I stayed here several weekends ago for one night with family. I was a little hesitant about it because, although I grew up going to The Brown with my parents and have always had a special place in my heart for it, my last two visits in 2010 and 2007 left me deeply unimpressed with the service. I'm happy to say that, perhaps in part as a response to feedback from other travelers or from affiliating with Marriott as part of their Autograph collection recently, service standards were generally back to what you would expect from a 5 star hotel.

A quick note - I noticed another recent reviewer referred to the Marriott as now owning The Brown. I was a little confused about this myself when I saw the Autograph Collection designation, but for what it's worth, the hotel is still independently owned. I assume the arrangement with Marriott involves fees to Marriott, benefits of Marriott promotion, and some agreement to meet certain chain standards, but there is zero sense of Marriott inside the Brown Palace (and I consider that to be a good thing). The front desk told us it's been a positive affiliation for the hotel because they get more bookings now during their slow season.

A few tips for other travelers: this is a grand old hotel. It's been renovated and refurbished many times no doubt but they're not selling change and the latest thing. The restaurants here have been the same since I was a child and I was born in the early 70s. Personally, I think it's great that The Ship's Tavern looks just like it did when I was ordering Shirley Temples there with my parents. The food does change/grow with the times, however, and I've always found the food to be reliably tasty. Afternoon tea here is a major event, along the lines of what I'm more accustomed to now at The Peninsula in Chicago. Book ahead - we were already too late for Saturday's tea when we arrived in the early afternoon and could only get a noon time for the next day. Sunday brunch at Ellyngton's is also a big event for locals. Reservations are a good idea. For about $45/person you can get the non-champagne brunch and enjoy everything from cooked-to-order omelettes and all the usual brunch suspects to a full dessert station. I appreciare that the staff willingly accommodated our group of 4 because we were hotel guests, even though we didn't actually make reservations as I'm suggesting everyone else should do. I think it was a little inconvenient, but they made it work and handled it very professionally.

Also on the topic of "grand old hotel": their basic room is not large. Really, it's not any smaller than what you'll get at a Hilton Garden Inn either, but it seems smaller because it's a 5 star hotel. It was totally fine. Would I choose this style of room if I didn't have a lifelong relationship with the hotel? Maybe not, but it was reasonably priced compared to the comparable rooms at the Denver Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton. I also appreciated the totally modern (and obviously recently redone) bathroom. Rain shower was a really nice, subtle touch. The bed, on the other hand, was not good. It was squeaky, it seemed to move around just from the normal tossing and turning of two people sleeping, and it wasn't all that comfy overall. We reported it to the front desk at checkout and the man expressed the appropriate amount of concern and gratitude for bringing it to his attention. Don't know if that was an isolated issue for our room or not.

I left with the sense that the Brown may be recapturing some of its old grandeur and sense of exclusivity. Maybe it never lost it, but it sure felt down and out in 2007 and 2010. I would definitely come back here and I kind of kicked myself for almost giving up on it altogether and going over to The Four Seasons this time. I'm glad I didn't. A couple of their famous macaroons and brunch pecan rolls made me realize that there are some special things you can find here that I'll probably never find at any other hotel in Denver, no matter how luxurious.

I choose to stay at the Brown Palace because of it's history, AND that the food at the Ship Tavern is very nice. The room are small which matches the time period that the hotel was built in. I am glad to see that it now under the Marriott chain of hotels. They have kept the decor to the standard of the Brown Palace and not just like 'other' Marriott's.