Our fourth stop in Montana was Bozeman, a city we’d heard good things about. We were visiting in early September and, seeing as it’s such a popular place to visit in late summer/early fall, it wasn’t easy to find affordable accommodation.
We ended up settling on a stay at the Element Bozeman – one of Marriott’s brands – which we booked using points. It was appealing as all rooms there are suites with a kitchen, plus it looked like it was in a great location for exploring downtown.
It ended up being an excellent stay, so it’s definitely somewhere I’d recommend if you’re looking for somewhere to stay in Bozeman. Here’s a full review of our stay.
Check-In
We drove to Bozeman from Helena after meeting up with one of Shae’s friends, so we arrived just after 5pm. Despite being located downtown, the hotel has an area where you can pull up and unload your car before moving it to the parking lot once you’ve checked in.
The Element has a great piece of art welcoming you outside.
Before the stay I’d tried to use our Marriott Nightly Upgrade Awards to get upgraded from a studio suite to a one bedroom suite, but that sadly wasn’t successful. It turns out that we’d booked a stay over the course of the weekend when there was the Bozeman marathon, so that meant the property was fully booked for at least one of the nights.
The front desk agent who checked us in was nice and friendly and we were soon on our way up to room 311.
Larger Studio Suite
The room type we booked via Marriott’s website was a ‘King Studio, Larger Studio, 1 King, sofa bed’. When entering the suite the bathroom was on the right, the kitchen ahead on the left and the bedroom and living area around to the right.
Bedroom & Living Area
Our suite was a good size, with the bedroom and living area having a king bed, with a sleeper sofa opposite. On the far wall was a dresser with a TV on top. Both sides of the bed had lamps with a couple of power outlets and a USB port in the base of them which makes it more convenient for charging electronic devices overnight.
Between the bedroom and the kitchen was a raised table with a couple of tall chairs.
To the left of the couch was a work desk and office chair.
Back by the entrance of the suite was a closet containing an iron, ironing board, luggage rack and safe.
Kitchen
Like I mentioned at the start of the review, one of the appealing, ahem, elements of staying at the Element Bozeman was that we’d have a kitchen in our suite, making it easier to make our own meals.
The kitchen has a full-sized fridge-freezer, dishwasher, double stove top and microwave, along with all the equipment you’ll need to make meals.
Bathroom
The bathroom had a walk-in shower with large bottles of wall-mounted toiletries. Having said that, the shower gel bottle was empty when we arrived. We had our own shower gel though, so we didn’t end up asking the front desk for a refill.
Breakfast
Breakfast is complimentary for all guests and is served from 6:30am-9:30am Monday-Friday and from 7am-10am at the weekend.
There was always a good selection of items at the buffet. There were several hot options each morning (eggs, breakfast meat and more), along with yogurt, pastries, fruit, cereal, etc.
There was also a coffee and tea station in the breakfast area just off the lobby which was available 24/7.
Relax Evening Reception
On some midweek evenings (I think it’s Monday-Thursday from 5:30pm-7pm), the Element Bozeman runs a Relax evening reception in the lobby/breakfast area. This reception provides complimentary beer, cider and wine, along with light snacks. We only checked it out one evening and there was a good selection of drinks, along with cheese and focaccia bread.
Squire House Restaurant
The Element Bozeman has a restaurant on site called Squire House that’s open from 4pm-midnight every day. We didn’t dine there during our stay, but here are their menus:
Amenities
Swimming Pool
The hotel has an indoor swimming pool, but no whirlpool. The swimming pool was an OK temperature, but not what I’d call warm.
Guest Laundry
The hotel has guest laundry facilities; we didn’t need to do any laundry during our stay and I forgot to take a photo of the washing machines and dryers.
Fitness Room
The Element Bozeman has a decently sized fitness room with several pieces of cardio equipment, along with weights.
Outdoor Seating & Grill
At the back of the hotel there’s a private-feeling courtyard with outdoor seating, a fire pit and grill for guests to use.
Business Center
On the first floor there’s a business center with a couple of computers and a printer that you can utilize during your stay.
Pantry
You’re spoiled for choice in downtown Bozeman with restaurants, bars, breweries, etc., as well as there being a grocery store (Bozeman Co-op Downtown) a two minute walk away from the hotel. If you can’t be bothered to go out though, there’s a well-stocked pantry area with snacks, microwaveable meals, toiletries, etc. There’s a good selection of drinks too which includes beer, wine and spirits.
Bikes
The Element has bikes you can borrow to explore the city. We didn’t investigate using them, so I don’t know if they’re complimentary or if there’s some kind of rental fee.
Element Bozeman Pet Policy
The Element Bozeman is a pet-friendly hotel. There’s no pet fee for your first dog; if you have a second dog there’s a $100 pet fee per stay.
A downside of staying downtown with pets in some cities is that it can sometimes be hard to find grassy and/or mulchy areas for your dog to do their business. However, downtown Bozeman didn’t really have that issue as there always seemed to be some kind of grass or mulch within a block or two of wherever we found ourselves. With regards to the Element itself, turn left as you exit the front of the hotel and you’ll find somewhere for your dog to go within a block, while there’s also a grassy area if you go out the back of the hotel to the left (just past the parking lot).
Service
Service at the Element in Bozeman was very good. The front desk staff were always friendly and welcoming, while the guy who was in charge of the Relax evening reception the night I went down there was very nice.
Wi-Fi
The hotel offers complimentary Wi-Fi for all guests. The connection and speed were very good, but I had an issue on my laptop that might have been related to the hotel, but I’m not certain. Throughout our stay my laptop got the blue screen of death every couple of hours and reset itself. This happened our entire stay and when investigating the error message, it seemed to relate to the laptop’s Wi-Fi driver. I tried troubleshooting the issue, but it didn’t fix it and so I figured I needed to get a new laptop.
Thankfully I procrastinated with getting a new laptop because I haven’t had that issue whatsoever since we checked out of the hotel. Now, it’s possible that something got knocked loose in my laptop before we arrived and got knocked back into place when we left, but it seems strange that it only happened while connected to their internet.
For what it’s worth, we didn’t have any issues with our phones being connected, nor with Shae’s laptop. I did want to mention my issues here though just in case you happen to encounter the same problem during a stay there. If you do, it might be worth tethering to your phone or using the Wi-Fi elsewhere to see if your laptop issues continue.
Check-In & Check-Out Times
Check-in at the Element is from 3pm, while checkout is at 12pm.
Location
The hotel is in a great location downtown. It’s on the edge of the Bozeman Brewery Historic District and is within walking distance of pretty much everything downtown.
Montana State University is only 1.5 miles away, with the Museum of the Rockies being just a little further.
Parking
The hotel charges $10 per night for parking. While it’s not ideal that parking isn’t free, $10 isn’t an extortionate cost either. There might’ve been free parking available elsewhere nearby, but we settled for the convenience of parking behind the hotel.
Cost
We paid for our stay using Marriott Bonvoy points. Marriott uses dynamic pricing which means that the number of points required can vary from night to night. For our dates the award costs ranged from 58,000-70,000 points per night. Marriott has a ‘Stay 5, Pay For 4’ benefit on award stays which deducts the cost of the cheapest night for every five nights you stay. That meant we only had to redeem 271,000 points rather than 329,000 points.
The cash rate for our stay was $531.95 per night including tax. That means we got 0.98cpp (cents per point) of value which is fairly good for Marriott points.
Final Thoughts
We had a great stay at the Element Bozeman in Montana. Our studio suite was spacious and was in very good condition. The complimentary breakfast was tasty and varied enough to not get bored with it, there are useful amenities like a guest laundry area, fitness room, etc. and the staff were all very nice.
The award pricing was higher than we’d usually like to pay when it comes to Marriott points, but the hotel was our best option seeing as everything is expensive at that time of year in Bozeman. If we ever return to the city, I’d be more than happy to stay there again.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles awards the hotel four paws out of four – pawfect! She enjoyed the attention she received from some of the front desk staff, there were grassy areas nearby and, most importantly, there was no pet fee which means more treats for her.
Our Rating
Room = 4.5 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.6 / 5
Food = 4.4 / 5
Location = 4.8 / 5
Service = 4.7 / 5
Overall Value = 3.5 / 5
Total = 4.42 / 5
Address
Element, 25 E Mendenhall St, Bozeman, MT 59715
Living in Bozeman, I always wonder what the inside of some of our hotels look like, but now I get to! Well, at least one of them 😂. You’ll have to come back and review another one.
Glad we got to show you inside!