News & Events
Updates, events and news for the hotel and surrounding area!
M ST. Cafe Makes Top 100 List for Best Brunch
Restaurant in the U.S.
OpenTable, a leading restaurant reservation and review management website, just released their "2013 Annual Winners – Best Brunch Restaurants" M ST. Cafe was a winner! Below an excerpt from OpenTable:
Who doesn't love brunch? It takes the best of breakfast and lunch to deliver a truly unique meal. Fortunately for brunch-lovers, many OpenTable restaurants serve brunch on both days of the weekend! To help you find the best in your area, we asked our diners where they love to brunch.
The list of winners is based on more than 5 million restaurant reviews by OpenTable diners for more than 15,000 restaurants.
Article and complete list of nation-wide winners
Photo: Brunch at M St. Cafe
L’etoile is Now Open and Receiving Brides-to-be!
We are delighted to share photos of our newly opened bridal sanctuary, L’etoile. This day-use room is already receiving rave reviews from the wedding industry. Upon seeing it, one wedding planner called it a “jewelry box.”
This luxurious bridal-get-ready room, combines gorgeous, timeless décor with all the amenities a bride could want, giving her a peaceful, relaxed space for wedding day preparations. For more information about reserving L'etoile for your special day, contact Heidi Satre at 651-228-3887.
Did You Know...
That we continually strive to reduce our energy footprint?
For example, in the past two years, we have reduced our water consumption 10% by using District Cooling to cool our refrigeration for all of our walk-in-coolers, kitchen and restaurant refrigeration.
The hotel receives the bulk of our heating and cooling from District Energy in downtown Saint Paul, which is the largest, most successful, hot water district heating system in North America and is a national leader in renewable energy.
Just last month we went through a "Smart Energy" audit to find even more ways to be energy efficient. Below is an excerpt from Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal April 26th edition article Getting Smart About Energy.
Ken Wieber, director of operations at The Saint Paul Hotel, wanted advice on how to make the 103-year-old hotel more energy efficient. He called Energy Smart, a program that offers free consultations to businesses in reducing energy consumption.
The program, run by Minnesota Waste Wise and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, sends an expert to examine businesses' facilities. The staff member conducting the energy audit pays close attention to lighting HVAC systems, motors and other energy-hogging building mechanics...When Energy Smart visited The Saint Paul Hotel this month, the Business Journal tagged along.
Photo by Nancy Kuehn, Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal
What's Blooming at The Saint Paul Hotel
By Sara Orvik, The Saint Paul Hotel's horticulturist and gardener.
After a long winter, our spring garden is finally blooming with numerous daffodils and tulips! I also just finished planting 1,500 violas in yellow, orange and blue.
Later this summer, the English garden will once again feature rich blooms of red; with blue, lavender, white and pink accent flowers. Returning annuals will be the very fragrant sweet alyssum, new look celosia, blue salvia and purple salvia. A new annual I will be trying out in this year’s garden is redhead coleus. The entire plant is a rich, deep red! Its mounding growth habit produces a hedge of solid color. Weather permitting, I hope to start planting the 2,400 summer annuals in mid-May.
As the weather contiunes to warm in the coming weeks, watch for our other spring flowers such as purple allium, lavender lilacs, pink roses, bleeding heart, perennial salvia and coral bells.
Gardening Tip for May...
If you haven't already uncovered your perennial/garden beds, now is definitely the time to do so. You can also till your garden beds. Since the temperatures can still be quite cool at night, it is too early to plant summer annuals, but violas and pansies are great spring flowers and tolerant of cooler temperatures. Go ahead and plant them now for some color.
Catch Jazz in the Lobby Bar
in May Before JoAnn's
Summer Break
Come enjoy jazz and a drink in the Lobby Bar this month!
May is the the last month JoAnn Funk and Jeff Brueske will be playing before they take their summer break.
Jeff and JoAnn will be back for a special appearance during the Twin Cities Jazz Festival, June 27, 28, 29 from 7pm - 11pm with guest musician Nathan Norman on drums.
Jazz in the Lobby Bar with JoAnn Funk will return in September for the fall-winter season.
General Manager, David Miller, Spends a Day with Housekeeping
This past March hotel employees donated food to Neighborhood House as part of Minnesota FoodShare’s March Campaign. The department with the most food collected got to put David Miller to work in their department for a day! Housekeeping was the winner with over 190lbs of food collected.
The Housekeeping Department was delighted to have David spend a whole day working with them to clean guestrooms and bathrooms, make beds and polish brass.
See additional photos on our Facebook page.
The St. Paul Grill Dessert of the Month
Strawberry "not so" Shortcake – A St. Paul Grill signature dessert. Layers of fresh baked pound cake, stacked high with whipping cream and strawberries. Served with a generous side of house-made strawberry sauce! Delicious!
Enjoy this and other signature menu items at The St. Paul Grill.
Make Your Reservation at The St. Paul Grill.
Employee Spotlight
Jenny Heger,
Sales Manager
1. How long have you worked for The Saint Paul Hotel?
I have been at The Saint Paul Hotel just over two months and am loving it! Two months ago I was given the opportunity to join The Saint Paul Hotel's team, I jumped at the chance and have enjoyed every minute of it!
2. Explain your daily tasks.
I have the pleasure of working with many different groups. My primary responsibility is working with our business travel clients. In addition to that I work with group markets including entertainment, insurance, media, law, legal and judicial.
3. What is your favorite part about working for The Saint Paul Hotel?
Everything! Prior to working at The Saint Paul Hotel, I was a National Sales Manager for a limited service brand representing over 220 hotels across the nation. I am thrilled to be back working in a hotel, interacting with clients and guests daily. It is exciting to take a potential client on a tour of the hotel and listen to the “oooh’s & ahh’s” as I show them around our beautiful hotel. Plus, the staff at The Saint Paul Hotel is amazing to work with; they are dedicated, passionate and caring.
4. What hobbies or interests do you enjoy outside of the workplace?
I enjoy traveling and discovering new destinations, gardening (though I still have a lot to learn) and spending time with my husband, 5-year-old daughter and 1½-year-old son. I also have a passion for Scuba Diving and Downhill Ski Racing!
5. If you could choose any other position at the hotel, what would it be?
Concierge. The concierge creates one of the guest's first impressions. I would love to interact with the guests in this capacity and suggest memorable places to dine, shop and play while in Saint Paul.
6. What is a “fun fact” about yourself?
My bucket list is a bit different from what people would call typical. I have a list of different ocean creatures/fish I would like to see in person. Top on my list is the Leafy Sea Dragons only found along the southern and western coasts of Australia!
Above photo: Jenny standing on the hotel's grand staircase.
