Just how much fun can sophistication be? To find out, check in to the Hotel Monaco. When you enter the lobby, you’ll feel like you’re in an elegant, somewhat exotic living room—did they mean to call it the Hotel Morocco?—with cushy couches, recessed bookshelves, and potted palms. Then you look up and see that you’re sitting under what the Monaco’s designer calls a Russian Circus Tent. The domed ceiling is all about wide stripes and diamonds, blues and golds, a theme that carries through to the subtly striped wall coverings in the halls and meeting rooms, the softly colored guest room doors, and the stripes-on-wood chests of drawers. Yet the plush duvet covers, bathroom phones, 24-hour room service, terrycloth shower curtains, and automatic turndown service remind you that the Monaco is as serious about service as it is about fun. Even your dog will think so when he is presented with his own bowl and a bag of gourmet treats. Don’t forget to buy a yo-yo from your mini-bar before you check out.

Hotel Monaco Denver Amenities:

• 189 rooms, 7 story. Pets accepted. Check-in 3 pm, check-out noon. High-speed Internet access, wireless Internet access. Restaurant. Fitness room, spa. Business center. Credit cards accepted.