Hilton HHonors - denver area ski advice needed

i will be going in late december early jan for my kids winter break

will be flying into denver and would appreciate any advice the forum could give me regarding hilton properties close or in resort areas..or close to denver


your help has helped me plan past trips to kona, whistler, jackson hole

thanks in advance

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you save hunderds with the ski coupons

There is a Hampton Inn in Steamboat Springs that's on the free bus line. The major drawback is that the railroad line runs behind the property and there are 4-5 coal trains a day/night that make a LOUD signal for crossings.

That said, my daughter and granddaughter stayed there one year. Blew them out of the bed the first night but after that they slept right through it.;)

Cheers

The only hilton properties in ski country are the hampton inn in steamboat springs which is a rediculous amount of points for a hampton inn. Its also not that great and pretty far from the mountain. I think its a horrible use of hilton points. It is not a quiet hotel at all, i would not recommend it at all.

Denver downtown is REALLY far from all of the best ski areas. Vail is about 2 hours each way. I wouldnt rely on staying in denver to ski because the weather can be awful thru the mountain passes. It has taken me 4 hours to get from denver to vail before in a storm , and pretty scary driving. Good weather about 2 hours to vail. The closer in ski areas on a perfect weather day are about an hour and a half. Dont stay in denver if you want to ski the weather is not good enough for that and you will be exhausted.

Your best bet for using points/only staying at a hilton is to fly to salt lake city, utah instead. There are tons of hiltons in salt lake city metro area and you will be half an hour away from ALOT of resorts. The hilton salt lake city center is a beutiful hotel, and is close to alot of great ski areas like Park City, Deer Valley, the canyons, snowbird. Its also close to the gateway mall which is really nice, has a movie theater and lots of restaurants for after skiing.

The hampton inn in park city is very nice. next to an outlet mall, a ruby tuesdays, and near the us olympic center(very fun). Three ski resorts are located in park city and the bus runs right by the hotel to the main street part of park city. You will have a blast here, my family has always had amazing ski vacations to utah.

There is also a great hilton on whistler, BC. With the dollar being weak canada is still pretty expensive, but excellent skiiing up there.

OK, the usual Colorado-vs-Utah rivalry is starting :)

OP is already planning (and sounds like booked air) into DEN, so let's not make him spend big-time change fees to go to SLC this trip.

I live in Summit County, where Keystone, Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin, and Copper Mountain are the big ski areas. Keystone/Breck/A-Basin are all under the Vail Resorts umbrella (only part-ownership of A-basin - think of it like a codeshare) and a ticket at one is good for all. I live just off I-70 exit 205 at the bottom of the downhill from the Eisenhower tunnel, and that's exactly 90 miles from DEN (DIA-Denver International Airport). Downtown Denver, which if your trip is for skiing, you have no reason to go through, is 70 miles from here. From this exit off the highway, Keystone is 6 miles up Hwy6 back towards the continental divide at 9300 feet, and A-Basin is about 3 miles past that (and about 1500 feet higher). Breckenridge would be one exit further on I-70 (3 more miles) and then 11 miles south on Hwy 9. Copper would be a few more exits down I-70 and is about 12 miles from this point of reference. There's a free bus system throughout all the towns and resorts - Summit Stage.

The only Hilton Family property up here is the Valdoro Mountain Lodge at Breckenridge, which is a HGVC property. I don't think it can be booked with points online, but probably can or booked for revenue stays via phone.

Steamboat is another 90 miles or so on 2-lane after getting off at I-70 exit 205, and that's an easy 2-3 hours at times.

The nearest Hilton family property between Denver and here is the Golden CO Hampton Inn right on Hwy 6 just off I-70 at the foothills. That exit is 57 miles from my reference point of I-70 exit 205 for Summit County.

Loveland ski area is right over the Eisenhower tunnel at the Divide on the east side. Not officially in Summit County but we consider it one of ours. No free buses there though.

Vail is about 35 miles further west on I-70 over a 2nd pass, and can be a quick 1/2 hour, or can take really long, or the pass can be closed. Beaver Creek (also owned by Vail) is 10 miles W of Vail.

Multi-Day Breck or Keystone tickets, in addition to A-Basin, allow 1 day at Vail or BC. I think, but am not sure, that a 5-day might allow 2.

Copper Mountain is owned by Intrawest, and they also manage Winter Park (owned by the City of Denver). Some ticket interchangeability there. Intrawest now owns Steamboat, so multi-day tickets might have some interchangeability there too.

I agree that staying in Denver is not optimal for skiing. Fly in, rent a car or take Colorado Mountain Express (ridecme.com) up to the mountains, and don't worry about the daily commute. There's a big difference in relaxation between schleping up and down the hill every day to ski, from staying in Summit County, riding around free to each area, and maybe driving one day out to Vail or the Boat.

But not a lot of HHonors properties around here. I would not stay in Denver just to use a Hilton property if the goal is skiing. If you are coming in late, or want a first night "down" at 5280 feet to help acclimate to 9000+ later (highly recommended BTW) then I can definitely recommend either the Doubletree Denver or the HGI DIA as good properties with good HHonors elite recognition and good customer service. Both have shuttle buses from the terminal, both have friendly staff, and I'm a regular at both when flying out early or back home late and don't want to do the 90 mile drive right then.

If interested more in the area, you might want to post in the Resorts Conditions & Travel (http://forums.epicski.com/forumdisplay.php?f=21) forum at EpicSki (www.epicski.com) which is a great resource for ski info, and has a lot of locals from that area. And from Utah too.

BTW, do Utah next year, or later this year - I do agree that the skiing around SLC and the convenience to the city and airport is great.

i will be going in late december early jan for my kids winter break

will be flying into denver and would appreciate any advice the forum could give me regarding hilton properties close or in resort areas..or close to denver


your help has helped me plan past trips to kona, whistler, jackson hole

thanks in advanceJust curious... Do buy your plane tickets before you check out lodging options?

wow...much thanks for the replies....will help me tremendously with my plans


no i didn't buy the tickets yet....but on my last trip...to yellowstone....i did!

the hampton inn at jacksone hole was great....anyway, appreciate your time

If you're open to other options and you haven't been there yet, I suggest taking a look at the Embassy Suites in South Lake Tahoe and the nearby ski resorts including Heavenly.