I booked two rooms here for New Years Eve with plans to go to The Rave for their Stellar Spark show. In regards to the location of this venue, ABSOLUTELY perfect. The Rave is a stones throw away from The Rave, which is great for an evening where you don't intend to bring your coat and/or pay for a cab. They do offer a shuttle service, however, I did not need to use it as their location.

I requested rooms away from the elevator and extra towels, and one other request that I'll mention in a bit. I called several times to verify small details such as the free parking, that my rooms were near each other and away from the elevator. The respect and service I was being given over the phone was delightful, I was expecting to have a wonderful stay at this establishment.

My last request was not met and quite frankly, completely ignored. I stated that due to the fact that the location was so close to the venue, that I would have a few friends leaving small bags, coats, and things of the sort in one of my two rooms so that they could freshen up and have a 'home base' rather than having to get directly into the car after 6-8 hours of music, drinking, and what have you. These guests hadn't intended on staying, as stated in the special requests that I made at the time of the reservation and confirmed with more than one phone call. The attendants at the front desks were EXCELLENT when I arrived and the staff was more than accommodating. They provided me with EIGHT parking passes to take care of all of the random vehicles that managed to get my group of fourteen people to Milwaukee under my two rooms with no questions asked. The kind gentlemen at the front desk even asked about how we were planning on celebrating NYE and saw me usher individuals up to my rooms all evening up until the event. Heck, we even left together as an entire group, and kindly said have a nice evening and tried to be courteous to the staff.

Upon our return, the staff had changed and things took a turn for the worst. Two women, one who should have been greeting us at the door and the front desk attendant were lounging around in the lobby hitting it off until they saw our group return. The attendant in charge of the door sprung up, all of a sudden asking for identification and proof that we were all staying in rooms at the Inn. I attempted to explain to her that I understood people couldn't stay in her place for free or party in the rooms and that we had planned to give these individuals an opportunity to leave their belongings in our room for the time being. Without any hesitation I was sent to the front desk and complied. In the meantime the not-so-kind lady at the front door made an attempt to kick my party out of the building back into the freezing cold while their coats were JUST UPSTAIRS! Not to mention this was between 2:00 - 3:00 AM, with nowhere else to turn in the meantime. Addressing the front desk attendant, I was treated even worse than I was when I first entered the Inn. She had an awful tone, immediately started to rant and rave about the fact that I was trying to 'party' while she wouldn't even look at my reservation to read the requests that stated why these individuals were coming upstairs with me. When I asked her to check my reservation to affirm that this statement was indeed valid, that these individuals were given passes from staff earlier, and tried to be as civil as possible. Instead, I was interrupted with a finger being put in my face with a loud 'excuse me' and the usher then decided to send my entire group into the small lobby to make the scenario more tense than it already was.

Before you could bat an eye security guards and upper management from ACROSS THE STREET came to take care of us, because the woman at the front desk was either not intelligent enough to have a conversation or is brand new to the hospitality business. Surrounded by security guards I finally got the manager to merely check my reservation. He took my word, read the reservation, and IMMEDIATELY allowed my party to go on our way after half of an hour of time wasted in their lobby.

After a wonderful evening down the street, the night and mood was ruined. Everyone felt as though they had to leave immediately and few were under the impression they would be dragged out if they didn't get their things together quickly enough. Had the service been better and I had been addressed properly, the half hour wasted in the lobby would have been sufficient for everyone to freshen up for a car ride home and grab their things so I could finally get some shut eye! Instead, I had to jump through hoops so that I could make it upstairs.

Oh, and not to mention, they never checked up on us. People were indeed partying on my floor that night; beer cans in the halls, loud music as well. Someone had a seizure outside of the Inn, but I guess the ignorant staff felt that they hadn't been misusing their rooms upstairs, partying and whatnot, and never checked on them. They were understaffed as I had mentioned, the ice machine was not working, as other reviews mention the place is very unclean. They had several locked doors, but they left them cracked open for some reason. I took the liberty of getting my own fresh, extra towels because that wasn't provided as I had asked for, either. There was even a maid on her cell phone cussing in the hallway while she was working when I was checking out, too. Just a little reminder that they 'keep it classy' at the Ambassador Inn, I guess.

All of this could have been avoided had they mentioned their policy of not allowing people to come upstairs in the first place or if they had a kind staff twenty four hours a day, rather than putting the unsociable, rude employees to work at night.

Avoid this place at all cost, the Ambassador Hotel across the street is much nicer, more cleanly, and better staffed. However, I will make an effort to avoid this place at all costs and I would suggest that you do the same.

I've never been motivated to bash someone or a business for how I've been treated, but this place mustered up enough frustration for me to start an account and hopefully find some better places to stay in the future!

Stayed in this Hotel for 10 days. Was a little apprehensive after reading some of the reviews, but it was cheap and relatively central for the price. This Hotel isn't sparkling clean. When other reviewers say it is old, its not old in a charming historic way, and really just needs a little polish here and there etc. The rooms weren't cleaned to a really high standard (There were bottle caps and burnt matches on the floor near my bedside locker), but it was fine. Large TV, fridge, microwave, shower, bath, toiletries coffee, etc. were all fine. Breakfast was rubbish though, packaged rubbery danish pastrys, cereal and bad coffee and yoghurt. Juice was ok. So don't take this into account when pricing your hotels. Had excellent dinner in the bar in the Ambassador Hotel across the road though. Staff were all really nice and friendly in the Inn. Best of all, guests have access to the hourly shuttle bus service running from the Ambassador Hotel across the road, which has its final run from downtown at midnight. Excellent. Some reviewers commented on the hotel being in a bad neighbourhood. When I told people in Milwaukee that I was staying here, their response was generally "oooh that's in the ghetto". Although I was informed by the shuttle driver that some of the surrounding neighbourhoods can be dangerous, the main route (West Wisconsin Avenue) from the hotel to downtown is fine, and I walked it several times at night. There were some dodgy looking people banging around at times, but none more than you would find in many European cities, and it wasnt that noisy a neighbourhood at night.
Overall great value for money

My husband and I stayed here last weekend. Another couple friends of ours booked a room as well. None of us had been here before, and we knew it was an older place, so we weren't expecting alot. (just wanted a close place to crash after a Halloween party). We were all PLEASANTLY surprised! Joellyn at the front desk was a delight--very friendly and knowledgeable. The rooms were plenty big--nice flat screen tv, a separate "get ready" area/vanity from the bathroom. Mini fridge, microwave, Wolfgang Puck coffee, very comfortable beds--can't complain! Yes, the building is older, but we appreciated the old "feel" of this place. You can tell they definitely try to keep it up and renovate what needs to be done, yet keeping some of the old charm. We used the free shuttle to get to the party--driver was super friendly. Unfortunately, the shuttle service ended at midnight, so we couldn't utilize for a ride back. There was a surface parking lot across the street and they offered the structure for parking at the Ambassador as well for no charge.

My boyfriend and I recently traveled to Milwaukee for a wedding, being the "draconian" price seeker that he is, the Ambassador fit his bill -- we got competitive rates via Expedia. Although not located downtown, this hotel is blocks from Marquette University, Miller Brewery and a short shuttle ride from Miller Park. We were able to travel to all the local attractions via the FREE hotel shuttle! That was seriously the best deal -- saved lots of $$$ on cabs! Shuttle drivers and hotel staff were both friendly -- it is the Midwest. The only downside of the shuttle is sometimes 30-40 minute wait for pick up, so does not come on demand. The rooms are adequate, but a bit warn. However, for the ladies, the toiletries are AVEDA products!