Hotel Review: Drury Plaza Hotel St. Louis at the Arch

Written By Kelley .

Drury Plaza Hotel St. Louis at the Arch was a wonderful place to stay in the heart of St. Louis for this family of four. We stayed there three nights in the middle of May. Follow this link for details on our itinerary.

The location can’t be beat and the staff was so friendly. We also find that having a suite with a one year old who has a 7pm bedtime means we all get to stay up and have a bit more fun. We highly recommend staying at this hotel for an amazing stay in St. Louis!

Read on for the pros and cons and much more detail of our stay.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Location, Location, Location

  • Nice breakfast and dinner (including adult beverages!)

  • Suite rooms

  • Beautiful Lobby

  • Wonderful, patient staff

  • Stunning view from the 8th floor (pictured on the right)

  • Attached restaurant/steakhouse open late

Cons:

  • Road/Highway noise in our room

  • Very busy during home Cardinal games

    • Slow/Busy elevators

  • Felt obligated to eat dinner at the hotel

A bit more insight…

The Drury Plaza Hotel St. Louis at the Arch is in the shadows of Gateway Arch National Park. There is some parking under the hotel, but we were asked to park across the street (not far at all). Parking is $26 a day. The whole area around the hotel felt very safe and clean. There was the occasional homeless person, but everyone either kept to themselves or was very friendly.

When you enter the hotel, you walk into a beautiful lobby with a very neat water feature of Lewis, Clark and Sacajawea. Every person behind the front desk was incredibly friendly and attentive. They were so kind to our two boys and remembered us every time we walked into the lobby. The first night, we really needed some milk and they turned the milk machine on just for us. There are countless examples of their kindness and attentiveness throughout our stay.

We stayed in a King suite as it gave us the flexibility to have two different spaces where the boys could sleep. With two kids two and under, we find that giving ourselves options for bedtime helps. On this trip, my husband decided to sleep on the pullout couch in the living room with our toddler and I had the baby in the King room in his pack and play. My husband was pleasantly surprised with the comfort of the pullout, and of course, a two year old can sleep anywhere and a couch that turns into a bed is very exciting.

Our bedroom had a great view of the Arch, but with this view came a bit of road/highway noise. It didn’t bother us as we sleep with white noise machines, but it could bother some if you’re especially sensitive to outside noise.

The pool area was quite nice. It’s on the 8th floor, right next to the terrace which overlooks the Arch. While there were some kiddos in the pool, it wasn’t overly crowded. There were plenty of tables and chairs available. And since there were two hot tubs, neither felt full.

We had intentions of swimming all three of the days we stayed, but ended up only fitting it in once. The one time we did swim though, was a blast.

One of the many benefits of staying at the Drury Plaza Hotel is that they have a really nice breakfast and dinner spread. Breakfast is the same every morning (eggs, pancakes, waffles, sausage, potatoes, bagels, cereal, muffins, etc). With two young kiddos, being able to feed them what they felt like in the moment is a huge benefit (most mornings the kids ate pancakes, sausage and muffins.)

The Kickback dinner changes every night. Our first night was tacos (my husband’s favorite). Second night was mac and cheese and pork sliders (my favorite). Our third night was chicken alfredo. Each dinner offers a soup and salad as well as hot dogs (kid’s favorite) and nachos.

The ease of these dinners can’t be overstated. Knowing that within two minutes of sitting down, our kids would be eating, is wonderful. However, we did find that since we “paid” for the dinners in our hotel room fee, we felt obligated to be back for them, when in reality, we might have done something different. This is by no means the hotel’s fault. Their food was great (and those adult beverages needed!). But going forward, my husband and I will have the mindset that if we book a place with breakfast and dinner included, we’re not considering the included food in that decision so we don’t feel obligated to be back for the meal.

Location, Location, Location

Within a mile radius were so many neat things to see which was super helpful when the one year old was up at 5:30am and we wanted the two year old to keep sleeping. So I packed him in the stroller and away we went! (Every morning.)

In Summary…

We couldn’t have been more happy with our stay at the Drury Plaza Hotel St. Louis at the Arch. The room was good, the staff was wonderful, and the location could not be beat. We highly recommend staying here for your family trip to St. Louis!

Kelley .
Previous

An Ideal Winter Getaway with Kids: Wilderness Resort in the Wisconsin Dells