If you haven’t been to the Rockies in the last decade, you may not recognize it.
It’s late ski season, and while the mountain resorts are still welcoming snowboarders and schussers, they’ll soon be greeting meetings and conferences. Attendees are likely to see new and refreshed properties and services throughout these Colorado destinations. Plus, more changes are afoot in the metro areas of Denver, Aurora and Colorado Springs.
Big Changes in Vail
Many properties are reinventing themselves, eschewing the traditional gingerbread alpine look for a sleek minimalist ambiance. One such example is Minturn’s boutique 13-room Eagle River Inn dating to 1892. Now under new management, the property has been transformed from mining town brick to a white-washed, Southwestern-style exterior.
Vail Valley properties renovated within the last four years include the 37-unit Sitzmark Vail (under new ownership), Hythe Vail (formerly Vail Marriott Mountain Resort) and the Charter at Beaver Creek, which created appeal with a property-wide exhibition of local artists. One of the most recent debuts this winter is the 205-room Hotel Alpenrock Breckenridge (formerly DoubleTree), which completed a renovation to become part of Hilton’s Curio Collection.
Last summer, Vail Valley Partnership, which in Colorado comprises Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone, Crested Butte and more, added a 116-suite SpringHill Suites and 127-suite TownePlace Suites (two properties connected by a lobby) to its Avon destination.
Presenting at the January 2025 Destination Colorado member meeting, Chris Romer, president and CEO of Vail Valley Partnership, noted that more than 80% of Vail’s meetings business is comprised of corporate, association and SMERF groups. He also observed that while the booking window is expanding for large programs, it’s shrinking for smaller groups.
But with more than 2,500 short-term rentals in Vail, small meetings and retreats may opt to gather in some of the area’s luxurious private homes, where they can access offsite catering, AV and, thanks to creative entrepreneurs like Nomadic Roots Sauna & Wellness, a mobile alpine sauna. (The sauna proprietors also offer wellness and yoga classes.)
[Related: Three Colorado Cities for Meetings Immersed in Art and History]
Michelin Has Come to the Colorado Mountains
Michelin Hotel Guide is in its second year of mapping Colorado’s best accommodations. Vail has two Michelin Key Hotels: The Four Seasons Vail and the Sonnenalp, with another three in Aspen (Hotel Jerome, Little Nell and the 68-room Mollie, which opened last December).
The “Key” is a new distinction; according to the Michelin Hotels Guide, “These are places that significantly add to your experience as a traveler, each vetted and judged excellent in five categories: architecture and interior design, quality and consistency of service, overall personality and character, value for the price and a significant contribution to the guest experience in a particular setting.”
Colorado Airport News: More Carriers, More Lift
Thanks to demand, Colorado airports serving the mountain area are increasing their routes and carriers.
New airlift at Eagle County Airport is opening new markets in Chicago, Houston, Seattle and San Diego as low-cost carriers Alaska and Frontier move in. At Colorado Springs Airport, Allegiant Airlines added Phoenix/Mesa, Santa Ana/Orange County and St. Pete/Tampa to its roster in February 2025. Cancun via Southwest Airlines, a first-ever international route, is expected to commence in June 2025.
Meanwhile, with Denver International Airport’s (DEN) trajectory to hit 100 million passengers per year as early as 2027, DEN is busy, busy, busy. The airport has finished 39 new gates (concourses A, B and C), five new gates A-East and opened 29 new concessions options and expects to open 33 new shops and restaurants this year. There are now 17 lanes at the west security checkpoint, with 17 lanes expected to open on the east side by mid-year. Work begins this year on a consolidated rental car facility with more than 17,000 spaces over four floors.
Finally, a 400,000-square-foot addition, adding 11 gates at Concourse C-West, should be complete by 2030/2031.
[Related: Mile-High Metamorphosis: Denver Continues to Polish Its Downtown Model]
What’s Happening in Metro Denver and Colorado Springs
With just a few differences, the major cities of Denver, Colorado Springs and Aurora are following the same trends as the mountain ski resorts. Last October, Denver debuted the 265-room Populus at Civic Center Park as the first self-styled “carbon-positive" hotel in the U.S. The property, which has a variety of spaces suitable for board meetings, was built, when possible, with reclaimed and recycled materials, and the ongoing plan is to plant one tree for each night’s stay.
While not as carbon-forward as the Populus, Colorado Springs’ Polaris, which opened last November, features the Boomerang Bottling System that reduces plastic waste in 375 guest rooms and more than 40,000 square feet of meeting space. (As a sidenote, the Polaris also boasts F2 and 737 flight simulators.)
Denver also has three Michelin Key Hotels—the Clayton Hotel & Members Club, The Four Seasons Denver and the Crawford Hotel—as well as 27 dining establishments recognized in the Michelin Restaurant Guide.
Opened last July, Denver’s 190-room Kimpton Claret Hotel is located in the Belleview Station area along the growing South Denver Corridor. The 19-story, new-build hotel features 190 guest rooms, 10,000 square feet of event space and a 19th-floor rooftop bar with 180-degree views of the Rocky Mountains. This property is not to be confused with the former Kimpton Born, which was renamed the Limelight Hotel in 2023. The Limelight is adjacent to Union Station, where the Winter Park Express can take travelers to the A-Frame Club at the resort’s base. Launched in 2023, 31 A-frames are joined by a historic saloon and a cozy restaurant, making it a unique venue for small groups with families and pets.
Other reflaggings include Colorado Spring’s Cheyenne Mountain Resort, which is now officially a member of the Destination by Hyatt brand and the first full-service Hyatt hotel in Colorado Springs. Two new hotels, a Catbird Hotel in Downtown Colorado Springs and an as-yet-unnamed Marriott property in the historic Ivywild neighborhood, are expected to break ground this year.
Meanwhile, in Aurora, the 1,501-room Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center has completed its phase two enhancements, which include more than 12,000 square feet of indoor and prefunction space at the Mountain View Pavilion and about 9,000 square feet of outdoor space in terraces, patios and turfed lawn.
Elsewhere in Aurora, there are three upper-midscale properties that are expected to debut this year: a 116-room Home2 Suites by Hilton (opening March), a 113-room TownePlace Suites (opening June) and a Fairfield Marriott and Suites (opening November). Randi Morritt, COO of Visit Aurora, noted that the city has limited availability for short-term booking this year, but suggests there is availability for those whose plans are flexible.
In Colorado, Sustainability Is Important to Everybody
When the 230-room Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa Avon, Vail Valley, completed its room refresh, it donated its former soft goods to Habitat for Humanity’s Re-Store facility. This re-use is just one example of Colorado’s commitment to sustainability. In the January 2025 Destination Colorado member meeting, Morritt of Visit Aurora noted that most clients incorporate specific sustainability queries into the RFP process that they can share with their attendees. Planners are also requesting digital rather than printed documents, according to Visit Colorado Springs, and are focusing on no-waste F&B options, according to Visit Denver.
