COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- I was midway through my stay at the new Hotel Polaris, located on the edge of the U.S. Air Force Academy property here, when I realized I was in a pickle.
The 737 Max simulator flight that I was piloting was out of alignment with the runway, and in my mind, trained from so many hours of watching movies during my youth, I could hear the controller Rex Kramer from "Airplane," screaming, "You're too low, damn it!"
A moment later, with the runway upon us, I jerked the yoke to the right in one last desperate attempt at making the landing. But it was for naught. My right wing set down first, and then the flight simulator went blank. Crash.
"Good thing this wasn't real," I quipped to my instructor, former U.S. Air Force pilot Lisa McCranie.
Then it was time to try again.
The view from the Hotel Polaris, over the academy and to the mountains beyond. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Robert Silk
The Hotel Polaris, which opened Nov. 14, boasts that it is the first hotel in the country to offer professional-style flight simulators. Along with the Max 737 simulator I tried, the hotel offers a pair of F-16 fighter jet simulators.
The machines, operated by Illinois-based Extreme Flight Simulation, provide exact replicas of the flight decks of those aircraft. They aren't certified for hours accrual by pilot trainees, but they do offer full-scale simulator experiences for most flying scenarios. The F-16 simulators are also equipped with mixed-reality headsets that enable participants to fly missions together or compete against one another in dogfights.
Kevin Barosso, the Hotel Polaris' director of sales and marketing, said that in developing the flight simulator experience, the property, managed by Colorado-based CoralTree Hospitality, was looking to offer something that stands out from all other hotels.
"Whether you are just interested in aviation or you're a former pilot, there's the ability to craft an experience that feeds both skill levels," Barosso said. "For the entry-level person who's never flown before but who's walked on a Southwest 737 Max plane, looked at the cockpit and gone and taken their seat, now they can actually sit in that same cockpit and have that kind of experience."
Leaning into aviation theme
The hotel's interior, which features numerous homages to aviation. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Robert Silk
The simulators will appeal to the many aviation enthusiasts who will naturally visit the hotel. The Hotel Polaris also expects to draw much of its business from the families of cadets as well as U.S. Air Force Academy alumni.
The 375-room property is sprinkled throughout with homages to aviation, the Air Force and the academy. My room during a hosted two-night stay was adorned with photos of fighter jets and the famous Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel, currently undergoing a $220 million renovation. Similar photos decorate the hotel's public spaces.
Nods to the chapel and to aviation are also present in the architecture and interior design of the hotel, which is of the midcentury-modern style found throughout the Air Force Academy.
Rooms at the Hotel Polaris feature midcentury-modern design. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Robert Silk
Amenities after landing
But the Hotel Polaris also offers plenty to appeal to a broader range of leisure travelers. Its location against the front range of the Rocky Mountains is stunning.
During my first morning there in early December, I awoke to a wide view of peaks newly covered in snow, visible through nearly floor-to-ceiling windows. Meanwhile, Colorado Springs, including the nearby Garden of the Gods park, is a popular tourist destination in its own right, especially in summer.
The hotel, with 26,000 square feet of indoor conference space, is also connected to a new building that will eventually house an upgraded Air Force Academy visitor center.
I spent much of my Hotel Polaris visit enjoying its amenities and eclectic mix of bars and restaurants. At the Ascend Spa, which offers six treatment rooms, I indulged in my first-ever facial, listening with interest as the aesthetician explained the benefits of the nonchemical peel used by the facility.
The hotel's six eating and drinking options include the upscale bistro Pamela's. At dinner there my first night, I enjoyed an appetizer of Sicilian-style arancini balls with a spicy three-cheese dipping sauce, then moved on to Rocky Mountain trout with lemon caper sauce.
The next afternoon I lunched casually at the cute 1950s-style diner Doolies. That evening, my companion and I sipped cocktails at the rooftop bar called The Aviator, indulging in tuna nachos and spicy deviled eggs.
The Hotel Polaris sits just outside the gates of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, on academy property. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Robert Silk
As for my simulator experience, I improved after my rocky start, making progressively better -- though far from perfect -- landings. Successful approaches required simultaneous focus on my direction, speed and altitude, with subtle movements of the yoke being key.
The experience, which costs $190 for an hour (pricing varies depending on length and aircraft type), gave me just a taste of what the 737 Max simulator has to offer. But it was both exciting and instructive -- and something I hope to do again.
The Hotel Polaris offers a standard 10% commission to travel advisors and is offering 15% commissions for packages through March.