THE BROWN PALACE HOTEL
321 17th St., Denver, CO 80202, 303-297-3111,
Rates: The hotel is celebrating 117 years, and so through the rest of the year it is promoting periodic $117-a-night rates. If you go to the website, though, weekday rates for rooms with a queen bed start at $169 a night and weekend rates starting at $107 a night through the end of October. Closer to the holidays, rates go up to $189 weekdays and $239 weekends. Overnight parking is $26 per night.
Stay here if you: want to be downtown and enjoy a gorgeous historic property that has retained its distinctive feel but offers modern amenities.
It’s close to everything downtown, including the 16th Street Mall and the Capitol. The Denver Art Museum, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and the Denver Public Library are within reasonable walking distance or a quick cab ride.
The rooms are: large and elegant but not stuffy. Chocolate browns, creamy beiges and burgundies mix with gold, russet and burnt sienna for a rich, warm setting. Thick comforters on the medium-firm beds, and oversized desks and cozy chairs, invite lingering. The well-lighted bathrooms offer jetted tubs and spacious showers, and the lemongrass-scented products are generously stocked. The only thing we didn’t like: individual-serving coffeemakers, which means quick to make, but cold coffee about two minutes later.
They put all of the money into: adding a spa, which is stylishly simple, and keeping the place looking spiffy. No chipped paint or broken door handles here — the place is spotless and lovingly maintained, and it’s always a treat to walk into the lavishly decorated lobby.
The bottom line: I wound up at the Brown recently when trolling online for a good local deal for a gals getaway, and was delighted with the anniversary rate and spa discounts — I think the last time I stayed here, it was around $400 a night. At every turn the hotel exceeded our expectations, and it’s no surprise that it works hard at pampering, from twice-a-day housekeeping — including attentive turn-down service — to lobby staffers who pay attention to your activities and anticipate your needs. The new spa is understated, with a small relaxation room and tasty snacks (yogurt pretzels, nut mix), and I cannot more highly recommend massage therapist Rick Garcia, who had the uncanny and delightful ability to seem at times like disembodied hands — it was as if he floated around the room. Also, be sure to take advantage of the town car, which runs only after 6 p.m. and early in the mornings, but will take you round-trip within a 5-mile radius. Kyle Wagner
