached to shopping centres.
Weekends are family-heavy and the lobby knows it; midweek the rates drop and the corporate crowd takes over, with sports fans using the light rail for U.S. Bank Stadium events. Judge it for what it is, the best bed within a coat-free walk of America’s biggest mall, and it is hard to argue with. Prices track mall events and school holidays, so the same room can double in cost between one Tuesday and the next Saturday; book the quiet weeks and it is one of the Midwest’s genuine bargains.
