This is a long review and I apologize but I think that travelers should have the details of the hotels they are thinking about staying at so they have a clear view on what to expect. I hope that if you are planning on traveling to Minneapolis and have considered the W that you continue reading!

Having traveled to the Minneapolis area probably over one hundred times, and having stayed in multiple different areas including downtown and surrounding suburbs, the W at the Foshay Tower has earned its spot as the #1 hotel choice in the Minneapolis area and here is why:

1) Location - For those of you that have been to Minneapolis, you know that the downtown area can be a bit of a hassle to drive in and actually kind of confusing with all of the 1-way streets and avenues. Having said that, the Foshay tower is one of those buildings in the downtown area that cannot be missed even if you physically tried to miss it. It is located on Marquette Ave., which is one of the main stretches in the downtown area, and it is a short walk to just about anything you could want: retail, restaurants (I will touch base on this later), coffee shops, sports venues, and concert venues. Quite frankly, the location of the hotel is perfect in my opinion because it is somewhat out of the way of the direct downtown.

2) Rooms - The rooms at the W are immaculate, having a modern twist on a historical building. Some travelers rate a room based on the sleep quality, the view, the bed, if there is a minibar in the room, or where the room is located in the hotel. For me, the highest rating for a room goes towards the bathroom because I consider it the one thing that can be absolutely a deal breaker. This may be because I do not have an incredible bathroom at home, but if I am going to stay in a nice hotel and spend $200 for a room, I am going to hope that the bathroom is going to be something that I would not experience at home and it is almost an escape. I can safely say that the bathrooms at the W are incredible, main because of the size of the shower, which could fit 6 comfortably; the fact that the shower head is on the ceiling and is a rainforest shower head makes all the difference. I have stayed in hotels where the shower head is located about 5 feet from the floor of the tub/shower floor, and me being 6 feet tall, it does not work all that well. It is good to note that the first three room types all have the same bathrooms which include the rainforest shower head (Wonderful, Spectacular, Cool Corner). When you move into the suites of the hotel the bathrooms are a bit different (although I did not get the chance to stay in one of these unfortunately), and include a soaking tub. I did ask to see the Wow and Extreme Wow suites upon check out for a future stay but were both dirty. Hopefully I will get the chance at some point! For those travelers that are looking for a good view, you are going to want to request (although not guaranteed) a higher floor, which as I am told would be any room type from the Spectacular on up to the E-Wow suite.

3) Dining - There are hundreds of restaurants in the Minneapolis area and many of them are absolutely wonderful, but there is one restaurant that has always stood out above the rest - Manny's Steakhouse. This restaurant is attached to the W, and has to be one of the best, if not the best, restaurant I have been to in Minneapolis. I also highly recommend going here for breakfast on the day of check-out as their Eggs Benedict is exquisite, and I was recommended to try the Short Rib Benedict so I will definitely be trying that the next time around. This restaurant is known for dinner and if you look at the menu, it is for those individuals that are looking for the highest quality when it comes to dining. And if you enjoy wine with dinner, it has one of the best wine menus I've ever seen.

4) Service - What can I say about the service at the W? Every single employee from concierge to room service attendants, to housekeeping, to the guest service agents is extremely professional and will do what they can to ensure your stay is not only what you expect it to be, but to exceed your expectations. I also highly recommend ordering room service if possible, it is the best I have experienced (Manny's Brownie!!). Upon check-in I was greeted with a smile and was also offered a complimentary upgrade to a Cool Corner room (My understanding is that this room is basically a spectacular room that has windows on both sides of the corner). I think that it is important to note here that I have worked in the hospitality industry in the past and have experienced any number of guests and I am a firm believer that one should check-in to a hotel without the expectation of receiving an upgraded room. If you travel and are expecting to be upgraded three room-types above what you booked, it is completely unrealistic. That being said, a hotel that offers a complimentary upgrade simply based on the fact that they want to please a guest in any way possible and do it out of courtesy, is going to be automatically moved to the top of my list for customer service. Hospitality translates into giving a friendly and generous reception to guests, and this hotel, in my personal opinion, receives an A+ in the realm of customer service and in regards to the very definition of hospitality.

Overall, this hotel not only met my expectations, which were quite high to begin with based on recommendations and reviews from friends and coworkers, but it exceeded them. I compliment the management at the hotel and each and every employee that I encountered.