Bud and Breakfast: Meet Colorado's Pot-Friendly Hotel Group
With so-called "pot tourists" flocking to Colorado to take advantage of the state's recent legalization of recreational marijuana, it was only a matter of time until hotels started stepping up to the plate. Welcome to Bud + Breakfast, Colorado's first hotel group dedicated specifically to weed tourism.
Bud + Breakfast consists of two properties: The Adagio, a Victorian home with six suites, and Silverthorne, a mountain lodge with four suites. Bud + Breakfast describes itself as "the pioneering brand in the canna-lifestyle hospitality sector." As the Vail Daily says, "There’s a new kind of après in town."
The Adagio and Silverthorne both offer "Wake & Bake breakfast sessions" to their guests. "Eggs are cracked and bowls are packed," the websites say. Both locations also host a "4:20 Happy Hour" every day at which guests can enjoy snacks, beer and wine, and, of course, marijuana. Massages using cannabis-infused oil are also available at the guest houses. The Adagio, where rooms are between $179 to $399 per night, opened in April 2014. The Silverthorne, where rooms are between $149 and $199 per night, opened six months later in October.
Despite the somewhat gimmicky "wake and bake" and "4/20" offerings that might remind some of their younger years, Bud + Breakfast guesthouses are meant for a more mature audience. Joel C. Schneider, CEO of The Maryjane Group, Inc., which owns Bud + Breakfast, told The Huffington Post that while "guests range in age from 21-80," he thinks the dominant age group is early 50s to early 60s.
Schneider also emphasized the community aspect of the hotels. "We create a social experience for our guests. We insist that they smoke in the common areas, such as the living rooms, dining room and the outdoor patio," he said. "We want our guests to feel at home and experience cannabis together. This also allows us to monitor our guests to ensure safety and security."
Hotels in Colorado create their own smoking policies. Some have banned the practice altogether, while others reserve a quarter of their rooms for cannabis-friendly zones. There's a grey area when it comes to hotel balconies. With the number of pot touristsflooding the state, it seems likely that more pot-friendly hotels are sure to follow.
Though Bud + Breakfast's guesthouses opened just last year, the company is already expanding. Its plans for the future involve taking summer camp for grownups to a whole new level by opening a Cannacamp in Colorado this summer. The camp will offer all-inclusive packages that promise to "combine the enjoyment of recreational cannabis with a traditional ranch/camp environment."