My 13yo K- and I had an opportunity to go back to one of our favorite hotels in the world, The Broadmoor, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It’s about a two hour drive from our home in Boulder, far enough that it feels like a vacation, but close enough that it’s not A Road Trip. For the drive, we were driving a beautiful, brand new 2017 Lexus NX300h hybrid SUV, but that’s another story, to come soon!
The Broadmoor is one of the very few five-star hotels in Colorado and has been a five-star hotel longer than any other facility in the United States. It’s seen presidents, celebrities and world leaders for almost 100 years. It started out as The Broadmoor Casino, opening in 1891 by Count Pourtales, a real Prussian Count. The casino burned down in 1897, and The Broadmoor was rebuilt and officially opened as a luxury resort on July 4, 1918. And it’s really spectacular and truly luxurious: at the height of the season it has over 2200 staff from around the world for a facility with 779 rooms and suites and 20 restaurants.
I’ve written up our stay at The Broadmoor separately, but wanted to separately share the fun and fantastic experience of my daughter getting her first true, upscale, fancy manicure and pedicure. Or “mani-pedi” as they’re known. Some places it’s a simple process, but at The Broadmoor Salon, well, it’s quite a bit more luxurious than that, as you can see with Kiana’s pedicure:
That’s a “zero gravity chair” and K- has a lovely eye pillow on her face too. She adored the experience and would be quite happy if it were a weekly routine. Prior to working on the nails, they actually exfoliate your feet with a scrub, then clean them, then massage a gentle lotion on so that your feet are soft and supple. Then the production of the nails begins!
After an hour or so of pampering, the pedicure was over and they even had quick-assemble flip-flops to ensure the paint had a chance to properly dry:
Nice, eh? K- did a great job of picking out nail paint colors too: a traditional red for her toes and a lavender for her fingernails. Again, a traditional manicure might be a quick affair, but the Salon process was a bit more involved, including a quick dry device to help set layers before the next was applied:
No eye pillow here, but instead a shoulder pillow that included warmed-up beads inside the pillow. I had one on too and it was very pleasant and relaxing when I wasn’t stalking about, taking photos!
And, finally, the finished product:
Very nice, eh? And such soft, supple hands after a similar exfoliating and lotion treatment!
The end result, two hours later, was a girl who was completely sold on the luxury and pampering of a top end salon mani-pedi treatment and was talking about it for hours afterwards, showing off her fingernails to anyone who would look!
I’m convinced that it was brilliant parenting too, because it led us to have a discussion about the cost of luxury and why it’s a smart idea to study and work hard to establish a successful career path so you can afford such indulgences. Fortunately, this time The Broadmoor marketing department was paying for the salon treatment: It’s $180 for a full mani-pedi like K- had, but next time, she could theoretically spend a lot of time babysitting to earn it herself, right?
Disclosure: The Broadmoor covered all expenses associated with our stay, including the Salon treatment, in return for me writing about our experiences. Which was super nice of them, I say!
This is awesome! Lucky girl.
I would hope that a $180 mani/pedi would last six months since I can get a mani/pedi for $42 at the nail salon down the street. 🙂