St. Louis help

[StLee]

One of my wife's colleagues (Korean in her late 20s) will be attending a convention in St. Louis at the America's Center. She has no car and may need to come or go at late hours (after 8 PM, at least).

Can you recommend some hotels in the area for safe/convenient travel around that area or within reasonable taxi distance from the America's Center? My wife and she are asking for my help. Unfortunately, I know nothing about St. Louis and don't personally know anyone from there.

The dates will be May 26 to June 1 (last minute, I know, but that's what happens for business trips sometimes). She found out yesterday that she has to go.

[cartman]

What kind of budget does she have? There is a Westin that is very close that I've stayed in before for conventions there.

[panerd]

Pretty much any respectible hotel chain in the area is completely safe. (Drury, Hyatt, Embassy Suites, Ramada, Lumiere Place if she enjoys gambling) Plus everything to the South and West of the convention center is perfectly safe. However St. Louis changes completely even 1 block North of the convention center. (I believe one of the neighborhoods mentioned in the "25 worst neighborhoods in America thread" was this one http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/nei...neighborhoods/ #22) Believe me the visitors bureau and police department will make sure every tourist/visitor is safe that doesn't make stupid decisions and do something like get drunk and head to East St. Louis or wander around the bar district at 3 AM. (Which I don't get the impression she will do) Since its a business trip I would try to get her company to get her in a hotel connected to the convention center.(Embassy suites)

[tarcone]

East side is where the entertainment is. And its open all night. She wouldnt even need a hotel.

[StLee]

Thanks for the feedback. I recommended taking a taxi to and from her hotel to better ensure safety.

She booked the Queen (?) Casino, which is on the other side of the river, but pretty close to the convention center.

[sooner333]

I don't know much about the Queen or St. Louis for that matter. But I do know directly across the river isn't the greatest area of town. Maybe it's okay at that place though.

[panerd]

Ummm, that is in East St. Louis. That is a high crime area. Tarcones post was tongue in cheek and she does not want to stay there. Now I will admit the casino is probably secure and as a 38 year old man I have been to this casino and have not been messed with. But people are actually murdered along the streets that lead into the casino and shootings in that area are so common that they make the backpage of our paper. I would definitely tell her to choose another hotel and maybe look into a higher priced hotel (especially with the drive) in the county because she does not want to stay in East Saint Louis. There are enough safe hotels in St. Louis that this is NOT worth the risk.

[tarcone]

I agree with Panerd. That is not a good choice of stays. East side is the ghetto of St Louis and thats saying something. Crime is bad in St Louis.
If she wants to stay at a Hotel/Casino then, as mentioned earlier, Lumiere Place is a good choice.
I remember one night some friends and I were on the east side by accident (no really, you know how the on and off ramps are screwy down town. And we were stopped at a light. A cop pulled up and told us how to get to the interstate and not to stop at any red lights.

[panerd]

Because of a combination of being bored at work and I thought you really need to understand the severity of her changing her hotel reservation I went through to try and grab some more interesting headlines than just murders or shootings. (those are easy... a search of "murder east st Louis" yields 9,000,000 results) She needs to find a different hotel location...

Masked Gunmen Church Robbery: Thieves Enter East St. Louis Church During Service - St. Louis - News - Daily RFT

Hell Hole vs. Murder City: Adjectives for East St. Louis Just Get Worse - St. Louis - News - Daily RFT

East St. Louis Cops Outgunned as Cuts Let Killers Thrive - Bloomberg

Washington Park Mayor John Thornton Killed: Shot To Death In His Car

East St. Louis enforces city-wide lockdown after weekend murders

EAST ST. LOUIS: East St. Louis man shot to death while in his wheelchair | Crime | News Democrat

[molson]

It's kind of funny that this lady attempted to seek out help about where to stay and somehow ended up at an East St. Louis casino.

[panerd]

Yes I really worry about the choice. (and if he was looking for advice and she ends up in East St. Louis I feel like the thread couldn't fail any harder) The place is a hellhole and not to be sexist but she is young woman and not to be xenophobic but she is from another country. Not a good mix for East St. Louis. The majority of the people that visit there are drunk young kids to go to the strip clubs. Now like I said earlier the Casino Queen is definitely more protected than the Main Street Bar but I am sure there are nice hotels in Baghdad too but I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. People are carjacked there and killed at gas stations in the middle of the day.

[tarcone]

Maybe she will be driving a tank and be escorted by a SWAT team. She would probably be safe then. But I still wouldnt take the odds.

[StLee]

I was not the person who booked it. I was asked to look into it, and then when I started I was told it was taken care of. I passed this latest information to my wife and my wife said she'll suggest changing. It's all last minute.

Anyway, I'm going to try to help her change to a "safer" place, so where CAN she go? Her budget is $150 a night, which is ridiculously low for a business trip, but... what can I say? Most Korean management is made up of conceited, friend's awarded idiots. And they think that it's possible to find a place in Korea to stay for under $100, so you can easily do it everywhere.

So, please, where is a good place to stay for someone who is going to need public transport/taxis to get from convention center to hotel?

[cartman]

Getting something that cheap last minute during a convention week close to the convention center is going to be a bit difficult. I checked the Westin I usually stay at, which is 6 blocks from the convention center, and it is sold out.

edit: and yeah, to echo the other sentiments, East St. Louis is definitely not a place she should be

[DaddyTorgo]

How's the Sheraton there?
Or the Roberts Mayfair?
There's an Embassy Suites a half mile away downtown
Ramada Plaza at the convention center?

//checking Kayak, I dunno about any of these.

[panerd]

Don't get me wrong I wasn't blaming you, nor is it your responsibility if she still chooses to still stay in EStl, I was just saying it was a very dangerous location. I did a quick search on hotels.com and found a couple of ideas...

1) Doubletree at Union Station. $199 a night so she is breaking the bank but it is 100% safe and right off a metrolink (quasi-subway) location which will go directly to the convention center. (Or taxi, its only about 5 miles away)

2) Embassy Suites Airport or Hilton at the airport. $110 a night. Right near metrolink also, little more expensive for a taxi. (The airport area is also rough but nothing like East St. Louis)

3) There are a few more at the airport and downtown around the same prices but I am familiar with both of these properties and never stayed at the others. I would go with #1 but I guess she has to eat some out of pocket.

Or stay at a crappier hotel for the weekend and then a nicer one during the week.

[Poli]

Wow, I suppose she could have made a worse decison, but yikes.

[path12]

You guys are making me want to visit.

[Desnudo]

Come for the gambling, stay for the murder.

[Desnudo]

Knowing nothing about St. Louis this looks like your best bet on price, availability, and location.

KAYAK - Holiday Inn St. Louis - Forest Park/Hampton Ave.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

Knowing nothing about St. Louis this looks like your best bet on price, availability, and location.

KAYAK - Holiday Inn St. Louis - Forest Park/Hampton Ave.

Yeah thats a huge step up from East St. Louis. Not the best part of town and the pool view on the link you shared is probably misleading but for sure take that over East St. Louis.

[finketr]

do not stay in East St Louis.. Yikes.

[tarcone]

I believe my brother stayed at that hotel (forest park holiday inn) when he visited my many years ago.
That part of town is actually a good part. Its near the Hill. Which is the Italian neighborhood. They keep things pretty quiet there.
Its right near I-44, which is about 10 minutes from the convention center.
I would definitely get her to switch to that hotel.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Tell your wife to watch National Lampoon's Vacation and imagine 100 times worse than they depicted in the movie. That's East St. Louis.

[molson]

[StLee]

As an update, a different co-worker's friend lives in St. Louis, and he got her a hotel near the convention center. He also said he would help her out while she's there.

Thanks all for your help. I felt responsible to protect my wife's co-worker once I received some solid information about the bad situation she was in. I was even willing to go to her boss and chew his ass for putting her in a bad situation.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by StLee

As an update, a different co-worker's friend lives in St. Louis, and he got her a hotel near the convention center. He also said he would help her out while she's there.

Thanks all for your help. I felt responsible to protect my wife's co-worker once I received some solid information about the bad situation she was in. I was even willing to go to her boss and chew his ass for putting her in a bad situation.

Good deal. Glad to hear that got changed. Otherwise, we'd just expect another thread in the weeks to come talking about your wife getting mugged/killed in East STL. We'd prefer to avoid that thread if it's an option.

[cartman]

So, who is going to point out to MBBF that it wasn't StLee's wife that was making the trip?

[Cap Ologist]

Originally Posted by cartman

So, who is going to point out to MBBF that it wasn't StLee's wife that was making the trip?

It's not like he'd believe anything he read on an internet message board.