We were at this hotel 21 December 2011 to 31st December 2011 and overall we had a wonderful stay.

After a 10 hour flights almost 4 hours in heavy snow from Denver airport we arrived very tired and the receptionist recognised this and made the checking in process very easy (we were not looking for free upgrades!) and we went straight to bed. We had a pre-paid breakfast package which I'm not sure the servers understood and it was only on the last day the check I signed was in the correct format. The breakfasts are huge and filled us up all day!

We ate at Rocks Modern Grill (in house restaurant on our first evening) and we had a big issue. The servers were slow and well, useless. Drinks didn’t arrive, food was sent back, and the whole meal took nearly 3 hours. Not really acceptable

On our second morning at breakfast things actually got worse; we had a ski lesson booked at 9am and arrived at 7-45am for breakfast, at 8am someone actually greeted us and said we had no chance of being served by 9am! They suggested room service! I complained to reception about that and the evening before and they were very kind and understanding. They said there were staffing issues however I pointed out that they needed to get that sorted. In fairness to them they did and we did not have any more issues with the restaurant. Well apart from it’s design. There are doors to the outside that have no vestibule and when they are opened the restaurant gets a blast of really cold air. This should be remedied as never once did I find the restaurant warm.

At the end of our stay I received a bill for breakfast (I expected this as there were 3 of us in one room and our package only pre-paid 2). However I had worked out we would owe about $200 for the entire stay so was surprised when one day was charged at $137 alone! Another trip to reception where I said I didn’t mind paying for what I was due and that it was the server’s inability to record how 3 in a room should be charged that had caused the mistake. My entire bill was waived by the service manager; wow what a great gesture given that I hadn’t even asked for that and what great customer service!

The rooms themselves were very comfy and even the sofa bed was comfortable to sleep in. We were never too cold or too hot although the very dry air due to the altitude took some getting used to.

The pool and hot tub were great! The first day we were in the hot tub we thought it was fine but the maintenance guy said there had been a problem and it was only just heating up! The next day it was wonderfully hot! Walking out at -26 and getting into that super warm water was simply awesome! The sauna was never really hot enough for us (we have been to Finland where a sauna is what a sauna should be) and the steam room was just ok. There were always plenty of towels and with the provided bathrobes going between the spa and the room was never an issue.

The concierge was fantastic. We had contacted Christina by e-mail prior to our arrival from the UK and she had booked several restaurants for us (she advised to do so as Christmas week is busy). We had a couple more requests whilst we were there and they were handled with ease and a pleasant smile. The concierge is a great credit to the hotel.

We used the ski hire (Christie Sports) in the hotel and again their service was superb. They had great quality equipment which they changed without question when some of our party had a problem with boots. For a couple of days my eldest son wanted to snow board and they provided that equipment at no extra cost without question; they let him keep his skis and boots as well as he didn’t want to lose that equipment when he skied our last day. Very impressed with Christie Sports!

This holiday was supposed to be a one off as Beaver Creek is very expensive but the quality of service we received from the hotel, the ski hire, the lift pass people, the instructors, the information people and the queue lift people meant it will be very very difficult for us to ski anywhere else now! I guess the maxim ‘you get what you pay for’ holds very true in the Beav!

I would highly recommend Beaver Creek Lodge and if (or is it when!) we go again to Beaver Creek I would happily stay there. Ok yes we had some issues with the restaurant but they were dealt with after we complained and the waiving of our invoice really impressed me.