Great View, Small Room
Written: Jun 02 '05 (Updated Jun 03 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The view; attractive lobby and friendly staff
Cons: Small room; smaller bathroom; odd shower
The Bottom Line: The view is beautiful but I didn't sleep well here. And the bathroom is small enough to inspire a Monty Python sketch.
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| pvreditor's Full Review: Antlers Adams Mark Colorado Springs |
Note: The Antlers Hotel in Colorado Springs, located at 4 South Cascade, is a Hilton hotel and not an Adams Mark. My review will be on the Antlers Hilton; I do not know if Hilton recently purchased this hotel from the Adams Mark chain, but it is definitely now a Hilton.
I came to Colorado Springs for a couple of days on business and stayed at the Antlers Hilton, a hotel that was first built as simply "The Antlers" in 1882. It has been expanded (and modernized!) since then but it retains the quaint name of Antlers.
Colorado Springs is a pretty town. I was here once before, many years ago, and thought it would be a nice place to live. My most recent visit did not change that opinion. However, there is some of the sprawl here that affects many other cities in the United States; it seems that others think Colorado Springs is a pretty town, too.
What It Is
The Antlers Hilton is in downtown Colorado Springs, within easy walking distance of many stores, restaurants and even the city library. In addition, there are some stores and restaurants attached to the building. In front of the hotel is an attractive park-like space and the building is deeply set back from street. Parking is in an attached parking garage that is accessible from the rear of the hotel. The check-in clerk was apologetic that parking costs $7 per day, explaining that the hotel does not own the parking garage. However, he said that there are drive in-and-out privileges, which means that I could take my car out and return without paying twice.
The hotel has a beautiful and spacious lobby of marble and wood, with the registration desk to the left. As I checked in, a man in a tuxedo at the piano was playing popular songs. Check in was fast and courteous and I received room 1207.
Off the lobby was the hotel's bar and restaurant. Also off the lobby was the hotel's conference rooms, which I used during this stay. A short walk from the conference area is a microbrewery (among other things), down a corridor that is attached to the hotel. Everything was so convenient at the Antlers Hilton that I spent most of a day indoors before there was a need to step outside the hotel!
There was seldom much of a wait at the elevators; my room was right next to the elevator bank, on the rear of the hotel.
The Room
Important note about the rear of the Antlers Hilton: It faces Pike's Peak. The view outside the window is breathtaking, with the snow-laced mountain running from edge to edge in the field of view. In the morning, the ruddy sun made the mountains glow... beautiful.
The room itself is small, one of the smallest hotel rooms I've had recently. I'd guess the room is about 16 x 12 feet, fitted with a queen-size bed, nightstand, desk, TV cabinet (with 27-inch TV), chair and footstool, floor lamp and a couple of table lamps. The spacious desk is on one side of the bed, doubling as a nightstand on that side. The desk has a phone (with two lines!) as well as a high-speed Internet connection that worked perfectly on my laptop.
The nightstand held a paperback copy of Conrad Hilton's book, "Be My Guest," which was copyrighted 1957. There was also a clock radio on this nightstand.
The floor of the room was a greenish low-pile carpet, the walls were a bland beige wallpaper and the ceiling was a white texture paint. But who looks at the room when the mountains are right there outside the window! There were three interesting old photographs from Colorado Springs' past on the walls of the room, each with a caption explaining the scene. The room also had a small closet equipped with an ironing board and iron.
The bathroom... now here's a story. I checked into the room and spread my stuff out. After getting everything neatly into its place in the room and in the tiny bathroom (more about this in a moment), I lifted the lid on the toilet to find that there was no toilet seat! The guy at the front desk must have thought I was lunatic prankster when I called to say there was no toilet seat but he dutifully sent up a maintenance man who ascertained that the toilet did not, in fact, have a seat. He mentioned that a toilet seat had mysteriously turned up in the maintenance shop a few days before and now he knew where it came from. He went downstairs, fetched the wayward toilet seat and fastened it back in its proper place.
The bathroom was tiny... really tiny. Single-person tiny. Although there was a sink with a decent-sized marble countertop, the room was so tiny that the door to the bathroom hit the toilet before the door was even half open. Wedged against one wall was a small shower stall with a rod and curtain. The rim of the shower pan was too low to hold in the curtain, so water inevitably leaked onto the floor when I took a shower.
Like so many hotels, the shower control only permitted adjustment of the temperature of the water; there was no control over the volume of flow of the water. This meant that the water came out full blast in this tiny shower stall, causing the curtain to billow and repeatedly stick to me as I took a shower. I can't understand -- particularly in western states where water is scarce -- why hotels have shower controls that lack the means to adjust the flow of the water. I had to stand so close to the powerful blast of water that it actually hurt at times. The good news is that there is excellent water pressure.
The bathroom was supplied with lots of large, thick towels. The provided soap and shampoo was all quality stuff by Neutrogena.
The room was fairly quiet, even though it was right next to the elevators. There was a small opening window, which I used to get some fresh air, although there was a fair amount of noise when the window was open, even at night. The room had a heating unit under the window but it always seemed to be too warm for me at night.
The bed was plush and comfortable, and was fitted with four squishy pillows as well as a long round body pillow. I don't know what it was about the bed and/or pillows, but I did not sleep well in this room. I often sleep poorly, so I won't indict the room... perhaps it was the altitude (6,000 feet), jet lag or some other factor. I woke up uncomfortably warm when I did manage to sleep, although I had the heat turned down to the low 60s (F).
Amenities
The Antlers Hilton has a business center with fax machines and copiers. There is also an exercise room, indoor pool and hot tub. I did not try any of these amenities.
I did use the conference room facilities, which worked out well for the group of 20 people or so that we had. The hotel provided a screen for our video projector and we could plug into a built-in sound system for decent-quality sound. The hotel supplied a nice continental breakfast as well as a small buffet-style lunch with salads and sandwich fixings. The food quality was good and the staff was all friendly and cooperative.
Overall, the conference facilities were well-equipped, conveniently located and attractive.
Summary
I wish I had slept better in this room. It's hard to be enthusiastic about a hotel room from which I walked away groggy. It's also hard to be enthusiastic about the tiny bathroom with its odd and uncomfortable shower.
What the room had was a gorgeous view out the window and the hotel itself was charming and convenient. It's also in the city of Colorado Springs, which is a nice place to visit.
For a cost of $149 per night, this is an decent value for a luxury hotel, even if the room was small and the bathroom smaller. If I had come to Colorado Springs for the sightseeing, I would stay at one of the decent motel chains in the city. However, for the business function that I attended, the Antlers Hilton was convenient and fairly priced, considering the quality of the property.
I'm in a quandry about how to rate this hotel. Three stars sounds too low but that is what I will give it, mostly due to the tiny bathroom with the odd shower. If I had slept better, I might up the rating to four stars. However, when I wake up dull with fatigue after a too-short night of sleep, then threaten my elbows in the tiny shower, four stars seems unattainable. I feel a little bad about this, since there are many things to appreciate here.
Recommended:
Yes
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