Sheraton Proposal (Starwood Hotel) Enters City Planning

Steamboat Springs — Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide has entered the city planning process with its plans to remodel the Sheraton Steamboat Resort Hotel. When the transformation is complete, the hotel will include 47 multi-bedroom condominiums that will be added to more than 6,000 “vacation villas” marketed and managed by Starwood Vacation Ownership.
Members in Starwood Vac­ation Ownership purchase deeded ownership of a week in a “home resort,” which can be traded for vacations in other destinations.
Starwood purchased the hotel, along with the 18-hole Sheraton Steamboat Golf Course, in May from Ski Time Square Enterprises for a little less than $57 million. The company already had an equity interest in the property and a management contract to operate it.
Starwood’s plans for the Sheraton include remodels of several distinct wings of the hotel. However, the current development application at the city pertains to the original “east tower.”
Plans submitted to the city by architect Matt Wolf with Eric Smith and Associates include floor plans for converting 80 traditional hotel rooms on floors two through five into 24 vacation villas. The villas would be two- and three-bedroom units with kitchen and dining areas.
In addition, City Planner Sid Rivers said, the hotel owners are seeking to enclose the existing exterior balconies on the condominiums to gain more interior space.
Rivers said converting the hotel rooms into condominiums for individual sale requires a change in the plat that could be approved administratively. The plan to enclose the balconies, which would add 2,040 square feet of interior space to the building, would require a development permit and go through the public hearing process.
Also joining the pool of vacation villas under the Starwood Vacation Ownership flag will be the existing 23 multi-bedroom units in the Sheraton Steamboat’s Morningside Tower.
The 193 hotel rooms in the Sheraton’s West Tower also will be remodeled.
Starwood spokesman David Matheson said the renovations would begin after ski season and would make a significant difference in the appearance of the Sheraton.
“The hotel is basically going to be brand new,” Matheson said.
Sheraton Steamboat General Manager Chuck Porter said the remodel and loss of hotel rooms would not diminish the hotel’s ability to function as a convention host.