The Brown Palace Hotel and Spa, Autograph Collection

I booked for a weekend get away for my husband’s birthday and our wedding anniversary. I booked, and paid for a king room. I booked at both restaurants, we even foolishly tipped the man who checked us in hoping for anything special they could provide. What an unbelievable waste of money and time. Our room was teeny with a queen bed. The man at check in didn’t even bother to tell us we couldn’t get the king bed I booked and paid for. *I think if we hadn’t contacted them upon our arrival to the room they would have happily kept the money I paid for the king room!* No air conditioning, no ventilation, and no bathroom fan. It was a sweltering box and that was in May. I would avoid this place like the plague in summer. They kept telling us “we are overbooked” as an excuse as to why I didn’t get what I paid for. I’m sorry, HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN BUSINESS?? HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW MANY ROOM YOU HAVE WITH KING BEDS?? Don’t book the freaking reservation if you don’t have the room available. Such a scam by this hotel. They are riding on their name and happy to screw guests because what does it cost them? Hopefully anyone else’s business if I can help it. ABSOLUTELY not worth the exorbitant rates. Don’t even get me started on how much the valet costs!! I guess they hope they can distract customers with the elegance of the lobby, so while you are looking around they can screw you and ruin your special occasions. We checked out a day early, they were fast and furious with the food vouchers and the hotel did reimburse us the valet fees for our trouble.

When told they allowed pets, we were thrilled. They told us there was a pet deposit that would be refunded if there was no damage. There is no damage, but because someone complained about the dog barking, they refused to give us the damage deposit back. A bunch of really brilliant people to go knock on the door…only to make the dog bark. Never mind the party being thrown across the hall. Don’t have a pet policy if you don’t want pets there. And also train your staff not to be a-holes to their guests. Pathetic prices for such a crappy room.

From the moment I walked into the hotel I was in love. The beauty of the atrium, the room and its history, the food in the Ships Tavern was outstanding. The people who worked there went out of their way to make sure that we were happy with the hospitality. Estella in room service was such a ray of sunshine each morning we felt like we were leaving family when it was time to go. I am usually anxious to get home from a trip but when we left after 5 days we both felt like there was not enough time to enjoy all the place had to offer. The staff were so amazing that we hated to leave and immediately missed them. You can feel the history of the hotel all around you and the staff made it all the better. Can’t wait to return to just enjoy the hotel and the food and drinks and the genuinely caring staff. Don’t miss the the chance to stay there.

originally ended up writing a five-star review for my stay because the property itself was beautiful, but unfortunately my experience at the end completely changed my perspective. On the last day of my stay, there was a miscommunication regarding our reservation extension through our company. Instead of trying to understand the situation, Tatiana at the front desk and another young lady gave me only five minutes to check out and made me move out immediately. I was doing my best to calmly explain what was happening, but they would not listen and were extremely rude and dismissive.

Lovely experience! Beautiful hotel, old money feeling. The ambience is simply stunning. Restaurants and spa are top notch.