Few places in America are more fascinating than the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. There, the enormous flat expanse of the Great Plains runs headlong into a 150-mile wall of 14,000-foot peaks. And where these two massive geological features meet, you’ll find the cities of Denver and Colorado Springs.
Denver, the “Mile High City,” is an ever-growing metropolis that offers business-event groups cosmopolitan dining and entertainment options in addition to the 2.2-million-square-foot Colorado Convention Center and various business hotels downtown.
And 75 miles to the south, Colorado Springs offers sprawling conference resorts set amidst the mostly untamed natural environment of the mountains.
Denver
In the two-plus years since the expansion of the Colorado Convention Center was completed, Visit Denver has booked 30 future meetings that could not have happened without the expansion. These meetings represent an additional 187,200 attendees coming to the Mile High City in the next few years.
The $233 million facility expansion added an 80,000-square-foot, divisible rooftop ballroom plus a 35,000-square-foot outdoor terrace. This project allows for larger simultaneous events in the center and features the latest technology and sustainability practices as well as panoramic mountain views.
On the hotel front, the Hyatt Regency Denver marks its 20th anniversary in March with the unveiling of a full renovation of all 1,100 guest rooms and suites. The updated rooms are designed to be more comfortable and functional, with spacious workspaces, additional power and charging outlets, additional storage and fully updated bathrooms featuring walk-in showers. For business-event planners, the renovation means a consistent, modern experience for every attendee at a property just steps from the Colorado Convention Center.
For offsite group options, Union Station is a vibrant, historic hub in Lower Downtown (LoDo) featuring trendy restaurants, cocktail bars, unique local shops, and a fully restored 1881 Beaux-Arts building. The Great Hall is available for receptions, and also offers upscale cocktail experiences at Terminal Bar and The Cooper Lounge, fine dining at Mercantile and sweet treats at Baumé – A Dessert Bar and Milkbox Ice Creamery.
Also in LoDo, the Denver Milk Market is an all-local mix of take-away and dine-in restaurants and bars. A 16-venue cornerstone of the city’s historic Dairy Block, the market unveiled an extensive refresh in August 2025, including new food concepts (Konjo Ethiopian Food, Lucky Bird Fried Chicken, East3 and YumCha Noodles & Dumplings) plus a huge mural created by local artists.
Less than one mile from the convention center and Hyatt Regency Denver are two excellent reception venues: Denver Art Museum (DAM) and History Colorado Center. With an encyclopedic collection of more than 70,000 works from across centuries, DAM is the largest art museum between Chicago and the West Coast. It’s especially known for its collection of Native American art as well as The Petrie Institute of Western American Art. DAM offers 11 indoor spaces and five outdoor spaces for receptions or dinners.
One block away from DAM, History Colorado Center showcases the state’s unique heritage across more than 5,000 years through interactive exhibits and immersive experiences. The ways of ancient cultures and modern communities alike across the state’s five distinct climate zones, from the vast plains to the high peaks, are on display here.
One of the newest reception venues in town is the F1 Arcade Denver. Located in the River North (RiNo) Arts District, the cutting-edge simulator racing experience is paired with a variety of food and beverage options for groups. The attraction covers more than 15,000 square feet and features an outdoor terrace and an island bar.
A Mile-High Meetings Market View
Lee Ann Benavidez, senior vice president and chief sales & services officer for Visit Denver, noted that “present market conditions have increased the need for flexibility, agility and closer collaboration across the meetings and hospitality ecosystem. Economic uncertainty is directly impacting client budgets, while geopolitical factors and evolving customer expectations are influencing booking patterns, shortening lead times and increasing sensitivity to value and return on investment.
“As a result, doing business today requires more customized solutions, stronger alignment between the DMO, venues and hotels and a heightened focus on service, transparency and partnership.”
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In that vein, Visit Denver announced in late January the promotion of Tiffany Eck to director of destination services and events, following the retirement of Vikki Kelly, who was a driving force of that team for four decades. Eck and her team act as the primary liaison between meeting planners and the city’s venues, vendors and resources, providing expert guidance, local insights and logistics support through the planning, hosting and post-event process.
With more than 20 years of experience at Visit Denver under Vikki Kelly’s leadership, Eck has been instrumental in executing high-profile events, including the 2008 Democratic National Convention, 2012 Women’s Final Four, 2021 MLB All-Star game and others.
Eck is a champion of event sustainability. She founded Visit Denver’s internal “Green Team” and collaborated with the convention center and partners to create a Green Meetings Directory, which connects planners with certified sustainable vendors. As a result, Visit Denver became the first DMO to achieve Platinum Level certification from the Events Industry Council’s Sustainable Event Standards.
Colorado Springs
Home of the U.S. Air Force Academy as well as the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center, Colorado Springs offers a plethora of unique experiences for meeting groups.
The premier meeting and hospitality venue in the area is The Broadmoor, the longest-running five-star, five diamond facility in North America. The property has 774 guest units and more than 300,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space, including Bartolin Hall, a 94,000-square-foot exhibition center with 32 breakout rooms that debuted in late 2023.
“We built that space mostly for December through March business events,” said Scott Flexman, vice president of sales and marketing for the Broadmoor. “More tradeshow business, more corporate- and pharma-meeting business—the demand was for that type of venue, and it’s been amazing what that space has done for us.”
The other event facilities on property are the 60,000-square-foot Broadmoor Hall, which connects to Bartolin Hall; the 14,850-square-foot Colorado Hall; and the 14,560-square-foot International Center. Flexman noted that the latter two venues were renovated within the past year.
Then there is the Cheyenne Lodge that’s a short drive from the main resort building. A 6,300-square-foot space with 24-foot ceilings, glass walls and a huge outdoor deck with fireplace, “Cheyenne Lodge is the most-requested space we have for meal events because you feel like you’re off property but still get our top-notch culinary experience,” Flexman said.
And by early 2027, a 12-hole, par-3 golf course for casual group play will be open right alongside Cheyenne Lodge. A full round takes just 75 minutes, but groups can opt to play fewer holes during a reception.
One reason why many business events are interested in coming to The Broadmoor during the winter is that Colorado Springs has surprisingly mild weather then. “We’re nothing like Vail and Aspen in terms of snow,” Flexman said. “In fact, we get less snow than most Midwestern and Northeastern cities--an average of just four inches each in January and in February, and the temperatures are often in the 50s. And we have about 300 days of sunshine a year.”
[Related: New Properties and Services Statewide Give Colorado a Meetings Lift]
For offsite activities, “We see a lot of groups using the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum for receptions,” Flexman said.
Set in downtown Colorado Springs, the 60,000-square-foot venue presents the history of Team USA at the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the stories of America’s greatest athletes through immersive exhibits and universally accessible design across 12 galleries. “It's very well done; there are some really fun high-tech experiences.” These include a station where visitors can witness up close just how fast an Olympic sprinter is, and they even run alongside that athlete for 20 meters in a virtual stadium atmosphere.
Also, “because we have so many Olympic athletes and coaches living here, planners can get some amazing speakers for their meetings,” Flexman said.
Another Colorado Springs institution is the U.S. Air Force Academy, and its 31,000-square-foot visitors center is available for group tours and receptions. And when it comes to topics such as critical thinking, crisis management and leadership, the speaker possibilities here are incomparable.
A visit to Colorado Springs would not be complete without a tour of Garden of the Gods, a natural wonder featuring enormous shelves of rock pushed vertically due to plate tectonics. “Groups can do a guided tour in just two hours,” Flexman noted.
To get the full Rockies experience, though, groups could take the Pikes Peak Cog Railway to the top of the 14,000-foot mountain, where a recently built museum and café awaits. “It’s where ‘America the Beautiful’ was written; that’s how spectacular the view is from up there,” Flexman said. Further, “the wildlife you’ll see on the ride up and back is unbelievable: big horn sheep, elk, moose and even bears.”
In addition to The Broadmoor, another meetings-friendly hospitality offering in Colorado Springs is Cheyenne Mountain Resort. It has 316 guest rooms and 40,000 square feet of indoor event space, including a 6,400-square-foot ballroom, more than 30 breakout rooms, and expansive outdoor decks with stunning views. The resort sits on 217 acres of land, including a 35-acre lake with a beach and an 18-hole golf course that wraps around it.
Colorado Springs Airport is less than 20 minutes from both conference resorts and is served by America, Delta, Southwest and United to and from their regional hubs. Denver International Airport is a 75-minute drive north on Interstate 25.
