Executive Residency by Best Western Denver Stapleton

The room they gave me had two double beds, though I had booked two queens. When I raised it, the desk clerk insisted they were the same and turned away. The manager's response was basically that I got a kitchenette instead. There was plenty else wrong: outlets were coming out of the wall, paint covered the sprinkler heads and extended about three inches onto the windows, and the tub was clogged with a large chip partly painted over. The bathroom tile sat half an inch above the entry floor, with a sharp edge. That's only part of the list.

The breakfast was better than at other hotels with free breakfast, and the staff besides the front desk clerk were friendly and accommodating. But the check-in experience was awful. The lobby was flooded, with water dripping as people walked through, while the workers who were meant to clean it sat nearby talking and laughing with the clerk. She was flirting with them and wouldn't look into why my prepaid Hotwire reservation showed as declined. Instead, she demanded another payment, so I ended up paying over $400 for two nights. After a long night of flight delays, I got in around 4 a.m. and just wanted to sleep. The key card system was down, so I had to wait for her to let me into my room, and then again every time I went out and came back. They wouldn't refund anything or reduce the bill despite all the trouble.

The place could be good, but it needs work, especially on safety. The pool was closed for renovations, which was a real letdown since it's one of the main reasons I booked, and it was summer. The property's entry doors don't close properly, so anyone could walk in. There's a homeless camp in the fields behind the hotel, which made that feel more concerning. I had reserved adjoining rooms with kitchenettes in both. They weren't connected, and mine didn't have a kitchenette. Staff did move me to a room with one, but that put me farther from the room I was supposed to adjoin. The elevator near the staff laundry was unreliable too. Its doors shut on you, it sometimes went up when we wanted down, and we worried it might get stuck. They should fix it or take it out of service.

We moved to a room at the back after complaining, hoping it would be quieter and free of smoke. It was bigger, but the nearby elevator was locked out and didn't work, and after about an hour the room started smelling of weed. The whole hallway did too. I reported that as well, but nothing was enforced. The view was of a nonworking outdoor pool that looked awful and around 20 discarded mattresses scattered over the grass. Before booking, I called to check that the hotel was nonsmoking. Our first room smelled like cigarette smoke in the bathroom. The neighbors said they weren't smoking. The front desk told me people break the rules and can be charged an extra $200, but no one seemed to say anything to the rooms. After dinner, the smoke smell was worse and had spread through the room. The window opened all the way with no screen, despite us being on the third floor, and was maybe three feet off the ground. That's a major safety hazard. I had a small baby and a five-year-old with me. We left without compensation, and my baby had terrible laryngitis from the irritants I'd called about before booking. The renovation also seemed rushed and poorly done.