Eldorado Hotel & Spa

We enjoyed our recent stay at the Eldorado Hotel in Santa Fe. In a city of mostly small, mostly independent hotels and B&Bs (at least in the center city), the Eldorado is a large almost-corporate hotel that feels like the Santa Fe equivalent of a big chain hotel. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, however.

Unlike some big chain hotels, the staff at the Eldorado was friendly and helpful and we appreciated the recommendations they gave us for drinks in the relaxed bar area and the help they gave us at the front desk.

The Eldorado is more of a 4-star hotel than a 5-star - we’d call it upscale. It doesn’t have the feel of a high-end hotel, but it is quite nice.

The hotel was renovated fairly recently and the changes were largely successful, at least in terms of bringing the size and scale of the hotel down a bit. Unfortunately, the renovations were not successful everywhere - the 5th floor hallway carpet showed wear and tear and just seemed dirty.

Our fifth floor balcony room was comfortable and cozy and we slept well in the rustic king bed. We appreciated the fireplace even though we didn’t have time to use it during our stay. The room was well-furnished (nice flat screen TV!) and we liked the bathroom amenities (from the onsite spa), but the showerhead left a little bit to be desired (perhaps the renovators skipped a few other steps?).

The Nidah Spa looked great, but again, we weren’t there long enough to use it. The same can be said for the small rooftop pool and hot tub. Perhaps we’ll try them on a return trip to Santa Fe. Yes, we’d consider staying at the Eldorado again: it wasn’t our best stay ever in Santa Fe (that would have to be the Inn of the Anasazi), but we enjoyed it.