Prior to my stay here, I read reviews from all over - Yelp, Google, Trip Advisor...they made me a little skeptical and I kind of braced for the unknown. Much to my surprise & relief, it was a great place! First of all, ignore any review complaining about responsiveness of staff or the office location. That has been remedied by an Innkeeper living onsite. Retta was amazing - she's present all day long so if you need anything you can ask her in person. But let me start with access - yes, you have to park in a little lot and walk. But it's maybe half a block? You go over a wide bridge, turn right and follow the sidewalk directly up to the lodge. There are a couple steps but I just pulled my wheeled suitcase up and there you go! Arrived! I mean, what kind of place has everyone complaining about the distance stayed? You always have to park and walk through a parking lot, lobby, etc. to get to a room. If you want to park right outside your door, stay a a motel or an Airbnb. Note, we arrived at 10pm when it was pretty much pitch black outside and found the lodge easily. So I am sure others can do it, especially when it is day time. Yes, the interior of the building feels like it was built in the 70s or 80s. I mean, that's probably when it was built. But it was clean. Seriously - the shower had a glass surround which I would never use in lodging because glass just begs for soap scum issues. This? Not a spot. It was so clean - I actually asked Retta how in the world she kept it so clean and she said it was just vinegar & water...and elbow grease. Yes, the bedding was a little tired, but it was clean. There were nice branded robes in our closet, extra blankest, a humidifier (which always kinds of freaks me out b/c they can get notoriously gross and moldy but this was super clean), space heater, ironing board, and extra pillows. Our room was directly across from the kitchen and lounge but we were never bothered by any noise. It actually made it feel even more homey because I could just pop out our door and over to the kitchen to grab breakfast. There were always some sort of goodies in the kitchen area - from ham & cheese breakfast croissants, fruit, coffee, juice, snacks like trail mix in individually sealed bags, granola bars, cheese & meat boards at happy hour, chocolate chip cookies... The little living room/lounge area had a fireplace, comfy seats, a big tv, and there were big windows and a door out to the large deck along the river. Just a few steps beyond that is the building with the hot tub. I personally like hot tubs exposed to the elements and being right on the river, you could imagine how nice it would be to hear & see the river if the tub wasn't enclosed, but it probably helps hugely with maintenance to have it enclosed. There are windows you could open to hear the river, but we just took a quick soak & didn't mess with them. Our room looked out onto the trail along the river so we could watch dogs go by and the view was of aspens & the surrounding mountains. We never once needed our vehicle - once we parked we left it until the day we departed. I saw someone mentioned not being able to secure their door from the inside - we had a chain for our door and once you closed it, the only way to open from the outside would be to use the door code. But again, having an innkeeper living onsite you never felt unsafe. The only downside I would mention is that because of the year the building was constructed, it has the usual noise issues like hearing every step in the room above you, and we hard some banging around in a room next to us but generally everyone was cognizant of trying to respect each other and not making excessive or unnecessary noise. Use a white noise app on your phone if every little sound is going to bug you. I enjoyed my experience at the Manitou Lodge. It wasn't a swanky resort, but they don't market themselves as that. It was cozy, clean, convenient. Retta is doing a great job and I hope Alpine Lodging realizes what an asset they have in her.…