Having been in Ouray some 18 years ago, I knew I wanted my family to experience a little history from the West in this beautiful setting. So in July, since there were four of us, we stayed in the only room with two beds which was the suite. It was extremely clean and where else can you really take a bath in a clawfoot bathtub? My kids were thrilled and they were teenagers! Read the diary in the room. We stayed for two nights and wished we could have stayed longer. What a beautifully restored hotel. This is the real thing. Forget about TV because who wants to stay in there room with so much else to do in town? We went horseback riding and took a jeep tour. A must! The restaurant on the patio served great food and the owners were nice. You can stay in a modern hotel anytime and they all look the same. Try staying in a hotel like this out east and you'd have to take out a loan! This was a great experience and we want to go back. My entire family highly recommends this.

I stayed at the Western Hotel on June 2 2003. I had nothing but a great experience. I read a comment earlier from some guests that did not like the stay. Well, they complained about the cold, no phone, and bad experience with the staff. Well, that should make them even more appreciative of what they have now, and also let them know they would not have survived when the Hotel was new. When you go to a town in the dead of winter, and stay at a place that is over 100 years old, what would you expect -- but cold. I do believe I saw a Best Western not far from the Hotel, so maybe that was clue one. Besides their comment, I had a wonderful time. I was in room 12, and heard nothing all night except Eve, the lady working there who also stayed in a room across the hall over night. The experince was something that I had never had before, and if I ever make it to that area again, you can bet I will stay there again. Something I thought was awsome was each room having its own Journal for each and every guest to read and write in. My room had two and I ended up staying up until late reading both from cover to cover, even adding my own experiece that turned out to be 5 pages long. That goes to show you that you don't need a TV to keep you occupied, grab a book, which I might add the Hotel has pleanty of in the sitting area up the stairs. I did not get a chance to eat at the restaurant since I made a trip to Montrose and got back late, so I can't tell you what that was like. The Hotel used to be a B&B, but now its just a B. When reading the journals, many people commented on the apple pancakes and how good they were. I am sorry to say I didn't get that experience since the Hotel is now just a Hotel with no breakfast. There is a little coffee house across the street that will give you a free cup if you show them your room key. As for the ghost, I didn't hear any, but you do get the feeling of the entire spirit of the place, with the age and smells of the antique furniture, and by the way, the beds are not 100ight ~ Amarillo Texas

Wow, maybe the season makes the difference, because last August my Husband and I had the best experience of our lives at the Historic Western Hotel. We checked in around 1:00 and was greated immediatley by a very helpful girl behind the counter. We were showed up to our room (which was only $35, by the way) and walking up the stairs and down the hall, we creaked and squeaked all the way there... It was CLASSIC! We felt like we were in one of those old western movies! When we got to our room, we were delighted to see that there were no phones, contributing even more to our back in time feel. We were told that our shared restroom was down the hall (there are two suites @ about $60 with their own, but come on! where is your sense of adventure!) and when we got there, we were delighted to find an old clawfoot tub and those hot/cold two fixture fausets! I think the best part of our stay was when we found the guest book in our nightstand. In it we read all the stories of past visitors and how they encountered ghosts at night :) All of this swept me away and I had vivid dreams of ghosts walking in the hallway woke up in the middle of the night with my heart pounding! It was terror-ific!!!We loved our stay and plan on going back soon, If you go, be sure to eat downstairs in the resturant, it's inexpensive and the food was great!

Possibly the worst lodging experience of our lives. We should have known something was wrong when the proprieter of the hotel had to drive 15 minutes in to meet us to check in. They do not live at the hotel and I now understand why. But what it means if there is a problem there is no one there at the hotel to help. You are on your own.

When we checked in it was freezing in the lobby - I would guess about 45 degrees. The owner said that the furnace had gone off but that she had started it and the hotel would be warm in a little while. Maybe she meant June.

We were promised a roll-away bed but instead we were given an army cot with no apology or explanation. At the same time we were pointed to a large cabinet of blankets which probably saved our lives.

When we asked about the half-price ski vouchers that you get when you stay at any ouray hotel, we were told that she did not have any and instead of her going to get some, she told us to go to another motel in town and get them there. The person at the motel we went to knew nothing of this arrangement but was sympathetic enough to give us the vouchers anyway.

There was a small space heater in our room that we immediatey turned on full and left for dinner and to go get the ski area vouchers from the other hotel.

When we returned the room was no warmer at all - the space heater was too small and the ceilings too high for any heat to be felt at all. We got into our ski gear and attempted to sleep - my son sleeping on the cot could never get warm so we all got into the double bed and slept fitfully till about 5:00 am when we got up, grabbed our stuff and got in the car to warm up.

There was no phone in the room and no one at the hotel at all - so no way to call for help and express our difficulties to anyone.

We were scheduled to stay another night but there was no way we were going through that again.

The worst thing about the whole experiece was the level of customer service exhibited by the proprieter of the hotel after I called her about this. No apology, no expression of sympathy. She said she would have to think about what she would do to make it right, then never called me. When I called her back, she said that we were given a space heater and ski vouchers and what else did we expect her to do.

In my opinion it was as bad as it gets, a bad situation, which sometimes happens, but the worst customer service imaginable.

Good luck to you if you stay in the Historic Western Hotel - take your sleeping bag and don't expect any service. You are on your own. You have been warned.