Official Pueblo Host Hotel

[bpanther]

Here is our Official Host Hotel for Pueblo Events

Call the Clarion Pueblo Hotel and Conference Center. They are on Elizabeth Street just off of HWY50 and I25 next to the DelTaco.


4001 N Elizabeth Street
Pueblo, CO 81008
719-543-8050

The Rate is $49 - $59 per night for NASA participants. Call and say your are "Road Racing with NASA". If you have any problems, ask for Eli.

Call now, the rate is reserved but not a specific number of rooms. When the hotel is full, it's full.


These folks are willing to support us all year with this great rate - even in Summer when everybody else is charging close to $100/night!!! Make sure to thank them.

[BADVENM]

Just made my reservations for friday night and saturday night, everything went smoothly.

[MHISSTC]

Thanks for setting this up Dave B.

I just added my reservations for all three Pueblo events in March, May and July.

I am a Choice Privilages Member (includes the Clarion). Although they do not yet accept reservations with that program, I was told they will after March 1st and all I have to do is give them my Member # when I show up in March and I will get credit for the stay.

[abacab]

Opinions on this hotel? Possibly compare it to other Pueblo lodging?

[MHISSTC]

I don't think you can beat the $59/night rate.

My family found the rooms to be very adequate. It appears the facility has been recently remodeled, so it is pretty nice. The hot breakfast included in the price of the room was good...as long as you get there early. I think the NASA block of rooms was all together in one wing, which was a good thing. They were well away from the enthusiastic youngsters and their partying adults who were there for the basketball tournament last weekend.

A few more comments:

- Our reservation was for a two bed (double beds) room, but we were given a single king bed room. The desk manager was very quick to make the correction and give us the correct room. The effort was much appreciated.

- The indoor pool was FREEZING! My kids were in there only 10 minutes before they were begging to go back to the room and take a hot shower.

- I got to the breakfast right when they opened the dining room at 6:30am and enjoyed it. My family got to the breakfast about 1-2 hours later and didn't find it as good. They were slow to replace some of the depleted breakfast items and ran completely out of some of the main breakfast items on Sunday. I'm guessing they didn't plan adequately for a bunch of hungry sports teenagers and their families that weekend.

- My Choice Privileges Rewards Points didn't show up in my account. I made the reservations before they were part of the Choice chain and gave them my Member number when I checked in. They told me it would be counted, but I checked the Choice website today and it hasn't been done. I just notified Choice I was missing the stay. It shouldn't be a problem now that they are officially part of the Choice chain.

I'd definitely go back if my family didn't accompany me. However, my wife and kids still prefer the Quality Inn & Suites. For $70 a night we can get a larger 2 queen bed room with a fridge, a warmer pool, and a continental breakfast.

I just realized the web link listed above doesn't work anymore. To make reservations go here (http://www.clarionhotel.com/ires/en-US/html/HotelInfo?hotel=CO233&sid=7t0q.QuE9mgDAUM.2&sarea=5277&sname=Pueblo&sstate=CO&scountry=US&sradius=40.22&slat=38.2544&slon=-104.6090&schain=R&exp=&scity=Pueblo&sort=&type=&month=5&day=16&depart_month=5&depart_day=18&srp=SGM&nroom=1&nadult1=2&nchild1=2&nadult2=1&nchild2=0&nadult3=1&nchild3=0&nadult4=1&nchild4=0&nadult5=1&nchild5=0).
I also realized I didn't take advantage of the free cocktail upon check-in. :(

[BADVENM]

I was at the same hotel as MHISSTC. On very short notice I called the hotel to ask if a friend who was coming down friday night for HPDE 1 saturday could stay in my 1 bedroom place. They had no problem with it and got a rollaway bed for him (I think).

Anyway, the bed for me was huge and I had no problems at all. I need to make reservations for the next 2 events before it fills up.

[leggwork]

the smoking rooms aren't a good choice if that is all that is left...

[bpanther]

Good stuff. I will have Eli the manager check this thread and get him the feedback.

[Coloradomark]

Positives: Location, PRICE
Negatives: no WI-FI, kinda cheesey bar and rooms, they forgot our morning wake-up call (and the alarm was still set to daylight savings time!), hot water took forever to get to my room on the far west side

[Dave 90TT]

I was able to get WI-FI in my room. Not sure if the signal was from the hotel or not (don't remember the access point name) but it was a good 4 bars, so it wasn't too far away.

Other than that, the bed was hard, there was no fridge, and no clock in the room. Probably won't stay there again.

[jclark]

Room was large and clean, breakfast was hot and plenty, no issues and excellent price! Thanks for the suggestion Dave.

[Evil86Saleen]

Every thing worked out great for us. Except that Scott got stuck in the bathroom. lol. :D

The door wouldnt open from the inside or outside. ha ha. I think I broke the handle off getting it open. Looks like too much paint on the jambs when they remodeled it.

One note. We are not picky when it comes to hotel rooms. If its dry/warm/AC and doesnt have cockroachs I;m good to go.

kyle

[Coloradomark]

Is there something else going on this weekend? Just made a quick check for a room and both hotels I checked are booked up!

[ker]

Is there something else going on this weekend? Just made a quick check for a room and both hotels I checked are booked up!

i think there is some sort of basketball (maybe baseball) tournament.

[BADVENM]

I made reservations about a week ago, they had two room left at the time.

[bpanther]

It seems like there isn't a weekend in Pueblo that something isn't happening. People are having a hard time finding rooms in June.

I'd reserve what you need for July now.

[Coloradomark]

I just found out that the Jehovah's Witnesses are in town - should make for some wild times at the bars!

[chris_venturini]

hmmm, I might be in trouble if i cant find a room for may

[Weston]

hmmm, I might be in trouble if i cant find a room for may

I thought you bought a tow vehicle so that you could sleep in it too?

[BADVENM]

Already got my July reservation. Initially the guy at the hotel said the rates were higher for July but gave me the NASA discount?

[ker]

hmmm, I might be in trouble if i cant find a room for may

isn't the chuckster inn always available? ;) :eek:

[chris_venturini]

Hillery doesn't find "Motel Rodeo" very appealing

[jclark]

Just got a room for $49 for the May weekend. Tried to book July but NASA is not registered yet and they could not get me the discount.

John

[chris_venturini]

got one also at $49 night

[BADVENM]

Dave, how did you want us to relay our hotel experiences with you...good and bad?

[chris_venturini]

Yes, should we post anything on the public forum or let you know first?

[BADVENM]

Yes, should we post anything on the public forum or let you know first?

BUMP.

[bpanther]

Post away.

[BADVENM]

Mine wasnt as bad as other NASA and non-NASA members. Basically, as one NASA members family was trying to straighten out why their reservation was cancelled (after it had been confirmed a week or so earlier) another hotel employee started to check people in.

Mine went smoothly initially til I tried to get into the room at 10:30pm friday night. My room card wouldnt work. I tried for several minutes. I then walked back to the reservation counter (about 5 minute walk) after putting all my stuff back into the truck to find out what was going on.

An employee brought a magic box and we walked back to my room. He attempted to get into the room through the magic box when someone opened up the door. He too had the same room number as what I was given.

We walk back to the counter (and he tells me what a long day/night its been because of the overbookings) and I wait 10-15 minutes while they tried and find me a room (I had reservations which were confirmed through my credit card). As I'm waiting I'm hearing stories of how people (guests) were moved 2 and 3 times to different rooms. A couple of young girls with a swim team mentioned something about condoms and champagne all over the bed in their room.

Finally, I get a room about 4 doors down from the one I was initially issued. Its now almost 11:15pm or so from when this all started.

Basically, they were overbooked to say the least and cancelling reservations that were secured with a credit card.

In a Seinfeld episode at the car rental counter "you know how to take the reservation, you just dont know how to hold the reservation...if you did I'd have a car".

[ker]

you might want to identify the hotel so folks know how to prepare.

[BADVENM]

you might want to identify the hotel so folks know how to prepare.

Oh, great point. This was the Clarion which used to be under a different name. Its the one with the special rates for NASA racers.

Come on you guys and post, I know I'm not the only one that had problems.

[rlavende]

I stopped to check in on my way to the track on Friday at 2:30 and was told check in time was 3:00. So I decided to go on out to the track and check in later. When I got back at 5:30 they had keys and envelopes scattered all over the counter - an indicator that something was amiss. I was told my room wasn't ready and to come back in an hour. When I came back they checked me in, but my room key didn't work (I didn't get the "magic box" treatment though!).
There was a wedding reception that day/night - didn't y'all hear the polka music? Maybe that contributed to their problems.

Rich Lavender

[BADVENM]

I stopped to check in on my way to the track on Friday at 2:30 and was told check in time was 3:00. So I decided to go on out to the track and check in later. When I got back at 5:30 they had keys and envelopes scattered all over the counter - an indicator that something was amiss. I was told my room wasn't ready and to come back in an hour. When I came back they checked me in, but my room key didn't work (I didn't get the "magic box" treatment though!).
There was a wedding reception that day/night - didn't y'all hear the polka music? Maybe that contributed to their problems.

Rich Lavender

The magic box was a device that connected to the bottom of the lock on the room door. I guess they could override the electronic lock but the manual lock above it was connected so one way or another we wouldnt have gotten in. All I could hear was the music from the bar area.

[leggwork]

I've had that experience with polka music also

I stopped to check in on my way to the track on Friday at 2:30 and was told check in time was 3:00. So I decided to go on out to the track and check in later. When I got back at 5:30 they had keys and envelopes scattered all over the counter - an indicator that something was amiss. I was told my room wasn't ready and to come back in an hour. When I came back they checked me in, but my room key didn't work (I didn't get the "magic box" treatment though!).
There was a wedding reception that day/night - didn't y'all hear the polka music? Maybe that contributed to their problems.

Rich Lavender

[fhudsonjr]

My wife and I checked in about 2130 on Fri. w/no problem.
Room was clean and no condoms left anyplace.:D

Great breakfast. Heckava deal. I guess we were lucky, although my wife did call earlier Fri. to make sure of our reservation.

Also we had called 4-6 weeks before to reserve.

[MHISSTC]

Here is my Clarion and Quality Inn experience.

My wife was the one wigging-out at the counter at the Clarion. This gets long and complicated, but I'll try to explain the chain of events as best as I understand them.

I made reservations at the Quality-Inn for all the Pueblo events on the Choice International web site shortly after all the track dates had been confirmed.

I can't remember exactly when I did it, but once the cheaper Clarion NASA rates were posted, I called and made reservations at the Clarion for all the Pueblo events before it actually changed over to Clarion operation. I called them from home on the phone since they had not changed over to the Choice International online reservation system yet. I was told by the gal making the reservations that my reservation for the first Pueblo track date would be made on a credit card, but she was having trouble getting the other two into the system, they would be reserved under cash payment and not on a credit card, and I would have to call back to change that later. I forgot I made those reservations and about the cash stipulation sometime after that. The hotel stay at the first Pueblo event went fine although it had it's own minor issues.

About 3-4 weeks before the latest Pueblo event my wife asked me if I had reservations again at the Clarion in Pueblo. I told her about the ones I had made at the Quality Inn and that cheaper ones were available at the Clarion, but as I stated, had forgotten about the ones I had also made at the Clarion. My wife then called the Clarion and made reservations on a credit card. She told me to go ahead and cancel the ones at the Quality Inn.

At this point we had 3 different reservations within the Choice International chain of hotels...1 at Quality Inn, 2 at Clarion.

No problem.

A couple of weeks go by and I've completely forgotten about canceling the reservations at the Quality Inn. About three days before the event my wife gets a call from the hotel reminding us that we still have a reservation and confirming that we will be using it. She told the fellow we still needed the room and if possible, we would like to add another to it for Saturday night since a friend of the family was coming down to hang out and would need a room too. Indeed they had another room available Saturday night and the additional reservation was made.

I don't think we've ever been called by a hotel confirming our reservation, so she thought that was kind of weird. She asked me about it and I told her I knew there was something else going on in Pueblo that weekend, so rooms were at a premium and they were probably trying to free a few up if they could. We were still uncomfortable about it, so the next day, two days before the event, she calls the Clarion to confirm we still have a room. The gal was very nice and confirmed we did still have a room reserved under her name on a credit card. The gal also noticed there was another room under a cash reservation under my name and asked if we were still needing that room also. My wife told her I had probably made that reservation earlier and forgotten about it, that we no longer needed it, and she was really calling to confirm we still had a reservation since we thought it was weird that we were called by the hotel the day prior. The gal at the hotel thought it was weird too since they weren't in the habit of calling people to confirm reservations.

Still no problem.

Another day passes and it's Friday before the event. We have a reservation confirmed at Clarion and I've never canceled the one at the Quality Inn. I finally go to the Choice International web site and cancel the Quality Inn reservation online and get a cancellation confirmation number. The vehicles and family are loaded and we head to Pueblo. We get to Pueblo and stop at the Clarion to check in and dump the bags and family so they can go swimming while I take the car out to the track. My wife went inside to check in. They were busy and it was taking a while. The kids were getting restless, so I went in to get some lemonade for the kids. I could tell by the elevated volume level and the large hand gestures that things were not going well. I get and deliver the lemonade and go back in to find out what's wrong.

It turns out after my wife had called to confirm our credit card reserved room two days prior and told them to cancel the reservation I had made previously, the exact opposite happened. They canceled our credit card reserved room and kept our cash reserved room. Unfortunately, at 4pm, the cash reservation disappeared. At that point we had NO RESERVATION AT THE CLARION. My wife and the counter persons were trying to make sense of all this and were going over options. There weren't any options. They had no rooms. Period.

At that point the counter gal told my wife her best option was to go back to Colorado Springs and get a room somewhere there. That's when my wife lost it and began to wig-out. While there wasn't any name calling and the counter gal remained calm in the face of danger, I know better than to cross my wife when she starts turning colors. That's when I was called on to get involved because my wife needed to go sit down before she hurt someone.

There were a few of us who had worked out alternate room arrangements as we watched the show from a safe distance, so it was going to end up being an inconvenience and not a real problem. The counter gal was nice enough to provide us with a list of numbers for other hotels in Pueblo. My wife had a big problem with this, because she felt it was their duty to find us a room since they were the ones who screwed up our reservations.

While we were sitting there trying to calm her down and explain the alternate room plan, we watched the guy who had been behind my wife get told the reservation he thought he had didn't exist. Ouch! He left unhappy. They were obviously having some serious problems.

I ended up calling the Quality Inn on the very remote chance they might still have our room reservation that I just canceled that day in their system. YES THEY DID! SWEET!!! I told the gal on the phone the brief version of what was transpiring and that we'd be right over. They did indeed still have the two rooms reserved and waiting for us. Two rooms? Hey, wait a minute. I never made a reservation at the Quality Inn for two rooms. The light bulb goes on and the last pieces of the puzzle were coming together. We figured out that the hotel that called and talked to my wife to confirm our reservation a few days earlier was the Quality Inn and not the Clarion. So, as luck would have it, when she talked to the fellow there, she booked the second room with them too. Things are looking up. We can not believe our misfortune that has been backed right back up by our incredible good fortune.

We jetted out of the Clarion and directly to the Quality Inn where we were greeted by a scene very opposite to that of the front desk at the Clarion. They too were booked solid, but there was only calmness and order to be found.

To sum it up, the Clarion appears to have a few issues and will not be our first choice for lodging in Pueblo in the future. The Quality Inn is only $10 a night more than the Clarion and we get a bigger room with a fridge and microwave. The Quality Inn has been a very pleasant place to stay over the last three years of doing NASA events in Pueblo.

Scott

[abacab]

Wow, some horror stories there. Hopefully they'll get their s**t together in the future. I just wanted to add some counterpoint to the unpleasant experiences.

I'm pretty picky about my lodging, but I had almost nothing to complain about at the Clarion (especially for the price). Checkin took about 5 minutes at 7PM. The room was big, bright, clean and had a fridge and microwave.

Minor cons: I also had the non-working room key upon checkin, but they reprogrammed it quickly. The walls and floors seemed a little cardboard-like, but everything was quiet after about 10PM. Housekeeping skipped my room Saturday - not a big problem for this stay, though.

[BADVENM]

Wow, some horror stories there. Hopefully they'll get their s**t together in the future. I just wanted to add some counterpoint to the unpleasant experiences.

I'm pretty picky about my lodging, but I had almost nothing to complain about at the Clarion (especially for the price). Checkin took about 5 minutes at 7PM. The room was big, bright, clean and had a fridge and microwave.

Minor cons: I also had the non-working room key upon checkin, but they reprogrammed it quickly. The walls and floors seemed a little cardboard-like, but everything was quiet after about 10PM. Housekeeping skipped my room Saturday - not a big problem for this stay, though.

I never found a remote for the tv in my room either day/night but I was so tired I didnt watch tv and went straight to bed.