Copper Vacations — Local services in Four Corners States

This more that I anticipated writing but I hope that it is useful to the owner, management, and future renters.

We were a bit disappointed. Our second trip to Copper Mountain. We love the mountain, but that is not the point here. The Summit House #204 condo appeared adequately priced at first blush. However, the bedding, furniture and décor remain an iconic showcase of late seventies/early eighties contemporary/Native-American chic. The cleaning crew should be immediately fired. 1) the toilet seat was broken and falling apart, which means they never cleaned it, or just didn’t care enough to have someone fix it; 2) the shower-curtain was disgusting and remained hanging by little over half the rungs; and the stove burner didn’t work. After a call to the office, the management was quick to fix these items; however, I also noticed that the cleaners had not cleaned the top of the fridge in what looked like years, which was clearly visible to anyone over 5’6” as the fridge is not even of regular height (think two years of dust accumulated and visible, really?) Notably, the cabinets were installed in 1972 (as per the certification affixed thereto) and a can of paint remains under the sink, which is desperately in need of deployment.

Bedding: the mattress and bedding are truly awful. Do yourself a favor, bring your own sheets/pillow-cases and bed roll because it appears they wash these cheap fiberglass linens in gravel and splintered glass for that Marquis de Sade comfort only the owners can appreciate. Thank goodness the springs are so old that they soften, so blood isn’t necessarily drawn but the poking pressure points permit added excitement if you are into a light S&M. Didn’t really do it for me. Climate: The condo (204) is above the parking space, so floor is freezing and the windows and door very, very drafty. Maybe 20 bucks in trim sealing is worth considering, so the heat doesn’t have to remain at 85 the whole time. Just saying…

Location: the convenience is great. Walk to the lift.

Health Club Access: There is also free access to the Athletic Club, which appears to have the same cleaning crew as the condo, so free is still overpriced, considerably. I went to the club once last year when I stayed at a different property VRBO (but managed by the Copper Vacations folks) and went again, once, this year. I thought it was unclean last year but apparently blocked that out; this year reminded me why they keep the lighting so dim which is weird for a health club. It’s clear that expectations are very low when it comes to hygienic conditions throughout the health club. My advice: Bleach… lots and lots of Bleach. Also, perhaps installing ultraviolet lights throughout the club to suppress the germ farm feeling one gets from the apparent general failure to upgrade or reasonably maintain the property to an acceptable level of cleanliness.

General: This particular condo (Summit House 204) is similar to a 1989 Super 8 or Red Roof Inn but situated at the base of a great ski area. Of course, the high nightly rate is for the location only, which I get. However, while I generally accept some short-comings for the locale, here one needs to lower their standards, considerably.

As an aside, I am not certain if these are the owner’s issues or the management issues because I am not familiar with the contractual relationship between these folks. Copper Vacation was quick to address the problems and I have generally had good experiences with them in the past; so perhaps they need to kick this property out of their rental pool or make the owner maintain the property at a more acceptable level of investment. If this is not Copper Vacations fault, it will reflect poorly on them. I would not rent this particular condo again without considerable assurances on few key improvements, but will probably give Copper Vacations the benefit of the doubt next year at least. We do like Copper Mountain, but there are lots of...

The condo itself, while small, was nice. We appreciated especially the king-size bed and free parking. The location is also very convenient for skiing. Would be nice if the TV had better speakers, but this isn't a big deal; we came to ski. 4 stars for the condo. The property management leaves something to be desired. The directions to the place to check in were not clear. Typically, management leaves a coffee filter or two and enough coffee for the first morning. Not so here--and they said that was up to owners. The first afternoon after skiing hard, all of the "hot" tubs were only luke-warm and on subsequent days (after I called to complain) they were hotter but the jets never worked. We were scheduled for garbage pick-up and new towels on Wednesday (I called Tuesday p.m. to confirm and was told housekeeping would stop by around 1:00 or 2:00 p.m.). So, we left all but two towels (anticipating their use for hot tub) on BR floor and put garbage outside the sink cabinet. When we returned after skiing at 4 p.m. damp, dirty towels and garbage were still there PLUS a large bag of someone else's damp, dirty towels. I called to inquire and was told someone would be by in next 2 hours to take care of it. This is not acceptable. I called again to say we would have no towels for showering after hot tubbing if they didn't replace asap. Got a wee bit of sympathy, but no promise to rectify. On our way out to hot tubs, we ran into housekeeping and I made request of them. She called someone, I guess, and when we returned to the unit, all was well. BUT! No guests paying so much should have to go to these lengths!!!! ONE STAR for...

The resort as a whole was great. we were there for a business conference and it was a really nice facility, especially the scenery, fresh air, natural water/brooks/creeks running through, and the start of the fall colors!

As for condo #204 at The Lodge at Copper... initially we were thrilled at how clean it appeared, but after 2 days we had discovered.. smears of probably pancake syrup on the table that I set my arm in (left from prior tenants), little girls dirty underwear stuffed in the couch, and crumbs and kid toys under the coffee table.

We enjoyed the hot tub in the evening, but there's either an automatic light that shuts off at 9 (the sign says it's open until 10), or someone turned the light off on us. It was very difficult to get out and get dressed and head back in with no lights out there! We never found the light switch either.

As for the beds, I appreciate that some people like a firm mattress, but the master bedroom bed was like sleeping on a table. Like I said, some people may like firm, but this was awful. We couldn't sleep and ended up moving to the hide-a-bed in the couch which was still awful support, but actually about 15% better than the bed!

THE WORST thing about this Lodge at Copper.... The fumes! There are fumes in the elevator and wafting through the hallways from the parking garage on the lowest level. It is a very strong, if not concentrated, exhaust fumes smell and it was there all 3 days of our stay. My husband and I both had migraines the whole time and we believe it was from those fumes. something needs to be done about that for everyone's...