The first marijuana-friendly hotel is opening in Denver later this week, providing an outlet for marijuana users who have previously complained about other establishments frowning on the drug.
Nativ Hotel, located in downtown Denver, Colo., is owned by Richmond Meyer, an investor actively involved in the marijuana industry, the Cannabist reports. Meyer is a partner of Keef Cola, a company which produces medical marijuana beverages. Other hotels have tried to take advantage of the booming marijuana industry by quietly allowing users to book certain rooms designated as marijuana-friendly, but Nativ is shaking up the standard by explicitly promoting rooms for the experience.
“We embrace the culture, we embrace the industry, we embrace the plant and everything that’s coming with it,” Meyer told the Cannabist.
The hotel, however, comes with several caveats. First, only half of the rooms will permit users to smoke marijuana. Second, marijuana consumption must take place on the balcony. No smoking inside is the rule. Third, because the hotel also serves as a restaurant and club, complete with alcohol sales, marijuana consumption is confined to hotel rooms. But a café within the hotel, called CanBria, plans to serve cannabidiol-infused coffee, a compound of marijuana commonly used to treat medical conditions like epilepsy.
Part of the inspiration for the hotel came from Meyer’s own experience of being kicked out of other establishments in Denver for consuming marijuana.
“Other hotels will fine you crazy amounts and kick you out,” Meyer said. “I’ve been kicked out of a hotel in Denver for smoking cannabis — it was a mid-tier, smaller hotel, and it was a few years back, but that’s the kind of stuff that won’t happen in our hotel.”
Marijuana branching out to the hotel industry is another sign of the exploding market following legalization of the drug in Colorado. Lease rates are high and vacancies low. According to Xceligent Inc., a company which tracks commercial real estate, marijuana-related businesses now occupy 4.5 million square feet in Denver. Even the current addition of 1 million more square feet for industrial space will likely not keep up with demand.
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