State of Colorado’s Meetings and Events Industry in 2025

By Beth Buehler

Destination Colorado Meetings strives to provide the latest information and education for meeting and event planners and the organization’s more than 170 members. Representing destination marketing organizations (DMOs), destination management companies (DMCs), hotels, venues, audiovisual companies, photographers, caterers, activity providers and more across the state, one of the highlights is looking at the state of Colorado’s meetings and events industry.

On Jan. 29, at a membership luncheon held at Upper Larimer in Denver, four leaders from DMOs shared an insider’s look at trends, what’s new and hotel updates during a panel discussion moderated by Justin Ball, president and founder of Bespoke.

One theme evident during the state of Colorado’s meetings and events industry discussion was airport improvements and increased flights. Denver International Airport (DEN) has benefited from $2.4 billion in expansion and upgrades, and regional airports also are refreshing and adding airline partners. For example, Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE) has added Alaska Airlines and Frontier Airlines flights, and Colorado Springs Airport (COS) has new routes on Allegiant Airlines. The modernization project continues at COS and features new infrastructure, improved terminal capacity, and enhanced accessibility and sustainability.

Much is happening in the state’s hotel industry as well. “There are many new properties in the pipeline and recently opened,” observes Kelly Layton, Executive Director of Destination Colorado Meetings. “Also, the short booking window is very strong. … The number of bookings with 60-80 attendees happening within six to eight weeks is significant.”

In addition, “adaptability” seems to be the word of the year, she notes, and there was significant discussion about artificial intelligence (AI). “The underlying theme is that the storytelling, content creation, relationships and connecting the dots is up to humans,” Layton says.

Here’s a glimpse of the information provided by Randi Morritt, Chief Operating Officer, Visit Aurora; Lee Reijgers, Vice President of Sales, Visit Colorado Springs; Chris Romer, President and CEO, Vail Valley Partnership; and Richard Scharf, President and CEO, VISIT DENVER.

Market & Booking Trends

In Denver, Colorado Convention Center (CCC) bookings in 2025 are at an all-time high. CCC played a key role in Denver hosting 14 of the top 250 U.S. conventions held in 2024. Twenty destinations hosted 88% of these conventions, with Denver ranking sixth after San Diego, Orlando, New Orleans, Chicago and Las Vegas.

“Booking windows are returning to longer, pre-pandemic ranges as planners struggle to find short-term availability,” shares Scharf. “Last-minute registrations are still a problem, causing diminished pick up with room blocks and increased reservations outside of group blocks. This makes for tedious audits and makes forecasting challenging for the hotels.” He notes that group budgets are not keeping pace with increased convention costs in areas like food, beverage and audiovisual.

Visit Aurora has observed limited availability for short-term bookings with average daily rates remaining strong and extra value being offered to groups that are flexible with dates, such as a Sunday arrival and weekend gatherings, Morritt says. Overall, group booking leads were flat in 2024 when compared to 2023, she notes, and the DMO’s sales team is seeing groups return to traditional booking windows that are farther out, increased association business, and requests for two versus three peak nights. In addition, many planners have questions related to sustainability during the RFP process and desire related data that can be shared with attendees.

Booking trends Romer and his team have noticed are increased CVENT usage, stabilization of lead generation, expansion of the booking window for large programs, and contraction of the booking window for smaller programs. They are closely watching workforce and demographics, fostering collaboration in the valley, and looking at AI usage. Vail Valley’s top vertical markets are corporate (32%), association (26%), SMERF (24%), medical (10%) and incentive (8%), with Colorado making up nearly half of their top geographic markets, followed by the Northeast (15%), West Coast (14%), Southeast (12%) and Midwest (10%).

In Colorado Springs, about 221,000 total room nights were booked for group travel in 2024 resulting in an impressive $153 million economic impact locally, Reijgers shares, demonstrating the state of Colorado’s meetings and events industry.

What’s New

Last summer, Colorado Springs added Ford Amphitheater, which has a capacity of 8,000 and 90 luxury VIP suites with fire pits that can be booked. Also, Visit Colorado Springs is partnering with Wheel The World to provide accessibility information for hotels and activities and is the only city in Colorado that has received certification from the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program, Reijgers says.

Also, Hosmer Air Force Academy Visitor Center is set to open in late 2025 and will be the 11^th Colorado Welcome Center. Key upcoming events this year are U.S. Senior Open in June at The Broadmoor; Warrior Games in July at Colorado College and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center; a USA Pickleball’s Golden Ticket tournament in July; and Colorado Governor’s Tourism Conference at Hotel Polaris in October.

For the Vail Valley, Romer highlighted Camp Hale National Historic Site near Minturn and Amp Summer Concerts at Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater. Groups can tap into this summer-long music series brings in big acts and a wide range of genres including rock, pop, country, bluegrass, comedy, and more to The Amp stage and is presented by the Vail Valley Foundation and AEG Presents. In addition, Avanti Food & Beverage teamed up with Vail Mountain to open a Vail food hall in December at the Golden Peak base area in the former Larkspur Events & Dining space.

In Aurora, a multipurpose entertainment venue may be on the horizon to create an event and destination district and a local hub for locals, visitors and groups to enjoy. Ideally, Morritt says, this venue will “combine entertainment and events with sports and recreation.” Three new master plan developments—The Aurora Highlands, Painted Prairie and Windler—are adding housing, services, entertainment, parks, schools and more.

In Denver, projects that are helping drive the tourism industry and group business, specifically, are the $233 million expansion of CCC, $173 million renovation of 16^th Street Mall, and the proposed River Mile at Ball Arena. The addition of a National Women’s Soccer League team adds to the city’s impressive pro sports team mix, and ground has been broken for Fox Park, a 41-acre, mixed-use community that includes residential, the World Trade Center office complex, a 250-room Virgin Hotel and more.

Hotel Updates

The hotel industry room count in the Denver metropolitan area has grown to 51,000, with more than 13,000 hotels rooms located downtown and 3,200 rooms of those being within one block of Colorado Convention Center. Cambria Hotel Denver Downtown (153 rooms), Kimpton Claret Hotel (190 rooms) and Populus Hotel (265 rooms) are among the new hotels that opened in 2024.

In Colorado Springs, Hotel Polaris opened by the U.S. Air Force Academy in November and features 375 guest rooms and 26,000 square feet of meeting and event space. Three new Hilton properties—Tru, Home2Suites and Homewood Suites—have added 295 guest rooms in the community, and Cheyenne Mountain Resort is now a Destination by Hyatt property. Upcoming new properties of interest to groups are the 176-room Marriott Tribute set to open in summer or fall 2026 and the 180-room Catbird Hotel by Sage Hospitality slated to launch in fall 2027.

In Vail Valley, the dual-branded Springhill Suites & TownPlace Suites opened last June in Avon and features a total of 243 guest suites. Several properties like Sitzmark Vail, Hythe Vail, Grand Hyatt Vail and The Charter at Beaver Creek have undergone major renovations.

Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Aurora has wrapped up phase two of major property enhancements, which included the addition of the Mountain View Pavilion venue, two dining terraces and two event lawns and the introduction of new dining concepts. In 2025, Home2 Suites, TownPlace Suites, Hampton Inn and Fairfield Inn & Suites properties are set to open.

From this discussion and what I’m seeing in the news received as editor of a magazine that covers the state, Colorado’s meetings and events industry remains truly vibrant and has many exciting happenings on the horizon.

Top Photo: Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center, courtesy Visit Aurora

Colorado native Beth Buehler has been editor of Colorado Meetings + Events magazine for 20 years, helped launch Mountain Meetings magazine, and was on the team that introduced Southwest Meetings + Events. She has planned numerous meetings and events and enjoys exploring Colorado.