New Milwaukee Potawatomi Hotel (preview visit, not really trip report)

The new hotel at Potawatomi Hotel and Casino is almost ready to open. They had a media preview day today and I got a tour.

I did take a lot of photos, but since they are for work, I can't post them. Sorry, but rules are rules and I value my paycheck.

Here is my take on the place.

Entering. There is a large porte cochere with valet only parking for the hotel. Guess you could schlep your bags through the casino, which connects on the third and first floors. Granted, it was a preview day, but there were plenty of valet attendants and they were very polite.

Polite and helpful was clearly a focus. Everyone was very friendly and talkative. I'm hoping this means they understand that a great property will have poor experiences without good staff.

Lobby: The lobby is a high-ceiling room with large pillars echoing the forest theme in the casino without being anything but a modern and spare design feel. Surrounding each pillar on the ceiling are irregular panels with LED lights that can change color or do other displays. Today, they were just blue. The panels were somewhat like a tree's canopy. Lighting is a theme throughout, with the lobby bar and elevator lobbies each having LED lighting accents. The lobby has quite a few seats in the center, with tables made of tree trunks.

There is a full service restaurant called Locavore, which features local and seasonal food. The space is attractive, but IMHO, they have squeezed 165 seats into a space more comfortable for 100. There were samples of the entrees available and they were very tasty. The pork tenderloin with cornbread pudding was something I would order for myself if I got the chance. The desserts were great. If the food maintains the quality at a reasonable price, it should be popular, but it may not be quite the right fit for a lobby restaurant serving 3 meals a day.

There will also be a Stone Creek Coffee stand in the lobby, but it wasn't ready for the preview.

If I was going to compare this to a Vegas hotel, Vdara would be pretty close.

They have some very nice convention and event space, which should be popular, but it isn't something I really care about, so...

Rooms

They showed off three rooms on the penthouse level. This level has very high ceilings in all the rooms, which does give a different feel. I would have liked to have seen a basic room on a lower floor just for comparison.

There are three room levels -- standard, suite and the one Presidential Suite.

Standard Room

Nothing all that special. It's 350-400 square feet depending on whether you go from the press release or the person giving the tour. There is a fridge and coffee maker, decent 42" HDTV, the usual stuff. The bathroom is a bit small with a walk-in shower and no tub. It is done nicely, but it is a standard hotel room. The best thing about the room is the floor to ceiling windows. You are either going to be looking west toward Miller Park and a bunch of industrial areas or east toward downtown and a bunch of industrial areas. That's the good and bad of being the only tall building in the Menomonee Valley. From the 6th floor, you should have unobstructed views, but there is a lot of industry before you see cool stuff.

Suite

There are only 16 of these on the top three stories. These are 800 square feet with a separate bedroom.

You get a powder room, wet bar with seating for 4 and a seating area with larger HDTV. Lots of granite counters and much nicer finishes. The bedroom has another large HDTV and a much nicer bathroom. Jetted tub, walk-in shower and double vanity. IMHO, they should have put in a lot more of these. This is the room to get, but with only 16, they will be hard to get as an upgrade or potentially even to book without a casino host.

Presidential Suite

Just one. It spans the north end of the 19th floor. 3000 square feet. This is possibly the nicest suite in Milwaukee, but of course, it is just Milwaukee. It is probably somewhere between a 1 br Skyloft and a hospitality suite.

It is quite nice. There is a butler's pantry for catering and a large service area at one end with a 60" TV. In the center is a custom sofa area with another 60" TV and fireplace. There is another entertaining area with a restroom and then a bedroom with single king, another 60" TV and fireplace and a very nice bathroom. The bathroom has a jetted tub overlooking an industrial area and the city and lake Michigan in the distance. The bathroom reminds me of a corner suite at Aria, without the Toto Washlet. The Presidential Suite has a connecting bedroom to make it a two bedroom when needed.

The really cool part of the suite is the 800 square foot terrace with a bar. 180 degree views and lots of places to sit.

IMHO, this is really a hospitality suite more than a high-roller suite.

After touring the place... Milwaukee needs a nice new hotel and this is a good option. It really points out that Potawatomi should have been allowed to build downtown instead of the industrial valley. The nearly 400 rooms and 60,000 square feet of meeting space would have really been a great fit next to the convention center. As it is, it is tucked in between an old viaduct, a railroad yard and a meat packing plant.

If they can maintain a high level of service, it will be as successful as the casino. But, since the rooms are a bit small, the service does need to be at a very high level.

I wish them well, Milwaukee needs another good hotel. Too bad the city saw fit to exile the casino to an industrial area all those years ago.

 

Nice report. A few questions:

Does the hotel have any amenities such as a spa, fitness center, pool, etc?

Do you know the nightly rates for a room (weekday/weekend)?

 

Is the 19th the top floor? I was hoping that the very top floor where you can see all the outdoor area was going to be either a restaurant or high limit room.

 

Interesting read, I was just at Potawatomi last Friday night & Saturday, asked some questions about the new hotel, etc. Going rates for that opening weekend of Aug 18th were in the range of $250 which is nuts. Methinks the proximity of other hotels will make that price come down (I stayed Fri night for a meager $40 @ the Hilton a mile away). I was just happy to see another hotel in the vicinity of Summerfest & 3rd Ward areas, gives another option.

 

There is no pool. There will be a fitness center and possibly a spa on the fourth floor. I was specifically told about the fitness center.

IMHO, they should build an indoor pool.

19th is the top floor. The rooms on the 19th all have very high ceilings, but no rooftop deck or club. It's actually 18, since there is no 13th floor.

FWIW, I was talking to a very pregnant co-worker about the hotel. She was a bit disappointed since she and her husband were thinking about a quick pre-delivery babymoon weekend there. The few suites may be a problem, since a big jetted tub was what she wanted to relax in that last weekend. She wanted to relax while her husband had some fun playing blackjack.

 

Hyper, thanks for posting this. We got an offer from Potawatomi for a free night in September so I think we will take advantage of this. Apparently the offer covers the weekends also.

 

My roommate got an offer for 200 in free play a room and a 50 dollar gas card, we live in Peoria, IL so we are half considering it.

 

As usual, the more I poke around and dig here, the more I find something interesting. I've been semi-intrigued since I'm blasted 62 times in 3 hours during Brewers games that the hotel is now open and they encourage me to "Play...stay... and get lucky." Well, now you've got my attention. Ha.

I've never played at Potawatomi and I've kind of always wanted to...the casino itself is far bigger than anything else in Wisconsin and doesn't just beat Oneida, but really blows it out of the water. (Potawatomi is supposed to have 3000 slots and 100 table games. Oneida has ~ 1500 slots (their site claims "over 2000" but that's the main casino and 2 ancillary location) and perhaps...30 (maybe?) table games).

Anyway, I checked out their site the other day and for a weeknight regular room, they want $190. I'm not a dopey, never-been-anywhere Wisconsinite and don't typically blink at hotel prices, but that struck me as unreasonable, even for WI's largest city, considering the location. On the other hand, the casino's never had a hotel and exactly because of the location, they do have a bit of a captive audience. (If they attract you from more than a reasonable driving distance, it's now your best option). I'll wait it out and see if there's a dip in demand after the newness wears off.

 

I don't blame them for the pool. A lot of casinos in the Midwest skip the pool because they don't want people bringing kids and leaving them unattended at the pool. If they put in a spa, they will have my attention.

 

Thanks for the info. Looks like maybe a good reason to visit Wisconsin's largest city. Over 300 miles, but freeway all the way.

 

Re-reading hyperfocal's posts, I'm surprised they didn't put a restaurant or SOMETHING at or near the top.

 

The milwaukee journal (http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/bedbugs-found-at-potawatomi-casino-b99358994z1-277027081.html) and the local news stations last week are reporting that bed bugs have already been discovered in the hotel. You can do a google search and see the links to the other news stories.