A Great Night's Sleep at the Crowne Plaza St Louis-Clayton Hotel

After deciding to attend a concert at The Pageant theatre in Clayton, Missouri, we wanted to find a hotel that was reasonably priced and fairly close to the venue. Through a search on www.expedia.com, we found the Crowne Plaza St Louis-Clayton Hotel. The price seemed reasonable enough, so we booked a single queen room for one night.

We arrived at the hotel by taxi and immediately a bell hop opened our door and welcomed us with great enthusiasm. He carried our bags in and left them at the front desk, again, he welcomed us to the hotel. The lobby was absolutely beautiful. Marble floors, enormous chandeliers, a player grand piano, fireplace, and just enormous grand staircase. This hotel was grand!

The staff quickly checked us in and informed us that we'd been upgraded to a king sized bed room. That was a nice surprise. We got up to our room to find it to be small, but lovely! The bed had three large pillow shams, a beautiful small throw pillow, and six, yes, six down pillows. The bed also sported a cozy down comforter. On the bed was a relaxation CD, eye mask, and a refreshing mist spray. The room was equipped with DSL Internet and a marble bathroom with the most amazing shower head I've ever seen in a hotel.

I also loved that this room had a temperature control. Not the kind that you just put on low or high cool and it runs till you're either freezing or doesn't cool enough. No, this hotel had a thermostat!

The room also sported a small chandelier and just lovely lighting. Not the harsh lighting you find in other hotels. There was a clock radio that had a CD player so you could really use that relaxation CD.

The bathroom offered the same amenities that most hotels do as far as shampoos and soaps, but these were NICE and I didn't mind using them to shower for fear they were going to make my hair feel like dry straw. On the contrary, they left my hair feeling rather soft. I also loved the large towels that they provided. They were soft, too! Most hotels towels aren't big enough to cover your butt and they feel like sandpaper. I applaud the Crowne for these amazing towels!

The staff at this hotel is awesome! We went down to the concierge desk and ask for a taxi. They said that they would take us anywhere we wanted to go and it's only half the price of the taxi. We snatched that up so fast. Then, we asked if they would take us to the train in the morning. We had a 6:30am train, so we weren't sure. They said they don't normally start up their shuttle until 6:30am, but they'll do anything for a customer, and sure enough, they did! The driver came in early to take us to our train! The drivers were super friendly and made wonderful conversation with us.

Now...The best thing in the hotel....the mattress. Am I serious? YES I AM! Where do I begin????? Most hotels offer you a mattress that is simply a box of springs and it so hard that your back is killing you in the morning and you're lucky to even get to sleep on it! This mattress, I cannot even begin to describe how amazing it was. It was soft, but not too soft. Seriously, this mattress was simply amazing. I felt like a queen in this bed. I wanted to lay in that bed all day. The best part, I fell asleep like a baby and I slept like one, too! I even woke up without an ache in my body. It was like I had slept in my own bed!

Overall, I give the Crowne Plaza St Louis-Clayton Hotel 5 out of 5 Tiaras on the Amy Gayle Scale. Everything about this hotel was awesome. Sure, I could be PICKY, but the mattress....I can't even begin to express to you how amazing that bed was! That, in itself, makes the little stuff disappear!