The Broadmoor Earns Its 53rd Consecutive Five-Star Award

This year’s class of Forbes Travel Guide Star Award winners has its share of standouts, but only Colorado Springs’ The Broadmoor can claim the mantle of the longest-running Five-Star hotel in our history, earning its 53rd Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star award this year. And it’s not only the hotel that continuously reaches the pinnacle of service; the resort’s fine-dining restaurant, Penrose Room, and Spa at The Broadmoor are also Five-Star winners in their own right. Our Startle.com team asked Stephen Bartolin, longtime president and CEO of The Broadmoor, just how they do it.

What are The Broadmoor’s secrets to maintaining Five-Stars for more than 50 years?

I don’t think there is a secret, nor is there a singular answer. It is a combination of commitment, diligence and hard work from every single person in our organization. We understand that the expectation level from our guests on a daily basis is that “the best is just good enough.” Our commitment to training is as good as it gets in our industry, in my opinion, with a five-person training team, a dedicated training facility and more than 80 course curriculums. We benefit greatly from the continuity of ownership, management and staff. The Broadmoor opened its doors in 1918, and we have had only three owners, and I am only the fifth president in 95 years.

What are a few examples of The Broadmoor’s legendary service?

We can give plenty of examples, like last week when a guest checked out and retrieved their valet-parked car and realized they were low on gas; our doorman not only gave them directions to the nearest gas station, but followed them in a hotel vehicle to make certain the guest arrived there before running out of gas. However, maintaining Five-Stars is much more than those kinds of stories. It is operating at the very highest level on a daily basis throughout your entire operation with no weak links. It is more about consistency and follow-through on the systems side, and caring and passion for what we do on the staff side.

What makes a meal at Penrose Room a Five-Star experience?

A Five-Star restaurant experience is a symbiotic relationship of culinary artistry, exceptional service and a fabulous environment. Once again, these three things have to come together, not just most of the time but all of the time—great chefs, creative menus, quality ingredients, exceptional service team and fabulous design.

How will The Broadmoor’s new additions for 2013 add to the resort experience?

We will have completed $90 million in physical improvements and enhancements to the property between this year and next. This is in addition to the $400 million that has already been committed over the past two decades. We are doing a complete redesign of our west guest room building, which contains 152 guest rooms. This will include public spaces, a new Adam Tihany-designed Italian restaurant and a new bar. This spring, we are opening The Broadmoor’s newest restaurant, Play at The Broadmoor, which will include a game room and six bowling lanes, but done in Broadmoor style and quality—imagine bowling with cherry millwork and chandeliers.

Two other additions that are quite unique, The Ranch at Emerald Valley and Cloud Camp, are part of our development of what we are calling The Broadmoor Wilderness Experience. The Ranch at Emerald Valley was owned by The Broadmoor’s founder in the 1920s and ’30s, and we are restoring these original cabins and lodge impeccably. These accommodations will retain their charm and rustic atmosphere but will be appointed, and with services provided, in Broadmoor fashion. The Ranch at Emerald Valley sits in the heart of the Pike National Forest but is only eight miles from The Broadmoor. Guests will have a myriad of activities—overnight camping trips and cookouts, hiking, fishing, horseback riding. What makes this guest ranch unique is that it will not only be owned and operated by The Broadmoor, but the guests at the Ranch will also have full access to all of the amenities, recreation and dining available at The Broadmoor. This facility will open Aug. 31 and run seasonally May through October each year.

Opening May 1, 2014 is a second complement to The Broadmoor Wilderness Experience called Cloud Camp. This will sit at the very summit of Cheyenne Mountain and look over The Broadmoor and the plains to the east, Pikes Peak to the north and the Colorado Rockies to the west. It will be accessible by hiking, mule ride or, for the less adventurous, Jeep. This will be modeled after the great timber and stone lodges you will find in some of our great national parks that were built in the 1920s and ’30s. Our goal is not to just be America’s premier resort but to offer some of the most unique and imaginative offerings to our guests that you cannot find anywhere else.

Reported by:  Forbes.com