General Hotel Information

All Room Rates

As usual, we're at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel, except now it's a DoubleTree (yes, it's the same hotel that was a Radison not long ago).

To reserve your room use this special link or call 952-835-7800. Our rate for reservations made by March 15 is $89 for both regular rooms and poolside cabanas. Afterwards, including if you walk up to the desk at the convention, they are $99.

Filling hotel rooms is how we pay for our function space, so we would very much appreciate it if you stayed in the DoubleTree. Please also avoid booking your room through a travel agency or discount site. These will not count towards our block!

The DoubleTree Bloomington

7800 Normandale Blvd, Bloomington, MN 55439
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For all normal-sized rooms, including poolside cabanas, the con rate is $89 if you book by March 15. Afterwards, including if you walk up to the desk at the convention, they are $99.

Cabana suites are $139 until March 15, then $149. (These are the big rooms near the pool, not the ordinary cabanas along both sides of the pool/garden court area). Other suites are $289 at any time.

Late Checkout

You should be able to get 2pm late checkout, although the hotel says that this is "as available".

Wi-Fi

There will be free wi-fi from the Wednesday before Minicon to the Monday after, both in guest rooms and meeting spaces. The passcode is "MINICON". In order to use it in a meeting space, select the meetings tab and use the same code.

Getting There

The hotel is very visible from I-494 and MN-100. Parking is abundant, easy, and free!

It's near bus routes 6K, 540, 542, 578, and 589. However, only the 6K and 540 run on the weekend and only at very limited times. See the Metro Transit website for schedules.

The Southdale Transit Center, 3 miles northeast of the hotel, is much better served by buses. Depending on where and when you start, the fastest option might be to take the bus to Southdale and then either walk or cab to us.

The hotel runs a shuttle from/to the airport and the Mall of America (direct link to schedule PDF).

From Afar

Megabus is a good option for getting to us from out of town. (It's like Greyhound, but cleaner and cheaper. Their routes are more limited, though.) It stops at the intersection of South 3rd St and Chicago Ave, near the Metrodome, in downtown Minneapolis.

The most straight-forward way, if the 540 is running:

  1. Walk about 1.5 blocks southwest along Chicago Ave to the Metrodome LRT station.
  2. Catch the Hiawatha Light Rail train to the Mall of America.
  3. Transfer to the 540; get off at the 78th & Sheraton Hotel stop, near the southeast entrance to the hotel.

Otherwise:

  1. Walk northeast about 1 block on Chicago Ave to Washington Ave to catch the 7 or the 22. OR Walk southwest about 1 block on Chicago Ave to 4th St to catch the 3, 16, or 50.
  2. Ride your bus to Hennepin Ave to transfer to the 6K (early AM only) or to Marquette Ave to transfer to the 578 (rush hours only).
  3. Ride the 6K to the 78th & Sheraton Hotel stop (see above), or the 578 to the 77th & Normandale/Metro Blvd stop (just north of the hotel).

Room Parties

If you are interested in running a room party, please see the Parties page.