If you need somewhere to live in downtown Minneapolis for a month or three — a contract, a rotation, a renovation, a divorce, a fellowship — you have probably opened two browser tabs. One is Airbnb. The other is a furnished apartment hotel like ours.
They look similar in a search result. They are not the same product, and the differences only show up once you have already paid. Here is an honest comparison, including the parts where Airbnb wins.
The legal difference, which explains most of the rest
In Minneapolis, most rentals of 30 days or less need a short-term rental license from the City. That rule is what shapes the Airbnb market here. The City also limits how much of it any one person can do: an owner can only have one short-term rental property besides their own home, and in a building with twenty or more units, no more than ten percent can be short-term rentals.
The practical consequence is that a lot of Minneapolis Airbnb inventory is somebody’s second property, run by somebody with a day job. That is not an insult — some of those hosts are excellent. But it means the thing you are buying is a private arrangement with an individual, and when it goes sideways there is no one else in the building.
We are on the other side of that line. Oakland’s on 9th is a licensed apartment hotel at 215 South 9th Street, staffed, with a phone number that a person answers. Stays run a night, a week, or a month, with no lease and no contract.
Where Airbnb genuinely wins
Let us be fair about this, because pretending otherwise would be useless to you.
Space, if you need a lot of it. If you are moving a family of five, an entire house in a neighborhood beats a studio downtown. We rent studios. That is the product.
Specific neighborhoods. If your reason for being here is in Northeast or Uptown or Longfellow, a rental in that neighborhood will beat commuting from downtown.
Very short, very cheap stays in the off-season. A one-night bargain in February is a real thing on those platforms.
Where a furnished apartment hotel wins
Nothing is a surprise
Cleaning fees, service fees, “the price tripled at checkout” — the standard complaints about short-term rental platforms are complaints about pricing that reveals itself late. Our rate includes WiFi, all utilities, heat, and laundry that is free rather than coin-operated. We wrote out exactly what is included so you can compare it against a platform total rather than a platform headline.
There is someone here
This is the big one, and it is the one people underrate until 11pm on a Sunday. A lockbox and a phone number that goes to voicemail is fine right up until the moment it is not. If something breaks, or you are locked out, or you need a package held, there is a staffed building here and a real front door.
It is built to be lived in for a while
Every studio has a full kitchen — a real one, with a stove and a full-size refrigerator, not a kitchenette in a closet. That is the difference between eating out every night on per diem and actually cooking. It is also why our guests tend to be people here for weeks rather than a weekend: travel nurses at HCMC, researchers and families near the University of Minnesota, people relocating, people between houses, people whose insurance is paying while their own home gets rebuilt.
No lease, and no thirty-day gamble
Month-to-month with no contract means if the project runs two weeks long, you stay two weeks longer. If it ends early, you leave. Compare that to an Airbnb monthly booking, where the discount usually depends on committing to the whole block up front.
The location question
We are at 215 South 9th Street, which puts you a block’s walk from the skyway system. To be precise about it, because other listings are not: the building is not skyway-connected. You walk a block outdoors and then you are in it — which in January is a meaningful block, and in July is nothing at all.
From the front door you can walk to Target on Nicollet Mall, the Armory, Orchestra Hall, Target Center, Target Field and U.S. Bank Stadium. HCMC and the University of Minnesota Medical Center are both close. Most guests here do not keep a car, and we did the arithmetic on what a car actually costs downtown if you are deciding.
So which one should you book?
Straightforwardly: if you need a whole house, a specific neighborhood, or one cheap night, use the platform. If you need somewhere to live for a few weeks or a few months in downtown Minneapolis, with a kitchen, a staffed building, one predictable number, and the freedom to leave when your plans change — that is what we are for.
If you are weighing us against a traditional extended-stay hotel instead, that comparison is a different one and we wrote it up separately. And if you want the real numbers, here is what a furnished month-to-month studio in downtown Minneapolis actually costs.
While you are here
Downtown has a lot going on this autumn — we keep a running list, including what is happening in October. If family visits and wants something more special than a hotel, 300 Clifton is a historic mansion B&B in Loring Park, and the Pillsbury Club is worth a dinner. Minneapolis Trolley Tours is the fastest way to get your bearings in a new city.
Come stay
Studios come in three tiers — Good, Better and Best — and some are pet friendly. Check dates and rates on our booking page, or just call us at (612) 314-5124 and tell us what you need. No contracts, no lease, and no surprise fee at the end.
Keep reading: Why Was Oakland’s on 9th Restored at Night?