Hotel Review: Summerfield Suites, Denver Tech Center, Colorado

A delayed start to our Christmas trip due to London Heathrow's inability to cope with snow, but luckily the Summerfield Suites were flexible and let us change our dates.

One of the attractions of the place was the full-sized kitchen - we were able to cook a Christmas dinner in our room, which was great.

The Tech Center is pretty well-placed for Denver trips - fifteen minutes at most from the heart of Denver, a couple of minutes from Park Meadows and all that's on offer there.

The Suites has a small shop, views across to the mountains (ask for one, it's worth having), friendly staff and a guest laundry.

There's a hottub and pool, which people were still braving despite the freezing temperatures outside; breakfast is pretty good for a comp - wide range of hot and cold items; there's a sundowner evening meal some nights which is fine if you're a meat-eater.

The only downside is that the doors are little over-emphatic in their closing - we managed to get a passive-aggressive note from the elderly couple next door after our door slammed behind me while I was carrying two cups of coffee and a tray of eggs going in. Avoid this hotel if you're unable to cope with the odd piece of noise.

The sofas are big, and comfy - designed to be relaxed on rather than just a holding bay until you give up and go to bed like in some suites.

In short: loved this hotel, and will definitely use it again in future.

Recommended Restaurant: Beau Jos

Counting down to the next trip to Denver, I'm looking at Beau Jo's Pizza place. They do Colorado Pizzas - the twist being that you get honey to dip the crusts into.

They do a lunch buffet, with a range of pies and salads to pick from, but looking through their website, I'm starting to wonder why I've never had their skillets. Listen to this:

We line the skillet with our signature roasted garlic cream sauce, and then toss in sweet roma tomatoes, artichoke hearts, sliced mushrooms, fire-roasted red peppers and fresh broccoli florets. This masterpiece is then crowned with a three-cheese blend of part-skim low-fat mozzarella, feta and smoked provolone.

The atmosphere is faux-mineshaft - kind of a Coloradian take on British pubs built in the 1980s but with beams and ingelnooks, I suppose - and the pricing is almost ridiculously cheap. A place to go when you're hungry.

They're down to just one branch in Denver, but they're scattered across Colorado.