Ritz Carlton Denver Review

Length of Stay	Room Type	Elite Status	Date	Rating
2 Nights	King, Deluxe Guest	Platinum	August, 2023	6.5/10

Booking the Hotel

The Denver Ritz Carlton is part of the Marriott Global chain. We decided to visit Denver for a quick weekend trip. I had an expiring Marriott 50K cert from renewing my Amex Brilliant card last year. I topped off 11K additional points as standard room rates were 61K Marriott points. 

For the second night, I did a paid stay of around $500 that included Executive lounge access. I discounted the stay by using $142 Marriott GC balance left over from last year, utilizing Amex offer of $100 off $300+ paid rate on Amex Brilliant card and using the Rakuten portal to earn an additional 2K Amex MR’s.

Location

The Ritz-Carlton is located on Curtis Street, between 18^th and 19^th, in the northern part of the Central Business district and within easy walking distance of LoDo. It is about a 30 minute drive to Denver International Airport, a 12 minute walk to the Colorado Convention Center and a short 5 minute drive to Coors Field.

Check-In

I rented a Tesla for the weekend. Fortunately, our room rate included complementary valet parking. I did note ample nearby street parking available if not wanting to pay the otherwise hefty valet parking fee (around $60/night). Even better was that valet parking included complementary overnight EV charging.

Upon walking up to the entrance, the doormen quickly smiled, nodded at me and ushered us into the hotel. In the lobby, a nice floral display caught my eye. To the left was The Ritz Carlton Denver’s signature dining option – Elway’s Steakhouse. To the right was the front desk for check-in and guest services. 

Check-in was fast and efficient and we were soon on our way up to the 7^th floor where our room was located.

Ritz Carlton, Denver Room

The Ritz-Carlton, Denver features 202 spacious guest rooms including 47 suites, 32 Club Level rooms and one Ritz-Carlton Suite. The Ritz-Carlton features the largest standard rooms in Denver at 550 square feet. The room itself certainly felt spacious. As you entered, there was a coffee station and mini bar to the right alongside a separate space for wardrobe.

To the left was the bathroom that had separate areas for shower and tub. It was great that the bathroom included a double vanity as well.

Toiletries were of good quality provided by Philosykos brand. As common with hotels, even amongst luxury brands these days they were not individual use.

The room itself featured a mix of grayish walls, mixed textures and patterns and dark rich wood. Shiny silver accoutrements accessorize. Despite being renovated back in 2017, the hotel didn’t exude luxury as common with the Ritz Carlton brand although it certainly didn’t feel cheap either. Although there were bathrobes provided in the closet, surprisingly I wasn’t able to locate any slippers available (fortunately, we brought our own from previous trips).

A nicely appointed King bed was the centerpiece of the room. There are reading lights overhead that can be turned on with a switch connected on the nightstand.

Near the window was a seating area. Across from the bed were the desk and good size mounted television.

Apparently, there are a few rooms that have coveted views of the distant Rocky Mountains. Ours was a city view that overlooked an empty lot across the street to the north.

Facilities

The hotels main restaurant is Elway’s, an upscale steakhouse named after the local football legend. There is no complementary breakfast for Marriott elite members here as is customary for Ritz branded hotels in the Marriott portfolio. We did not have a meal here.

On our second day, we had club lounge access included with our room rate. The Club lounge is located on the top floor and has various food and beverage presentations during the day.

We went to the lounge for cordials and desserts in the evening before closing and for breakfast in the morning. Both times there was a decent spread of options. The lounge was spacious with various separate rooms ideal for business meetings. When we were there, it was not crowded at all.

The hotel has a nice gym with treadmills, bikes, weights and several workout machines. There is also a separate gym one can pay to use which includes a swimming pool.

The hotel also has spa services, although we opted out of any treatments there.

Final Thoughts

The Ritz-Carlton Denver is more of a business hotel, so it doesn’t offer all of the amenities that one of their residence or resort properties do. Standard room sizes were generous but sound proofing wasn’t great as we could regularly hear guests in the hallway at all hours. The hotel incorporated Colorado elements to help guests immerse into the mountain way of life. Although the Ritz-Carlton brand name is synonymous with luxury, this was a nice city hotel but didn’t feel particularly luxurious. I probably would opt for a mid-tier modern hotel the next stay in Denver to save on points cost as I wouldn’t splurge extra for an upscale hotel here.