The Brown Palace Hotel and Spa, Autograph Collection

The afternoon tea was expensive, but lovely. Wait staff were awesome, from the staff at tea to the musicians in the lobby to the desk staff at check in/out to the concierge. Top notch people. Outside of the atrium, the hotel seemed to be in a state of neglect. One elevator was not working and the second was very slow and got stuck between floors. My room had a cracked sink, broken faucet handles, and drooping/unfastened paneling on the air conditioner. The room was also dusty and the mirrors weren't fully cleaned. The mattresses were fair, but the sheets felt plasticky and the pillows were uncomfortable. The beds themselves were too short for me. These issues may seem minor, but for the price of even a base room they are unacceptable. This is doubly true in such a historic building. If Mariott cannot keep their "autograph collection" hotel in tip-top shape, then it speaks to neglect and rot from the top down of the entire brand. This hotel has its own holiday, and Marriott is content to sell a room with a cracked sink. This attitude makes me reconsider my loyalty to Marriott.

We came for drinks, appetizers, and to enjoy the live piano. Unfortunately, the music was not played for most of the time we were there. The appetizers were disappointing, and both the appetizer and dessert menus were very limited. The drinks, however, were excellent. What really affected the experience was that vacuuming started around 6:20 while we were still seated, listening to the live piano, and finishing our time there. We don’t mind paying higher prices when the quality matches, but lately the quality seems to be going down while prices are going up. I’m sharing this to bring it to the attention of management—when people pay five-star prices, they expect a five-star experience. The building is a gorgeous historic building but has not been maintained as good as Broadmoor Hotel located in Colorado Springs! The furniture is very dirty and the bathroom as well!

I greatly enjoyed my stay here with friends. I got upgraded to a large room on the top floor, and it felt old fashioned and like stepping back in time. Really a cool experience. A welcome drink was offered upon arrival, which I had never experienced at any hotel. This is an incredibly cozy place, perfect for a couples getaway.

We stayed on a Saturday night so prices were very high but was willing to pay the price for hopefully an awesome experience. That didn't happen. Problem #1 - When we went up to our room, it was very cold! Went over to the thermostat and it was not working. We had to call maintenance to get some heat. They at what would be an ok temp but at least we got some heat. Later in the evening, it got too hot but to correct it, we would have had to call maintenance again. The maintenance men were nice but told us to understand that it was an old hotel. That is no excuse to not have a functioning thermostat. They have a cigar bar that opens at 2 pm. The doors to the cigar bar open to the lobby so the entire hotel reeks of cigar smoke. Problem #3 - When we checked in, I asked if we needed reservations for Sunday breakfast. The desk clerk laughed as if the thought was ridiculous. Sunday morning when we went to the breakfast restaurant, we were asked if we had reservations. We said "no" and then were told that it would be a 25 min. wait even though there were many empty tables. Summary, I was severely disappointed with my experience at the Brown Palace, especially with the prices we were charged.