I have been fortunate enough to travel to some pretty spectacular places over the last few years using the Points, Miles (and Martini) knowledge I’ve gained from TheWeeklyFlyer and the BoardingArea blogs. Like TheWeeklyFlyer, I too have been flying weekly for about 3 years now. TheWeeklyFlyer has asked me to share some of my recent experiences as guest posts to his blog and I am more than happy to contribute.

The W

I consider myself somewhat of a W connoisseur. I take every opportunity to stay at W hotels whenever humanly possible. I basically have the entire W hotel portfolio memorized and have made my way to a little over half of them. While I don’t consider them to be in the very top tier of hotels in the world, I do appreciate their hip and modern artistic flavor.

The Rate
While dinking around on the SPG website one day in December, I happened to come across a 49 dollar per night rate over the holidays at the W Minneapolis – The Foshay. I was spending the holidays in Minneapolis with family and while I already had a place to stay, I figured this price was too good to pass up. I booked a bottom-of-the-barrel 275 square foot Wonderful room with two Queen beds for two nights over the holidays.

As is the case when I am excited about a hotel stay, I feverishly check the SPG app on my iPhone to see if my room has been upgraded. (You used to only be able to see live updates on the SPG app though I’ve noticed they are pushing this information to the website now.) I had my doubts given I had booked a (mistakenly?) low 49 dollar per night rate. But to my surprise, the SPG app showed that my room had been changed to the WOW Suite the day before I was checking in.

The Room

The WOW Suite is consistent across the W hotels being their second best suite, with the EXTREME WOW Suite being their best or ‘Presidential Suite’ equivalent. I have had the great pleasure of sharing a few of these WOW Suites with friends and family at other properties (Boston, NY-Union Square, Vieques) before and I can assure you the suite is appropriately named for the response everyone has as they enter the room. WOW.

The WOW Suite at the W Minneapolis was no different. Up on the 26th floor, this room sprawled half of the entire floor. The views of downtown Minneapolis from three directions were spectacular. At 1000 square feet, there was a living area with wetbar, a separate bedroom and large master bathroom. There was also guest bathroom off the main living area. This room just felt like it was meant to host a small party.

Modern Living Area

Living Area Wetbar

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom stocked with Bliss products

The Location

Situated in downtown Minneapolis, The Foshay Tower itself is a very impressive landmark and a great place to house a modern hotel. The location is excellent for exploring downtown Minneapolis and has several hip bars and a top Minneapolis steakhouse in Manny’s. There was plenty of free street parking in the evenings within blocks of the hotel which seemed the better option as the hotel valet was quite expensive. As an interesting side note, This story about John Philip Sousa and The Foshay tower is quite interesting.

The landmark Foshay Tower

Cherry and Spoon in nearby Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

As a SPG Platinum member, I received 500 points at check in as the platinum amenity along with 2 bottles of Fuji water per person per day from the minibar. The only other amenity selection was a movie. As a nice added touch, the general manager left a note welcoming me and included a box of unique chocolates and additional Fuji waters.

The Bottom Line

The stay was superb, highlighted by the impressive room and unique landmark hotel. The only mishap was an after-checkout phantom charge of items from the mini-bar. After a 10 minute call, this charge was taken off the bill. I always love my visits to Minneapolis and believe this hotel is the best of several superb options of Starwood hotels in downtown Minneapolis.