goalie-parents are flying SFO-DEN-MIA next Tuesday (1/4).

It looks like (as of now) their flight DEN-MIA is going to be oversold (and with pretty much zero chance of their sponsored CR1 u/g going to clear ).

They are willing to take a bump to the same flight next day and I will give them their "marching orders" of what to ask for but when it comes to airport hotels at DEN, I'm lost and wouldn't want them to end up at the "Fabulous Furama's*" evil cousin so any advice would be appreciated so I can add another line item for my folks.

Thanks as always

*Repeat after me: "Oy gevalt"

The key with accepting a hotel near DEN airport is to consider how far away it is. The new airport is physically isolated. The closest hotels are in a cluster a few miles away, along the access road. They're all fairly new and brand name-oriented, so none of them really suck. There's another cluster of hotels a few miles farther out where the access road connects to I-70. Still mostly franchises though some are older. Then there are the "airport" hotels that were built around the old airport. What sucks about these is the distance. The shuttle bus ride could be 45 minutes each way, and the buses come around infrequently. Advise your folks to inquire about the distance to whatever hotel is offered and press for one that's within 10 miles.

IME, most of UA's hotels seem to be out by Stapleton (about a 20 minute drive/ride each way). I've stayed at the Red Lion (okay, not horrible), Courtyard (again, okay), Crystal Inn (this was years ago, and was expecting the worst but was quite impressed), and the Sleep Inn (this was thanks to Messy Air, so not sure if it is still on the list...horrible, horrible smoke-filled dingy motel, kind of like a Messy Air plane!).

Not sure what else UA uses.

I was put out at the Renaissance Denver which was on Quebec Street near the old Stapleton. Decent hotel, but not much within walking distance.

Like you, I have stayed at the Crystal Inn. I did expect the worst on this one too, but it was not bad. There is not a huge selection of restaurants nearby, aside from the Flying J and a McDonald's IIRC. I would push for the Hilton Garden Inn or one of the others as there is a little more choice for food.

The old Renaissance on Quebec used to be the default 1K hotel back in the day of Stapleton. It was pretty good 10 yrs ago. UA just put me in The DoubleTree on Quebec the other day. Pretty good. If there is wx, you would want to be closer, but if the forecast is good, I don't think the 20 min ride is a problem.

One good note on The DoubleTree. Their 0900 shuttle was full, leaving only me. They whistled up a taxi and prepaid the fare to ensure I had no problems. Pretty nice customer service....

UA put me up once at the Courtyard near DIA on Tower rd. It was just as good as other Courtyards I have stayed at; but as others above have noted all the hotels are far from the airport.

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/maps/...enver-airport/

When I took a bump at DEN earlier this year, I was put in the Denver Airport Marriott at Gateway Park--probably the cluster of hotels mentioned above. There was an Applebee's at the corner of the parking lot cluster. It's under 10 miles from the airport and seemed to be a fairly direct ride. The shuttle bus was large and ran frequently and everything around there seemed new. There was also a Hilton property in the same complex.

in 2010, two overnighters at DEN courtesy of UA (one misconnect, one bump):

Renaissance at Stapleton
Holiday Inn at Stapleton (formerly the Radisson)

That is a very nice property ^

goalie, if they get a hotel, see if they can be put either in the Marriott, or any other hotel on Tower Road. Any of the hotels on Tower are so close to DIA.

Renaissance at Stapleton, 20-30 minutes shuttle ride.
Make sure you sign up for the return shuttle.

The funny thing about the Marriott was that it looked like the entire Aurora Police Department was having breakfast at the buffet--it appeared that it was a regular occurrence too.

So what was the end result for your parents? Did they get bumped? If so... where?
(In general, I'd shoot for one of the two hotel complexes on DIA property for convenience, but the Stapleton area really isn't too bad, and there's more stuff close by to do if you want to get out of the hotel. Not a lot of compelling restaurant options at the DIA hotels.)