Editor Pick
The Curtis Hotel
- August 24, 2008
- Rated 5 of 5 by
ssullivan from Atlanta, Georgia
The Curtis is one of the newer hotels in downtown Denver. It's a recently completed transformation of an older hotel into an über-chic boutique hotel in the heart of the city center. The Curtis puts an emphasis on fun; everything here is stylish, but not stuffy, and a little bit on the quirky side. As a result, it's not just a nice place to stay, but it's a fun place to stay.
I was booked at The Curtis by one of my clients at work who is located nearby. After reviewing the hotel's website, I was quite curious to see if the hotel could live up to the expectations I had of it based on the website. And for the most part, it did.
The first thing you should know about staying at The Curtis is that you have to have a sense of humor. If not, the charm of this place will be totally lost on you. If you want a stuffy, generic, but comfortable hotel, there's plenty of other choices available. The Curtis strives to combine the amenities and comfort you'd expect at a national chain full-service hotel like a Hilton or Marriott with a funky attitude you won't find at the chains. To start, there's the themed floors. Every floor of the hotel has a different theme, related to pop culture, which is applied out to the décor in the hallways and to the funny recorded announcements played in the elevator when it stops on each floor. For example, I stayed on the 15th floor, which is the "Mad About Music" floor. Every time the elevator stopped on my floor I was treated to a clip of Tom Jones singing "It's Not Unusual," followed by an announcer telling me I had arrived at the 15th floor. Other floors include "Dun Dun Dunnnnn!", the horror flick floor (which is appropriately on the 13th floor), One Hit Wonders (with an elevator announcement featuring Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy"), Big Hair, Chick Flick, TV Mania, and others. It's quite tempting to ride the elevator and push every button just to stop on each floor to hear all of the announcements at least once.
Once you arrive at your designated theme floor, the rooms are all basically the same. Most rooms fall into one of two categories, which the hotel calls "The Real Deal" and "The Bigger Better Deal." The main difference is the size of the room; Real Deal rooms are smaller and have a 26" flat screen HDTV, as opposed to the larger 32" flat screen HDTV found in the Bigger Better Deal rooms. Bigger Better Deal rooms are also located on the corner of the building, with a view in two directions, and have mini-refrigerators. All rooms, regardless of size, have contemporary furnishings, extremely comfortable beds, stylish bathrooms with high-end shampoo, shower gel, and soap, and a fun alarm clock/radio that looks like a yellow Volkswagen Beetle convertible. When my partner, the car aficionado, heard about the alarm clock from me, his response was "Oh you have to steal that for me." (I was good and left it in the room, much to his dismay). But yes, the alarm clock, like the rest of the hotel, is super cool, and even features a handy dock for your MP3 player or iPod, located under the backseat. And just in case you actually do have to get some work done while in your room, all rooms are equipped with high-speed Internet connections. There's also a nightly bed turndown service, complete with candy. But unlike most hotels, where you get a mint or square of chocolate, at The Curtis the housekeeper is more likely to leave you with a handful of Tootsie Rolls, suckers, or other treats that will make you think you're six years old again and it's Halloween.
The Curtis is also an exceptionally pet-friendly hotel. As a result, almost every morning of my stay I rode downstairs on the elevator with at least one guest taking a dog out for a morning stroll around the block. The hotel's room service menu even includes a variety of doggie treats, including several "homemade" dog food selections that can be delivered up to your room from the hotel's kitchen.
The Curtis is a full service hotel, and features a business center, fitness center, meeting rooms, and has a full service restaurant, The Corner Office, open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The Corner Office is a little pricey, but the breakfasts I ate there were quite good. The restaurant takes the stylish interior design of the rest of The Curtis to an even higher level, and even at breakfast you get the feeling that this is a place to see and be seen in downtown Denver. In the evenings, the full bar features a large selection of signature cocktails and martinis, making it an ideal place to hang out and relax. Adjacent to the Corner Office you'll also find a lounge area in the lobby, complete with a selection of board games that you're free to borrow during your stay.
I really can't say enough good things about The Curtis. It's fun, funky, and certainly unique, but unlike some themed hotels I've stayed in, The Curtis does not let the fun overshadow its primary mission of providing excellent service to its guests, and giving them rooms that are not only very attractive, but extremely comfortable and functional. And, given the hotel's location in Downtown Denver, with easy access to the 16th Street Mall, lots of restaurants, and the light rail line, it's a great place to stay when visiting the city for work or play.