La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Loveland/Estes Park

We found the rooms comfortable and clean, and the location worked perfectly for where we needed to be. Breakfast was actually good. The swimming area was clean and well kept, and there’s a nice brewery next door for food and fun. My one complaint is that the pool and hot tub were the same temperature, which wasn’t good when we wanted to cool off.

The sound from next door was the last straw. A very happy German couple were banging on the walls, and after two hours of hearing “OH JA OH JA!” I can’t recommend this place. Thin walls also let corridor conversations, elevator dings, and late night laughter carry straight into the room. There were problems everywhere else too. The door stuck, the key card took three tries, and the room had a stale smell with faint citrus that didn’t cover the grime. Hairs on the sheets, a duvet that smelled a little of smoke despite the nonsmoking sign, mildew-looking bathroom grout, a sticky minibar shelf, and a damp carpet patch made it hard to feel comfortable. The mattress was somewhere between a plank and a trampoline, pillows were flat, and the AC clanked on and off all night. The TV remote took a little ritual to use, the shower switched between scalding and freezing without warning, and the Wi-Fi crawled like dial-up. Staff were polite when you could find them, but they were rarely around, and requests took ages or came back incomplete. For what I paid, I expected clean sheets and a quiet night. I got neither. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who cares about sleep, hygiene, or basic things working. If you stay anyway, bring earplugs, a sleep mask, and very low expectations.

The staff were kind and helpful, but I wouldn’t recommend staying here because important details that affect safety were ignored. I travel alone, and the phone in my room didn’t work. My schedule meant I only had a chance to deal with it on my last night, when I needed a wake-up call so I wouldn’t miss my early flight if I didn’t hear my phone. The desk employee confirmed the phone was broken and sent a very nice handyman up while I was there. He found the phone cords were connected incorrectly and said other phones had the same problem, though he hadn’t checked them all. That’s alarming. What if someone needed to call 911 or the front desk in an emergency? It seemed like this had been going on for a long time. That last night, my key card also stopped working in the door, so I had to wait for a new one from the desk. On my way to the airport, I needed to call the hotel about something important because I thought I’d left something behind. They claim to have 24/7 service, but I called five times with no answer and kept getting asked for a code. If there’s an emergency, you’re out of luck.

The staff were helpful and friendly, and having a bathroom fan was nice. The location is handy if you want to get away from the busy parts, close to Foothills but still near downtown and other amenities. The building feels dated, the elevator stops pretty roughly, and the beds are firm. Breakfast was very basic, with few choices, and left a lot to be desired. It was also nice having Berthoud Brewery next door, though it closed early even on Friday and Saturday nights.