Historic Strater Hotel

Old style wild west hotel !

by Tayto about Strater Hotel Durango

The Strater Hotel is on Main Street in Durango. It is an excellent 'ye olde world' style hotel. Its like something straight out of a movie set and even has 2 saloon style bars with live entertainment every evening. One of the bars has a honky tonk piano player and you could imagine yourself in the middle of a wild west movie taking on the James gang in a hand of poker...if not a shoot out. However, it is perfectly safe and hopefully none of the characters are off the rail robots as in Yul Brenner in West World.

Its a Victorian style hotel and the foyer in picture reflects the general decor in keeping with that era.. The bed rooms are not particularly big but they are in keeping with rooms of that time...with all mod cons of course !

There is an interestin feature of a guest book in each room where you can add comments about your stay and see the comments of others. Apparently my room was haunted but I had no ghostly experiences while there...but it was easy to let your imagination go !

Beautiful Antiques

by TripAdvisor Member Jonesboro_ARAudrey

My family stayed one night at the Strater Hotel in Durango, CO. It is a beautiful hotel filled with wonderful antique furniture. It is super clean and is in a great location.

Romantic Splurge

by TripAdvisor Member docdiamond

My wife and I read about the Strater Hotel as we drove to Durango. Sounded great. When we got there, not many rooms were left, and all but one had just one "full" bed for $99. The other room that was available was the Louis L'Amour room (#222) for about $189 per night. It had two "full" beds, so we splurged. Louis L'Amour wrote most of his books in this room. He mostly wrote westerns, such as HONDO. The room was very nice with a lot of period antiques in it. The only caution about this room (which the desk clerk warned us about) is that it is on the second floor over the bar. You hear music in the bar, and you hear people on the street. But supposedly Louis L'Amour liked being able to hear the sounds from the bar and the street. Anyhow, the room was great and the experience was wonderful. The staff was pleasant and knowledgeable. We did not try the bar or the restaurant. Breakfast was included, and was nothing special. We parked on the street beside the hotel, not a problem. The best part of this stay was Durango. It is a very nice town with very interesting shops and history. We highly recommend this hotel.

Unique and in great location

by TripAdvisor Member WoodyInMass

The Strater hotel is a real find, in the center of downtown Durango.

This is a renovated Victorian-style building, with amazing period decore in the public spaces. The wallpaper and the ceilings are by themselves worth the trip. Many displays of historic memorabilia from the 1890's.

A nice continental buffet breakfast is served in the Mahogany Room, which is a beautiful restoration. We also had dinner in the Mahogany Room, and were pleased with the food and service.

There's a saloon with honky-tonk piano and waitresses in period costumes. Lots of fun.

Each room is individually decorated. We had a king-bed that was hand-made by the hotel's carpenter for a presidential visit. (I think President Ford, but I'm not sure.) The room is more than adequate, with beautiful wallpaper on the ceiling.

As others point out, the bathrooms aren't up to the standards of the rest of the decore. Simple, small, and outdated, but the plumbing worked.

Our our window, we could see the steam locamotive departing every morning. You can walk to the station from the hotel.

Overpriced...more for older guests.

by TripAdvisor Member ang4unc

We just got back from a two night stay at the Strater hotel in Durango for the first time. My husband and I are in our late 20's and this looked like the coolest place to stay in Durango right in the middle of downtown and all the action.

The best part about the hotel is the location. It is right in the middle of everything downtown and 1 block away from the train station. The history of the hotel is probably quite interesting if you are into that stuff - with the saloon bar and whole vibe. I thought that I would be more into the hotel and it's "Victorian/Oldies" feel, but I wasn't. Maybe I am just used to more modern lodging nowadays. I think this hotel is more for older people for sure - as my husband and I felt extremely young looking around at the other guests. Because we were.

When we got to the front desk they were all very friendly, but when making our reservation they failed to tell us that we have a full-size bed. We are both fairly tall people, my husband being 6'1" and me 5'9" so this was not the size bed we wanted. Even the front desk clerk said, "Your bed is full-size..." and gave us a weird look. I did not have an option when making the reservation...??...so I asked him if we could get a queen or bigger and they had nothing available unless we paid $200/night . Great...

Also - the housekeeper must have accidently thought my favorite white tank top was a towel because it was missing or stolen. When we checked out we asked if they had recovered anything and they said no, but would send or call if anything came up. :(

You have to pay for water, they don't offer complimentary water in the rooms. We thought that was kind of strange because usually nowadays hotels offer free bottled water. I am actually in the bottled water industry and asked to talk to the GM to share my card and offer our services to the hotel.

The room and bed were small. Our feet literally hung over the footrail 6 inches!! It was awful and my husband got no sleep and was very cranky at me for getting our room here. The room was very tiny and we paid $135/night. (Thank gosh we came for a business trip and can write this off...) The bathroom was great, tiny, but great because after walking into the room I expected an old, outdated bathroom. Water pressure was awesome.

We really needed the internet and there is no information in the room on accessing this. We thought we were going to have to go across the street to the internet cafe. In the middle of the night, my husband couldn't sleep he went downstairs to ask if they offer internet services and the friendly hotel clerk gave him the info to access the wireless internet. It was great to have it, but would have been nice to know this info in the room beforehand.

Otherwise, hotel is cool and a Titanic type feel. The rooms (our room) was tiny, the bed was awful andstay was overpriced. Be prepared to pay an extra $14/day on top of your hotel price for a "Lodging fee". Wow.

We loved Durango though and the BEST place to eat was the Southwest Sushi & Steak restaurant. Next time we will probably stay at a newer hotel.

great hotel&town

by TripAdvisor Member figgyburn

stayed here during a snowstorm which although gave the place a festive feel stopped us from touring the surrounding area.but the hotel and durango are great and i will return to see the surrounding area.

Strater Hotel

by rids

Front desk of the Strater Hotel.

Wall and ceiling paper from a different room.

This is Hans, talking about the history and furnishings in this room. He said it is one of the few room with a king size bed because it is difficult to find antique beds in this size.

The three story stairwell from the lobby.

A chandelier in the dining room.

A stained glass window in a banquet room.

Hans pointing out one of the many secret hiding places that were built into the hotel.

A corner of the lobby at the Strater Hotel.

The mailbox in the lobby.

This is the Pullman Room, a banquet room in the hotel. It is not a good photo but I included it to give a general idea of the room. If you take a tour of the hotel you can see this room--it is really beautiful.

The chandeliers in the Pullman Room.

A typical room.

The same room. The antique bedroom suite is from Mississippi.

The wallpaper was designed especially for the hotel. It costs $55 per roll.

The ceiling wallpaper has real gold in it.