My partner and I (40 and 43) live in town and decided to give the Hotel Monoco a try for a weekend getaway. We were curious because of the reviews on tripadvisor as well as word of mouth.
Hotel Monoco is not the typical hotel, but we liked it for unexpected sense of fun and whimsy that was consistent throughout the hotel.
The hotel lobby is very elaborately decorated, with very bright colors and plush furniture. Each night there is a complimentary happy hour with wine and some lovely fingerfood (not enough to fill up on, but very nice). Although I am not much for group events per se, I have to admit that the atmosphere was relaxed and everyone was soon in a great mood and it was a nice start to the weekend. Enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
The hallways and rooms follow the decorative theme displayed in the lobby, with bright contrasting colors, and checkerboard carpets in the hallway. In the room the bed was high and the headboard seemed like one out of a cartoon. Linens and pillows were very comfortable. My boyfriend very adeptly described it as a cross between Alice in Wonderland and Dr. Seuss (complete with the goldfish in your room!) It was all very fun and a nice change from the predictable nature of most upscale hotels. I can see that it would not be for every taste - however, we enjoyed ourselves very much, and thought that the robes provided with zebra stripes and cheetah skin patterns were funny.
The service was very friendly and the check in and out was flawless and very quick. It's true as mentioned in a previous review that I did see a few people walking around with small dogs in their arms - again, adding to the alternative feel of the place. It was not a negative thing to us at all, even though I'm not a dog owner myself, and I did not see any dog hair anywhere either on the velvet lobby furniture of in the room. This definately would have bothered me, but In fact the whole hotel seemed spotless.
The location can't be beat, within walking distance of the 16th Street Pedestrian mall (free shuttle going the length of the 16th street mall) as well as many downtown attractions. We did not eat in the restaurant in the hotel, but chose instead to walk downtown and found a restaurant with South American food for dinner and to Sam's 3 for breakfast a couple of blocks away. Sam's 3 was very affordable and the breadfast food was absolutely delicious and they had surprisingly good green chile. (I am an admitted green chile snob!) The Cinna-monster (huge cinnamon roll) was absolutely heavenly.
All in all, a very good experience. Really I couldn't improve on anything because it is a unique experience that you will either love or perhaps not understand. AS for us, we had fun and enjoyed our weekend - it was very relaxing.










