Hotels near Messiah Lutheran Church, Mandan

Stayed here for a group gathering. 8 days. The hotel shows its age but has been updated somewhat. The room was small, but it grew on us. When we got there the hall on the 6th floor had a funky smell. Hall carpet was cleaned, and the smell went away. The employees were great. The food both in the restaurant and during our group sit-down dinners was good. Restaurant had problems the first two days because of the number of people and the short time they had to eat. Once the buffet was set up that issue went away.

When researching for a weekend trip to meet family, we selected this hotel primary for its pool/slide options, as well as the availability of the breakfast area (and rentable meeting rooms) for a gathering. The hotel shows its age a little, but overall we were happy with the stay. Our room was a two Queen, with a sofa (that folds out but we did not use). Beds were comfortable and the room was clean. One family member had a King room, and I noticed their tub had waterjets, but they did not test it out. There is breakfast offered each morning, but I did not eat any during the visit. I instead went to a great pastry shop in downtown Bismarck called Brick Oven Bakery. I did try the coffee during the first morning, but it appeared to be made from a liquid concentrate, which wasn't very appealing. The pool area is two adjacent rooms, each with a slide. One room has a nice-sized curved slide, as well as a wading pool. The other room has a very tall and long tube slide that actually goes out of the building and then back in; and also a splash pad & small slide for little kids. The splash pad did not seem to be shooting out much water. A nice perk was that the sister hotel along the parking lot had a lounge. They offered us two drink tickets at check-in, so it was a good excuse to check out the lounge. The lounge reminded me of a small-town bar, with basic tables & chairs, too-well lit, a bunch of TVs and video gambling.

Outstanding location. Great value. Great assortment of breakfast foods that changed each morning. Comfortable and clean rooms and bedding. Minor bathroom issues-small towels, toilet low to ground, dust and debris on shower vent fan, and water slow to drain in shower. Great customer service though.

The location can be tricky to find because not all of the streets have signage. They had white towels and linens, just very thin. I am talking frayed edges on the top sheets, and a washcloth that had a hole in it. On the day we arrived, we were settling in when the door opened with a card key. I thought it was housekeeping, even though we had not asked for anything. Instead we heard “sorry, I was given this key” and the door closed. A short while later, I answered the phone to a rather demanding “Who is this?” I stated my name and followed with “And whom am I speaking with?” She stated her name and said she was from the front desk. She asked how we got the keys to that room. I said my sister had recently checked in and was given two card keys with that room number written on the paper key holder. She asked my sisters name and spelling. She indicated that our room was assigned to a different party and there was something in the conversation about us having to move. I said we are not moving. (We are disabled senior citizens.) I was more than a bit taken aback by her rudeness. She said she would call us back. I had to say to her twice that there was no need to, because we were not moving. My sister and I went to the front desk to show this person, whom I will call Amanda, our IDs and the card key case. By that time Amanda said she found out that the person from the previous shift had given us the room, but had recorded it as a different room. So we went back to our room. Of course, the keys did not work. So we had to go back to see Amanda and have our keys reprogrammed for the room. Can you imagine the frustration? Later that night there was thumping on the floor until 11:30. I had ear plugs and was able to sleep, but my sister wasn’t as fortunate. The next day the thumping started at 7:30 AM and went on for a while and then more of it in the afternoon. I went upstairs and knocked on the door. I saw what appeared to be three generations and I assumed the grandkids were jumping on the floor, possibly off of the beds. So annoying. The few television channels we had from the Direct TV had so many lapses in transmission that it was difficult to watch. Other than that, the breakfasts were better than the usual wet eggs breakfast. The cook/attendant was attentive and kept things clean. The housekeeping staff was friendly and did a great job at keeping everything clean. There were also nicer and more professional front desk employees. Overall for the price I don’t think we will go here again. And, no, we were not given any compensation for the inconvenience of the room key mixup.

Lynn, the check in staff and showed me two options before booking. I went with the first floor room after she promised that if I took this room, they would ensure that no one else would be assigned to the room right above me. This is an important criteria and I explained to her before booking. Lynn did not communicate this to Naomi who's at night shift. Someone arrived at the room above me around 11:45pm, woke me up from the sleep. Spoke with Naomi who's at the front desk, she kept on saying I should have taken the other room. I felt puzzled because she told me she knew nothing about my agreement with Lynn nor Lynn told her anything about it; but she seemed to know which rooms I was offered. Then she offered me to move. I suggested why not moving the person above me who just arrive, easier, as I was all settled in. She refused saying that's the only room type the guest booked, so did I. She insisted on moving me is the only option or waited until 1am to call her back if the noise continued. Her attitude wasn't decent, and kept on shutting me off when I tried to speak. It was so loud above me so I moved to a different room and did not go to bed until 1am. The next morning, Dean, the manager who checked out brought up this to me. He admitted that they dropped the ball in not communicating well between shift transition between Lynn and Naomi. But he did not apologize. And went into his office without a proper conversation closure. Lynn, perhaps was one of the best in attitude but she failed to communicate internally. Naomi's attitude was bad nor practiced active listening. Dean's poor closure showed me how his team were ineffective in doing their jobs. He did not take the ownership. This entire team collectively is a poor example of poor customer service. And I was woken up again at 5:45am the next morning, the severely impacted my driving the next day. I don't recommend this hotel, they don't know what customer service is all about; nor they know the importance of honoring their words. Breakfast was average, not many selections compared to IHG, Hilton, or Marriott hotels. It's more like a motel instead of an ”Inn & Suite.” The room's condition was average, a door stopping fell off on the ground that I had to report it. No elevators in this place.

Our company frequently visits Candlewood for weeks at a time in Bismarck, ND. Kind, friendly staff, and very competitive rates keeps us coming back. Some of our employees are gone for months at a time away from home and it is very important to us that our employees are comfortable and treated well - where we put them up to stay. I highly recommend the Candlewood Suites for your next hotel needs.