A hotel right across Enterprise Center for a reasonable price? The OYO Hotel St. Louis Downtown City Center just felt too good to be true as an option for my March 2022 Pittsburgh Penguins trip. Even though my experience with the Indian chain were mixed, due to my OYO Las Vegas experience – and despite rather average reviews, I gave the place a try. And, to give a first sum-up: I liked it! The hotel was formerly known as the Red Lion and also felt to belong to the Sheraton Group, as far as I could reconcile.
OYO Hotel St. Louis Downtown – Location
OYO Hotel St. Louis Downtown is nicely located. It is roughly in the middle between St. Louis‘ baseball temple, Busch Stadium, and the Union Station with one of the key city attractions, the aquarium. However, there are not too many other touristic services around. You do miss a Denny’s or at least a small convenience store for a quick bite. Last, but not least, the walking distance from the hotel to the home of the St. Louis Blues is some three minutes.
If you are a stranger to St. Louis, you likely arrive by car. The hotel does offer a parking garage, which looks slightly rotten, but works very well and was 25 USD per night during my stay. The public transport situation is excellent, though. The Civic Center stop of St. Louis metro transit is right across the road. The same area also features a major public bus stop, St. Louis Gateway Transportation Center.
OYO Hotel St. Louis Downtown – Room
I booked a King Room via the OYO website. The price for one night, incl. taxes, was 127 USD. I generally cannot recommend to book the room via their website as a foreigner. You do not identify via an e-mail, but with your mobile number. While that worked out at reservation, my German number did not work out any more (and is still not working) as a login during my trip. The architecture of the building is actually quite nice – if you don’t look to the outside of the hotel, you are at least facing an atrium. However, you also see that the former owners (OYO is quite new in that estate) did not really invest too much into renovation and maintenance. Fine for the price, but the hotel has a lot of potential for more.
Especially regarding the price and the location, the room was awesome. It was absolutely huge. After entering, you either headed straight into the large living room or to the left to the bathroom, storage facilities and similar places. The hallway also features a sink, a microwave oven and a fridge, which may be very handy, especially due to the lack of restaurants around. As said, the living room was large. Not too modern in design, but absolutely fine for purpose. You could also spot some of the maintenance and equipment issues like stains on the carpet or the sofa with bedding function, which did not close entirely any more. I kept the blinds closed most of the time – the negative side of the atrium is, of course, that people may watch you in your room.
The room was absolutely clean, OYO provides self-branded basic amenities as well. The bathroom featured a shower with a typical North American (low) bathtub.
OYO Hotel St. Louis Downtown – Food
The hotel does run a hotel bar in the later afternoon and (as far as I got) before events in Enterprise Center. However, the OYO does not serve breakfast. The non-avaibility of other dining options may thus be uncomfortable.
OYO Hotel St. Louis Downtown – Service
The staff was very welcoming and helpful. The large building also includes residential apartments. The hotel shares some services with them. The most obvious is the lovely pool area and a nice gym on the top floor. WiFi worked very well.
OYO Hotel St. Louis Downtown – My View
I did not expect that. The reviews felt so average, but finally it was a really good stay. The place is a bit of old, but it feels like OYO has done the right first steps in this place. There is still some stuff to do – but this hotel has a lot of potential. On the negative side, there is only the lack of breakfast places in short distance (maybe that is changing once the hotel is stronger in business) and the weird reservation process. Apart from that, I would definitely recommend the OYO Hotel St. Louis Downtown – not only for a night after a hockey match in St. Louis.
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