A great location and promising pedigree had raised our expectations, but candor compels the admission that our expectations went unmet. If the hotel were a liquid, it would have to called lukewarm.

The hotel had our reservations just as we expected. Checkin was easy. Parking was not quite ideal, as valet is the only realistic option: there is no garage available for self-park. That's life in a downtown, perhaps. But both our rooms had key issues; it was never possible to get both keys to work. One key would work, and the other wouldn't. Strangely, that curse afflicted both rooms. Hardly life and death, but odd.

The bathrooms had no bath. There was a nice shower, but no tub. Pity. The bed was very comfortable, but once again, with a catch: the reading lamp and night table were on one side only. It was not possible for two people to lie in bed and read. Upon checkin, the bed cover was quite wet (all over). Likely it had just been washed, as it was certainly clean, and housekeeping rapidly replaced it with great energy. But the phenomenon was unsettling, as you can imagine. And after the fiasco with all the non-working keys, we began to conclude that the Brown Palace was more brown than palatial.

Retrieving the car from valet the first time was easy. Retrieving the next time (upon checkout) was maddeningly slow, taking at least 20 minutes despite no great crowd. Again, nice staff. Just a puzzling disappointment.

Visited the concierge three times. Twice with excellent results. Once with nobody there, for so long that surrender and abandonment became the only sensible solution. Yet again, it was a story of some very positive experiences, tempered by a disappointment.

What's the bottom line? If you are forced to stay here, don't fret. You won't go badly wrong staying here. Nothing terrible will befall you. You may even have a great experience. Ours could have been one of those random glitches that happens to all human enterprises. But all things equal, our forgettable stay will lead us to take our chances elsewhere next time, not out of anger or even annoyance, just out of the firm conviction that we can do better.

I didn't stay at the hotel as I live in Denver. Just stopped into the spa for a pedicure in between a stressful house move. It was just what I needed to feel refreshed and focus on unpacking.

After a two week holiday in self-catering accommodation of varying standards, and staying with friends, it was nice to splash out for our final night in Colorado. It was nice to stay somewhere with a piano player in the lobby but the service was a bit over-attentive and we didn't feel we could just sit there without having over-priced cocktails in front of us. Our bedroom was nice but the bathroom could have done with a bit of refurbishment, I've stayed in classic rooms before and old doesn't have to mean shabby. It was a pleasant experience and the exchange rate took some of the sting out of it but I did wonder why you have to pay for the wifi in the posh hotels when it's free in the budget places like La Quinta.

My husband and I stayed at the Brown Palace for our first anniversary. We couldn't have had a better stay. The Brown Palace gave us a complementary room upgrade and sent up champagne and chocolate covered strawberries to help us celebrate our anniversary. The hotel is absolutely beautiful and the staff were all very friendly and helpful. We will definitely stay at the Brown Palace again!