This Is Definitely the Weirdest Best Western Hotel Ever
“We didn’t want our hotel to taste like chicken. We wanted it to taste like pterodactyl.” (Photo: Zack Neher / Best Western Denver Southwest)
By Erika Owen
Ten years ago, Lakewood, Colo.,’s hotel scene consisted of a few chain inns—including a run-of-the-mill Best Western. Now, you’ll find yourself face-to-face with a dinosaur-themed hotel, complete with some of the area’s oldest residents (read: actual fossils and bones). Greg and Meredith Tally had the dream of turning their basic location into a destination worth traveling for—in their words: “We had a beige box commodity in our hotel,” says Greg. “But we didn’t want our hotel to taste like chicken. We wanted it to taste like pterodactyl.”
Photo: Zack Neher / Best Western Denver Southwest
The area is a natural fit for such a treat. The hotel is minutes away from the Morrison Natural History Museum and Dinosaur Ridge, an area where many Jurassic specimens have been discovered. The couple spent $5 million to get the Best Western where they wanted it, investing in details such as a set of legs from a Brachiosaurus femora among many other dinosaur bone replicas. The hotel restaurant, Paleo Joe’s, features the only petrified wood bar in Colorado and a full-size Tylosaur mounted to the ceiling—a replica that was first used as a prop for the movie Sea Monsters. It gets even better: guests are invited to interact with artifacts during breakfast at the hotel’s fossil table.
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Photo: Zack Neher / Best Western Denver Southwest
Although the opportunity for kitsch is high, the entire hotel comes off more like a museum thanks to help from curators at the nearby history museum. For more information on the space and what guests can expect, head to the hotel’s website.
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