Do not stay at this hostel unless you are flat broke!
Staff are untraveled and know nothing about hostels! They are lazy and unfriendly; working for a room exchange. Very little information is provided. No coffee, no heat on the first floor, dirty floors, over flowing trash cans, and no blinds on more than half the windows.
Hot water is hit or miss. The girls private dorm is through the Men's 15 bed dorm. Rude signs up everywhere telling people "they will be evicted if.." Staff charges you for watching your bag. Kicks people out within minutes. We were even told that we could not go into the kitchen and cook because the staff girl wanted to have her friends over for drinks!
Charlie the manager is a complete jerk! I heard his only job experience before this one was packing up dog food. he should of stayed in that profession.

If you call the Historic King Inn, you're likely to be told the rooms are "well-appointed" and "elegant." Don't believe it.

My mother I and I booked a guest room with a queen bed with private bath for several days in May 2008 on the strength of the inn's Web site. Online, it looked charming, quiet, and well-located.

It was quiet while we were there, and close to downtown, but charming it was not. Nor was it adequate. The bedroom contained a bed, an armoire, a single luggage rack, a small bedside lamp and bedside table. There was nowhere to hang clothes, nowhere to sit, no surface on which to place your belongings. The bathroom lacked towel racks, places to put your toiletries, and glass in one of the windowpanes. The bedside lamp's plug was bent out of shape, and when the lamp got replaced, lacked a light bulb and on/off switch. The curtains were essentially transparent (good thing we had a bathroom to change in!), and the curtain rods fell out of place.

It was reasonably clean, and as I said, quiet, but that was really all it had going for it. It is also clearly being renovated. There was furniture and mattresses stacked in hallways, half-finished paint jobs, and exposed brick in some areas of the walls (not a design feature). The entrances and exits were so poorly maintained as to be a legal liability, particularly the back entrance (which guests were asked to use instead of the front) which boasted loose bricks and crumbling steps.

It is also, we were informed upon arrival, a hostel (not mentioned on the phone when reservations were made). The inn guest rooms are on the second floor, the hostel on the third, and the kitchen on the first floor, handily sandwiching guests paying "inn" rates between the noisiest inhabitants. Since we appeared to be almost the only people staying here on our visit, we weren't much bothered, but you can hear every footstep, doorbell ring, and conversation through the entire house.

I don't know about you, but I expect a hotel at these prices to include basics like chairs in their rooms -- and I definitely expect them to make up the beds each day, which didn't happen either.

My conclusion: This might eventually be a decent place to stay, or match the promise of the Web site, but it isn't now, and won't be without a significant investment of capital on the part of the owners. My biggest problem is simply that the Web site is completely misleading. The Historic King Inn simply isn't what the Web site says it is.

The online promotion of the Historic King Inn is that it is a multi-starred B & B. In truth, it is a hostle with a few rooms in the process of rennovation to be more private than the hostle dorms on the 3rd floor. I booked rooms on the strength of the Inn's website and the MInnesota B & B recommendation. I have lived in old houses for years and am not offended by rennovation, but I am offended by dirt and too many people using too few bathrooms. The furniture in the common area is filthy, the trash in the kitchen was frequently overflowing and smelly. Kitchen sinks were stacked with dirty dishes several times when I went down to make a cup of tea. The floors in the common areas and in my room are gritty--not with the honest sawdust of rennovation, but black dirt. The rugs were very dirty.

If you do decide to stay here be sure to bring towels, soap, shower shoes, maybe some disinfectant wipes for the shared bathroom. For your room you will need hangers, although there is no place to hang them--I hung my clothing from the curtain rod. The rooms are sparsely furnished. The website promised a queensized bed, but it was a single bed. There is no chair, dresser, bedside table, trash basket, or lamp. There was a luggage rack.

Be aware that this is a hostle. Other guests will be young, up late, loud, and inconsiderate in their use of the limited bathrooms. This is probably not a place adults in the city on business will find comfortable. It is certainly not a place for a family.

My travelling companion booked our stay through the Minnesota B & B Association.

This is not a B & B or an inn, although it has aspirations to be one.

Cosmetic remodeling has been completed in most areas, but not all, and the whole place needs a good spring cleaning. Floors especially are grubby. Although a luggage rack was in each room, no accommodations were made for clothing. I bought hangers at Target (and extra towels) and hung clothing from loose crews in the window frame.

Hostel guests are accommodated in a dormitory on the third floor, and they have the run of the house. During our stay, this included inexperienced hostelers, who did not clean up after themselves, and dressed in the bathroom during peak times. We had booked the queen guest rooms with shared bath. In reality, we had one single bed, one double bed, and the bath was shared with the entire house. Innkeeper Jeff tried to make the best of it, and an adjustment was made to our bill, however, be prepared to bring your own soap, hangers, chair, and trash can for the room.