Mars Hotel is located within Arches National Park,[3] and like many of the rock formations in the park, it is composed of Entrada Sandstone, specifically the Slick Rock Member overlaying the Dewey Bridge Member.

Precipitation runoff from Mars Hotel drains to the nearby Colorado River via Courthouse Wash.

The first ascent of the summit was made in March 1989 by Kyle Copeland and Eric Johnson via If I Only Had A Brain rock-climbing route (class 5.10).

[5] Mike Baker and Leslie Henderson climbed a new route in 1992 on the east face, Lost in Space (class 5.10+).

As part of a high desert region, it can experience wide daily temperature fluctuations.