Country Inn & Suites by Radisson Bemidji MN

I liked the hotel overall, as the location was perfect for my needs and I thought the hotel offered good value. The room had a nice lake view (though it was tough to enjoy it on the first floor with joggers etc constantly going by - often had to close the shades) and was a good size. Breakfast options were great during the week - less so on the weekend, but I'm pretty accustomed to reduced offerings Sat/Sun. I also liked that complimentary toiletries were readily available in the lobby. There were a couple of drawbacks. For one, the gym had a water fountain, which surprised me given the signs at breakfast and elsewhere regarding how the hotel prioritizes cleanliness. I cannot recall ever going to a hotel gym without a water cooler (there was no water in the lobby either). I had to buy a $2.60 water from a vending machine, which I've never had to do. The bigger problem was the not-so-lovely lady at breakfast. She does a good job of keeping items stocked, etc., but she's just evil. When I was checking out, I stopped to get a cup of coffee (coffee setup is right outside the breakfast area). Breakfast had ended, but the door was propped open. As the coffee area only has creamers (which sometimes leave me feeling...not great), I hoped to get a little milk from the breakfast area (the milk is in one of those machines where you just pull a handle). I first said "pardon me," but no one responded. I then stepped in and dispensed a little milk into my coffee. As I was doing so, the woman stepped out and nastily said "we're closed." I responded that I was just getting a little milk (as she clearly saw), then I went on my way. It was just an unnecessarily negative way to end my stay, and not what one would expect from someone in the hospitality business. With that said, I've now read a few reviews that refer to her as "grumpy" and the like, so the hotel obviously knows and just doesn't care.

I have stayed here several times. By far one of the best run hotels I’ve been to. The service is above and beyond. Especially, the lady that sets up the breakfast. She’s amazing! Always clean and enjoyable. Love this place!

The view from our lakeside view was stunning! The service was terrible. Check in was a normal process, check out was horrible. We had breakfast and I wanted to check out then leave my cards in the room. I told him we were packed just needed to carry out luggage and would leave my key cards in the room. He said I had to be completely out with cards in hand in order to be able to check out. I have never encountered this from any other hotel. I asked if there was lobby coffee since the breakfast coffee wasn't ready. He told me no, there was no lobby coffee offered. I found this amazing since this hotel catered to conferences. This also was a first time I ever encountered this in any hotel. The breakfast lady was horrible. We were able to squeeze out one cup of coffee, told her coffee was gone, and never saw anymore, many people were mad. The coffee was still not finished by the time we checked out! The tables were dirty, and we ended up cleaning our own table with water and napkins. I had french toast and found mold on the slices. My husband had the eggs and you could see the powder which they used to make the eggs!

As a part of our Epic Trans-America Overland adventure (Charleston, SC to here and still trucking, albeit in an SUV) we were heading decidedly West in the rough direction of Nth Dakota, Glacier National Park, Montana, the Rockies, Cascades NP, and the Pacific Ocean. Bemidji was in the right spot at the right time, as was this Hotel - the huge great big ubiquitous bed-factory. Don't get me wrong - it had everything. Nothing was nor went wrong - I just find them soulless places that one gets lost in. Clean, comfortable, large, high-rise, comfy bed and room. Seemed quite new. Everything worked just fine. No disasters nor wow-factors nor stand-outs, hence the 'Average' rating. Nice Outlook to the Lake - there's no shortage of Lakeshore Properties in this part of the World - 4 mega hotels in a Row on the Lakeshore.

Overall this was a very nice stay. The staff were friendly and helpful. The hotel is well-maintained and in good condition. The room and bathroom were very clean, and the lakeside view is very nice. But they need to fix the goofy TV set-top box. No instruction card, and apparently no way to see a program listing of what's on/upcoming, you just have to scroll through a few hundred channels. The volume is capped pretty low, which is nice for the neighbors, but makes the TV impossible to hear when the A/C is running. Closed captioning would be a good solution, but the option to turn it on is greyed out, which is also a real disservice to your deaf/hard-of-hearing guests.