Chamonix Casino Hotel in Cripple Creek faced a bumpy debut during New Year’s Eve weekend.

A burst pipe and delays in getting state approval for sections of the hotel’s fire alarm/sprinkler system quashed approximately 80 hotel reservations during the New Year’s Eve weekend.

The 300-room hotel planned to open all of its rooms during its inaugural week with around 200 reservations booked heading into the holiday, leaving some guests disgruntled when they discovered their booking was canceled.

New Las Vegas-style resort opening in Cripple Creek

“We were heartbroken,” said Jane Crudup, an Aurora resident who drove home after she was told upon check-in that her two-night suite stay was canceled. “It was just saddening.”

Crudup had booked a complimentary stay at Chamonix with points she accumulated next door at Bronco Billy’s Casino, owned by parent company Full House Resorts.

Chamonix and Bronco Billy’s General Manager Baxter Lee said an “army of of employees” had tried to contact guests before they arrived at the hotel. But Crudup claimed she was not notified before her 4 p.m. check-in time and said she had tried to check in early at 1 p.m. on Dec. 30.

Company CEO Dan Lee (no relation to manager Baxter Lee) said it was a mistake to take reservations without being able to open the rooms, but that the whole staff had been trying their best.

The Chamonix, Teller County’s largest and most luxurious hotel, opens in Cripple Creek

Dan Lee said that two of the hotel’s three towers had not gained approval on their fire alarms and sprinkler systems, which he had expected to obtain during state’s fire inspection, and that those rooms would be closed until they met state compliance.

He added that such steps occur last in the building process because of the disruption that drywall dust and other construction causes.

In the week leading up to the casino and hotel’s opening, Lee said a winter storm froze and cracked pipes that later drenched the parking garage’s elevators with water from the sprinkler system.

Colorado’s Division of Fire Prevention and Control and the fire inspector did not respond immediately to inquiries about the building’s safety inspections and the approval process.

Other setbacks, including a lack of finished carpentry workers, stretched out the $300 million project’s completion and is what Lee cited as the reason for opening the hotel and casino in phases.

The hotel’s restaurant is set to open Feb. 1 and the spa in April.

Who opened? Who closed? Dozens of Colorado Springs retailers and restaurants came and went in 2023