Trailborn Rocky Mountains — Hotel in Estes Park

I'm a bit torn with this review - on one hand, TBRM is a great place to use as a base for exploring the nearby park. On the other hand, I think it suffers from a lack of experience on the service side and promising more than it can deliver.

I'll start with the positives - the kitchen/bar staff and the food were great. They were friendly, accommodating and quick, and the lounge/kitchen/bar area itself was nicely put together.

Unfortunately TBRM presents itself (through descriptions and photos) as a high-bar, polished hotel experience, when in reality it feels more like a motel that's had a facelift. My room (King) was spacious and quite nicely presented, although it had a very small bathroom and tiny window meaning that it was much darker than in the photos and wasn't somewhere I wanted to spend my time. It also had an odd aircon/dehumidifier setup (again not pictured) that required a physical box in front of the window with a large, noisy tube going out of it.

The service side (not including the kitchen) is what let the TBRM down the most. Staff were rarely able to provide clear information about things which I would have expected to be basic and key given the positioning of the hotel and it's proximity to the park. I had booked two hiking experiences with TB (which were fantastic and deserve a separate review) only to find out on arrival that these are run through a third party, and as such the person on the front desk couldn't give me any help or information further than providing me with the contact details of the guide.

Additionally, when I arrived I was told that the swimming pool "might be down for maintenance" but that I was "welcome to check", and there was a general lack of clarity around things like kitchen and pool opening hours.

Also, and probably most importantly, my room wasn't cleaned/turned-down once during my three night stay. Granted I didn't request it, but the few hours that I was at the hotel during the day in between hikes I needed to use my room, so it wouldn't have worked to have someone cleaning it. For somewhere that presents itself as a 4-star hotel, not having room cleaning as standard is a real let down. The Holiday Inn which I was in for a week in the run up to this trip cleaned and tidied my room every day and is far from the luxury establishment that TBRM presents itself as.

On top of all this, the lock on my door ran out of battery requiring about an hours worth of maintenance whilst I was in the room. While they were relatively quick with getting it fixed, this meant that my room (the door of which goes directly outside) had effectively been unlocked and completely accessible for the majority of the previous day whilst I had been out. A lock system which defaults to open when it fails is bonkers...

All in all, I'm giving 2 stars for the kitchen/bar staff and location, but most everything else was a bit of a let down either because it greatly misaligned with my expectations of what a hotel of this calibre/price point should deliver, or that (whilst still OK) they promised too much with their marketing.

I notice that many of these themes seem to be recurring from other reviews so don't seem to be one offs. If I had read the reviews in advance I probably would have either stayed at the cheaper option (the outpost) or chosen a different hotel at the same price point. At it's current price point, TBRM...

If you are looking for a place to stay that is not the cleanest and is always “running low” on everything, this is the place for you. It all started when we tried to check-in at 4:05pm. They said the room wasn’t ready and probably wouldn’t be ready for another 1.5 - 2 hours. They said they’d call or text us when it was ready (they didn’t). When we finally got in the room, it had a dirty shower with crud on the shower wall and quite a bit of mold on the shower curtain. Also cobwebs in the window. We immediately asked for a new shower curtain, but they had no spare shower curtains and the front desk person said they would get maintenance to address it but they had already left for the day. Guess what? We finally got a replacement shower curtain on the last night, but they just dropped it off, and I had to take down the moldy one and put the clean one up myself. The sofa in the room also had multiple mystery stains so we never put anything on it or sat on it. “Housekeeping” was very inconsistent. They made the bed 2 of the days we stayed, left some fresh towels 1 day (but not any wash cloths - they were out), and they took the trash out 1 day. One morning, they had coffee out in the lobby, but I had to go to the other location down the street for the “complimentary grab and go breakfast”. It was just yogurt and muffins, so don’t bother with that if you do have the misfortune to stay here. The first day, the front desk attendant supposedly was going to have the manager contact us - they never did. We also heard them tell another group of guests they were running low on room keys and several of the rooms have broken AC with the temporary window units visible in the windows. You can also hear the noise from the road, adjacent rooms/rooms above you are very noisy, and you will not be able to get your room completely dark if that’s something you need to sleep at night. I would absolutely discourage anyone from staying here. We stayed for the entire stay because we were pretty sure we wouldn’t get our money refunded. When it was check-out time, the front desk attendant (a new one we had not seen before) seemed genuinely concerned when I told her this was one of the worst hotel experiences we’ve ever had. She immediately wrote down all the problems I already listed above and contacted the manager. The manager, Christy, called us about 5 minutes later and profusely apologized for the problems, stated over and over “I’m going to make this right, this isn’t how we do things”. I’m not sure what she meant, but we were still charged the full amount for our stay, even though the person who checked us in late told us he would take $50 off for us not being able to check in until 2 hours later.

Update: I emailed the manager twice as she asked in the reply with...

Two words: UNWELCOMING EXPERIENCE

This is a motel you stay at when there are simply no other options. That being said... I promise you, sleeping in the car is a better option.

My problems started before I even arrived at the property, receiving 9 different "your reservation has been updated" emails, each with the check in and check out times listed in Eastern time - neither where I, nor the property, was located. This is an immediate indication the property lacks any type of attention to details. Literally every email is mixed time zones and times all over the thing.

Upon arrival, the Guest Service Agent told us there weren't any keys available for our room. Okay... I guess? Then we were given a room number while she spent the entire check in process complaining to us and anyone else around "I'm supposed to be off at 11. It's 11:15." Like I am at fault for the property staffing decision.

After that, the agent handed us our keys but didn't direct us where the room was located, nor did they familiarize us with anything at all about the property. Basically it felt like "get out of my lobby" the brief moment we were in there. Nothing but complaints and passive aggressiveness from the Guest Service Agent.

As for our room, despite being in a wedding block booked months in advance, we were shoved very very far from the group. Likely why I got all those emails -- the property kept moving my room as others arrived for check in. Basically treating me like a commodity, and not a member of a group intentionally traveling together (and sharing the same last name).

The rooms themselves are old but comfortable. The beds are great, and there really isn't much to note other than, for a motel, the rooms are great.

However, when I woke up to go to the bathroom. In simply walking to the bathroom, I get a noise complaint for "stomping around" in a room which the hotel themselves chose to put me in, away from my party. So, the property made choices to break up my group, they then kudgel me with complaints that resulted from the property's own decision.

I came to the front desk and requested the GM contact me. The front desk agent assured me that she'd pass my information to the GM for follow up... Guess what never happened? The GM never contacted me. At all. Instead they hope the mistreatment of guests will just pass on by.

This is sincerely, not a great place to stay. It's not welcoming. It is lacking on any type of guest experience. It is little more than a rentable box to sleep in, but you can't move or talk or you'll get admonished by the staff for simply existing and needing to use the bathroom.

Horrible...