We booked Vaquera House for our night in Crested Butte, and with a price tag of $960 (a night), we expected a proper hotel. Instead, check-in was self-service, the turndown service we’d been told about never happened, the “evening cocktails” turned out to be a self-serve setup with a bowl of nachos, the in-room fridge held two cans of ginger ale, and a pile of firewood was lying in the yard. To be fair, the house is nicely decorated and the room of decent size. But given the services provided, it’s worth $400 at most. It gave me a sharp sense of déjà vu of the “design hotel” craze around the turn of the millennium: plenty of design, and nothing else but a hefty price tag.
