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The Hotel Ivy: Starwood's 'Secret' Luxury Collection Hotel

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 201 South Eleventh Street [map], Minneapolis, MN, United States, 55403
December 18, 2009 at 9:31 AM | by Heidi Atwal | 3 Comments

A guest snapshot of Hotel Ivy

"You're gonnnna make it after all!" So goes the cheery theme song to Mary Tyler Moore, which gets us thinking about visiting Minneapolis just about every time we catch a rerun on television. Finally, we've stumbled across a hotel that "suddenly made [a trip]...seem worthwhile"—at least from the looks of things.

Just two years ago, Starwood opened a very, very debonair luxury hotel—the Hotel Ivy—in "the heart of downtown," as these things go. While some might think Minneapolis is all lakes and industry, the city has a very active theater and arts scene which Ivy's urbane air is aligned with. It also boasts some hefty rock star cred, given that Prince was born and bred there, so we could see being a choice hotel for touring acts.

We're getting all the predictable descriptions from the hotel's website: "cutting edge," "understated elegance," "myriad splendors," and on and on. Is Ivy really "the heart of sophistication"? Well, based on the room specs we've seen, which include 400-thread count sheets, suites big enough to hosts cocktail receptions, "Rock Star" rooms with touches of concrete and stone, and Bose systems, we're going to go ahead and say, "Yeah, looks like it."

TripAdvisor ratings are mainly positive—"classy, and carefully thought out," raves one reviewer—and the view negative write-ups we saw are related to service complaints, at least one of which the hotel directly responded to.

There's also some trouble on the financial side of things for the hotel as the owner of The Ivy (which has residences attached) is seeking to foreclose on the project so it can recoup some of the building costs by ultimately selling the property. The hotel part, despite a foreclosure, will stay open.

Should you want to take a chance of the Ivy, room rates are blessedly of non-Luxury Collection caliber. Right now, we're seeing rooms in early January starting at $191.65 (with taxes and charges). So, will you make it to Minneapolis after all? The City of Lakes is a-callin'.

[Photo: TripAdvisor]

3 Comments

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Return to » The Hotel Ivy: Starwood's 'Secret' Luxury Collection Hotel

  1. juliana

    HotelChatter Editor

    Excited to go to Minneapolis

    But those rooms do not look exciting at all. Looking at more shots on the website and they look so sad and boring. Needs some color in the rooms! May we suggest Purple?
    December 18, 2009 at 9:33 AM
    #Permalink

  1. Heidi Atwal

    HotelChatter Contributing Editor

    The Artist, er, Prince Agrees

    Purple would be a nice touch. I'm curious to know who's been to Minneapolis and how this fits in--or doesn't--with other hotels in the area.
    December 18, 2009 at 1:56 PM
    #Permalink

  1. Galini Beach

    HotelChatter Member

    ideal

    Ivy is a well respected child of the Starwood family, to say from my experience. The room furniture are of excellent quality and I say that as a business traveller. I felt really comfortable and sometimes I actually felt like home. The bathroom was stunning and the views were perfect. I wish the internet prices were lower however I didn't used that much. I'm definitely going back, it's a hard to find hotel
    March 14, 2010 at 12:52 PM
    #Permalink

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