The Brown Palace Hotel and Spa, Autograph Collection — Hotel in Denver

It is a historically significant hotel that takes you back to old-world elegance, where the lobby has most of the elegance, and the rooms have most of the old. I like old hotels, preferring them to modern ones when they are done "well," and I hate giving a bad review, but this hotel works so hard to get it that I feel I must deliver. It's hard to pinpoint precisely what's wrong with this hotel, but it appears to be a combination of a cheap renovation, inconsistent staff, and poor maintenance. It's not all bad, though; there are some good things, but many of those can be had without staying there, so this review focuses on the room experience and not the elegance of the lobby, grand staircase, or atrium. Also, this hotel markets itself as an old-world luxury hotel with a four-diamond rating, so I'm reviewing it against that, not against the Holiday Inn.

First, the renovation appears to be poorly done. There are many signs they have cheaped out where they could have made this a fantastic hotel, like the recently renovated Palace Hotel (San Francisco), which is of a similar age. Instead, they added marble-looking porcelain to the original marble, added cheap hollow core doors to the closet and bathroom, and left an outdated tub/shower combination that leaves you wanting. If you look closely, you can see they furred out the walls for cabling, didn't take the time to texture, tore up plaster or sheetrock, and used molding to "sort of" hide the wiring. Even odder, the light switches were all in weird locations, on the wrong sides of doors, so when they updated, they changed door swings without relocating the switches. Even on the trim, you can see mill marks where they did shoddy work. Still, had they maintained this hotel better, this would be less of an issue.

Second, the maintenance; the hotel could be better maintained. We encountered many things that shouldn't be issued with proper maintenance. Some examples include 1/3 light bulbs over the sink being out and 1/3 of those bulbs flickering. The shower had electrical tape partially coming out of the wall. The electrical outlets on the walls were old and no longer "tight" or didn't work. The hangers fell apart because the actual hanger had been stripped. The toilet must be held for 3-5 seconds to flush. The bathrobes are there but have no waist ties. There is room service and a gym, but there's no information in the room at all. The closet door is walk-in, but there is no inside handle, so you are locked in when you close the door to get to the backside! There are lots of screws missing, too, which is always a sign that maintenance is slowly failing. I could go on, but it comes down to a need for more investment in maintaining the already poor renovation.

Finally, the service could have been more consistent. For example, I called reservations for dinner several times and never got a response, and the front desk just sluffed off the fact that no one was there. Housekeeping oddly did not replace the original complement of towels and coffee condiments. Overall, it just felt like a sleepy hotel with low energy.

It's not all bad; there were some good things, but most of those you consider table stakes for a hotel in this class. Good things include the bed, the fact that a fridge is in your room, there are lots of original (1890) or classic (1937) touches, the rooms are quiet (for an atrium hotel), the blackout curtains work well, and the exterior door is solid (although it inconsistently closes on its own).

Marriot does not own this hotel; they manage it, and it seems the Marriot aspects are mostly as expected. Overall, I love the history of this place; there are signs throughout the hotel commenting on it, and this hotel could be a first-class destination. Instead, it's slowly being run down, which is sad. As it stands, I would not return; there are better options in the area like Le Méridien.

Finally, I talked to several other guests who expressed happiness with their stay, so perhaps we...

Avoid this place like the plague. The hotel is an interesting historic property. Unfortunately, it’s not well maintained and the service and facilities are very poor in certain key respects.

Most importantly, the AC barely functions. There were some very warm days in Denver during my stay. I stayed at two other nearby Marriott properties the few nights before I stayed here, and despite the heat, both hotels kept my room in the mid-60s with the AC. The Brown Palace couldn’t get my room cooler than about 75 degrees, which made for sweaty nights of poor sleep. The room was even WARMER (ten degrees or so) inside than outside when the temperature dropped in the evenings. The hotel engineers tried to help but explained that the AC was too old and just didn’t work well. I had the same experience the last time I stayed here when it was actually pretty cool outside (in the 50s), but I was assured it was a one-off problem with that room. It’s not. It seems to be pervasive at the property. This would be bad at a low-end, inexpensive property. At the rates this hotel is charging, it’s completely unacceptable and frankly constitutes a denial of a critical service.

There were other problems that suggest the hotel is indifferent toward customer service. For example, the handset didn’t work on my room phone. The hotel kept calling to deal with the AC but the phone repeatedly wouldn’t connect when I picked up the handset. I had to message the hotel my cell. The engineer told me the hotel ran out of batteries for the handsets and so most of them don’t function at all. He explained that the only way to use the phone is the speaker phone option. This is a nominal expense for an important device in the room.

The parking valet is very unreliable. I was told to call 10-15 minutes in advance for my car. The first day, it took over 45 minutes to get my car which made me 20 minutes late for an important client meeting. They assured me that it was a one-time error. The morning I left, I needed to get to the airport and I called nearly half an hour in advance to be safe. It was early - around 530am - so it wasn’t busy. Nobody answered the valet phone despite repeated calls over a five-minute period. So I tried using the QR code on the valet ticket to request the car. It didn’t work. A webpage came up saying the page wasn’t found. So I called the front desk (on speaker phone…) and they assured me they’d handle it. When I came down at 5:57am to leave by 6am, the valet was still nowhere to be found. When I went to the desk, they just then found the valet and he went to get the car — at a garage I was told is three blocks away. I waited nearly 15 minutes and left late for the airport.

Room service also was a challenge. There’s a card in the room with a QR code to order food. Like the valet QR code, it didn’t work. So I called the front desk — on speaker phone — and I was told I could order through the hotel website. But the page they directed me to doesn’t exist. I used DoorDash.

There also are small things that matter. For example, this is the first hotel I’ve stayed at in as long as I can remember that provides no water in the room. Even Marriott’s lower brands, such as Residence Inn, Courtyard, and Fairfield Inn, all have always provided bottled water for free in the rooms. And there’s usually extra water to purchase. There’s literally nothing in the room apart from the sink, which I drank from repeatedly since it was so hot in my room and I ran out of bottled water that I had to buy for myself.

To topi it all off, I sent a polite note to the hotel general manager through Marriott sharing my experience to help the hotel improve its service. The hotel never responded.

In short, I’ve had better experiences at Days Inn and Motel 6 in my younger days when I stayed at those places, and my experience has been MUCH better at every other Marriott property, at every brand level. There are a number of great Marriott and other options in Denver. Choose literally...

We’ve just checked out after a five night stay at the Brown Palace. We had such high hopes for this historied grand hotel but, unfortunately, this grand old lady has not lived up to her reputation.

Our room is old. That’s to be expected for a hotel built in 1892. But the old bits add to its charm. It’s the poor craftsmanship from the updated areas that are odd. Loose walls, peeling wallpaper, chipped paint, unvacuumed carpets, etc…all things that could easily be remedied but are not. There appears to be a lack of standards throughout.

Afternoon tea, a long standing tradition, was absolutely ruined for us by a sparring couple adjacent to us who were in the throes of a domestic dispute. Afternoon tea, the most civilized of all social niceties was taken over by an abusive thug warring against his helpless, and teary eyed, lady who was there celebrating her birthday. My wife addressed the concern with the hostess, indicated her level of upset, but nothing was done to remove the parties or to compensate us for our troubles. This was a $300.00 tea, mind you.

Our room has not been made up or attended to during our stay so far, we have to ask for towels and toiletries. Barking dogs in the hallways, keys that don’t work, room service that cannot serve. The list goes on and on. It’s been quite frustrating so far.

We had reservations to dine at the world renowned Palace Arms. We were extremely disappointed that they allow cigar smoking in the adjacent bar which permeates throughout the restaurant and hotel atrium. We were forced to cancel after so looking forward to it.

Everything has been extremely sub-par. It appears the hotel is more concerned with outside visitors who pay for their afternoon tea than they are with their paying guests. This is advertised as an upscale, luxury, hotel. I can assure you it is not. It’s 2 star at best. This hotel survives based solely upon its history and grand old design. Not on its service or modern amenities.

I’ll update this review should things take a turn for the better. Currently, we’re waiting on Uber Eats to deliver our breakfast because room service couldn’t accommodate us. 🙄

UPDATE (8 hours later): 2nd day in a row now that housekeeping did not attend to our room. We could’ve stayed at the Holiday Inn Express across the street and received better hospitality, I’m thinking.

UPDATE II: After discussing cleaning concerns with the front desk, our room was cleaned at 4:30 p.m.. We were comped two (2) drink tickets. When we submitted said drink tickets at dinner, they were not honored and we paid in full for all purchased alcoholic beverages. Upon returning to the room, the hotel provided waffle blanket was removed from our bedding. Punishment? I don’t know anymore. Everything here has been an expensive and unpleasant experience.

Rating changed from a two star subpar experience to a one star disaster. Such a shame.

Ship Tavern and room service, on one occasion, provided stellar service. It depends on who you speak to on any given day, it seems.

Note to young bartenders: Don’t automatically say “I don’t know how to make that” when someone asks for a drink. Instead, say, “ I’m unfamiliar with that. Let me find out”. And then GOOGLE it for Pete’s sake! Or ask the customer! Most POS systems have a search function that’ll actually print the recipe for you!

I asked the front desk to make change for a $50.00 bill upon checking out to tip the valet. “Can you please give me two twenties and two fives?”, I asked. “Certainly!”, she replied. She then handed me five $10.00 bills. That sums up our entire stay. Nobody here cares.

5 night stay at Brown Palace with valet parking: $2700 + dollars! 😳...