HOTEL ASPEN & MOLLY GIBSON LODGE 2011
Michael Brown and his partners bought the hotels and completed a $1.5 million renovation in 2010. They wanted to bring in the friendliness of a ski lodge, but have it in a setting where the services and amenities were like a 4 star with a more affordable price. The idea is to re-create the ski lodges that were kind of going away. There’s free internet, airport shuttles and free parking. It’s a little more intimate, family lodge type feel. It provides a lot of service for people who want that kind of simple living yet in really nice surroundings.
The Aspen is contemporary and modern. The pool has Buddha beds, water features and a hot tub. It has a really nice ambiance. The breakfast room has a view of the mountain. Some rooms have their own hot tubs. There are a variety of room styles.
There are new wood floors, new furnishings, high thread count beds, iPod docking stations, nice bedding, bathroom furnishings, nice countertops. coffee stations, microwaves, and hair dryers in both hotels as well as swimming pools, dog friendly, ski lockers and breakfast rooms. There 45 rooms in each hotel.
The Gibson has a more homey darker feel. Gibson has fireplaces in many of the rooms.
It’s across from a nice park and on the edge of all the amenities downtown. There’s a hiking trail that’s a few minutes away. You don’t have to have a car.
They provide a pretty hearty breakfast. In the wintertime there is an après-ski everyday with chili, sausages and more. Some guests are satisfied with that as their dinner.
People think Aspen is too unaffordable or too expensive or too exclusive or too elitist and it’s not for them. Of course there are expensive accomodations, expensive restaurants but there are also really nice accomodations at very reasonable affordable rates like the Hotel Aspen. In the summer rooms are under $150 per night. It’s more in winter but not too bad. The nice thing is that we offer a lot of the same amenities and the same level of comfort as a more expensive property at a more affordable rate.
