The Peaks Resort & Spa — Hotel in Mountain Village

August 16-19, 2013

Mom had booked the hotel through a price line auction thingy, which apparently didn't give you the name of the hotel until after you booked. This was a mistake on our part- the cost of the room did not cover the cost of valet parking- $24 a night. There is no other parking. It also didn't cover the additional, similarly hefty resort fee. For a lower-middle class family, this was pretty devastating financially.

Aside from our determination to never book via priceline again, I would say our stay was otherwise positive. The rooms were nice, all the staff was courteous and accommodating, and the scenery from our balcony was inspiring.

Food in the area is expensive in general- we were lucky to find $20/person dinners, and prices at the resort itself was even higher, so Mom and I would eat out for lunch, bring something home for dinner (such as pizza), and survive off food we brought for breakfast and snacks (such as the dill havarti cheese we brought from home combined with french bread from a local bakery). The room comes equipped with a coffee pot, complimentary coffee, and a mini fridge.

We didn't buy any spa treatments either (we didn't have $130+ to spare), but no matter- there are several options that the resort fee already pays for. Geared toward 16+ year-old guests, there are gender-designated areas containing a roman bath, a dry sauna, and a stream room that smells like eucalyptus. Spa lounges offer complimentary lemon water and snacks (in my case, apples). For families and co-ed groups, down the wet blue stairs there is an additional dry sauna, steam room, and hot tubs. Downstairs is where one will also find an indoor-outdoor pool complete with a speedy water slide (that I was too chicken to ever try), and a whole bunch of other rooms I never did utilize- a separate lap pool, fitness room, and yoga room.

If you aren't into pools or spas, one could always curl up inside the old west-inspired lobby. Better yet, enjoy the scenery and stars on the outside terrace- complete with cushy chairs and numerous elegant gas burning fire places. The second floor contains an arcade and a snack vending machine. My mom was disappointed by the lack of soda vending machines.

And I guess that leaves our room itself. It was pretty clean, although my mom did notice a bit of mold and some finger prints in the bathroom. Mom found the bed to be too hard for her liking, and often parked herself on the room's couch. I was please the room was equipped with an especially deep tub, and Mom and I both enjoyed nibbling on food on our own balcony. Wi-fi is complimentary. Since the room didn't have air conditioning, we left the balcony door open at night/in the morning. Room service is available, but if the food wasn't expensive enough, there is also a $4 delivery fee and 20-something percent gratuity charge, so we chose to forgo room service. The front desk can be contact by phone to bring up things like toilet paper, etc, including unlimited complimentary Dasani bottled water.

The last thing I'd like to bring up- I experienced something of a culture shock. I am used to a more casual and friendly culture. The culture of The Peaks, of the Telluride area in general, is a bit more cool and reserved, even coming across as pretentious. I wouldn't blame anyone for this, the reserved nature might even be praised amongst typical clientele, but this is a characteristic to be aware of if you tend to prefer a more gregarious and open way of life.

We won't book through price line again, we probably won't be back anytime soon, but I am confident quite a few people will enjoy a stay at the Peaks Resort. At the end of the day, my Mom and I are glad we...

The Peaks is a great place that could use a little more discipline. I've stayed there a couple times during a ski vacation. It certainly has the panache of a 5-star hotel, but the employees are not trained like Ritz-Carlton and therefore lack some the finer points of hospitality. The lack of attention to all the details from the employees is evident in all the public areas: restaurant, check-in, spa, ski valet, and sports-shop rentals (not technically a business arm of the hotel though). The employees are all very nice, but it is obvious they don't think past the requirements of their own jobs; they don't take the extra step to hand the customers off to the right places when they don't know or can't help. Once, we ordered room service and didn't realize that we'd have to go pick it up until they called us to come and get it from the restaurant. Equipment, plumbing, and fixtures all seemed to be in good working order in the public and private spaces I visited or stayed in. I really appreciated that they had self-serve water or other beverages readily available almost anywhere I was. Kudos for also putting air humidifiers in the rooms! It ended up being a boon to getting a better nights' rest. The Keurig single serve machine in the room had lots of good options for coffee and hot cocoa; thanks to house keeping for keeping that well stocked with all the good flavors. Housekeeping overall did a great job. The spa, fitness room, group exercise, and pool areas are amazing and fun; there is an indoor waterslide. They have a large and well appointed men's locker room with another sauna, steam room, and hot tub for those of us 16 and older. I believe the women's area is of similar accommodations. I also really liked that it is a ski-in ski-out resort.

My only complaint, which I didn't complain about, but in hind sight I wish I would have mentioned before I left: The room doors slam shut. I think the hotel kept all of us skiers on the same floors, so every morning it was slamming and ski-boots hulking down the hallway. You can pretty easily hear that noise and conversations from the bed of the room we were in (not too far from the elevators). I hope they can get some padding on those door frames to soften the sound the doors make when they're allowed to shut on their own. Otherwise, it was mostly a very quiet room.

I really want to give the Peaks 5 stars because it really is that caliber of hotel and resort. However, since there is visibly pealing paint on the exterior and too many of the employees are just nice, I must wait until they can be a little better and maintain a...

PROs: Stunningly beautiful views. Soft sheets. Super sweet housekeeper. Half-price dinner menu at their on-site restaurant where the food was absolutely delicious. (You can eat inside in a more casual-than-expected environment or dine outside on the patio where the views are stunning. There are heat lamps outside if necessary.) Housekeeping promptly delivered extra items requested by phone (and with a smile). The employees working check-in were casual-ish and friendly and proactively informed me of the half-price dinner menu. The spa/pool facilities are included for free for hotel guests. There's a lovely steam room/hot tub/dry sauna in the private areas and a co-ed indoor/outdoor pool with a hot tub. The swimming pool was heated to a pleasant temperature. ||CONs: The room struck me as outdated with an upscale 1980s rustic, lodge-y feel. Personally, I did not feel that the room price matched the value, but maybe that's just Telluride? No air conditioning other than a large, portable unit that sat on the floor with the exhaust tube leading out an upper window, obstructing the view. The plastic/metal piece that fit around the exhaust tube did not fill the space very well. As such, there were gaps to the outside, which did not strike me as energy efficient or good for insect exclusion (although I didn't note any bugs). I spoke with someone else staying at the hotel who did not have air conditioning, even a portable unit, only a ceiling fan and a portable fan. The dated-appearing bathroom had a clogged sink drain. Engineering worked on it, but the sink was somehow clogged even worse after servicing. No electric outlet on one side of the bed, which struck me as very odd. Seems like it would be an easy fix along with adding a phone charging port, which was also lacking. Although the spa treatment I had was wonderful, it was clouded due to the extraordinarily high price (north of $400 with tax and the included 20% gratuity). I was offered the opportunity to remove the tip, but I found the encounter awkward and would have preferred for there to just be a line on the receipt to add whatever tip I deemed appropriate without it being automatically added and requesting that it be reduce. The spa tech was friendly and skilled, although if I returned to the hotel, I would be reluctant to schedule a spa appointment because of the high price. Wonderful choice of lemon or cucumber water and fruit, which was a nice touch. No separate dressing area in the shower stalls so it was difficult to dry-off and get dressed in private while avoiding the floor, which was wet...