SHERATON STEAMBOAT RESORT
2200 Village Inn Court, Steamboat Springs, CO 80477, 800-325-3535,
Rates: Now until ski season, standard rooms with two queens start at $179 a night and three-bedroom villas start at $359 a night. When the snow starts to fly, rates start at $279 for the two queens and $799 a night for the three-bedroom villas. Overnight parking in the covered garage is $24 for valet and $15 for self-parking.
Stay here if you: want to stay slopeside in winter or like the valley views in summer (you pay about $20 extra per night, but it’s worth it if you’ll have time to sit on the balcony). Or if you’re looking for a multiple-bedroom villa where you can cook your own meals and spread out with a group.
It’s close to: the lifts and Ski Village (very short walk), as well as the resort’s own Robert Trent Jones Jr.-designed Rollingstone Ranch Golf Club (less than a mile away). Downtown is a five-minute drive.
The rooms are: newly and appealingly remodeled, with flat-screen TVs, refrigerators you can actually use, leather chairs, very comfortable beds and comforters and good-smelling bath products in bottles that are squeezable so you can get it all out. Balconies offer a relaxing respite for checking out the Yampa Valley or the village, and the new, spacious villas filled with dark-wood furniture feature well-stocked kitchens, inviting living rooms and roomy bathrooms with jetted tubs.
They put all of the money into: a much-needed $20 million renovation, which updated the rooms, making them modern but livable, transformed the lobby into a meet-and-greet space for families and business travelers alike, and added the villas, which are delightful. Outdoor pools and rooftop hot tubs — with separate ones for the villas and hotels, meaning enough to go around — are cooling in the summer and heated in the winter. The snazzy Sevens Restaurant has beautiful views, while Saddles is the bar to hit après ski or post-hiking for small plates and a drink. There’s also an in-house coffee shop.
The bottom line: The renovation turned this into a completely new hotel. The common spaces have been reconfigured to offer semi-private sitting areas for relaxing around the lobby or watching the giant flat-screen TVs, or you can hop on one of their computers or plug in your own in one of the computer pods. The staff also seems to be re-energized, and the concierge is one of the most helpful around. Our only complaint: The bed linens were weirdly stiff and crackly — so odd for a place that has otherwise made comfort a top priority. Kyle Wagner
