DENVER— A 196-room JW Marriott will debut here June 1, giving the Marriott International luxury brand its entree into Colorado while at the same time filling an apparent void in a local suburb here. Owned and operated by Sunstone Hotel Investors LLC, the boutique-style property is expected to become a social and business touchpoint for the affluent Cherry Creek district, which is home to numerous high-end retailers, but has been without a hotel previously. The $40 million, 11-story JW Marriott is located proximate the Cherry Creek Shopping Center, which has mainstays, including Cartier, Tiffany & Co. and Neiman Marcus, and Cherry Creek North, which houses art galleries, trendy restaurants and more than 250 retailers. The hotel is part of a mixed-use project known as the Clayton Lane Development that will encompass a two-story Crate and Barrel, street-level retail, upscale condominiums, covered parking and Janus Funds’ world headquarters. “Cherry Creek is a very unique submarket of Denver. They refer to themselves as the ‘Rodeo Drive of the West,’” said hospitality veteran Robert Trotter, the property’s gm. Describing the district as a shopping “destination,” Trotter said there are 16 million visitors to the area annually. “There are only four million residents in the whole state and there’s literally not only not a high-end hotel in Cherry Creek proper; there’s no hotel. Yet, there’s an incredible demand.” Sunstone picked the Marriott brand— of which there are less than three dozen worldwide— in order to mesh with the neighborhood, Trotter said. “The JW represents a much higher level of personalized service than experienced at a full-service Marriott. And in terms of décor and ambiance our guests will feel much more at home. It’s a very residential feel, rich fabrics and textures, combined with a staff that rivals a five-star hotel. That’s why they chose the JW.” At $200,000 per key, guestrooms are oversized, measuring 405 square feet, and feature four-fixture bathrooms, flat-screen television sets, cordless telephones, DVD/CD players, high-speed Internet access and large desks with ergonomic chairs. A number of guestrooms are set aside as “The Room That Works,” Marriott’s nod to business travelers who need more than the standard room. There also are four one-bedroom suites, a penthouse-level presidential suite and two concierge-level floors. The property is WiFi capable in all public areas and meeting spaces and hard-wired in the guestrooms. “Our research indicated guests have [fewer]problems with it and not everybody’s equipped for WiFi,” said Trotter. The JW offers 5,000 square feet of meeting space, which Trotter felt is “very appropriately scaled for the size of the hotel.” A grand ballroom can accommodate 220 persons for dinner; a junior ballroom, 160. Trotter expected these rooms to get extensive use. “We believe there’s a huge demand for social catering space in the Cherry Creek market,” said Trotter, given the area’s upscale composition. According to the Cherry Creek Chamber of Commerce, the average annual household income runs from $62,000 to $156,000 in the district’s neighborhoods, where average houses range from $399,000 to $836,000. Retail sales for the area exceeded $530 million for 2003. In a statement, Mayor John Hickenloooper said: “Bringing the JW Marriott brand to Cherry Creek is exciting for Denver. It reinforces the message that Cherry Creek is a world-class neighborhood and Denver is a world-class city.” The hotel property, approximately three miles from downtown Denver, is expected to employ 200 staff members. “Denver is characterized as a (top-tier) secondary market. Economically, hotel business in the greater metro area has been hard hit like many other locales. The core downtown market, I guess because of the cost of admission, has not been hurt as bad. Occupancy rates at the better hotels have remained fairly constant— upper 60s, low 70s— and rate has not gone down; it’s b
