Kimpton Hotel Monaco Denver by IHG

We loved the spacious, comfortable, stylish room, and the lobby had lots of nice places to sit. One morning we had a great time putting together a jigsaw puzzle. There was also a coffee, tea, and hot chocolate bar in the morning and throughout the day. The breakfast was delicious, well prepared, and came with excellent service. As an IHG Diamond member, having it included almost felt too good to be true. We didn’t try lunch or dinner at the restaurant, though I bet that would be nice too. The hotel is right in downtown Denver, with lots of places within walking distance, which is what I like for weekend trips. My only suggestion is to improve the TVs. They didn’t work well, and the remotes were cheap and frustrating.

Kimpton hotels are the most dog-friendly places I’ve found, even compared with places listed on BringFido, and the friendly atmosphere and great staff are a big part of why I’m grateful for them. I highly recommend Kimpton for families with dogs. The Denver staff were friendly, responsive, and helpful throughout our stay, and tried to accommodate us when the elevator broke just before we arrived. Our room was moved to the lowest available floor, the third, to reduce the inconvenience of stairs. That was thoughtful, but the window looked onto the midlevels of the neighboring parking garage to the front and left, and the building’s exterior wall to the right. It was really disappointing. Getting our luggage and ourselves upstairs was awkward. We had to leave the bags on the lobby cart and walk through the main aisle of the highly rated restaurant dining room, hands full with our dog in tow, to reach the stairs. We arrived around dinner, and the stairwell was tucked behind the point where the front and back of house meet, by the servers’ point-of-sale station outside the kitchen. We settled in and went to dinner nearby. By the time we got back, the elevator had been fixed. We didn’t ask to move rooms after that, since we didn’t want to make extra work for housekeeping just to get a real view. That decision worked in our favor when the elevator went out again late on day 2. I was sick in bed all of day 3 from non-hotel-related adventures the day before, so I don’t know what happened after that. When we checked out as planned on the morning of day 4, guests were being directed to use the freight elevator. This was our second stay at a Kimpton, after a great experience at one of their SoCal properties. The elevator may be a recurring problem: reviews on Google and elsewhere after our trip also mentioned outages over the past several months. I’d give this three bones and three stars. I’m sharing it so people know to call ahead about the elevator status at this particular location, especially if they aren’t used to Denver’s altitude or have a dog with mobility issues that can’t manage stairs. We heard people on the fourth floor struggling in the stairwell, and the stairs were a bit steep because of the building’s older design.

Our first use of the AMEX Hotel Rewards benefit was a terrible experience. After dinner and drinks, at 0215 on 22FEB2026, my partner called from the room to ask for late checkout. The offer says it provides checkout after 2pm/1400, but Chris or Kris said she could only give us until 1200/noon. I went downstairs to ask in person, well past 2AM. There was nobody else at the counter, and she kept scrolling on her phone for maybe 3-5 seconds while I stood there. Then she looked up and I started the conversation. I asked about checkout past 2pm because we’re AMEX Hotel Rewards members. She still said noon and told us to ask the morning staff. I asked who was on shift, and she gave me the name “Drake.” When I asked who the manager was, she said she didn’t know and flipped through a couple of sheets of paper. I asked her name as I walked away, and she looked up from her phone and said Chris/Kris. She was rude and made no effort to give us a positive experience. She didn’t ask for our room number to check whether we qualified for the benefit, even after I mentioned we were AMEX Rewards members, though the offer explicitly says it applies. It doesn’t matter whether it’s 11am or 2am, someone in this job should care about representing the company and looking after guests. She clearly didn’t seem to care about going above and beyond. They should fire her and hire someone who wants to take care of people.

The room was comfortable and the location was great, so this could have been a solid five-star stay. But the elevators had issues, and I was warned at the front desk about overnight noise that would make it impossible to sleep. Starting at least by 5am, there was an extremely loud, thunder-like sound and vibration coming from the parking structure. The toilet tank also leaked and refilled every few minutes, which was noticeable through the night. My sleep was ruined.