Stay: July 27-31 2026…read more
I rarely leave negative reviews, but our experience at The Suites Hotel at Waterfront Plaza in Duluth was disappointing from beginning to end.
I stayed from July 27 through July 31. The first three nights were for a work conference, and I booked an additional night at my own expense because my family planned to visit the University of Minnesota Duluth with our son.
Check-in went smoothly, and we arrived around 3:30 p.m. While housekeeping was still cleaning nearby rooms, ours initially looked fine. However, when we pulled out the sofa bed, we found a large urine stain on the mattress. I spoke with the housekeeping staff, who said they would bring us a rollaway bed. I asked if the stained mattress could simply be replaced instead. At that point, the general manager, Brittney, joined the conversation and immediately dismissed the request, saying they would only provide a rollaway. Her tone came across as rude and dismissive, which set the tone for the rest of our stay.
When we returned that evening, the rollaway had been left outside our room. It was unstable and in poor condition. We also discovered the air conditioner made a loud, high-pitched squealing noise whenever it ran. Since it was late, we decided to report it the next morning.
The next morning brought another surprise. When I plugged in the room's iron to press my pants for the conference, it sparked and briefly caught fire. I unplugged it immediately before anything worse happened. I reported all of these issues to the manager on duty, who was professional, apologetic, and genuinely tried to help. He replaced the rollaway with a larger mattress, attempted to address the AC issue, and offered to move us to another room. After hearing similar complaints from several coworkers staying at the hotel, I decided to remain where we were. As a goodwill gesture, he removed one night's charge from our bill, which I appreciated.
Unfortunately, our final interaction erased any goodwill.
Because I had booked the additional personal night when I originally made the reservation, I expected to remain in the same room. Around 12:30 p.m. on what the general manager believed was my checkout day, there was loud banging on our door. It was Brittney, asking why we hadn't checked out. I explained that I had reserved the room through July 31. She insisted I was supposed to leave that day, told me she did not have me staying another night, and said I would need to "figure that out with the front desk," while rolling her eyes and dismissing what I was telling her.
My wife immediately started packing because we believed we were being forced to leave. When I went to the front desk, the staff quickly confirmed that I did, in fact, have a valid reservation through July 31. Rather than correcting the situation and allowing us to remain in our room, they informed me we would have to move to a different room.
At that point, we had enough. We canceled the final night's reservation and checked out early.
The manager on duty deserves recognition for trying to make things right, but the overall experience was overshadowed by poor room conditions, maintenance issues, and, most importantly, the unprofessional and dismissive behavior of the general manager. Customer service starts at the top, and unfortunately, that's where this stay fell apart.