Ericka H.
Yelp
*The Great*
Beautiful property with elegant, Victorian inspired decor. Each room is uniquely designed so each stay is different from the last!
Located within walking distance of Manitou Springs' charming shops, eateries, miles of trails, caves, caverns, history, and multiple unique mineral springs - bring an empty water bottle!
We stayed in 2 rooms during our stay - the first was the E.E. Nichols Premier Celebrity Suite. The second was the F.W. Woolworth Celebrity Suite.
LOVE their turndown service, complete with chocolates, their Cliff House newsletter with a bit of history and weather, and a bedside welcome mat.
Both rooms were beautifully decorated and each had their own very unique charm! Very spacious. Both rooms had illuminated and heated toilet seats. Unfortunately we ran into a lot of features that didn't work (which were significant factors of why we booked the suites vs standard rooms). Which leads us to ...
*The Not So Great*
Our Premier Celebrity Suite boasted a gas fireplace which, as you may have guessed from the leading paragraph, was not functioning. When I informed the front desk about it, she stated to me that they received regular complaints of it not working prior to our check-in which was disappointing that we weren't informed of this ahead of time.
This was not the only thing that was not functional. The steam shower only operated as a normal shower - the steam jets never turned on even after we let it run and warm up for much longer than instructed.
The second room was a bit dirty - hair/ debris on the bedding and in the bathroom/ tub.
Their buffet breakfast is not great :( The dining room is absolutely lovely but the food is inedible. One of the main servings is an egg casserole that is most definitely made with powdered egg substitute as it is very spongy and has a quite offensive taste and texture. I overheard several other guests complaining and pushing their plates aside, which I had done as well after a single bite. Disappointing for a $500/ night hotel. We were expecting something more on par with The Broadmoor's buffet breakfast but what we experienced was what you would get from your run-of-the-mill, low-budget hotel.
We didn't eat dinner here as we made reservations elsewhere in Manitou Springs but we did go for drinks at The Red Mountain Bar & Grill. Service was almost nonexistent - slow and unfriendly would be a huge understatement.
Lastly, and most importantly, was our experience at checkout. Multiple times during our stay we let the front desk know that we had been given a gift card for part of our stay. Repeatedly we were told, by multiple staff members during check-in and on the second day after we received our first night itinerary, that they could not accept the gift card up front and we needed to present it after checkout. When we returned to the front desk after check out, we were then told that it was too late to accept the gift card and we should have given it to them beforehand ... ugh. They ended up taking our gift card and said a member of management, who was not present, would have to look into it. In the meantime, we paid in full for our stay. I heard nothing in the days and weeks following and called numerous times just to be told by staff they couldn't help me and they or I could leave a message for the manager. Which I did several times before eventually receiving an email with a receipt for a credit card adjustment stating "Guest has decided to pay with $300 GC after their check out." which was a bit upsetting because we in fact did NOT choose to pay with it after checkout, we were instructed multiple times to do so and staff refused to run it up front. And adding insult to injury, I never received the refund on my credit card for the gift card adjustment, a gift card they now had possession of. The issue was never resolved and I ended up having to call my credit card company and disputing the charges, something I have never had to do before.
I really want to love this hotel with its unique, turn of the century charm. It is so absolutely beautiful. But our experiences here have been so unfortunate, that I don't think we could justify the cost of the rooms @ $500/ night to give it another chance. For a similar price, we'd soon stay at The Broadmoor for a better experience and value :( Bummer! This hotel has such huge potential!!!