Westin Denver Airport Ready To Take Reservations
The newest full-service airport hotel to open in the US is nearing completion. The Westin Denver has announced that it will be ready to take reservations for stays starting December 1st, 2015 (the hotel will open November 19th).
Needless to say, I was a little surprised as there’s lots of work still to be done. Denver is a frequent stop on my business travel schedule so I’ve been seeing plenty of updates on the construction. Here’s a rendering of what the hotel is supposed to look like when done:
Here’s a shot of the construction from a drive-by about a month ago, looking similar to the renderings.
And, here are some close-up shots from last week.
As I was looking at the hotel floors, I noticed what looked like guest lamps visible on some of the lower floors near the window. Even closer look:
There’s even a clock inside the terminal where the hotel will connect that has a countdown to check-in time on November 19th.
Airport hotels generally maintain a strong occupancy because of their convenience. Even though I generally prefer Hyatt, I’ll almost certainly stay at the Westin instead of the Hyatt House down the road. It means not keeping my rental car or having to ride a shuttle on those days where I have an early flight out.
There’s also a train that will be connecting downtown to the airport, which is a pretty decent hike. There’s frequently traffic when I head to the airport, so returning my rental car downtown and taking the train will be a viable option in the future.
Oddly, there are very few airport hotels that are physically connected to terminals in the US. Chicago (Hilton), Miami (unbranded) and DFW (which has both a Hyatt Regency and a Grand Hyatt attached to it) are a few that come to mind. But, for each major airport with a hotel connected to it, there’s another major hub airport without it, including really busy airports LAX, JFK, and SFO as well as smaller hubs like Charlotte and Washington-Dulles.
I’d still be cautious booking a room for the opening weeks. Hotel openings have a habit of slipping. And, while construction seems to be proceeding nicely, there are still a lot of pieces to complete here. There are lots of backup options in the area if you do end up having an issue, though it’s a bit of a hike to get to a full-service hotel (tons of limited service hotels nearby).
I’ll be interested to see how the Westin at Denver Airport looks when it opens and be equally interested to see how popular it is.
What is the difference between being open and taking reservations? I could use a night here on the 11/20, a day after opening but I can’t make a reservation?
Lance, a hotel usually leaves a cushion between their expected opening date and when they start taking reservations. 10 days seems a bit of a narrow, but my guess (based partially on the way they’re prepping the hotel floors in the pictures) is that they’ll have some floors ready at opening though maybe not all. I would try to find a phone number for the property and see if someone answers and is willing to take a reservation directly. That’s been my experience in the past.