June 5, 2015  by

Denver airport announces opening day for new hotel

USA TODAY: With a hotel room mock-up and a countdown clock as attention-getting props, on Monday, Denver’s mayor and officials from Denver International Airport and the Westin announced that the official opening day for the 14-story Westin Denver International Airport hotel will be Nov. 19, 2015.

“Adding a state-of-the-art hotel and conference center to our international airport places our region front and center as a leader in travel, transportation and tourism,” said Denver mayor Michael B. Hancock during the announcement ceremony.

The 433,000-square-foot, 519-room hotel, designed by noted architecture and design firm Gensler, is next to the airport and sits on top of a new transit center housing a commuter railway that will take passengers to downtown Denver in 30 minutes.

The hotel has a swooping glass and steel exterior that overlooks and reflects the Colorado Rockies, the airport flight paths and the white-tented structure of the Jeppesen Terminal. And while Gensler describes the hotel’s sleek form as that of a bird with its wings extended, others have likened the unusual shape to everything from a cruise ship to a set of pilot’s wings and a mustache.

The hotel will have a fitness studio, a top-floor indoor swimming pool, a signature restaurant, and a 26,000-square-foot conference center. Art by Colorado artists will be featured in the hotel’s private rooms and public spaces and each of the 519 guest rooms and 35 suites will have Westin’s signature bed and other amenities, as well as great views out of floor-to-ceiling windows.

 

Rooms looking out to the north will see the terminal tent tops and the 82,000-square-foot open air plaza that will host events and art installations. Rooms looking to the east will get a view of the high plains. South-facing rooms will get views of the public transit center and, beyond that, Pikes Peak. And rooms facing west will look out to the front range of the Rocky Mountains.

The hotel room mock-up and the countdown clock will remain in the Jeppesen Terminal (near the south security checkpoint) until the hotel opens in November and anyone wanting to check on the progress of construction can sign up for a Hotel and Transit Center tour or tune in to the Construction Cam, which has camera, panorama and live-stream settings.