Earlier this year, we were lucky enough to visit Colorado and stay at the beautiful Sheraton Steamboat Resort Villas. A little back story to this is that we were supposed to stay here for a week-long snowboarding trip the previous season. My friend had a timeshare at the Sheraton and planned a trip for all of us. Unfortunately, this same friend also bought a motorcycle for himself the same year. He took it out on the first day and fell off his bike and then the bike fell on him. Well, needless to say, his leg was fractured and he was out for the season. So, when I found out that the Sheraton Steamboat Resort Villas had rooms this year that were only 35,000 points, I knew I had to jump on it.
MARRIOTT’S CREDIT CARD ANNIVERSARY FREE NIGHT
The way Marriott’s Credit Card Anniversary Night works is that each year, you receive at least one free night certificate worth up to a stay of 35,000 points depending on which credit card you have. This is supposed to be equivalent to around a Category 5 hotel. Unfortunately, Marriott has three different tiers for each category: off-peak, standard, and peak. A “standard” Category 5 gets you at 35,000 points. If you’re going during a “peak” Category 5 day, you’re out of luck since it’ll cost you 40,000 points.
When I looked on the Marriott’s reward calendar, most of the days we wanted to go were “peak” days. Luckily, we found one weekend that had two 35,000 point nights back-to-back. I actually had two award certificates so we booked both nights.
REVIEW OF SHERATON STEAMBOAT RESORT VILLAS
// LOCATION //
You can’t beat this location! The hotel sits right in front of the gondola. If you are a skier or snowboarder, this is absolute heaven. Steamboat Ski Resort also has night boarding so you can easily come downstairs for a couple of runs before your dinner. The hotel is also situated inside the ski village so you can easily walk to restaurants, bars, ski rental shops, etc. If you don’t want to stay in the village, there’s a FREE bus that will take you to downtown Steamboat. We took the red and blue lines the most to get around at night.
In regards to parking, I can’t really speak about it since we didn’t have a car. We flew into Hayden Airport via Southwest Airlines and took a shuttle into town. There are only two options for getting into Steamboat. Either you rent a car or you have to pay for a shuttle. Rental cars were pretty expensive so that’s why we opted for the shuttle. We called around and ended up using Go Alpine. It was around $65 round trip per person. Yes, it’s still expensive, but at least we didn’t have to pay for parking.
// ROOM //
The only room type that was available for the award redemption was the Studio, 1 King. I was afraid that because I booked on points, we were going to get a less than a desirable room. To my surprise, even though the room was skinny, we had everything we needed and an amazing view of the mountain. You can watch people ski all day and night. My favorite part though was the kitchen. It’s so nice having a refrigerator for your beverages and a microwave to heat up your leftover food. Our studio had a very small patio that you can step out on. I think it’s really meant for you to get some fresh air rather than for you to stand outside on.
// FOOD //
The hotel has three main food options: Saddles Lounge, Timber and Torch, and Saddles Market. Saddles Lounge is a nice place to get a drink and sit inside the lobby and people watch. If you want real food, head over to Timber and Torch. Their patio is a great place to hang out for après ski. You can sit and drink your bloody marys while watching people ski down the mountain. Also, make sure you have a dinner reservation, especially on the weekend. Since it’s COVID times, they are limiting the number of people who can sit inside. We waited until the last minute and couldn’t get a reservation. So instead, we order food to go and ate in the comfort of our hotel room.
// POOL //
If you are looking to use the pool, they currently have a reservation system in place. You are required to book online and choose a certain time slot. Each slot is about 45 mins and you can choose either the jacuzzi or the pool. For the winter, the pool is currently heated to 104 degrees F and the jacuzzi to 102 degrees F. They limit 20 people for the pool and 6 for the jacuzzi. We booked the pool around 4:00 pm every day and did not have a problem. I was afraid that the pool was still going to be cold, but it definitely was not. It was just as hot as a regular jacuzzi, but maybe even better because the pool is huge. Everyone stayed close to the edge of the pool so no one was closer than six feet from each other. When your time is up, someone will come by and give a five-minute warning. After everyone gets out of the pool, the staff disinfects all the seats and handrails. I was really impressed by how they handled COVID and felt like they did a great job organizing this.
// SERVICE //
The service was absolutely amazing! A big shout out to Manny at the front desk. If I owned a hotel, I would without a doubt hire him. He was super friendly, knowledgeable about things to do around the hotel, and just had a happy personality all around. He even remembered my name the next day. That’s saying a lot since half of our faces are covered all the time. Overall, every staff person at the hotel was just amazing. From the bartender taking our drink order to the person helping us schedule our pool appointments. Having great service really does change the whole experience of a trip.
// COVID //
All COVID precautions are in place. You are required to wear a face mask around the hotel and there are hand sanitizing stations everywhere. The elevator policy at the time was one family per elevator. The elevators are pretty small so the line does get backed up. Just make sure you take that extra time into account.
If you are planning on taking the bus, you will have to wear a mask also. On top of that, they are limiting the number of people on the bus. Make sure you’re not waiting for the last bus otherwise there’s a chance that you will get stuck.
CONCLUSION
The Sheraton Steamboat Resort Villas was well worth the award certificates that we used. A typical night here during the winter costs around $300. We saved over $600 by using our two free nights. We loved Steamboat so much that we’re probably going to use next year’s anniversary certificate here again. I would highly recommend this hotel especially if you are a big skier/snowboarder. For those of you who don’t know either, Steamboat is on the Ikon Pass so the lift ticket would be free for you anyways. If you have the Ikon Base Pass, you have five days at Steamboat and if you have the Ikon Full Pass, you have unlimited days. If you have any questions, feel free to comment below!
