Denver Union Station - overnight?

[user 6862]

Is it possible to stay overnight (with a sleeper ticket to travel the following morning) inside Denver Union Station, a bit like being locked in at NOL station?

Know there is no lounge and see that lodgings local to the station are not the budget type. We will probably arrive from Raton on a thruway bus at 6 or 9pm and leave early the following morning on the Zephyr westwards. Any good budget accommodation near by could work as well.

Thanks

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

Union Station is now home to a hotel so I doubt they would let you hang in the lobby(also the station waiting room) overnight. That hotel is pretty expensive. I have stayed in downtown Denver where there are many hotels but always took a taxi although several are in walking distance including a Residence Inn I stayed at a few years ago. Also the westbound Zephyr is scheduled to leave around 8 am but is occasionally later leaving.

 

[DaveKCMO]

That hotel is totally worth it, by the way. We stayed there one night before departing on the Zephyr and our room literally looked out over the tracks. We awoke to the "ding ding ding" of the A Line arriving on test runs. The rooms are gorgeous and spacious.

Those on a budget should always consult Hotwire.

 

[BuffaloBoy]

It is possible to stay overnight at Denver Union Station as long as you are ticketed for the #5 the next morning. I did it myself a little over a year ago. It is not comfortable and there are rules explained to me by the pretty cool security officers: When the station closes for the night you are not allowed to sit on the comfortable couches or chairs and must move to the beautiful old wooden benches that belong to Amtrak. Further. you are not allowed to lay down to sleep but must remain sitting up while sleeping, You may go in or out of the station on the platform side if you want to smoke, get fresh air or walk to the nearby 7-11. The only nice thing about it was the sound system that played the best cool jazz I have ever heard all night long. It was an experience that I treasure but would not repeat. I gladly got on the 5 in the morning and slept all the way back to SLC.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

It is not comfortable and there are rules explained to me by the pretty cool security officers: When the station closes for the night you are not allowed to sit on the comfortable couches or chairs and must move to the beautiful old wooden benches that belong to Amtrak. Further. you are not allowed to lay down to sleep but must remain sitting up while sleeping.

That honestly sounds really uncomfortable to me.

That hotel is totally worth it, by the way. We stayed there one night before departing on the Zephyr and our room literally looked out over the tracks. We awoke to the "ding ding ding" of the A Line arriving on test runs.

Sounds nice. Do you remember around how much you paid?

Those on a budget should always consult Hotwire.

Hotwire and Priceline can be useful if you know for certain you'll be in X location on Y date, but you might have to use some of the savings to cover an Uber or Lyft ride back and forth. The main problem I have with the opaque payment sites is that they started grouping extended stay locations with conventional hotels and I'm not down with that. Extended stay properties are the dilapidated bus stations of the hotel world. Just because they're cheap doesn't mean they have any value.

 

[penguinflies]

DEN airport hotels might be an option if you wish to use the Aline...check out by 40th and Pena, there are about 10 hotels ranging from the motel 6 to the Marriott, all within walking distance to the light rail.

 

[BuffaloBoy]

I arrived 4 hours late on a crappy smelly overcrowded bus from Sheridan, Wyoming (Jefferson Lines) at the crappy Denver Greyhound station. I hoofed it to DEN and was grateful to get to the beautiful station. My budget didn't allow me to get a hotel downtown that late so I decided to tough it out.

It is not comfortable and there are rules explained to me by the pretty cool security officers: When the station closes for the night you are not allowed to sit on the comfortable couches or chairs and must move to the beautiful old wooden benches that belong to Amtrak. Further. you are not allowed to lay down to sleep but must remain sitting up while sleeping.

That honestly sounds really uncomfortable to me.

That hotel is totally worth it, by the way. We stayed there one night before departing on the Zephyr and our room literally looked out over the tracks. We awoke to the "ding ding ding" of the A Line arriving on test runs.

Sounds nice. Do you remember around how much you paid?

Those on a budget should always consult Hotwire.

Hotwire and Priceline can be useful if you know for certain you'll be in X location on Y date, but you might have to use some of the savings to cover an Uber or Lyft ride back and forth. The main problem I have with the opaque payment sites is that they started grouping extended stay locations with conventional hotels and I'm not down with that. Extended stay properties are the dilapidated bus stations of the hotel world. Just because they're cheap doesn't mean they have any value.

 

[caravanman]

Maybe the airport Motel 6 would be worth considering, with the light rail connection to Denver station. Some "thruway" buses are Greyhound... Maybe yours from Raton stops at the airport too, en route to the train station? Just a thought, too lazy to look it up myself

Ed.

 

[railiner]

The Denver airport is "halfway to Kansas" : D

Greyhound Thruway buses from Raton do not serve it.

They drop at Union Station, and then a few blocks over to their bus terminal...

 

[railiner]

I arrived 4 hours late on a crappy smelly overcrowded bus from Sheridan, Wyoming (Jefferson Lines) at the crappy Denver Greyhound station. I hoofed it to DEN and was grateful to get to the beautiful station. My budget didn't allow me to get a hotel downtown that late so I decided to tough it out.

It is not comfortable and there are rules explained to me by the pretty cool security officers: When the station closes for the night you are not allowed to sit on the comfortable couches or chairs and must move to the beautiful old wooden benches that belong to Amtrak. Further. you are not allowed to lay down to sleep but must remain sitting up while sleeping.

That honestly sounds really uncomfortable to me.

That hotel is totally worth it, by the way. We stayed there one night before departing on the Zephyr and our room literally looked out over the tracks. We awoke to the "ding ding ding" of the A Line arriving on test runs.

Sounds nice. Do you remember around how much you paid?

Those on a budget should always consult Hotwire.

Hotwire and Priceline can be useful if you know for certain you'll be in X location on Y date, but you might have to use some of the savings to cover an Uber or Lyft ride back and forth. The main problem I have with the opaque payment sites is that they started grouping extended stay locations with conventional hotels and I'm not down with that. Extended stay properties are the dilapidated bus stations of the hotel world. Just because they're cheap doesn't mean they have any value.

Just a minor correction... the scheduled bus service between Sheridan, Wy. and Denver is provided by Black Hills Stages, not Jefferson Lines...

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I arrived 4 hours late on a crappy smelly overcrowded bus from Sheridan, Wyoming (Jefferson Lines) at the crappy Denver Greyhound station. I hoofed it to DEN and was grateful to get to the beautiful station. My budget didn't allow me to get a hotel downtown that late so I decided to tough it out.

Back in the day you could discuss your situation with the manager and sometimes receive a substantial discount to help soften the blow of a rough trip with an unexpectedly late arrival. These days I don't think that's possible anymore. The computer determines the available price and even if the clerk on duty is sympathetic to your plight they're still forced to obey the computer.

Maybe the airport Motel 6 would be worth considering, with the light rail connection to Denver station. Some "thruway" buses are Greyhound... Maybe yours from Raton stops at the airport too, en route to the train station? Just a thought, too lazy to look it up myself Ed.

Just be aware that some Model 6 locations were recently caught sending US border agents to the rooms of people they suspected of being foreigners without sufficient paperwork. Doubt they would hassle an old white man but if you were a younger man with darker skin or the wrong last name or accent you might be rudely awakened to the sound of threats and knuckles at your door.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Why would a hospitality company that specializes in clean, basic, cheap accommodations for the broke traveller be stupid enough to discourage a sizable chunk of that base from using them?

 

[Bob Dylan]

Why would a hospitality company that specializes in clean, basic, cheap accommodations for the broke traveller be stupid enough to discourage a sizable chunk of that base from using them?

Redacted! You know the answer Lion, don't be a Troll!

 

[user 6862]

What a great set of answers and information, humour too. What other forum could provide this, just love this forum. Can't thank everyone enough for your unstinting help, our rail travels wouldn't be half as good without it.

This is one of two options, we're waiting on a friend who will travel with us to give his view and start the ball rolling. The second option involves Galesburg, IL so will post another couple of questions in a new thread a little later.

DA, a friend of mine, a true adventurer too made me promise a couple of years ago to never ever consider myself old, so I'm not.

 

[MikefromCrete]

Why would a hospitality company that specializes in clean, basic, cheap accommodations for the broke traveller be stupid enough to discourage a sizable chunk of that base from using them?

It wasn't the company, it was a couple of over-zealous employees, who I assume are now former employees.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Why would a hospitality company that specializes in clean, basic, cheap accommodations for the broke traveller be stupid enough to discourage a sizable chunk of that base from using them?

It wasn't the company, it was a couple of over-zealous employees, who I assume are now former employees.

Overzealous?

You make it sound like a temporary oversight by some well meaning employees who were simply trying too hard to do a good job. At this point we know that multiple Motel 6 locations were treating their own customers like common criminals on an almost daily basis. Possibly due to anti-immigrant views and/or to benefit monetarily as paid informants. We do not yet know how widespread this was or how far up the chain it went. What we do know is that Motel 6 didn't identify these employees as bad actors or attempt to weed them out on their own. Nor is there any evidence they removed them from employment after the fact. Motel 6 didn't even bother to respond to the accusations or review the evidence until after the story was published for all to see. At which point they went into damage control mode. If Motel 6 is serious about cleaning this up they'll bring in an outside auditor to review actions and incidents at the rest of their locations and publish their findings for all to see. Or they can simply take their cue from folks like you and try to sweep it under the rug with meaningless euphemisms.

 

[PVD]

Right up there with the Feds that paid the woman at Amtrak thousands of dollars for information on passengers they could have gotten for free.

 

[PVD]

Franchise operations play duck and cover over the degree to which they control employees all the time...When something good happens, their name is all over it, when something bad happens, it's the responsibility of the franchisee or local management. They are trying to stay out of the reach of labor standards cases all the time.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Right up there with the Feds that paid the woman at Amtrak thousands of dollars for information on passengers they could have gotten for free.

This!

 

[Bob Dylan]

Franchise operations play duck and cover over the degree to which they control employees all the time...When something good happens, their name is all over it, when something bad happens, it's the responsibility of the franchisee or local management. They are trying to stay out of the reach of labor standards cases all the time.

Ditto!

 

[BuffaloBoy]

How does a simple question by VV morph into a discussion about Motel 6?

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Why would a hospitality company that specializes in clean, basic, cheap accommodations for the broke traveller be stupid enough to discourage a sizable chunk of that base from using them?

Redacted! You know the answer Lion, don't be a Troll!

I'm not being a troll. As a businessman, all I have ever cared about is making money. The money of an illegal immigrant, a criminal, or anyone else who hands me cash or an electronically approved credit card spends just as well with me. While I have no particular reason to want to do business with criminals, the only reason I would ever inform on anyone who was a customer is if I had no choice.

I certainly would never inform anyone of anything if I wasn't 100% sure they were guilty of something. And I believe in don't ask, don't tell.

Not because I lean one way or another on immigration laws, but because I want every possible dollar spending customer to feel that they can hand me that dollar without worrying about me making their life unpleasant.

 

[CoachSlumber]

Why would a hospitality company that specializes in clean, basic, cheap accommodations for the broke traveller be stupid enough to discourage a sizable chunk of that base from using them?

Redacted! You know the answer Lion, don't be a Troll!

I'm not being a troll. As a businessman, all I have ever cared about is making money. The money of an illegal immigrant, a criminal, or anyone else who hands me cash or an electronically approved credit card spends just as well with me. While I have no particular reason to want to do business with criminals, the only reason I would ever inform on anyone who was a customer is if I had no choice.

I certainly would never inform anyone of anything if I wasn't 100% sure they were guilty of something. And I believe in don't ask, don't tell.

Not because I lean one way or another on immigration laws, but because I want every possible dollar spending customer to feel that they can hand me that dollar without worrying about me making their life unpleasant.

Great. This ain't the place.

 

[neroden]

Denver Union Station is open overnight, there's just nowhere to *sleep*. If you want to stay up all night, though, it works fine.

The hotel used by Amtrak employees -- quite cheap -- is the La Quinta, which is a one mile walk away along a quite walkable route (or you could take a cab).

 

[neroden]

Why would a hospitality company that specializes in clean, basic, cheap accommodations for the broke traveller be stupid enough to discourage a sizable chunk of that base from using them?

Redacted! You know the answer Lion, don't be a Troll!

I'm not being a troll. As a businessman, all I have ever cared about is making money.

So, GML, you will perhaps be surprised to learn how many businessmen are willing to let their prejudices get in the way of making money. It is actually *extremely common*.