Hilton’s Zion National Park Hotel That Should Not Be Overlooked – Cliffrose Curio Review

Cliffrose Curio Review

My husband and I recently took a whirlwind national park tour through Utah that began with Zion National Park in Springdale, Utah. Since we already had our truck out west for the winter and spring, we drove into the area. If you were flying the nearest major airport is Las Vegas – 170 miles away. We stayed at Cliffrose Springdale, a Curio Collection hotel by Hilton for two nights. I truly feel this property is an undiscovered gem. It has felt the most boutique of all the Curio properties I have stayed at over the years. In this Cliffrose Curio review, I will discuss my stay, the room, property, amenities and overall impression. Spoiler alert: I LOVED this place!

Booking Process

Hilton does not have hotel categories and uses a dynamic points system to book properties based on demand. I used a free night certificate for one night and 80K points for the second night. You can earn a free night certificate from being an Amex Aspire cardholder or by spending $15,000 a year on your Amex Surpass card.

Because I was using a free night cert, I did have to call Hilton to make the reservation. Some view having to call as a con against Hilton when evaluating the value of free night certs. I did not find that to be the case as the agent talked me into booking the standard room (the free night only covers a standard room) with two queens for both nights and noted in the reservation to upgrade me to a room with a king. This is a good idea if there are no kind standard rooms available at the time of booking.

I always request an upgrade when I book through the Hilton app and usually get it. But I probably would have used more points and booked two different rooms to ensure that one night was in a king if she had not talked me out of that.

As it was, the cash rate of a standard room was $587 per night, so I used 80K points and a free night cert to get rooms at a value of over $1,000 for the two nights. But, when I arrived, Cliffrose had already upgraded me to a riverfront 1 bedroom king! The cash price for that room was $968 per night so I got essentially double the value! Parking was free by permit and limited to one car per room. Once we parked, we never moved our truck again until check out. Cliffrose has a complimentary shuttle for rides to local restaurants, art galleries, and shops but we preferred walking as everything is pretty close by.

Check In / Lobby

The property is small and has a very boutique feel to it. The grounds are beautifully landscaped (it used to be a small botanical garden). Every time we walked around the property we saw a crew working outside to keep it manicured. I could tell by the shrubs and flowers planted that they had frequent visits by deer (I have the same problem in my garden). Sure enough, we saw several deer on the grounds throughout our stay. The lobby is small and very cozy. The front desk already had my reservation flagged for upgrade and greeted me as diamond member and offered the standard water bottles. We appreciated these more than usual because of the desert climate! Although it has been some time since I have felt compelled to save a hotel key card as a souvenir, I am definitely keeping this key card.

It really looks and feels like wood – so much so that I really wasn’t expecting it to work – but it did!

Cliffrose Curio Review: Hotel Room

Our room was a one-bedroom king overlooking the river and some amazing Zion-esque cliffs. The room had a full open galley kitchen with full refrigerator with ice maker, dishwasher, microwave, induction cooktop and a Keurig coffee maker. There was a dining table for 4, a sleeper sofa, TV, chair, occasional tables, and a built-in desk all together in this living/dining area. I wasn’t crazy about the track lighting – working at the kitchen table felt like a police interrogation. But overall, this area was roomy, practical and opened onto a patio that had a spectacular view of the landscaping, the river and the sun-soaked cliffs.

The patio had additional seating and a gas grill. Next door to our unit was the laundry for the facility which had two washers and two dryers which each accepting coins or credit cards for $2 loads.

The bedroom and bathroom each had very wide pocket doors opening into approximately identical sized space. The bedroom had a king bed with two small end tables, a dresser, a TV, and a bench. There was just enough space to use the luggage rack to place my carry-on bag. The bedside tables had charging ports and a backlight behind the headboard which was a nice touch. There was a safe inside the dresser and there were robes and slippers in the closet.

The bathroom was very large but had a comparatively small shower. I had to tuck in my elbows while washing my hair! There was an oversized tub and double sinks. The amenities included paraben free toiletries, a lit magnifying mirror, and a black makeup remover towel. Again – it was a very roomy bathroom – except for the shower – but it seemed to not be a great use of space. Housekeeping snuck in while we were at breakfast each day leaving fresh towels and a made bed.

Breakfast

The restaurant Anthera began in the main building near the lobby and sprawled out onto the terracing patios. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served there as well as drinks with live music on the lower patio outside. We used our $30 Diamond credit for breakfast each day which, happily, was mostly covered by the credit with breakfast entrees ranging from $10-$14.

We sat on the patio at white linen covered tables sipping our coffee. Our order consisted of avocado toast with eggs and blueberry pancakes with homemade blueberry syrup and bacon. It was all amazing! The service was fast, and the two waitresses remembered us the following day.

Public Areas

Beyond the room, the property was small but very well appointed. There was a heated pool and hot tub very close to our room that was closed for renovation. There was a larger heated pool and hot tub near the lower parking lot we were able to enjoy while we were there. While there are robes in the rooms, there are also pool towels at both pools. Surprisingly, the hots tubs are open 24 hours. There is a spa on the property Five Petals Spa. I was unable to take advantage of it but thought THIS would be a fantastic use of the $500 credit available on the Hilton Surpass offer if you were to go that route instead of the points offer.

There were several outdoor pavilions and seating areas with fire pits which were elevated in experience by the background melody of a rushing river, which, in my opinion was more of a creek.

It should be noted that young children should not be left unattended on the back lawn with the creek back there though. The kids will enjoy sand boxes, lawn games, and a small playground.

Local Area

The real playground was the national park less than half a mile away! The pathway from our room took us seven minutes to walk to the pedestrian entrance of Zion National Park. It was such a pleasure seeing all the cars backed up on the road waiting to drive through the entrance while we leisurely strolled past. There was a line of people waiting at the pedestrian bridge to buy their passes, so I would recommend if you are interested in more than a day pass to buy your annual National Parks pass either online or at REI prior to your trip. Annual passes are $80. Veterans get in free. Seniors can buy a lifetime pass for $80 but treat it well! If lost or stolen, senior passes cannot be replaced but may be repurchased for $80. Zion is one of the most beautiful national parks I’ve visited. As I mentioned earlier, this park was just the first of several for us in Utah and Colorado.

Final Thoughts

After reading so many bloggers reviewing the same (Hyatt?) properties over and over, I felt like I discovered this secret gem. First off, I knew that it could not have been in the Hilton system long. It became a Curio property in late 2019 under the veil of COVID so I don’t think many people realize it is a Hilton property. So it has this authentic feel of a local resort property that happens to be bookable with points. And the price of points/free night certificate gave me great value for the stay! The room, the staff, the breakfast – all were exceptional. And its proximity to Zion National Park was the crowning jewel. Will I go back? Yes – and soon!