Is Denver A Nice City?

The “Mile High City” is very beautiful. The hospitality and customer service was outstanding. It was noticeable from the time my feet hit the ground in Colorado. I’m a frequent traveler and a member of the Emerald Club at National Car Rental. Sometime the car rental shuttle drive will offer a map, sometime they don’t. In Denver, the driver not only offered the map, he also proceeded to give directions on how to leave their hub. He did this for every single person (individually) on the shuttle. As a member of the Emerald Club, I am able to bypass the counter and choose a car that is in a specific row for members. The shuttle drivers normally just let me out and roam the lot. Because it was already dark, he actually waited until I found the car of my choice and then drove the rest of the customers to the hub. When exiting, the rental attendant also asked if I needed a map and gave explicit directions which saved me at least 10 minutes of time. I thought to myself, that particular facility is really customer service oriented. Until I got to my hotel!

My hotel was approximately 12 miles south of the city and about 27 miles from the airport. Wednesday morning about 9:45 am, I asked the hotel attendant where is the light rail. She said, what time do you want to go. The owner can take you at 10am. She was not aware that I had a rental. I just said sure and proceeded back to my room. I logged onto my laptop and started to check my email. At 10am my hotel phone started ringing. I was a bit surprised, because none of my friends actually knew where I was staying and they would normally just call me via my mobile phone. It was the hotel attendant who happened to remember what room I was in and reminding me of the ride to the light rail. I was astonished. Even in the South, southern hospitality is not this good (By the way, I’m from the South).

I finally arrived downtown to get my credentials. I slipped into a an Italian restaurant, Old Chicago. I ordered the lasagna , salad and had two tall glasses of lemonade. When she dropped off the check at my table, I was like this has to be a mistake. It had noddle $7.88.with tax included. In comparison, this meal would have cost me a minimum of $12.00 in the Washington, DC. So, I stopped the waitress who said, “that’s right sweetie.”

Although the customer service was great, there was one downside to the city. Denver did not seem prepared for the over 80,000 people that in fluxed the city. Most vistors of the city, we were at a lost when exiting the light rail. There were no signs to point us in any direction. Also, after Obama's acceptance speech at Invesco Field, it was a little chaotic because no one knew which way to go, and again, there were no signs.

Denver is one of the few metropolitan cities in the US not built around a railroad or body of water. It is beautifully landscaped. As you know, first impressions are lasting ones – and the city did, indeed, leave an impression. I’m not planning any drastic moves, but overall, I could probably live in Denver.