Lobby and Augusta restaurant renovations will be completed by year's end while the 430 guest room updates are projected to be finished by the end of first quarter 2001. The remodeling of the Augusta, once considered one of Denver's best eateries, calls for the addition of 700 sf, taking it to 2,500 sf and making it large enough to seat 225 customers. A second-floor lobby will be redesigned, with wood floors and two-story windows to show more of Denver's skyline. Room updates will include new carpeting, wall coverings, window treatments and vanity enhancements designed to appeal to female travelers, says Westin spokeswoman Susan Stiff.

"You need to do something like this just for normal wear and tear, but it also helps reposition ourselves in the market," says Bruce Lange, the hotel's managing director. "In most markets of this size, you have a St. Regis or a Ritz Carlton, but in Denver, other than the (historic) Brown Palace, there's a quite a gap between us and the next level ... Our strategy is to push us to the next level. We want to be the No. 1 or No. 2 hotel in every market we're in."

Westin is on the right track with the renovation, says John Montgomery, president of Horwath Hospitality/Montgomery & Associates, a Denver hospitality consulting firm. "I think it is a great idea," he says. "There will be increased competition over the next few years, and this positions them for the next five to 10 years."