Quick Hotel Summary
| Category | Details |
| Hotel | Broadmoor |
| Location | Colorado Springs |
| Brand | Independent |
| Room Type | Classic King |
| Price Paid | N/A |
| Length of Stay | 2 nights |
| Booking Method | Booked for me |
⭐ Overall Rating: 9 / 10
The Verdict
The Broadmoor is a classic luxury resort in Colorado Springs with a spectacular mountain setting and a rich history that adds to its charm. The rooms are spacious, comfortable, and well-appointed in a traditional style, while service throughout the property is warm and highly professional. With extensive amenities, multiple dining options, and beautiful grounds, it offers a full resort experience that makes it easy to stay on property. While it can be expensive and isn’t ideal for those seeking a modern aesthetic or loyalty program perks, it remains one of the premier luxury stays in the region.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Beautiful hotel in a spectacular location
- Excellent staff
- Plenty to do for those who like active vacations, but also great seating areas for those who want to drink a glass of wine by a fireplace – or those who do both.
Cons
- Not part of a loyalty program if that’s your thing – and it generally is mine
- Hotel can get fairly expensive especially in high season
- Not a good fit if you’re looking for a modern sleek property
Location
The Broadmoor is a classic grand luxury resort in the shadow of Cheyenne Mountain and Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs. The setting is absolutely spectacular. And the story of the hotel’s origin is almost as spectacular as the setting. The hotel was built in the early 1900s by Spencer Penrose – by many accounts Mr. Penrose was the life of the party back in the day. After showing up in Colorado Springs around the beginning of the 20th century he wanted to buy another famous hotel in Colorado Springs, the Antlers. The then owner of the Antlers rebuked the purchase offer and Mr. Penrose reportedly rode his horse through the lobby in protest and then decided to build his own hotel – the Broadmoor.
The Broadmoor is mostly surrounded by a residential area with a few offices belonging to the El Pomar Foundation. Downtown Colorado Springs is not far, but you need to drive. However, if you’re at the Broadmoor, you’re almost certainly there for the resort and there really isn’t a reason to leave (besides some of the Broadmoor’s excursions that take advantage of the surrounding nature). The Broadmoor is about a 20 minute drive from the Colorado Springs airport and offers a shuttle service for $35 per person each way. Ubers are also plentiful and will cost you around $50 to get between the hotel in the airport. Colorado Springs has a fairly small airport, but the Broadmoor is also only about 90 minutes from Denver’s much larger airport if that’s more convenient.
Booking and Price
According to the extensive history the Broadmoor offers on its website, when the hotel opened in 1918 the room rate was $10-12 (about $200 today) per night and included three meals per day. Suffice to say, even accounting for inflation a stay at the Broadmoor is likely to cost you significantly more today.
In the low season rates can be found in the range of $300 for a standard classic room, but can be $700 or up in high season. And the standard rates are no longer all inclusive. I was in town for a specific meeting and the organization booked and paid for my room so I don’t know what the rate was, but for similar weekend dates in 2027 the rate for my classic room is $315.
Check-In Experience
When my Uber pulled up to the Broadmoor’s guardhouse I was asked my name as an arriving new guest. Sure enough a few moments later when we pulled in front of the hotel I was greeted by a bellhop by name and escorted to the front desk in the main lobby. The lobby is paneled in dark wood and decorated with artifacts from the hotel’s many years. It definitely gives an impression that you’re stepping into a hotel with a real and exciting history and one could spend quite a bit of time reading all the stories the hotel has posted around the property be it about former famous guests to major golf events held at the resort.
While the lobby was busy with guests arriving and departing, the front desk was well staffed and I was immediately helped. The check-in experience itself isn’t the quickest as the agents explain the many amenities and have to show guests on a map where rooms and other key venues are at the very large property. But it was friendly and very welcoming and within a few minutes I was handed keys and offered an escort to my room. Having been to the hotel several times before and having my usual limited luggage, I said I was fine making my own way to my room in another building. Even then a bellhop insisted walking me to the side exit of the main building and opening the door for me.
Room Review
My standard classic room was in Broadmoor South which is a separate building from Broadmoor Main where guests arrive. It was a short five minute walk, but I have stayed at this hotel several times before and I’ve had rooms in other parts of the hotel that could be 10-15 minute walks from the main building which is something to keep in mind when booking for anyone with mobility issues.
My room was on the third floor of Broadmoor South. While the view was good as the surrounding areas are just generally very nice, unfortunately my room was facing away from Cheyenne Mountain so I didn’t have what in my opinion is the resort’s most iconic view.
The room felt large although I don’t know the exact dimensions with an entryway that featured closets and a coffee maker/mini fridge on the left and a large marble bathroom on the right. The bathroom had both a deep soaking tub and a glass walk in shower.
In the room – as has been the case on my prior stays – there was a welcome gift consisting of a Broadmoor luggage tag and bookmark.
The bedroom featured large elegant feeling furniture that fits in a classic luxury hotel, but would feel more out of place in a modern luxury hotel or a more contemporary property generally. I generally prefer more modern sleek furniture, but again it fit the venue. The king bed was very comfortable and there was certainly no shortage of pillows. The room also had a wingback chair and ottoman with small side table and large wood desk which I made good use of to get some work done. Beside the bed were large wooden drawers that had power outlets making it easy to charge laptops, phones, ipads, etc. Finally, in what I guess is now a throwback, the room also featured a DVD player, but alas I’d left my extensive DVD collection at home on this one. Since I had no DVDs I had to rely on streaming content to my ipad – fortunately the free wifi was very fast and easily supported this (and yes it supported video meetings as well in case my wife thought I was just having fun at a resort without her).
In it’s efforts to be green, the Broadmoor has also moved away from single use plastic water bottles to reusable metal bottles. My room had two in it upon check in next to the coffee maker, but I saw them available in several other locations throughout the hotel.
The room was very clean when I checked in and was serviced twice daily including an evening turndown service – I’m a sucker for little chocolates on the pillows at a hotel. While I had one of the basic rooms, I’ve stayed in a variety of other rooms in different parts of the resort over the years and while the looks and design of the rooms may vary somewhat, they are consistently excellent. The Broadmoor also offers a variety of other room categories up to an including an entire 12,000 square foot “estate” home.
Hotel Amenities
As a resort, the Broadmoor is rich when it comes to amenities and things to do. Unfortunately, because I was in town for meetings and had a packed schedule, I didn’t really get to enjoy any of them. However, I heard reports from the wife of another attendee that the spa is great. There are indoor and outdoor pools, good gym facilities, tennis, a bowling alley and a professional level golf course on site. The grounds of hotel, including the lake at the center of the resort, are also just lovely to walk around (assuming it’s not a borderline blizzard like it was for part of my stay).
Food and Beverage
Not surprisingly for a large resort, the Broadmoor offers multiple dining outlets:
Ristorante Del Lago
Penrose Room
Summit
La Taverne
The Grille
There are also several event dining spaces including one up in the mountains above the resort with amazing views. There are also several casual take away spots. Over the years I’ve eaten at most of the restaurants – I haven’t made it to Summit yet – and they are consistently good, but not necessarily the most memorable meals I’ve ever had. On this trip, most of my meals were in conjunction with meetings so catered breakfasts and lunch, but I did make it to the Penrose Room – on the top floor of the tower I was staying in – for dinner one night. I had the seafood risotto that was much better than my photography in the dimly lit dining room.
While I didn’t make it there on this trip, I have to give a shoutout to the Golden Bee which is an English pub on the property. And when I say it’s an English pub I don’t just mean in style – it was literally a pub in England in the 1800s that was moved panel by panel to its current location in Colorado. The place is usually buzzing (pun intended) and the staff go around throwing little sticky bees on everyone. There is often a live piano player and it’s just an all around good time. Also tip for anyone who has never had a “yard” of beer before – be careful not to pour it all over yourself while drinking!
There is also an extensive room service menu although I did not partake.
Service
In my experience, as staffing goes at domestic hotels in the US, this is about as good as it gets. It’s too big for everyone to know each guest’s name, but the service was always warm and professional. I’m not one for having people open doors for me or carry my luggage so in some ways fending staff off from doing that was stressful, but I recognize I shouldn’t complain about that level of service.