We stayed at the Silverwood over Labor Day Weekend. I was a little aprehensive about cleanliness of the rooms after reading some of the reviews, but this was not an issue. We had a nice, clean room with a king bed. Part of the reason I booked this hotel was the raving reviews about the free made-to-order breakfast; however, we like to get up early and hike and since they do not start breakfast until 6:30 we ate at the Village Inn across the street which is open 24/7. So keep this in mind if you are an early bird. The hotel is back off the main road and centrally located to a lot of the sights and hiking trails which was handy. Our experience was ok, but I don't think we will book there again.

We decided to go to the Springs at the last minute and were having a hard time finding decent hotels that weren't booked (there was some big athletic event in town.) Since we were staying for 5 days, we wanted something a little better than a budget hotel but didn't want to break the bank either. For us, the Silverwood fit the bill nicely.

Location: Good. Close to the Interstate but not right ON the interstate. Convenient to many of the tourist attractions with gas/restaurants nearby.

Rooms: Nice and big with comfortable beds. Unlike other reviews I've read, our room was nicely updated and clean. All rooms come with a balcony or patio. (We're smokers but don't like to smoke inside, so a non-smoking room with a balcony is ideal for us.) Bathroom was on the small side, but everything worked and it was clean. One thing that was annoying is we kept having to ask for extra washcloths--there were two of us but they only left one clean washcloth every day--not sure if there was some big washcloth shortage or what! Cable TV selection was limited, would have been nice if there were a few more channels to choose from. We also didn't get a fridge/micro as we saw in the pics on the hotel website. Not a huge deal, but disappointing.

Ammenities: Pool area was OK. Hot tub was warm but the jets didn't really work. Would have been nice if there was more than one "courtesy" computer for those of who don't have laptops. Had to wait in line or go at odd hours to check our email. The made-to-order breakfast, as others have said, was great. On busy days we had to wait in a long line though. The set-up could have also been better...i.e., having the beverages at a separate station so you don't constantly have people cutting in front of you to get more coffee or juice or whatever. The free happy hour at the bar was nice!

Staff: Very friendly and helpful, especially the breakfast and happy hour staff. Couldn't ask for better.

Overall: Quite acceptable for under $100 a night during peak season in Colorado Springs. Could use some small improvements, but I would stay there again.

and I don’t think it deserves a 3-star rating. Checking in took a while, because it seemed that everyone in front of me had some issue. When we arrived in our “newly renovated” room, it didn’t appear “new” at all. The beds and furniture seemed “newer” and the tub and shower area looked redone, but the wallpaper, carpeting and rest of the bathroom looked old and worn. In fact, I noticed that under the bathroom vanity a towel was wrapped around the sink pipe and there was a huge hole in the wall that they sloppily attempted to cover up with some sort of plastic cover. Also, there was used soap (and a hair) in the shower leftover from the previous guest. We called to get it removed as well as to get a light bulb replaced and some extra towels. It took about 45 minutes to an hour for someone to come and they didn’t even remove the old soap. One more thing about the bathroom—our toilet didn’t work properly and after every couple of flushes my husband would have to remove the tank lid and reconnect the chain that kept slipping off. I told the front desk about this twice, but I don’t know if they ever sent anyone and if they did, they never fixed the problem. (So if you want a properly working toilet, don’t stay in room 239). Housekeeping was minimal—never really cleaned out the tub when they came—just replaced towels. Never felt that the bathroom/room was very clean. As for noise, we didn’t find the hallways or rooms particularly noisy and the hotel was completely booked the weekend we were there. However, our air conditioner sounded like a freight train. If you started to doze off or were in a light sleep and it kicked in, it would wake you up and keep you up. As for security, the card-access only door into our building was sometimes working and other times anyone could open it, or, better yet, it was propped open. As for the pool area (and this was one of the reasons I chose this hotel—it had an outdoor pool) it was pretty old like the rest of the building and in need of some major repair/maintenance. It also wasn’t that clean (my children kept finding floating dead bugs) and the hot tub was out of order (not that I would have let anyone in my family go in that hot tub anyway). It was also open until 10 pm, but when we walked by at night there didn’t seem to be any lighting.

On a positive note (yes, I do have one), the location is great. It’s on Garden of the Gods Road, right off of 25 and not too far from anything. As for the breakfast, I have to agree with previous reviews that it was excellent. The made-to-order eggs/omelets and pancakes, along with fresh fruit made the rest of the hotel bearable. We also never encountered any huge lines, as was mentioned in a previous review. The chefs were always smiling and friendly, as was the wait staff at the Bucking Toad, where the breakfast was served. Just had to get there before 9:30 when they start clearing everything away (although one of the waitresses said if I was looking for something that they had put away, just let them know and they would get it for me). Also, twice we went down to the Bucking Toad for dinner and the food was surprisingly good and reasonable. It was nice to have the option of eating a decent meal at the hotel when it was late and we didn’t feel like venturing out again. There were also several good restaurants nearby. The Fire Rock Grill across the street had an excellent steak dinner (reasonably priced), although they were short-staffed when we were there and our waitress was a little frazzled, and the 3 Jarritas Famiy Mexican Restaurant (take the road behind the hotel heading toward 25, next to Days Inn) was an excellent authentic Mexican restaurant with a great atmosphere and friendly service.

Overall, I would not recommend this hotel (unless you don’t care about cleanliness and/or working toilets). It is not surprising to me to read in one of the recent reviews that it’s closing—maybe that’s part of the problem; they’ve just given up. Too bad, it’s a great location and with the right management and some real renovating, it could be a decent hotel.

We spent 5 days in Estes Park, and then traveled to Colorado Springs. We were pleasantly suprised to see how nice the Silverwood was. Compared to the other hotels in the area, it was by far one of the better choices. It is very close to all the fun tourist type attractions, and close to alot of restaurants. The on site restaurant provided an awesome (free) cook to order breakfast that was OUTSTANDING. The pool was clean, but the hot tub was not in working order. We liked the private internet access room. We did not encounter any noise issues, and we went at peak travel time. I was impressed, and would stay there again!! Staff was very friendly and helpful.