Monarch Casino Resort Spa Black Hawk

Reviews

• DU

  Diangelo Ulvi

  1 day ago
  5.0
  Me and the wife frequent Blackhawk many times a year and we always stay at Ameristar for the hot tub and pool options we been doing that for years. Finally we wanted to try something new and are we glad we did! Monarch makes ameristar look outdated and played out. The rooms were beautiful, the elevator system was awesome and the buffet was delicious. The casino floor gets a little chaotic at night but that’s to be expected. Monarch provides the closest feel to Vegas out of any of the casinos in my opinion. The staff could be a little more attentive to guest and the Buffet cooks as well! Took forever to get a steak and they kept serving people that had came after me. Overall I think we found a new home when we visit!
• MM

  M

  Feb 1, 2026
  3.0
  **Edited to reply to the spa comments. You did NOT allow us to check in four hours "early", we checked in at the previously agreed upon time that I booked in Nov when I booked this experience. Your staff played some bait and switch and moved our check in time OR lied to me on the phone at the time of booking and told me it would be no problem to do the relaxation time before the massage, but either way, it's unprofessional and not behavior in line with a "world class" spa. You also moved my friend's upcoming massage time without speaking to her (last name Olms) about it so this seems to be common practice on your end. we did speak to the front desk and one staff members about some of the issues mentioned in the review below despite your false claims that we didn't bring this to anyone's attention. **** I booked the spa in November for January 31st. I spoke at length on the phone with a woman about how we wanted to arrive at noon to do the relaxation room followed by a 4pm couples massage. I mentioned that we had reservations at the Chop House at 7:30. We arrived just before noon and were told we did not have a reservation for the relaxation room and that it was full. We had driven 2 hours to get there but were prepared to turn around leave after this nonsense. She insisted that guests use the relaxation room AFTER their treatment, not before. What a joke. That's not how luxury spas work and if that is what they do, this should have been explained to me when I requested the noon arrival to use before our treatment. They begrudgingly let us in. We got the tour and were told there was no bartender at the pool that day and that this was the only location to get a drink. Also no food in the spa which seemed different than what they list on their spa "amenities" page. Moreover, and this is a BIG detail, the pool is not part of the spa amenities but is actually the hotel pool and is for ALL guests, including children until 6pm. There were large families having bday parties in the pool with their kids and no seats available. The one roof top hot tub was packed with no spot to get in and is also part of the hotel amenities rather than being exclusive to spa guests. You have to leave the spa to go to the pool down the hall. Our tour guide also told us that the outdoor desk has as strong gas smell and advised us against going out there. Overall, felt like a bait and switch. The exclusive spa amenities were also not that great. The Aqua spa has FOUR chaise lounge chairs and about 8-10 regular chairs. This is the gathering spot to wait for your treatment provider to come get you and really needs more adequate seating as well as more chaise lounge chairs. People were hoarding them and the employees were not removing their items allowing them to leave water tumblers there for HOURS. This room has a nice view of the treeline outside and gets a lot of sunlight, but the water wasn't very hot and the air in the space felt dry and just not that pleasant overall. The brine room was relaxing but also a bit questionable with regard to the shared towels and blankets on the chaise lounges. I don't want to sit on a foam towel that someone else just laid on and another person before them etc. the other couple of amenity rooms were packed and not that great. The massage itself was AMAZING. Meredith did a fantastic job and was the best part of the experience. Overall, I would say for $776 with tip, the experience was NOT on par with an $800 spa experience you'd get at a 5 star resort in Hawaii or the Ritz Carlton paying those prices and felt overpriced for the overall experience, despite the massage itself being amazing. As far as the casino and resort go, we do not gamble and didn't really participate in this aspect of the casino. The design and decor was nice, the room was spacious and nice. In the end, we spent $1830 for one night on a room, a spa day, and dinner at the Chop house, one buffet, and we feel this $1800 would be better enjoyed elsewhere in the future.
• SE

  Stephanie Ellis

  Jan 27, 2026
  4.0
  *Long review, but worth the read* We stayed here for the first time this past weekend for a celebration and overall, we were happy with our stay! There were a few things that made this a 4 star review and not a 5 star that I'll mention below, but overall, it was a nice stay! Check in/check out was a breeze and the Valet parking was very good! Take advantage of that! Our room was awesome! We were able to get on the 19th floor which was great! This allowed us to have access to the Club Lounge, which was definitely worth the additional cost we paid! The room was spacious and clean, the bathroom was amazing! There was a safe in the closet. The robes were super comfortable (and I never wear the robes normally, but these were amazing!). The only issue we had was a slight smell of Marijuana which we couldn't figure out at first when we initially got into the room. The slight smell disappeared after a bit, so we thought nothing of it, until the next day when I dropped some ice cubes on the floor by the TV and looked under the dresser edge and ended up finding where the smell was coming from. There were some remnants of Marijuana buds under the dresser edge and also in the corner under the desk area. We never use the desk area, so we would have never found anything had I not dropped the ice cubes. My suggestion to the hotel is to just make sure the cleaning crew pays closer attention to some of those lesser seen areas. Obviously we know we live in Colorado, but still wanted to mention it. The seating area by the window was very relaxing, especially when you're having coffee in the early morning! One of my favorite things about the bathroom was the built in TV in the mirror! We've never had that before, so it was cool! The Club Lounge was awesome! Continental Breakfast every morning and then snacks/cocktails in the evening! Located on the 20th floor. Very clean, plenty of seating, with cool views, and the staff was always nice and accommodating! The filtered water was great (once you figured out where it was) and the coffee machine was also great! FYI, the regular brewed coffee from the machine takes longer to serve because it grinds the fresh beans right there, so be aware of that. If you like Cappuccinos and Lattes, those don't take as long. There is also fresh brewed coffee right next to the big coffee machine if you don't want to wait. We loved the lounge, definitely worth the extra cost of the room! The rooftop pool- really cool, it's on the 23rd floor. They have adult only hours starting at 6pm through 10pm, which was very nice! They have a bar up there, and just make sure you have your ID with you because they won't allow you to charge things to your room without it. They have 3 hot tubs, 2 indoors and 1 outdoors. The only gripe/issue we had was the ability to use the outdoor hot tub when we were there- unfortunately we never got to experience it because there was a large group that hogged the entire thing for the whole time we were there. We tried going out there to use it multiple times, and this group wouldn't let anyone else use it. Not much can be done from the hotel staff in regards to that, but if you read this review, please just remember to be considerate of others who may want to use the outdoor hot tub if you have a large group. It would be nice if there was a second outdoor hot tub or if the one out there was larger, but that probably won't ever happen either. So, just be considerate. The indoor hot tubs were nice, just without a nice view. We didn't spend much time gambling (we weren't up there to gamble and, we're not ones for gambling anyways), so I can't speak on the games, but when we walked through the casino parts, everything looked clean and plenty of staff around the areas. I highly suggest visiting the restaurants at the hotel/casino! We visited all of them and were not disappointed! The Twenty Four 7 one was especially good and reasonably priced all around! I will post separate reviews for the restuarants, but I highly recommend visiting at least one, if not all of them, during your visit!
• AM

  Alicia Monaghan

  Jan 26, 2026
  1.0
  Update: In response to the hotel’s very untrue response below, I’d like to clarify a couple of things. 1) We were never contacted at any point about the reservation being updated to today. The hotel is totally lying which is even more shocking than our initial complaint. The last contact we had with the hotel we were told that there was nothing they could do and essentially “too bad,” after being given the runaround all morning. 2) As the hotel is well aware, the third party reached out to them multiple times only to be told that the hotel wouldn’t budge and being given an array of different excuses and information. This hotel and their staff clearly think that they can get away with scamming their customers, as is apparent in the dozens of other reviews with similar complaints. Definitely do not waste your money here! ________ We unfortunately have to strongly discourage anyone from staying at this hotel as the staff are highly unprofessional and unhelpful. There was a big snowstorm in Colorado last night and the roads were not safe for us to drive to Black Hawk. We called the hotel to ask if we could re-book for the next day and spoke with Hope, who told us that it would not be a problem at all but that unfortunately there was no one there to process the reservation change that evening so we would need to have the third-party we booked through reach out to them by email and that the change would be processed in the morning when the manager was in. Chase reached out to them shortly after and talked to the same person by phone who told them that they needed to e-mail the reservations department and that it would be processed first thing in the morning. This email was sent with proof that same evening. Well, this morning we’ve been given the total runaround by not only Hope, who even admitted talking to us last night, but my multiple other staff giving us numerous different excuses about why they are refusing to change our reservation. Hope apparently marked it as a no-show despite the fact that she was the one who told us it would be no problem to change the reservation. The third party has also reached out to them multiple times to no avail. Really terrible customer service. Stay at one of the many other, nicer hotels in Black Hawk and avoid this place!
• EL

  Erik Lundeen

  Jan 10, 2026
  2.0
  In all fairness, this review is based solely on hotel policy and our experience when our stay was interrupted due to a weather event and power outage. We did not stay here, but based on our experience this review is still valid since we will not be staying here in the future because of it. We had booked a weekend stay at the Monarch well in advance and had dinner reservations for the first night at a restaurant at a different property in town. We were aware a local electric utility was de-energizing power lines in the Denver area due to high winds and concerns for wildfires from downed power lines but didn’t realize the this affected Black Hawk. We were packing up and getting ready to leave our house when I got a phone call from the manager at the steakhouse we had reservations at for that evening apologizing and explaining that they were cancelling diner service that night due to the power outage. A clarifying point: this wasn’t an emergency outage. We learned later that the power company had alerted customers well in advance that the power would be turned off at 5am the morning of our stay. I called the Monarch to see if the outage was affecting them too and was told that they had generators powering “some” of the common areas in the hotel but they wouldn’t expand on which areas other than the restaurants were closed and while there was no power in the guest rooms, we could still have running water and the toilets would work. It took more questioning and prodding before I was told there was no heat in the rooms. I asked how we would be able to see anything and was told we could use our phones or bring a flashlight. What??? Obviously, with temperatures down near freezing that weekend, no heat was more of a dealbreaker than no power. But both were less than optimal. My issue is this: if we hadn’t been called by the restaurant manager from another property, we would have shown up unprepared and unaware of what was happening. I realize things must have been chaotic at the hotel but it was after 2pm when we found out and they made ZERO effort to alert us as to what was happening. The only reason this is a 2-star review instead of 1 is because we did get a full refund. However, we ended up joining a bunch of other displaced guests in Cripple Creek that weekend and the Chamonix has earned our hotel & casino business from here on out. This was a HUGE miss for the hotel manager of the Monarch. I realize businesses have insurance that pays out in the event of outages and mass cancellations like this, but the fact that they didn’t have the foresight to start calling guests and offering perks like restaurant or play credits for rescheduling their stay for a future date shows a level of incompetence that astounds me. We ended up taking the refund and had an amazing experience in Cripple Creek that means the Monarch didn’t just miss out on business for that weekend, but for return business and future revenues. And there’s no way to claim that from insurance. Check out Cripple Creek — specifically Chamonix. It’s way better and you’ll be much happier.

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