May 2019 Business Of The Month: Ridgway Lodge & Suites
In an ongoing effort to promote and get to know our local businesses, the Ridgway Area Chamber of Commerce is proud to introduce our May 2019 RACC Business of the Month:
Ridgway Lodge & Suites
Please tell us about the business’s owners and managers.
The owners are a group of local investors including Pat and Marty O’Leary, Dean Kraft, Albert Roer and Robert Balkind. The managing partner is Adam Dubroff, a 20-year Ridgway resident, originally from Newburgh, N.Y., who has an extensive background in hotel development, acquisitions, management and operations. The general manager is Matt Old from Santa Fe, N.M.
What inspired you to start this business?
Adam moved from Telluride to Ridgway with wife Karen in 2000. Since then, they have operated several businesses in the area. Having hospitality industry experience in many places across the United States, when Adam learned that the Ridgway-Ouray Lodge & Suites was up for sale, it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. So, he put together a plan to purchase the lodge and successfully closed on it in July 2018.
Please tell us about your business and what your business goals are.
Our mission statement is: We are committed to being the best and most successful small hotel in the western Rocky Mountain region. Through updating the hotel as well as hiring and training the right personnel, we will accomplish a new height of hospitality in Ridgway. We are adding a bar and food service, so we may become not just lodging for nonresidents, but also a gathering place for the local community of Ridgway, Ouray and Montrose.
Interesting facts about you and your business?
The hotel was originally built in 1991. We have the largest paved parking lot in Ridgway. We have an indoor heated pool, dry sauna and jacuzzi. We are adding the Star Saloon with bar and food service. We have brand new fiber optic internet – new Direct TV service with the sports package. We will have live music and entertainment in the summer months in our newly designed and renovated public areas. We will have an 8-foot by 12-foot screen, 4K projection TV for sporting events, and local entertainment!
What brought Adam to Ridgway?
After traveling extensively throughout the world, he found the San Juan Mountains to be the most captivating and it inspired him to move here. He also thought it would be a great place to raise kids, and he loves the peacefulness.
What is your biggest challenges and rewards?
Our biggest challenge is repositioning the hotel in the local marketplace and winter business, which has been a traditionally slow period for the town of Ridgway and area businesses. Our biggest reward is seeing the payoff with increased community awareness and increased off-season business, not just for the hotel but area-wide.
We are excited to celebrate our first full year of ownership this July 4th! We are working diligently to become a place where tourists, business men and women, seasonal workers, and especially the local community will come to gather.
RACC is proud to showcase this business. Ridgway Lodge & Suites may be reached at 970-626-5444 and by sending a message via https://www.ridgwaylodgeandsuites.com/contact-us.html. Also go online to: https://ridgwaycolorado.com/businesses/accommodations/8-ridgway-lodge-suites