To celebrate all of us turning 40 in 2012, 5 friends and I booked a weeks skiing at Vail with accomodation at the Sebastian.
The level of service we received was outstanding, from the moment we stepped through the doors every member of staff was incredibly polite and welcoming, with every request dealt with efficiently.
The hotel is a short walk from the main Vistabahn chairlift (you can get a bus, but honestly it's about 5mins walk and the pavements in Vail are heated, so no ice or snow to navigate!), but the beauty of the Sebastian is that they have a 'Basecamp' situated about 50m from the lift. We handed over our boots and skis to staff at the hotel and they were whisked off to basecamp for us. The Basecamp made the trip so much more pleasurable, no stomping along in skiboots or carrying skis and poles from the hotel. You turn up in the morning and they hand over your nicely warmed boots and place skis and poles up near the lift for you and you're off. At the end of each day you leave everythng at Basecamp, collect your shoes and head off to the hotel, great! They'll even service your skis for you overnight (this is at added cost though).
We opted for three twin rooms, meaning each of us had a queen sized bed to ourselves. The rooms are comfy and a decent size. They aren't exceptional but had every amenity you could want, good entertainment facilities and a nice powerful, hot shower over the bath. My room was on the i70 side but there was zero traffic noise, only the jetlag interupted my sleep.
We had booked bed & breakfast and the breakfast served in the bistro was excellent. Cereals, fresh fruit, bacon, sausages, dedicated egg/omelettte chef, french toast, pastries, waffles, the list seemed endless. We found the waitresses to be very friendly and efficient.
Not being party animals we limited our apres ski to the outdoor pool & hottubs, spa and playing cards in the library. The pool is a good size and nicely warmed, although I'd recommend using the pool before the hot tubs, otherwise it seems very cold in comparison! The hottubs are great, big enough for 6 people (although the signage did say a max of 5 people per tub) and with waitress service you can relax in the tubs with a cold beer, how decadent!
A couple of our party used the gym, which was compact but well laid out with new equipment and I indulged myself at the Bloom Spa with a couple of massages. These were not cheap but I fully recommend them as a way to eliminate achy calves after a days skiing.
The library is linked into the foyer and offers a bit of privacy and comfort while still being close to the Frost bar, allowing drinks and snacks to be ordered and consumed. The library isn't huge - with seating for 12-15 people on a mix of chairs and sofas, but it was great for the 6 of us to play cards in the evening, again with great drinks service. My only quibble with the Frost bar is that the menu is limited and pricey, I'd have preferred some more basic snacks - I think they've tried too hard to take the snack menu up market when most people will be after a simple sandwich or burger & chips.
Finally a couple of standout things - first (and this might sound tragic, but it's true), the free hotel wifi is awesome! I've got used to having to pay for wifi at hotels, or having cheap, slow wifi with coverage limited to one area, not here. The wifi is free, seemed to cover every inch of the hotel and was very fast. In an age of iPhones and iPads this was a real bonus.
Second, the concierge service was brilliant, from providing dining recommendations to advice on the slopes. When one of our party asked for info on where they might be able to buy a memory card for their camera, not only did they phone around to locate a store, but when they found that the only store selling them was outside of town they drove my friend there, waiting while he shopped and then drove him back!
On the Friday night there was a free Prosecco tasting in the library and the refills kept on coming. Staff and guests intermingled for a very social event.
The Sebastian is more expensive than most hotels we've been to for skiing, but is by far the best, a really fantastic place to spend a week, thanks for such a great time, I wish we could afford to come every year!
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
