Category: USA

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA ~ The Pfister Hotel

November 2025

Why Milwaukee?

We have wanted to see Milwaukee for quite some time (we booked a trip several years ago and had to cancel) and we wanted to take the Amtrak, which departs from Union Station right across the street from our house. Thanksgiving seemed like a good time to travel by train.

This is a blog focused on hotels, so tell me a little about how you made your lodging selection for this trip. Were there lots of good choices?

If we don’t have a specific property in mind, we typically check a handful of sources to develop a short-list and then narrow down from there. Milwaukee isn’t a big enough destination to be covered on its own in most of our go-to sources, but just Googling “best hotels in Milwaukee” turned up a number of guides that we could then use to triangulate recommendations. We also typically check booking.com to see a property’s overall score and any trends with reviews; we did that for Milwauikee (even though we recommend — once a decision is made — to book directly with the hotel).

For this search, we pretty quickly arrived at a list of three hotels that met our criteria of (1) being centrally located, (2) having an on-site restaurant/bar (in case we couldn’t find a good option on Thanksgiving) and, (3) quite simply, looking interesting.

Why The Pfister?

The Pfister is Milwaukee’s historic “grand” hotel — it opened in 1893 — and, based on our research, it looked like a hub of activity for tourists and residents alike. We live a few blocks away from St. Paul’s classic, historic hotel — The St. Paul Hotel — and it always does a great job of celebrating the holidays. We imagined the same would be true for The Pfister. We weren’t wrong.

We arrived at The Pfister on a snowy Thanksgiving evening to find the lobby packed: folks heading to dinner at the hotel’s steak house, others enjoying a drink in the lobby bar, and some seemingly there just for the scene. As we checked in, staffers were putting the finishing touches on the lobby Christmas tree, which was a popular site for photos during our two-night stay. We also saw lots of preparation for traditional breakfasts with Santa that started the day after Thanksgiving.

Did The Pfister meet your expectations? If not, why not? What’s your assessment of the room given the price?

Our “premier king” room — in the tower (aka the round 1960s wing) — was perfectly comfortable. We technically had a view of Lake Michigan, but it was tucked behind other downtown buildings. One cool thing about the Pfister is its commitment to the arts. Not only does it house the largest Victorian art collection of any hotel in the world, the hotel also hosts an artist-in-residence program, and our room featured a print from one of the artists. We imagine that each guest room features a piece from a past artist-in-residence.

What else to say about the room? Its classic interior design aligned with the rest of the hotel, and everything seemed well-maintained. (A lovely person we met at a gallery during our stay noted that the hotel was in the process of renovating rooms; we think ours had been through a recent renovation.)

If we were to visit again, we might book a room in the original 1893 buildling. The historic side of the hotel is beautiful, and while the rooms might be smaller, we imagine they likely better align with the overall aesthetic of the hotel. (Our room in the round tower felt a little at odds with the hotel’s design.)

One of us forgot to sing the Bedbug Song. Do you regret this now?

I think, at this point, we can confidently say we’re in the clear, but the Bedbug Song can never hurt. You sing it at all hotels, even the fanciest, and the tradition has served us well.

“Bed bug, bed bug, leave me alone. Stay out of my bag; stay out of my home….”

What is one thing you will remember about the hotel?

How about two things?

First, the liveliness of the place. In addition to holiday events, the hotel hosted an Irish step dancing competition during our stay. Let’s just say, those dancers brought a lot of life — and a lot of luggage — to the hotel.

Second, the art collection was fun to see. We took time to wander the hallways and common areas, and it was like a visit to a museum. Milwaukee has a great art scene, which we didn’t expect, and The Pfister helps contribute to that.

It has been a long time since either one of us was in Milwaukee. How would you sum up your impressions of the city after this visit? Would you return?

We had only one full day in the city, but we made the most of it and ran out of time before we ran out of things to do. We would definitely return — maybe in the summer when we could more fully explore the area around Lake Michigan, the Riverwalk, and the Third Ward.

By the way, how was the Amtrak experience?    

The ride down was great. It was Thanksgiving day, so we had a car practically to ourselves. The route is beautiful, and sipped a Bloody Mary while watching the scenery sweep past. On the way back, the train was fully booked, and we had to scramble to find seats, which weren’t together. The Borealis — the train between St. Paul and Chicago — doesn’t do reserved seats like the Empire Builder –the longer route — does. My guess is that lots of Borealis riders would be happy to pay a little more to get a reserved seat. We definitely would.

Even though the return trip started a little rocky, we arrived back in St. Paul to a snowy holiday evening with the European Christmas Market at the depot in full swing. It was pretty magical and awesome to get off the train and walk right across the street to our home.

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Missoula, Montana, USA ~ The Wren

October 2025

We introduced hotelling.org in 2018 and have written nearly 50 posts. Starting with this one, we decided to mix it up a little, structuring the post as a Q&A with one of us posing the questions and the other answering them. Enjoy!

Why Missoula?

You lived in Missoula 30 years ago, but I’ve never been to Missoula or to Montana. We’ve always talked about visiting, and this seemed like the right time to do it. Fall in Montana can be beautiful. When we made our plans, we didn’t know that our stay would coincide with homecoming weekend at the University of Montana where you were a graduate student (we only realized it was homecoming when we woke on our first morning to a very vibrant downtown Missoula as people headed to the parade) . That event made the timing even better.

Why The Wren?

The hotel choices in Missoula have grown quite a lot since you lived there, but most of them are national chains, and the properties are pretty cookie-cutter. The Wren, which opened in 2022 on the site of what was a 1960s motor inn, stood out as a property with a personality – something distinctly “Missoula.”

If you were to describe The Wren in a phrase, what would it be?

Pared down with an artsy, outdoorsy vibe.

How would you describe your room?

We stayed in three rooms during two separate visits to The Wren (three rooms rather than two because we moved once during our first stay). All three rooms were, first and foremost, functional – not fancy by any means but with some nice touches. We appreciated the wall infographics above each bed — custom pieces by local artists that reflect iconic symbols of Missoula and Montana. Our rooms featured the lifespan of the Western red cedar tree, traditional forestry tools, and classic trout flies.

The rooms also included ample pegs for hanging coats, hats, and other outdoor gear; Pendleton wool blankets; sliding barn doors between the bedroom and bathroom; spacious showers; and – a welcome surprise – fluffy cotton robes. We also liked the clever “do not disturb” magnets for the metal doors, which harkened back to the motor inn that originally stood at the site, and, on our first stay, we enjoyed the views of Mount Sentinel and the “M” that peeked out above our east-facing courtyard window.

How about hotel amenities?

The Wren sees itself as a launchpad to Missoula and its surroundings, so it doesn’t work hard to keep you on site. With that said, the welcoming common areas deserve a linger. The lobby “map room” has lots of information on local sites, along with rotating art from the Missoula Art Museum and a mini-exhibit on the famed Missoula smokejumpers. As cycling fans, we loved getting an up-close look at the bike Tyler Hamilton rode in the 2003 Tour de France. And the front desk staffers are ready to share advice. We had an extended conversation about the likelihood of encountering a bear on different hikes around the area (the bears hadn’t yet settled in for their long winter’s nap), and the staffer offered us a can of bear spray should we want it. Finally, the Northwest takes its coffee seriously, and the Basecamp coffee shop right off the lobby is popular with hotel guests and Missoulians alike. If the coffee shop is full – and on a nice day – the courtyard tables and chairs offer a peaceful spot to sip an excellent coffee and catch up on the news by picking up one of the actual newspapers (old-school paper version) scattered around.

Any final thoughts?

Should we return to Missoula, we would definitely stay at The Wren again. Missoula is a place all its own – its official nickname is the “Garden City,” but locals prefer “Zootown” – and The Wren captures Missoula well. The Wren is a great example of a hotel that does exactly what it sets out to do, and it provides a distinctive experience for its guests.

Stay details:

  • The Wren, Missoula
  • 4-night stay: October 10-12 and October 17, 2025
  • Wren King (1st stay) and King (2nd stay)

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Nisswa, Minnesota, USA ~ Nature Link Resort

January 2025

In the days following the new year, most people in our part of the world are on a bit of a holiday hangover and slowly returning to “normal” life. But we have a January 5 birthday in our house, and it’s actually a perfect time to get out of our neighborhood, which suddenly seems very lonely after all of the holiday happenings.

In the cold and dark days of a Minnesota winter, it might make the most sense to head south, but this year, we did the opposite, booking a few nights at Nature Link, a resort in central Minnesota that had been on our list for a few years.

A modern take on classic lake resort

Nature Link is in the Brainerd Lakes area, and although the area is a popular destination and a place where many friends have cabins, we had never spent time there, opting instead typically to head to the North Shore of Lake Superior when we want to get into nature. We can’t even remember exactly how we found Nature Link – it was likely just a Google search of resorts near Nisswa, MN – but what we saw online was intriguing: modern, tastefully finished cabins on a smaller, off-the-beaten-path lake with an aesthetic that emphasizes slowing down and spending time with nature near the water and among the woods.

Summers are clearly the more popular time for resorts like this, but winters draw anglers for ice fishing, cross-country skiers and snowshoers, snowmobilers, and people like us who just want a little escape from the city. On the weekend we visited, there was no snow (a hardship for the local economy), but it was very cold, below zero. We love to get outside in the winter, and we did manage a walk into the town of Nisswa along the Paul Bunyan trail, which adjoins the resort. But the cold temps and lack of snow turned out to be a good excuse to either stay inside by the fire, looking out from our big windows to the forest, or to take the short trek to the newly finished sauna where we watched the sun move across the frozen lake.

Apparently, we weren’t the only ones who wanted this kind of weekend. When we first arrived at Nature Link on a Friday afternoon, we thought we might be two of only a few guests, but by the time we headed to dinner on Friday evening, lights were on in nearly all of the resort’s 20 or so cabins and suites.

Treehouse or lakehouse?

When we made our booking, we had a choice between a cabin looking out on Clark Lake or an elevated cabin facing into the forest. The treehouse experience sounded intriguing, so we chose that one, not knowing exactly what to expect. Upon arrival, we were directed to Cedar Cabin #11 – a stand-alone structure and one of two with this particular design – jutting up from ground level with access via an external staircase. Inside, a massive picture window looked out to the woods; it really did feel like a luxurious treehouse.

Inside, we found a gas fireplace, two leather chairs oriented toward the windows, a king-sized bed, and a nicely finished bathroom with a shower and deep soaking tub. The cabin also included a big Nespresso machine and a small refrigerator and microwave, along with some fun features: a deck of cards, tasty chocolates, a few books. There are no TVs in the cabins, which we welcomed, but the solid WiFi made sure we could stay connected with the outside world if needed.

The design and the quality of the furnishings and finishes exceeded our expectations. This is not your typical rustic cabin. We’ll note that Nature Link is only a few years old, and maintaining the standards will surely take constant work. In addition to guests, who can be hard on a property, the outside elements are relentless. On the days we stayed, the difference in the outside and inside temperatures was causing a fair amount of condensation on the window frames, and even though it was winter, we still tracked sand inside whenever we entered (the resort helpfully leaves a broom in the cabin). We hope the simple design and relatively rugged materials of the cabins lead to easier upkeep. In addition, because the resort is new, it’s still under development, and, although it was hard to tell in the winter, the landscape looks to be in recovery from some of that development.

One more note about the Cedar cabins: They are set up like a hotel room, and Nature Link doesn’t have a restaurant, so guests need to venture off property to eat. There are lots of options close by – more than we could explore on our long weekend – so this wasn’t an issue. But visitors to Nature Link who want to cook should book one of the bigger cabins with a full kitchen.

Forced relaxation

Without snow, many winter activities were out of the question, but that turned out to be just fine; it meant we could truly take it slow. Between short bursts of energy to walk around the property, visit the sauna, or explore Nisswa, we mostly just settled down near the fire and gazed out to the forest (or played the classic board game Aggravation). On our second day, we were entranced by a pileated woodpecker knocking away at a nearby tree and later watched as a herd of deer moved slowly across our view, feeding on the nibbles below the brush.

We’re curious how the resort feels in the summer when the whole area is brimming with people; we’ve heard the whole Brainerd Lakes region can be a pretty lively scene. We’re guessing that folks looking for something on the quieter side choose Nature Link; in summer, the resort provides bikes, kayaks, and hammocks for guests. And the resort has a private island that guests are encouraged to explore. All of this sounds terrific and right up our alley. We hope to return during summer to see more of what Nature Link has to offer, but it might just be that the quiet of winter is when the resort really shines.

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Santa Monica, California, USA ~ Shutters on the Beach

July 2024

This weekend trip to Santa Monica served as a condensed re-do for a Southern California vacation we had planned the year before but had to cancel last-minute. For that longer holiday, we had chosen Santa Monica Proper, which is still on our list (it looks terrific), but because we had only one full day in California, we wanted to be closer to the ocean. Shutters on the Beach – as the name implies – is directly on Santa Monica beach and very close to its famous pier, so we figured it would give us the quintessential LA experience. It ended up being a California hotel in Cape-Cod clothing, a combination that worked just right for what we wanted.

From LAX to the beach in no time

Our flight arrived at LAX at 10:30 in the morning, and we were at the hotel by 11:15. (Worth noting: For any visitors to LA trying to fit maximum fun with minimum time in a car, Santa Monica is a good choice.) With such an early arrival, we were prepared to drop our bags and return later for check-in, but the hotel had a “partial ocean view” room ready to go. After getting a helpful explanation from the staff member at the front desk about the difference between “partial ocean view” and “ocean view” – an explanation that included a hand-drawn diagram and his personal assessment of both choices – we decided to go for the room that was ready so we could get settled and get on with our weekend.

There’s a reason it’s called Shutters

The route to our room took us from the street-side lobby – a space we didn’t appreciate right away but later understood why it’s called the “living room” – up one elevator to the pool level on the third floor, down a corridor, into a second elevator, up to the sixth floor, and then around the corner to our room on the opposite side of the horseshoe. Upon exiting the first elevator, we stepped into an inside/outside space with – you guessed it – shutters separating the in from the out. At that time of day, the shutters were wide open, and a cool breeze coming in from the ocean blew through the corridor. When we left the second elevator, we were happy to see that its hallways were the same with guest rooms on one side and shutters to the outside on the other.

It didn’t take long for the shutters in the hotel – literally counting every one we encountered – to become a bit of a game for us. We discovered that navigating through the hotel was best done via stairs whenever possible, and those stairs led to many combinations of spaces divided by shutters. Reading this may lead you to think that the hotel took the shutters theme a little too far, but it seemed to work both from an aesthetic sense and a practical one. The shutters provided multiple options depending on the day’s weather: shade without stuffiness, air flow without wind and heat, and the perfect level of darkness for sleeping in without sleeping all day. It felt as though a member of staff – invisible to guests – was in the background constantly adjusting the shutters to match the current conditions.

Cape Cod on the Pacific

The hotel’s website advertises it as “an acclaimed Santa Monica beach hotel” that “recalls the quintessential cottages of Cape Cod.” We’ve never spent time in one of these cottages, but the guest room and common spaces did make us feel like we were staying at the home of friends…in all the best ways. Shutters features nearly 200 rooms and suites, so it isn’t a small property – certainly not a cottage – but the design and décor were personal and intimate. Our partial ocean view room on the 6th floor had a perfectly lovely view of the ocean from its sliding doors and balcony. (A second note: Santa Monica beach is quite wide; an ocean view room is still a good distance from the ocean even if it’s right on the beach). And while we loved looking out to the beach and ocean, we spent as much time studying the contours of the building – its shingles, balconies, stairs and, yes, shutters.

The room’s interior felt non-corporate with bookshelves holding books we actually took time to peruse; a large round bedside table with a piece of coral, a push-button alarm clock, and a copy of Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea; and a slipcovered wingback chair next to a Chinese ceramic lantern. Some of the furniture had a few scratches and dings, but as we settled into the Shutters vibe, we began to question whether it was purposely distressed – an effort at making us feel like visitors to a friend’s house and not anonymous hotel guests.

When we first arrived in our room, it was set up for an extra guest – a kid – with a rollaway bed and a kid-sized robe and slippers. We’re not sure whether the rubber whale bath toy was for the kid or for all guests, but we appreciated the effort the hotel took to welcome its younger customers even though we were only a party of two. We’re pretty sure our early arrival got in the way of someone else’s request, but after a quick call to the front desk, everything was whisked away to, we assume, another room for the party of three.

Our favorite part of the room was the opportunity it provided to sleep on the ultra-comfortable bed with the shutters only partially shut and the fresh, cool air coming in all night.  We also enjoyed coffee in the morning on the balcony (the first morning, we made it ourselves from the Nespresso machine; the second morning, we went down to the living room where it was already brewed and waiting for us). And the deep tub, also separated from the bedroom by shutters, so accessible to the fresh air, tempted us in. When, by the way, is the last time you’ve seen a hotel supply a real candle and matches next to a tub?

In our room, we encountered a few things we would change in a perfect world. The aforementioned Nespresso machine was tucked away in a cabinet with no obvious place to set it up if we actually wanted to make coffee. With that said, the housekeeping staff noticed we used it on our first morning and made space for it on the desk for day 2.  (Note # 3: The hotel staff was exceedingly attentive and friendly during our stay; a stand-out moment was a staff member noticing us sitting on the balcony in the afternoon and handing us two cans of water across the railing from an adjacent balcony.)

Other small observations: The mini bar and the cabinet near the bath with lotions and potions were secured with a zip tie, which seemed like a mismatch for the clientele the hotel was clearly trying to attract. And the deep tub with the real candle had jets that didn’t work. This didn’t really bother us, and the hotel was quick to respond with a restaurant credit when we reported it upon check-out, but it seems like something that should be on a punch list with each room turnover.

A beach bike ride, time by the pool, and an art scavenger hunt

We didn’t have much time, but the hotel helped us make the most of it. Our first adventure was a bike ride along the Marvin Braude bike trail. The hotel set us up with two cruiser bikes, and we headed south toward Venice. We intended to take another adventure north but didn’t manage to fit it in. 

If you’ve read other blog entries from us, you’ll know that we love the ocean and the beach, but we aren’t avid swimmers and sunbathers (with the exception of time spent in the Caribbean Sea in Puerto Rico). More often than not, on warm-weather vacations, we end up at the pool under the cover of an umbrella, and the Shutters pool was a really nice spot to recline, have a cold beverage, and catch up on some reading. When we were there, it was full of kids – cute kids – so we didn’t actually get in the water. But we loved the energy of the space, the view out to the beach and the ocean, and the big fireplace that made us want to come back when the weather would call for sitting on a lounger in a warm sweater.

On the day we checked out, we made time to do a self-guided tour of the hotel’s art collection. When we first arrived, we noticed a handful of terrific pieces hanging in the lobby but only later came across a booklet with a self-guided tour of 30 prints from the likes of David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Cales Oldenburg, and Alex Katz. (We’re now realizing that there is representation from only one woman: Yayoi Kusama.) We had a lot of fun wandering through the living room, the hallways on the main level, entries to the restaurants, and the meeting rooms to view and read about each pieces. It was like having a semi-private visit to a museum; we could linger as long as we wanted, and the only people we encountered were focused on other things, but they seemed to recognize and appreciate what we were up to. The art tour was the perfect diversion before we checked out and headed back to the airport and back to real life.

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Chicago, Illinois, USA ~ The Langham

April 2024

The Langham had been on our list for a long time – in fact, since it opened in 2013 in an iconic Ludwig Mies van der Rohe tower on the Chicago River. The sleek black building in the modernist international style — the former regional headquarters of IBM — has always been a favorite of ours among the dozens of standout skyscrapers in downtown Chicago, and we were excited when we learned that part of it was converted to a hotel. But other travel plans, the pandemic, and life in general kept us away until now when we had a weekend to make a quick run to the Windy City to pick up some wine from a favorite importer.

We shouldn’t have waited so long.

The treat at the end of the tunnel

Arriving to downtown by car, we dropped into Lower Wacker Drive and traversed the bowels of the city, emerging via an exit just a few blocks from The Langham. Although we had been near the building dozens of times, this was our first opportunity to get up close and personal. After leaving our car with the valet, we walked through the ground floor sitting area – pausing to greet a portrait of van der Rohe – and then took the elevator to the second-floor lobby and reception desk.

The peacefulness and somewhat intimate feel of the first floor was replaced with a bustling and lively scene when we emerged into the soaring and light-filled space on the second floor. In addition to encountering a wedding party that had gathered for photos, we saw families heading left to what appeared to be a salon hosting high tea and another group on its way to the bar on the opposite side.

A coherent design story

The Langham Chicago is one of 17 Langham hotels in Asia, Europe, the Pacific, and North America, with more on the way. The Langham London opened in 1865 and was the largest building in London at the time and Europe’s first “grand hotel.” After World War II, it was bought by the BBC but returned to operations as a hotel in 1991 and is the namesake of the Langham Hospitality Group.

The Langham Chicago occupies the lower 13 floors of the van der Rohe tower, which was completed in 1971 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. As of now, The Langham is the only hotel in a van der Rohe building. A professed pillar of the Langham Hospitality Group is design with each hotel “manifesting a unique story through its architecture, design, and one-of-a-kind local art.” We were excited to see how the black tower, built as a corporate headquarters, would be interpreted as a hotel, and the common areas proved to be a great preface to the rest of the story. The skeleton of the building – anodized aluminum and bronze-tinted glass – featured prominently, but the modernist lines were softened and even complemented by curvy patterns in the stone floor, a playful suspended sculpture of blown glass, and plush couches and chairs. With two floors of light bouncing off all of the reflective surfaces, the lobby nearly glowed.

Anticipated refinement with a few surprises

After a friendly and efficient check-in and a promise to return soon for a drink and dinner recommendation, we stepped back in the elevator for a lift up to the tenth floor and our room. The guest room hallways were expansive yet cozy with dark wood paneling, intermittent mirrors, low lighting, and a beautiful runner rug. It felt like yet a third interpretation of the building’s spaces after the intimate ground floor sitting area and the soaring second-floor lobby.

Our room — #1015 – was beautiful. A tiled entry foyer separated the main space from the door; off to one side was the bathroom and a bit further down on the opposite side was a dressing room, closet, and vanity. A wall of floor-to-ceiling windows with expansive views of nearby skyscrapers and the river let in lots of natural light, and the classic mid-century furnishings and white upholstery and linens felt refined. We loved the piece of furniture that housed the mini-bar and coffee station; it opened up in all kinds of interesting ways and looked a little steam punk. (The Langham calls the custom-designed piece a “cellarette.”) It was a fun addition to an otherwise fairly serious room design.

We also couldn’t get enough of the magic glass that separated the soaking bathtub in the stone and tile bathroom from the bedroom. With the flip of a switch, it changed from opaque to translucent. And the dressing area and vanity was a special indulgence. One of us felt the need to do a bit of primping – even though we had nowhere fancy to go – simply to use the space.

Magic glass separating the soaking tub from the bedroom

A start but not nearly enough

Our time at the Langham went by in a flash. We managed a stop at the hotel bar for a cocktail but didn’t have time to fully explore the hotel’s amenities. The tearoom was lovely and the pool, like the lobby, was also built by removing floor slabs to allow for a view out of two floors of windows. Chicago is such a terrific city, and The Langham matches up. We’ll be back, and next time we’ll stay longer.

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Hastings, Minnesota, USA ~ The Confluence Hotel

January 2024

Living with a view out over the Mississippi River, we’ve always thought that river towns have a unique feel, a spirit that evokes travel and the pull of places beyond the horizon. When we heard of a new hotel just downriver from us in Hastings, Minnesota, we knew we’d have to visit, and Hastings is less than half-an-hour away, so the location was perfect for a quick overnight getaway in midwinter.

Hastings is situated where the St. Croix River, fresh from the eponymous National Scenic Riverway, joins the Mississippi on the long journey to the Gulf of Mexico. Following on the heels of its upriver cousin, Stillwater, Hastings is seeing investment in its historic downtown with restaurants, shops, and, now, the historic reuse of an old manufacturing complex, which has been remade into The Confluence, a boutique hotel just west of where the new Hastings Bridge brings you into downtown.

A factory transformed

The Confluence opened, after many pandemic-related setbacks, in the fall of 2023. The aesthetic is an architecturally fun, industrial-chic treatment that does a great job of retaining and showing off the bones of the original structure, which housed the H.D. Hudson Manufacturing Company.

The hotel has outdoor spaces looking out over the river that will surely be wonderful in warmer weather, a ballroom, and several wings with hallways that showcase the original wood and steel-beamed roof high up above the rooms that have been tucked into the shell of the original factory floorplan. But the highlight of the public spaces is the lobby/bar/restaurant area, which already appeared to function as a kind of living room for Hastings. Even in late January, the space had a pleasant and inviting buzz about it.

Everything but a wall of windows

Our room, a king suite, was large and well-appointed, with little to no wear-and-tear, as expected in an almost-new hotel. Although the room worked well functionally, the layout felt a little odd. Likely as an attempt to create a separate seating area (necessary for the “suite” designation?), the TV and cabinet it sat on were situated in the middle of the room, so either the view from the seating area or from the bed — depending on the TV’s orientation — was a view of the back of the TV. We might be extra sensitive to the intrusion of televisions on the design of a space, but this just felt awkward. Additionally, the room had only one window tucked in a corner and blocked from view when we were on the side of the room with the bed. For a building with fabulous windows, we were disappointed to have only one. With that said, upon check-out, we did learn that our particular suite (#229) is somewhat unique in its floorplan, and all of the other junior suites have a full wall of windows. For our next stay, we’ll be sure to request a different room.

On the positive side, the room had a spacious, high-ceilinged, loft-like feel with original exposed steel beams and pillars. It was fun to see some of the structure of the building carrying through to the rooms. Ours had lots of places to sit — we weren’t there long enough to test them all out — and a wet bar (although the refrigerator and coffee maker were across the room, beneath the TV). We’re guessing some of the hotel’s rooms were designed for special-occasion stays where groups may want to gather. The sliding barn door to the bath was a nice touch, and the bath was large with double sinks and a sparkling, white-tiled shower. The room also had plenty of hooks, which are one of our favorite features and always handy for travelers.

No need to venture out

We really liked the energy of the lobby space, so we decided to have dinner at the hotel restaurant, Missi’s Sip & Savor. The name may be a stretch as a play on words, but the bar service, drinks, and food well-exceeded our expectations. We sat at the bar, and the bartending team was skilled, friendly, and energetic, and everyone seemed genuinely eager to work with us to create some custom cocktails, which were outstanding and a great paring with our warm smoked walleye dip, chopped salad and ale-braised short ribs. Our experience at the bar made us think the hotel is the place to go for elevated dining in Hastings.

But fun to explore beyond the hotel

The Mississippi River was the primary transportation route into the Upper Midwest before the railroads made their way to Wisconsin and Minnesota, so many of the oldest towns are strung out along the riverways. Hastings has been able to preserve much of its historic main street (actually 2nd Street East) with some wonderful late nineteenth-century buildings. The street is lined with antique shops, and in between those, we found a few gift shops with local goods and a game store with every kind of game you could imagine. Visitors will also find a good selection of places to eat and drink, some with outdoor space looking over the river. And the residential streets clustered around downtown have quite a few houses of historic interest. We’ll surely return in summer to check out what we imagine to be a lively scene.

Stay details:

  • The Confluence Hotel, downtown Hastings, Minnesota
  • 1-night stay: January 20-21, 2024
  • King suite, #229

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Madison, Wisconsin, USA ~ Hotel Indigo

November 2023

Our emerging Thanksgiving tradition involves a two-night stay somewhere away from home but close enough to reach easily by car. We depart in late morning on Thanksgiving Day, spend a quiet holiday close to the hotel at our destination, and then do a little exploring in the area before heading home on Saturday. We’ve celebrated this version of Thanksgiving enough times that we now need to go a little further afield to find something new. This year, we pushed the boundaries on what we consider an easy drive, heading four hours east to Madison, Wisconsin, and to the Hotel Indigo.

Searching for personality

Many friends in the Twin Cities have Madison connections; they grew up there, they attended college at the University of Wisconsin, or they spent time working in Madison before moving to Minnesota. And those friends offered great recommendations for things to see and do during our visit, but no one had a favorite hotel, so we were left to our own devices when it came to choosing a place to stay. We knew we wanted to be close to downtown and the University of Wisconsin campus, so we could walk to the small city’s top sites. Our searches, however, turned up lots of big chains that looked pretty cookie-cutter. The best-rated places were bed & breakfasts, which isn’t typically our thing. Among the lists, one did stand out as potentially interesting. Hotel Indigo is part of the IHG Hotel Group, so it isn’t independent, but the pictures made it look like it had a distinctive character, guest reviews were solid, and the location was intriguing — close enough to the city center but in the redeveloped (well, redeveloping) neighborhood of “East Wash” that formerly housed utilities, factories, warehouses, and other light industrial properties.

New life for an old building

Hotel Indigo’s former life was as a paint factory, and many of the hotel’s rooms, including ours, are located in the factory building (the hotel also has a wing that is new construction). The “indigo” theme carried throughout the property: from a giant Mautz Paint sign hovering above the front desk (it once hung outside the factory) and cocktails in the bar that are coded by their color palette, to artists’ murals in the hallways (ours was Georgia O’Keefe, who was a Wisconsin native and resided briefly in Madison) and painters’ lights in guest rooms. A theme like this — when overdone — can verge on tacky, but the elements mostly contributed to a fun aesthetic and brought warmth to the austere brick and concrete structure. Our room on the fifth floor was bright and cheery. It wasn’t fancy, but functionally, it worked well with everything we needed, including fluffy robes discovered in a roomy closet and one of our favorite features: a wall of pegs for hanging winter coats and hats. We were also intrigued by a shower bar installed diagonally about a foot from the floor, which we guessed was for resting one’s foot upon when lathering up legs and feet.

The hotel’s common areas are also inviting. In the lobby, guests can play oversized puzzle games or visit a mini bodega with essentials and treats. Seating areas are made for lingering. The hotel opened in 2019 but still looked mostly pristine; we give the staff kudos for keeping up with the inevitable scratches and dents caused by the never-ending churn of guests.

Bustling, even on Thanksgiving

On our Thanksgiving stays, we’re never quite sure what we’ll find in terms of hotel services on the holiday itself. One year — during the height of the pandemic — we enjoyed a terrific evening meal from the hotel restaurant delivered to our room. Another year in a different hotel, we had to settle for dinner from a gas station; everything was closed, not only in the hotel, but in the whole town. (Well, that’s not entirely true; one place was serving a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but when we called to ask if we could make a booking, the host gave a polite laugh. Apparently, getting a table required booking weeks in advance.)

Our entire stay had that kind of vibe — not crazy busy, but certainly enough activity to feel like we were at a place where things were happening.

All to say, we’ve learned to be prepared for just about anything. When we checked into the Indigo at about 3 pm on Thanksgiving, the staff member at reception let us know that the bar and restaurant were open until 8 pm, after which the hotel staff would gather for their own holiday celebration. We were grateful to have such an easy option and even more pleased when we arrived at the hotel restaurant around 6:30 to find a lively scene with helpful bartenders and servers and a meal that exceeded our expectations. Our entire stay had that kind of vibe — not crazy busy, but certainly enough activity to feel like we were at a place where things were happening. We hope this good energy continues to build for Hotel Indigo; for anyone passing through Madison, it’s well worth checking out.

Stay details:

  • Hotel Indigo, Madison, Wisconsin, East Washington neighborhood
  • 2-night stay: Nov. 23 and 24, 2023
  • King Room, #514
Federico Uribe, Museum of Contemporary Art

What we did, where we ate:

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San Juan, Puerto Rico ~ El Convento Hotel

May 2023

For a delayed holiday in the sun, we wanted to try someplace new and, truth be told, Costa Rica was our original choice. Once we started getting into the travel details, however, Costa Rica ended up being a little more challenging to get to with our airline of choice (Delta) on the days we were traveling, so we opted for Puerto Rico instead – also a new destination for us and a direct return flight from Minneapolis. For the second part of our stay, we booked the St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort based on a New York Times article from several years ago. (Read more about the St. Regis in this post.) For the first part of our Puerto Rico visit, we were inspired by a colleague who had recently combined a Mexico City stay with a follow-up visit to a Yucatan beach; following her lead, we spent the first four days of our holiday in Puerto Rico’s capital city of San Juan. And after doing some research on neighborhoods, we chose Old San Juan and the city’s most historic hotel: El Convento.

The heart of the old city

Almost immediately upon our arrival, we could sense that El Convento serves as Old San Juan’s living room. A Thursday afternoon wedding was taking place in the courtyard, a tour group was gathered outside the main doors listening to the story of the hotel’s history, and visitors – maybe hotel guests/maybe not – lingered at the many seating areas on the hotel’s outdoor passageways.

Upon check-in, the reception staffer told us the hotel was fully booked for the length of our stay, although we later learned that many rooms were closed for renovation. Even with that reduced occupancy, the hotel bustled with activity throughout our stay, and although we would have preferred some peace and quiet on one of the nights when dancing from a wedding went well past midnight, it was fun to be someplace that felt like a favorite of Puerto Ricans, not just a choice for tourists.

El Convento isn’t only the social center of Old San Juan; it also happens to be at the geographic center, midway down Calle del Cristo right next to the San Juan Bautista cathedral. This turned out to be really convenient when we needed a brief stop for the restroom, water, or sunscreen on our many city explorations. From anywhere in Old San Juan, we could get back to the hotel in just about ten minutes. For a busy – and, in late May, very hot – city, we appreciated being able to take frequent refreshment breaks.

A nun’s quarters

The hotel’s common spaces were, by far, our favorite places to spend time: the verandas and balconies, the plunge pool, the covered patio, the massive courtyard. Our room on the second floor was a fine example of the building’s Spanish Colonial architecture with its tall ceilings, plaster walls, red tile floors and shuttered balcony doors. It also featured period antique furniture that one of the staff members said was authentic and could only be repaired by a craftsperson in the Dominican Republic (we weren’t entirely sold on this story, but we liked the idea of it).

El Convento is a member of both the “small luxury hotels of the world” and “historic hotels of America” groups. And while the hotel is certainly historic, we wouldn’t call it luxurious. In fact, our room was a little tired. We don’t need lavish but do appreciate rooms that have been well cared for and kept up. In our room, many of the finishes, furnishings, and fixtures needed attention: upholstery with stains, a broken shutter on the patio door, glass that needed a good dose of Windex, missing beams in the ceiling (they were modern replacements), and paint bubbles on the wall (likely the result of high humidity). The bathroom, while very small, was actually the most well-functioning part of the room; it appeared to have gotten a more recent refresh.

We’re sure that keeping up a building originally erected in the 16th century is a constant challenge, and we don’t mind small reminders of the constant churn of people moving in and out of hotel rooms, but our room was definitely due for an update. And we’re hoping it is on the list for upcoming renovations, as it could be stunning.

Service and amenity standards

One of the best things about a hotel is often its staff, and we’ve gotten exceptional service at hotels around the world. Everyone at El Convento was friendly and helpful, and when we checked in, we were given an introduction to the hotel’s services and amenities. Like the renovation, however, this commitment felt like a work in progress. Requests for things like replacement water glasses seemed to fall into a void; the nightly manager’s cocktail reception – introduced in a welcome letter – wasn’t really nightly; and the front-desk staff didn’t seem well versed in helping with things like dinner reservations. We don’t need or expect concierge-level services and can easily fend for ourselves, but when a destination promises a certain standard, we do think it should work hard to deliver on those promises.

Even with these criticisms, we’re glad we stayed at El Convento. It is the “grand dame” of the old city and an important landmark. When we come back to San Juan, we’ll surely return to the old city, maybe next time trying El Convento’s sister hotel, the newly opened Hotel Palacio Provincial, which is right around the corner from El Convento in a building that once served as the Department of State. From our visit to Palacio Provincial for dinner, it looks like a hotel that mixes historic architecture with more modern design, and as of May 2023, everything is sparkling and fresh.

Puerto Rico bonus entry: Because of a cancelled flight on the way back to Minneapolis, we stayed an extra night in Puerto Rico at the Condado Vanderbilt.

Stay details:

  • El Convento Hotel, center of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • 4-night stay, May 25 – 29, 2023
  • Queen Vista room

What we did, where we ate:

Eating and Drinking

Outings and Adventures

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Rio Grande, Puerto Rico ~ The St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort

June 2023

Back in August 2018, we were reading the Sunday New York Times and came across an article headlined “10 Travel Writers, 10 Hotels.” We saved the article and marked the St. Regis as a property we’d love to visit someday. The Times article highlighted the property’s status as the first and only certified gold Audubon international signature sanctuary in the Caribbean, and we loved the idea of combining a resort vacation with adventures in nature.

Five years later, we finally managed to book the trip. Because this was our first visit to Puerto Rico and because we tend to like city vacations, we preceded our stay at the St. Regis with five days in Old San Juan at the Hotel El Convento. (Read more about the El Convento in this post.) The combination ended up being terrific: exploring a bustling city and then moving into full relaxation mode on the beach.

Truly spectacular environs

The 2018 Times article described driving through the gates as “feeling like penetrating a secret world: Lush tropical plants and flowers flanked quiet footpaths that snaked around palm trees and low-slung buildings.” We had the same experience; everywhere we looked was green, green, green, punctuated by bright reds, oranges, and yellows of seasonal flowers. During our five-day stay, we spent a lot of time meandering slowly down the paths between the resort’s buildings, keeping our eyes open for lizards, frogs, and birds of all kinds. While the iguanas got the most attention (a favorite memory is watching one swim across the pool among the guests), we loved the smaller lizards and the resident chango birds with their recently hatched chicklets that were just learning to fly.

With 483 acres to explore, we found lots of ways to keep busy. We biked around the entire property, making stops at the organic farm, the dog shelter, the inflatable water park, the bird sanctuary, and the tennis center. We walked along the two-mile beach, finding sand dollars to decorate the roped-off areas where sea turtles had recently laid eggs. And we peeked at the multi-million-dollar vacation homes under construction on either side of the resort. The ocean was calm and warm, so in between adventures, we waded in to watch massive brown pelicans dive for fish. And, of course, we found time for dips in the multi-tiered pool and for lounging poolside under the shade of an umbrella.

A cool (in many ways) escape from outdoor adventures

Our room – a garden-view king suite – served as a nice retreat when we needed an air-conditioned break from the sun. The welcome foyer with honor bar; the sunny bedroom; the walk-in closet; and the roomy, spa-like bathroom with a deep tub and one of the biggest showers we’ve seen (really, a shower room)…all were functionally just right. The spaces had a focus on rest and revitalization with plenty of life’s little luxuries: Frette linens, polvorones (a Spanish cookie) delivered nightly, Nespresso coffee, Sodashi and Sachajuan bath and body products, a stack of current magazines (Vanity Fair, Architectural Digest, Bienvenidos), a well-stocked liquor cabinet, and Bluetooth speakers. Loads of storage made it easy to hide any evidence that we were visitors rather than residents, and the patio with a lovely garden view was sheltered from the sun and featured a cushiony daybed.

The room wasn’t quite pristine – the wallpaper in the separate toilet room buckled a little, and there were a few small scratches in the bedside tables – but it was clear the room received regular attention from not just the housekeepers but from maintenance staff as well. Design-wise, the choices were safe – what we’d call beach neutral – but that approach left more attention to be given to the stunning gardens outside.

Butler service?

The St. Regis makes a big deal of its service. We received several emails in advance of our stay asking for preferences and offering to assist with any of our needs. And when we arrived, we were walked to our room by our “day butler,” who introduced us to all of the room’s features and made arrangements for morning French press coffee, dinner that night and preferred times for daily housekeeping and turndown services. The butler was lovely, and we expected we would be seeing her or a colleague in future days when we had a request. But that didn’t end up being the case, and while we called the butler number on the phone a few times, we never saw our butler again. This isn’t a complaint; we really don’t need someone at our beck and call, but it did seem a little odd. And it also seemed odd that the arrangements we made on that first day seemed to get lost in the system; our coffee never arrived; the housekeeper arrived early; and our dinner reservation was missing. Other service confusions during our stay made us think this is an issue with the system, not with any individual staff member. It may also have been that our last name was quite similar to another guest. On a handful of occasions, we were greeted by that guest’s name, and we think some of our arrangements may have ended up there.

Setting aside these mix-ups, which were really not a problem because they were always quickly remedied, every staff member with whom we dealt, without exception, was delightful, and we had fun conversations with several members of the St. Regis team. It was pretty obvious that all employees were expected to say good morning/afternoon/evening to every guest they encountered, but the friendliness from folks we exchanged more than a greeting with seemed genuine, and we loved getting to know them just a bit. Special thanks go out to everyone who shared their sea turtle stories with us!

Puerto Rico bonus entry: Because of a cancelled flight on the way back to Minneapolis, we stayed an extra night in Puerto Rico at the Condado Vanderbilt.

Stay details:

What we did, where we ate:

  • Pool and beach time — swimming iguanas, diving pelicans, nesting sea turtles, baby birds just learning to fly, sand dollar searching
  • Breakfast and lunches at Seagrapes
  • Dinner at St. Regis Bar
  • Cycling around the resort
  • Dinner at Paros
  • Visit to El Junque Rainforest with guide Ricky
    • coquis, snails and lizards
    • rainbow trees, torch gingers
    • Torre Yokahu tower, CCC Grande Bano, La Coca Falls
  • Dinner at the Beach Club

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Excelsior, MN, USA ~ Hotel Excelsior

January 2023

In January in Minnesota, winter is still fun – a bit of a novelty after a hot, green summer and a cool, orange fall. And this winter has brought lots of snow, which can make parts of the Twin Cities feel like a ski resort town, sans the mountain views. To live happily in the “Bold North,” it’s important to get out in the cold and snow, and there’s more than enough to do. We may not have mountains, but the hiking, cross country skiing, snowperson building, winter beer gardens, ice fishing and snowmobiling (the latter two are not our thing, but still a big part of MN life) can make winter tolerable and even enjoyable.

During this three-day weekend in mid-January, we were determined to do all the winter things we love but also to get out of the house and try something new. The Hotel Excelsior, which we have had our eyes on since it opened in spring 2021, had a vacancy, and we saw it as an opportunity to see Lake Minnetonka in January.

The verdict: charmed.

All we needed and more

Hotel Excelsior is a small hotel – four rooms that sit atop a coffee shop and a Faribault Woolen Mills store  – without traditional guest services. On the day of arrival, guests receive a text (or email) with entry codes, check-in/out information, and a phone number with an offer to help with whatever is needed. We asked for some restaurant recommendations and got a prompt reply. We typically prefer hotels to VRBOs or Airbnbs, and Hotel Excelsior’s approach seemed a little more like a vacation rental than a hotel, but as we relaxed in our room with a cocktail after a seamless “check-in” and before heading out to one of those restaurant recommendations, we reflected on what we really need from a hotel. In this case, a lobby with 24-hour guest assistance and services like daily housekeeping didn’t seem important.

In our estimation, the best feature of our room – the Smithtown Bay Suite – was the six windows that run the length of the space; the view down to Water Street was terrific, and two suites in the hotel – ours and the St. Alban’s suite – have this orientation. (We did hear from another guest that she prefers the other two suites because they have a separate bedroom. To each their own.) Beyond the windows, our room had a full kitchen, a spacious seating area, a king-sized bed and a roomy bathroom with an even roomier shower. One of us described the room’s décor as “lakey.” It did, admittedly, have lots of references to Lake Minnetonka, including a few coffee table books that we had fun paging through. We also appreciated the “Hotel Excelsior” pillow on the bed, which, upon closer inspection, was a reference to Hotel Excelsior in Milan (maybe this one?). After recently returning from northern Italy, it was a welcome déjà vu.

In our short stay, we experienced just a few hiccups. We found only one robe in the room for the two of us. The hot water in the shower was only marginally hot. The kitchen sink was a little slow to drain. And the keyless entry to the room was a little hard to see at night. But these are minor quibbles and easily remedied. All in all, we appreciated the evident care and attention to detail given to the room since the hotel’s opening.

A new weekend getaway

For a getaway that feels much more “away” than it really is, we semi-regularly head east from our house to Stillwater, Minnesota, and stay in either the Lora or the Crosby. We more rarely go west from central Minneapolis, mostly because there seem to be fewer options. And while we’ve stopped by Excelsior on our way to other destinations, before this stay, we had never lingered for more than an hour or two. With Hotel Excelsior, we now have a new go-to when we want a change of scenery and a special treat within our hometown.

Stay details

What we did, where we ate

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