Colorado Already Has Five Michelin Stars. Now Denver Has Three Key Hotels

The revelation last June that Michelin was already busy eating around the state in order to produce its first Colorado guide sparked excitement...and plenty of speculation before the results were released in September. But the tire company that started putting out guides in 1900 wasn't done making moves.

Today, April 24, Michelin announced its first-ever Michelin Key awards for hotels in the United States, and Colorado made the cut.

Michelin's announcement of the best hotels in the country comes four years into "a comprehensive refresh of our hotel selection," according to the company. "These are places that significantly add to your experience as a traveler, each vetted and judged excellent in five categories: architecture and interior design, quality and consistency of service, overall personality and character, value for the price, and a significant contribution to the guest experience in a particular setting."

The Key hotels comprise the most outstanding hotels in the company's roster of 5,000 recommended spots. There are eleven three-Key hotels in the United States, 33 two-Key hotels and eighty one-Key hotels. Eight are in Colorado, with three in Denver:

Colorado's Eight Michelin Key Hotels

Clayton Hotel & Members Club, Denver
Four Seasons Denver, Denver
The Crawford Hotel, Denver
Hotel Jerome, Auberge Resorts Collection, Aspen
The Little Nell, Aspen
Mollie Aspen, Aspen
Four Seasons Vail, Vail
Sonnenalp Hotel, Vail
While the Four Seasons is fairly venerable by Denver standards, the 63-room Clayton, a boutique hotel, opened in May 2021 in Cherry Creek.  "We are honored to be included on such a prestigious list. It's a great way to celebrate our third birthday, which is just over a week away," says Thomas Lloyd, Clayton general manager.

The Key is something of a birthday present for the Crawford, too; it opened just under a decade ago in the renovated Denver Union Station. Named for legendary developer Dana Crawford, one of the partners in the Union Station project, it's been getting a facelift in advance of the tenth anniversary of the renovation, complete with a new lobby separate from the Great Hall of the Terminal.

“We are very honored to receive this recognition from the Michelin Guide," says Ed Blair, area general manager of the Crawford and Union Station. "The first round of refreshed Crawford guest rooms are currently available to book — it has been fantastic to share the transformation; we have been hearing overwhelmingly positive feedback from the local community and travelers. There is more to look forward to as our Crawford guest experience is elevated in the coming months, and we are excited to celebrate the entire Denver Union Station refresh with our community this July.”

While Colorado tourism and business groups helped finance the effort to bring the Michelin restaurant guide to Colorado, the Key program took a different tack on its first outing in this country. "The cities/states selected for the Keys are based on destinations in the U.S. where the Guide is already established," says Michelin spokeswoman Carly Grieff. "Those include Atlanta, Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Colorado, California, Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C."

Visit Denver was part of the effort to get Michelin to consider Colorado's restaurant scene. Although it had no role in getting Michelin to look at the state's hotels, the Key awards were a nice, unexpected benefit of that earlier work. "I think it's a nice complement to the dining program," says Justin Bresler, chief marketing officer of Visit Denver. "I'm thrilled to see it start, and will be thrilled to see it grow."

The Colorado Tourism Office also partnered on the Michelin culinary program, but agrees that Michelin was entirely on its own with the Key project (although both Visit Denver and the CTO got an alert about what they say turned out to be a very pleasant surprise). "We are excited about the recognition of Colorado's hospitality industry through the Michelin Keys program and believe it will further enhance Colorado's reputation as a premier travel destination," says CTO spokesperson Hayes Norris.

The Key winners were chosen by the Michelin Guide inspection team, according to the company; the expansion into rating hotels in this country is part of a move into a space previously occupied primarily by AAA and TripAdvisor, in order to create a more comprehensive service for travelers at michelinguide.com.

This story has been updated to include quotes from Visit Denver and the Colorado Tourism Office.