(This is a data recovered post, originally published on July 2nd, 2015.)
For work I end up spending a few weeks every year in Grand Rapids, MN. I have stayed in all of the go-to hotels in town, and one has recently stood out as a clear favorite: the Timberlake Lodge.
I have stayed twice at the Timberlake Lodge and both times I’ve found it to be exceptionally clean and well up-kept. It also has the best pool, breakfast area, and decor of any hotel in town. The in-house restaurant, the 17th Street Grill, is excellent.
ROOMS
For both of my stays at Timberlake Lodge I reserved an Executive King room, which is their basic room. The standard summer week night price is around $120. The room has everything a business traveler (or vacationing couple) could ask for: microwave, refrigerator, writing desk, additional chairs, and a large (~40″) tv. The bathroom features granite countertops, fairly nice soaps/shampoo/lotion, and an amazing walk-in tile shower with dual shower heads and 4 body blasters. The best part about the guest rooms, for me, was how spotlessly clean they are. I was unable to find a single greasy fingerprint or loose hair anywhere in the room. Room service even squeegees the glass shower doors every day!
The only complaint I have about the guest room is that there was a gap large enough to see through at the bottom of the door to the hallway. There was also a visible gap along the bottom of the door. For such a well built and new seeming place, I would have expected the door to seal better.
AMENITIES
The Timberlake Lodge boasts a pool area with a 98′ water slide, hot tub, kiddie pool with frog slide, and plenty of seating. The pool has an adults only hour at night. There is also an exercise room which I never visited so I can’t comment on it. The hotel has conference and meeting rooms which, again, I didn’t use so I will simply mention. The lobby is very inviting, with soft music playing, automatic sliding doors, and several seating areas. There is wi-fi throughout the property, which had a tendency to disconnect every 15-30 minutes but otherwise worked fine.
I was always rushing out the door in the mornings, so I never had a chance to actually sit down and eat the included breakfast. I did grab a few food items to go, and it was all good. However, Americinn wins in the to-go food department, as they have paper plates and some packaged food choices. At Timberlake Lodge I had to hastily make some toast and carry it out on a napkin. From what I saw, smelled, and heard, the full breakfast was very good. There were always a few hot choices every morning, be it biscuits and gravy, sausages, or scrambled eggs.
RESTAURANT
Sesame seared tuna on spinach with wasabi aoili and a ginger dressing
The in-house bar and restaurant is called 17th Street Grill. I’ve never eaten at the restaurant itself, but I have ordered room service from there on two occasions. Both times they screwed up my order, but both times I received the correct order minutes later. The first time this happened I received a Philly chicken sandwich platter instead of the Greek salad I had ordered. The server let me keep the sandwich and thanks to the mini-fridge, I had nice leftovers the day after! The menu selection seems more sophisticated than what you would expect to find in northern Minnesota. They have a new menu now and I’m disappointed that the beer cheese soup is absent. It was without a doubt the best I have ever had!
SCORING
Welcome to my personal hotel scoring system. The top score is 5, for a total possible score of 0-50. For a definition of each scoring category click here.
4 Breakfast
5 Room Decor
5 Cleanliness
5 Condition
5 Public Areas
5 Shower Water Pressure/Hardness
5 Pool
3 Mattress
4 Pillows
4 Room Amenities
45 / 50 Total Score – Very Good!
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS
The problem with the door is more than made up for by the room cleanliness and the convenience of the automatic sliding doors into the lobby. It’s also very convenient having room service as an option.
The Timberlake Lodge provides unexpected luxury in the heart of the commercial area of Grand Rapids, MN. Compared to nearby hotels, the extra $30 you’ll pay to stay here is well worth it in my opinion.