Marriott’s Mountain Valley Lodge at Breckenridge

Not the nicest; sleep difficult

The best attribute of this Marriott is the location – at the far end of town but everything is within a very easy walk. The hotel itself is older: the common areas have a very run down look and feel; the rooms are decent enough but furnishings and fixtures are a bit older and spare. The studio suite is not as large in reality as it appears on the website and as the square footage would have you believe. It is a bit choppy in layout with some wasted space at the entry and then a tight fit in other areas.

The hotel has several major flaws which would cause us not to return to this hotel.

1. The balcony is incredibly tiny and none of the balconies in any rooms at this hotel has any furniture – not even two cheap plastic outdoor chairs. Sitting on the balcony to enjoy the view and the stars were the main reason we chose this Marriott and that was simply a non-starter given that you could barely fit two people standing.

2. The hotel lacks air conditioning. Some may say that “oh in the mountains you don’t need it.” Guess what? You do, in the summer. We kept the sliding glass door open all night and there was no breeze or air flow into the room so we hardly slept at all.

3. The hot tubs are part of the pool complex and have no views or privacy, much less a separation from all the children hollering and splashing in the pool. The hot tubs should be separated from the pool itself and all the kids in an “adult only” area for peace and quiet.

4. The parking is in a different building which is about a 5 – 10 min walk. There are signs at each space that say “Marriott Assigned Space” which makes you think that the spaces are reserved and assigned to a specific room. The desk clerk did not make it clear at all that any space is available for a Marriott guest. Also, be sure not to park in the spaces assigned to guests of other hotels.

5. Our card keys frequently did not work and every single time it took five or more tries to get the keys to work and flash the green light. This was incredibly annoying.

6. There are no views to speak of other than a tiny view of the woods and a sliver of the river and mountain.

7. Housekeeping service is expensive and a la carte. If you request “just” trash emptying service, they charge you $10 a day. For a full cleaning, it is $50 a day. REALLY???? At the price of $250 a night, they are going to charge additional fees for housekeeping? I was astonished.

It has a full kitchen that smartly uses the space (dishwasher, frig, stove, microwave) that is well equippped. There is a square table with several chairs that is in the middle of the room. The bed is a queen. The linens and towels are decent quality. The room had a safe in the closet, an iron and ironing board, and a humidifier but no fan or air conditioning.

The desk clerk was snarky and sarcastic. We had to wait several minutes for one to appear any time we needed to speak to someone.

Be aware that this hotel seems to cater to families like several other Marriott vacation club spots. There are kids everywhere.