Gateway Mountain Lodge — Hotel in Silverthorne

We had a great stay at Gateway Lodge this past week. We had a studio apartment that was well-equipped with everything that we could possibly need for our stay during the week. It had a small apartment fridge/freezer. There was two burner electric stove and a medium-sized microwave. We did find ourselves wishing for extension cords around the bed. We had oxygen requiring an outlet, multiple chargers for phones, laptops, tablets, etc and found ourselves using outlets on the far side of the room for everything because there was only one usable outlet by our bed. The shower was a bit of a disappointment. The tub had a v-bottom slope and the water pressure was barely adequate for washing hair.

LOCATION- this was very convenient. The local bus (Orange line) picks you up a couple hundred feet from the front door, and River Run Village for instance was only a five minute ride away. There are several lines and connection points. The buses run roughly every 20 minutes from around 8:30am until 5 pm, and then are on-call until about 11:30pm or so. We used on call twice and didn’t have to wait more than 15 minutes each time. We also had a car and drove out to the shopping centers in Silverthorne, which might have been about a ten minute drive. The conference center with ample parking was also on the bus route, but only a five minute drive down the road.

I enjoyed that the Gateway plaza itself had a small liquor store and restaurants, but everything seemed to close early. For instance, the brewery/restaurant next door closed by 9pm on a Friday night and wasn’t taking any food orders past 8:30pm. In a ski resort town of this caliber, that honestly felt pretty lame.

Facilities- the building itself is a bit dated, but clean and maintained for the most part. We stayed during Snowsports season in late February and the heat was blasting in our apartment. We put the thermostat on the lowest setting hoping that would turn the heat down, but it never did, and so we had to resort to keeping our window open in order to tolerate the temperature. This was unfortunate because we tried using the provided humidifier to make the air more comfortable to breathe, but having the opened window didn’t help our efforts. We tried closing the window and using the powerful supplied fan, but then we were just circulating hot air.

The building has card-operated laundry facilities, a small shallow heated indoor swimming pool and a spa adequately sized to fit several people. Both close daily at 10pm, but rarely had more than a few people in either during our evening visits.

For toting gear, there were a few supplied luggage carts, and we were fortunately able to use them when we needed them, but they do rely on those using them to cart them back to the parking garage which some lazy people refused to do, thus inconveniencing others.

PARKING- each unit has an available spot in the underground parking garage. We never had difficulty finding a spot, nor did we ever feel like we had to walk too far to access the stairs or the elevator. The outdoor parking for the stores was also convenient, and plowed and salted. For people staying in some of the other buildings off the main, we did notice that while the roads were plowed, there weren’t any visible sidewalks, so guests had to walk in the road to access anything, and given the height of some of the snowdrifts, that seemed a little unsafe. We also noted on our way to the bus, that what little sidewalk there was, was poorly salted in areas and actually quite treacherous to navigate with difficult-to-spot large ice patches. But for the most part, the area at night was well-lit and the property felt safe for pedestrians and drivers alike.

We would still absolutely stay here gain. For the price, considering some of our other options, this was a great value and...

We stayed at Gateway Lodge for six nights, skiing 3 days at Keystone and 1 day each at Vail, Breckenridge and Arapahoe Basin. We booked it through Keystone Resort, and communications with them were very good throughout. The Gatehouse Lodge was fine to stay in ... we were in efficiency condo 5070, which was in good shape, practical for the two of us with a kitchenette for breakfast and good wifi. However, it's a 15-minute walk with skis to the River Run gondola, which is a bit much. It's better if you time it to catch the free shuttle bus in the morning, where River Run is the next stop. After skiing in the afternoon it's harder to catch the timing right, and Gatehouse is the last stop so there's a 20-minute bus ride. We used the communal hot tub and pool once ... not bad although there was an issue with foamy bubbles. You can bring a drink with you if you want. There's a little store off the lobby for last minute necessities, although you'll save money by driving out to a bigger store. You can contact the Keystone Resort if you run out of coffee or room items, and they'll deliver them 24 hours a day. There's convenient parking in the basement level parking garage. Lots of good restaurants close by ... I had one of the best steaks of my life at Zuma Roadhouse. And up the road in Dillon there are more ... the Arapahoe Cafe and ProFusion were excellent. There's a good breakfast place right below the Gateway Lodge called the Haywood that served up great big breakfasts. The other ski areas are easily reached: 20 minutes to Breck, 40 minutes to Vail, 10 minutes to Arapahoe Basin. All in all, a great central location with plenty of options for skiing and entertainment about 1.5 hours...

Cons- owner (Guy Schlacter) was a bully, rude and deceptive. 1 week before our visit, there was a leak and flood that took out 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom. We were going to cancel and book another place we found. GUY promised the bedroom would be ready but the bathroom would be out of commission. Upon arrival at 5pm on a Sunday, the bathroom was completely torn down to the studs( expected). The bedroom was completely covered in plastic, trim, floor runners, tools, a toilet and misc other remodeling supplies. The way the owner talked, he seemed to know the bedroom was covered in plastic and not usable. Guy's solution was to send a cleaning crew...on a Sunday evening as we are all arriving. Conservative estimate, it would have taken 5 plus hours to clean that place up. Not to mention the workers coming and going as we are trying to vacation. When asked about partial refund for a completely unusable bedroom and bathroom, Guy threatened to cancel the contract and change the door codes. Awful way to treat a guest, especially a guest that was understanding of the flood situation. As a result, we had to have family members sleep on air mattresses on the floor.| - upstairs rooms get very hot in the evening.and the windows wouldn't open| - beds are extremely uncomfortable and noisey| - couch and chairs were extremely uncomfortable. | - the dryer seems like it vents straight upstairs | - one one outlet works in the kitchen || Pros- location. Very short walk to a shuttle stop. Short walk to river...