Set to debut by the end of 2024, the 375-room Hotel Polaris at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., is being built almost in the shadow of 14,100-foot Pikes Peak in the front range of the Rocky Mountains.
Given this scenic location, the hotel will feature 26,000 square feet of indoor meeting space on one level with floor-to-ceiling windows across much of the 11,000 square feet of prefunction space (see image) and elsewhere. The largest event room will be a 12,000-square-foot ballroom that can accommodate 1,200 people, while there will also be a 6,000-square-foot junior ballroom, seven breakout spaces, and two boardrooms.
Hotel Polaris will offer an all-day full-service restaurant, a rec-room style family restaurant, a grab-and-go café, a rooftop bar on the ninth floor (image at bottom), and a lobby bar. Other amenities will include an outdoor pool and sun deck with mountain views as well as a fitness center and full-service spa.
The hotel will also host teambuilding experiences that are unique to the destination. First, a pair of flight simulators will provide guests with an immersive, tactile, real-life pilot experience. The simulators will reproduce the flight-deck experience with seats, throttles, switches, pedals, and yokes from real aircraft. The experience will be focused on a 220-degree wrap-around screen with fast-moving HD imagery. Groups will be able to have skills competitions between attendees on a set of simulator challenges.
Meeting attendees also will be able to get up close with falcons, which are the mascot of the U.S. Air Force Academy and known as “nature’s fighter pilots.” The hotel’s falconry program will offer flight demonstrations and opportunities for the birds to land on guests’ glove-protected hands. In addition to falcons, attendees will be able to interact with other birds of prey such as hawks and eagles.
Another group program leverages the dark night-time skies around Colorado Springs. The hotel’s celestial navigation program teaches participants about constellations and basic techniques for navigating using the stars, such as determining latitude.
As a partner of the Air Force Academy, Hotel Polaris will collaborate on a presentation series inspired by the Academy’s Center for Character and Leadership Development. Meeting groups will have access to a curated curriculum from the center.
Hotel Polaris is located 30 minutes from Colorado Springs Airport and 80 minutes from Denver International Airport.
