You don't mention what season you're coming in...but since you mention shopping and you're only here one night I'd recommend Aspen. Shops close around 8pm but some go later.

Snowmass has some cute shops but if you only have one night go with Aspen since otherwise you'll need to drive or take the shuttle into Aspen (20 minutes).

You don't actually need to stay in a hotel in the true downtown core of Aspen, really anywhere in Aspen will be fine if that helps you save a little money.

Stores close early. Staying in Aspen would be more convenient, but more expensive. Staying in Snowmass would be cheaper, but you prbably would end up driving to Aspen to shop and look around.

Aspen and Snowmass is not far at all, less than 15 minutes by driving.

In my research for our trip next month I ended up going with Snowmass Village for 2 nights. I can handle the 15 minute ride to Aspen. We are staying at the Stonebridge Inn, which I won bidding on Priceline. Place looks very nice and the rate was great. That was a big factor in choosing Snowmass over Aspen for our base.

can you tell us the rate you got and which property?

The hotel is the Stonebridge Inn which is ranked #2 for hotels in Snowmass Village by Tripadvisor and is listed as a 2.5* by Priceline.

The room was $90, plus I used bonus cash from the Priceline rewards and they put up the first $10 for each night for a total of $100 per night. The latest rack rate at the Stonebridge is $180 per night. In essence, I only had to put up $90 and the total for both nights was $212. If booking through the Stonebridge Inn web site the total would have been $402 for 2 nights.

Bidding history: I was looking at Aspen and knew that Snowmass would probably take a lower bid. I started bidding at $50 for all 2* and 2.5 * and 3* hotels in Aspen and Snowmass Village (no 3* in Snowmass). Glenwood Springs is a free rebid area for everything but a 2*. I increased bidding $5 at a time before getting the Stonebridge Inn. I also had tried for a Boutique in Aspen, but got rejected all the way up to $140. In the end, the Stonebridge Inn looks very nice for the price and I'm pleased with the outcome.

Just to note, I won this hotel 6 weeks ago. This was not a recent bid.

You got a pretty good deal to stay in Stonebridge Inn for $100. I was going to bid with Priceline but I am afraid that I will get other hotels so I just booked it directly with phone. It was not bad....I got it for $140.

Just another quick question, does anybody knows how big is the shopping area in aspen. I am trying to allocate how much time I can have there.

FWIW, here's a list of the Priceline hotels in Snowmass.

travela.priceline.com/hotel/cityPage.do…

OK, I see that link has expired and now sends one back to Priceline's main page. Google will give you the link if you type in: priceline "compare hotels in snowmass". It's the only link that comes up. Basically the hotels listed are Stonebridge at 2.5*, Destination Resorts at 2*, Laurelwood Condominiums at 2*, and Top Of The Village at 2*. At the bottom they also give the ratings for the Aspen hotels.

Aspen is a small town. I felt everything was extra expensive there. I would worry more about allocating money than time. :p