What It's Like to Stay at the New Populus Hotel in Denver

15.11.2024 - 09:38 / matadornetwork.com

No hotel opening in the western United States has been more anticipated in 2024 than Populus, the new 265-room, 13-story high-end property off Denver’s Colfax Avenue. Populus promises to be the world’s first “carbon positive” hotel — an eco-first mantra aimed at the growing specter of climate-conscious travelers and the growing demand for all types of professional travel, from conferences to concerts, to be done with less environmental impact. I spent two nights at Populus the week the hotel opened, staying in a corner suite on the sixth floor and experiencing each of the hotel’s food and beverage concepts. I’m a travel editor who oversees hospitality content and who regularly reports on sustainable travel. I’d been anticipating this stay for months and sitting in the second-floor lounge writing this story before checking out, I can honestly say I’ve never stayed in a concept more ambitiously auspicious — nor one that better delivers on its promise.

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A facade that commands attention. The “aspen-eye” windows both amplify and filter natural light, and help to optimize the building’s temperature. Image courtesy Jason O’Rear

Central to the appeal of Populus is its claim to be the first “carbon positive” hotel. For this to be true, the hotel must sequester more carbon than it emits. The promise is built around the utilization of renewable energy, the elimination of food waste (a powerful emitter of greenhouse gasses), and a massive tree planting initiative to offset and exceed what carbon the property does emit. Being in an urban location, architecture firm Studio Gang and the property’s owner, Urban Villages, the company behind the evolving Rail Spur district in Seattle, leaned heavily into new urbanism by embracing efficient use of space and multi-purpose areas.

“It’s not a huge footprint for 265 rooms,” Director of Sales Jared Johnson told me over coffee at Little Owl coffee bar in the lobby. “Usually if you have this number of keycards, you’re looking at a tower, and that’s much more emissions.”

The name “Populus” comes from the scientific name of Colorado’s native Aspen trees, populus tremuloides. The hotel’s design builds on this, with a library in the lounge and event space stacked with books about regional biology and wildlife, The windows are designed to resemble the “aspen eye” peepholes common in tree trunks on the whitish bark of aspen trees, but also serve a function – the “eyelids” above and below them filter heat and light to optimize the building’s heating and cooling efforts while simultaneously providing a unique viewing experience to guests. They also make for some incredible views of the surrounding city scape.

Looking through an “aspen eye” to the Denver City and County Building,