BOULDER, Colo.
Despite the toll the recession has taken on hotel development—including causing the death of multiple projects across Boulder County as a result of long funding battles—experts say the Boulder hotel industry's waiting game may soon end. That’s because new developments could bring four new hotels, with nearly 600 total rooms, to the city in the next two years.
This recovery could be attributed to rising occupancy rates for hotels since 2008, experts say, as well as banks' willingness to back the industry once again.
"Nationally, the hotel industry is taking advantage of the bounce-back from the recession as well as limited new supply growth," Walter Isenberg, president and CEO of Sage Hospitality, a hotel and restaurant management company that oversees hotels in 26 states, said in an e-mail. "Both business and leisure travelers are returning."
But changes in the industry won't be visible in Boulder until at least June 2013, when the first development, a Hampton Inn & Suites, is anticipated to open. That opening is slated to be followed by the debut of two full-service hotels, a Hyatt and a dramatically revamped Golden Buff, which is slated to include two hotels.
Courtesy of dailycamera.com
