Aspire Hotel & Spa — Hotel in Estes Park

READ THE WHOLE REVIEW! The movie The Shining was NOT filmed here at the Stanley hotel. If you're only coming here because you thought the movie The Shining was filmed here, it wasn't. Stephen King stayed in room 217, had a nightmare and came up with the movie here. If you're wanting to rent the room that he stayed in, there's a 3-year waiting list and a 8 year waiting list for Halloween night and you're looking at about $1,200 a night from what I heard. However, The Shining miniseries, and the movie Dumb and Dumber was filmed here if you're interested. Also there is NO room 237 as in the movie. In fact I was told that the room doesn't exist at the hotel it was filmed in either as they were afraid people would not want to rent it. However, they do offer The Shining tour that is an hour-long and $30 a ticket, but then again since the movie wasn't filmed here it isn't worth going on. The only part of the tour that had anything to do with The Shining was talking about Stephen King renting the room, having the nightmare, and coming up with the movie. You're walking around a hotel that had nothing to do with the movie, so honestly the tour wasn't even worth going on because nothing about the building had anything to do with The Shining. If The movie had been filmed here, the tour would have been worth it since you would be walking around the hotel where the movie was actually filmed, instead of seeing rooms that had nothing to do with the movie. So you're not going to have the hedge maze here either since once again this was not the hotel the movie was filmed in. Although they did plant some trees in and did a very mini maze which isn't really a maze at all, and less than 1 minute long. The trees are very short as they didn't want the front of the hotel view to be blocked.

Regarding the rooms and advertising of rooms: THE SUNRISE ROOM THAT WE RENTED ONLINE IS NOT THE NICE ROOM YOU SEE IN THE FIRST PHOTOS OF THIS REVIEW! They either photoshopped the rooms or switch and bait them. The sunrise room #230 that we booked are in the next photos, and look absolutely NOTHING like the photos advertised and I mean nothing like the photos and we spent over $509 for one night, and that was on a Thursday night. Seriously, I would not even pay $150 to stay in the room that we got. I went to the front desk and showed them the photos and have the lady look at the room and ask her if she thought it looked anything like the photos and she agreed it look nothing like the photos so they gave us a different room that was way nicer, bigger, and had more amenities and over $100 cheaper. If the original room's photos weren't so nice, I would have booked The Aspire room to start with. I would highly recommend renting an Aspire room with a balcony, some do not have balconies just an FYI. The Aspire rooms are also $100 plus cheaper and are much nicer, bigger, updated and have a lot more to offer (kitchen, small dining area, living room, washer and dryer, 2 TVs (1 in front of the bed on the wall, which is nice if you like to watch TV while going to bed, and 1 in living room), a bigger nicer bathroom as well as air conditioning with a thermostat on the wall. The other room had a portable air conditioning fan that's why I mentioned the thermostat on the wall.

My overall thoughts: I originally was just going to do The Shining tour, but then decided it would be neat to stay here where the movie was filmed. Just to find out it wasn't. The pricing for the rooms was ridiculously high, especially after finding out the movie was not filmed here (as well as no room 237, and no hedge maze).

I would suggest renting elsewhere, SKIP THE TOUR, and just visit here and walk around the hotel grounds for photos, food and whatnot.

The photos below are of the room we thought we were getting, and then of the room we got (NOTHING ALIKE). I do not have any photos of the Aspire rooms, however, you won't be disappointed, and they are pretty nice! GET A ROOM WITH A BALCONY! They are...

A Postage Stamp for $341/Night

I stay in a hotel about 25 nights a year with my work. I can be understanding because I know things happen. When hotel management ignores and refuses to respond to a significant problem, I’m experienced enough to know a serious problem with management. This place is a façade ready to crumble.

We stayed in a King Room at The Stanley Aspire and paid $341 per night—an outrageous price for a room that felt like a postage stamp. It had a king bed, two nightstands, and a narrow table at the foot of the bed, with just enough space to walk around. There was no chair, no closet, and no place to put luggage. No seating, nowhere to unpack, and no comfort beyond the bed itself.

To make matters worse, we were there on a warm June day, and the air conditioner couldn’t cool the room below 75 degrees. One small window opened about four inches, offering little relief. I went to the front desk to complain, and the woman said someone would come within an hour. No one came. When I returned later, a sign on the door said “Office Closed.” I called the front desk and got voicemail. I called again and reached someone, who again promised help within an hour. Still, no one came and nothing changed.

By then, it was too late. The room was hot and stuffy, and I got very little sleep. Early the next morning, I called again—voicemail. I called once more and reached a woman who said she was getting off in 10 minutes. I explained that we were heading out for the day and asked to be moved if the AC couldn’t be fixed. She took my number and said she would leave a message for the next shift.

I never got a call. Nothing changed. That evening happened to be cooler due to rain, but by the time we checked out at 10 AM the next morning, the room temperature had already climbed back up to 76 degrees. The air conditioning simply could not cool the space.

After reading a review from a year ago, complained about the same issues, I can only assume that everyone involved knew the AC didn’t work and chose to pass the buck, hoping we’d just go away. The room was uncomfortable, the service was unresponsive, and the experience was frustrating from start to finish. To be clear, my problem is not with the people I interacted with. They appeared to be afraid for their jobs. After doing a little research, it is clear the problem is at the top of this organization.

I will never return to The Stanley and would never recommend...

We recently stayed at the Stanley Aspire for one night during a swing through town. I have stayed at the Stanley three times before, but this was the first time at Aspire. Upon checking in, we discovered the only elevator was not working. Other guests came by and said “It’s slow,” but we waited with our luggage for about 8 minutes before going to the front desk. The lady there said “Oh, it’s not working again? I’ll call them. Sometimes it’s just a turn of the key.” Aspire is the newest building on the property with one elevator and four floors. We were shown the stairs to carry all our stuff (suitcases packed for eight days) up the stairs to the third floor. When we left for dinner about 30 minutes later the elevator was working. When we returned from dinner we discovered the toilet would not flush. We called and reported this at about 8:30 pm. We were told that maintenance would come. We left for “The Shining Tour” at 9. No one had come. Upon our return the toilet still would not flush and no one had been there. Now it is 10:05. We called again and were told that job had been removed so it should have been fixed. We were also told maintenance leaves at 10. We asked for a new room but were told all were full. So now we are in a $400 room with a toilet that doesn’t work. We had to leave the room and use a bathroom down the hall accessed with a room key. We then asked for a plunger to fix it ourselves. Front desk had no idea where one was, but “we will look for one.” The guy on the phone said we could have 10 percent back on the room due to not having a working toilet. About 11:15 pm a guy showed up with a plunger and a black plastic bag. He said it was found in the basement. This was absolutely ridiculous and a horrible experience for a “luxury” hotel. We tried to fix it the best we could but ended up having to use the hall bathroom again. Upon checking out at aspire I explained to the woman on duty our difficulties so they would know not to give that room to anyone until it is fixed. She was unconcerned and said, “Oh, ok.” I will not stay at the Stanley again. ||The Shining Tour was not great. They are reaching very hard for some connection when there really is nothing but Stephen King spent a night there. Don’t...