C Lazy U Breaking Out of Guest Ranch Mold

Ownership and management changes herald new direction of old guest ranch

The C Lazy U Ranch entered Colorado's dude and guest ranching picture back in 1946. Its history reveals a series of owners, some who stayed aboard for decades and some who flipped the now-2,000-acre ranch near Granby after just a few months. Clark and Peg Murray of Kansas City discovered the ranch on a Colorado vacation in 1958 and purchased it 30 years later -- talk about patience. More recently, they have been joined in a multi-family ownership group that includes Don Bailey and Leslie Stanford of Denver, Linda and Bill Jacobs of Chicago and Tucson, and Adrienne and Dean Singleton of Denver (think "newspaper publisher"). Singleton became involved with the transformation of the neighboring former Hudler Ranch as as vacation home development called CLU Preserves.

This is a long lead-up to the news that DeNapoli Capital Partners, a hospitality acquisition, development and management company, is now operating the C Lazy U. As the Wall Street Journal reported two years ago, the dude ranch's role in the hospitality industry has been changing, with fewer guest ranches in absolute numbers, fewer that remain not only family-owned but also family-run, fewer that have resisted the temptation of subdivision into ranchettes and more that have been transformed from classic equestrian-focused ranches to a broader resort format. DiNapoli, based in southern California, has been involved in such high-profile luxury hotel and resort brands as Four Seasons and Hyatt, and in Denver, it owns and manages the classy, theatrically themed Hotel Teatro.

At its peak, the C Lazy U achieved Mobil's Five Star ranking for 25 years in a row as well as Four Diamonds from AAA -- unusual in the relatively rustic world of guest ranches. The Four Diamond Teatro, which opened in 1999, has recently renovated its guest rooms with obligatory flat-screen televisions, iPod docking stations, sybaritic new bedding and a passel of other upmarket facilities and services. Some of that polish is being applied to the C Lazy U, which is getting the Hotel Teatro-style treatment. The Kevin Taylor Restaurant Group, which operates the fine-dining Restaurant Kevin Taylor and more casual Prima Ristorante in the Teatro, is consulting on modernization of the C Lazy U's menus. And the ranch, which is probably going to provide shorter alternatives to the standard mandatory one-week stay, is also getting such Teatro-style room enhancements as those iHome docking stations, Beverly Hills Black Edition beds and beautiful linens.

It makes me think, ironically, of the '60s TV comedy called "The Beverly Hillbillies," in which the backwoods Clampetts began shaking up the southern California social scene. Things have come full circle with southern California hotel standards that are going to shake up expectations of dude ranch guests at the venerable C Lazy U.

C Lazy U Ranch, P.O. Box 379, Granby, CO 80446; 970-887-3344. Hotel Teatro, 1100 14th Street, Denver 80202; 888-727-1200 (reservations) and 303-228-1100.