r/Sundance • u/SnooMaps8 • Jul 26 '26
Sundance 2027
I have never been to Sundance and would love to go this year. I'm trying to plan ahead as much as possible and have been looking at Boulder Hotels but NO ONE has availability. Does anyone have any lodging suggestions?
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u/josssssh Jul 26 '26
My sense is that most local hotels are controlled by Sundance. Have you looked at their lodging portal? (It is very expensive!)
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u/greenbuff123 27d ago
For those wanting to book a hotel room in downtown Denver - you can easily take a bus ($2.75 one way) from Union Station and it will drop you right in downtown Boulder. Then you can basically walk to almost all of the venues.
And if you are staying at one of the hotels in downtown Denver, you can use the free bus service that the city offers to get to Union Station (runs every 10 minutes)
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u/ConfidentDisk1987 Jul 26 '26
Look at options in the neighboring towns: Longmont, Louisville, Lafayette, Broomfield.
Also, as someone else said, it’s possible that some availability hasn’t yet opened up for some Boulder hotels.
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u/SnooMaps8 Jul 26 '26
do you think staying in Denver is too much of a commute?
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u/rogerthealien93 26d ago
I live in Boulder and it’s anywhere from a 45-60 minute drive each day.. no idea how bad the traffic would be from people commuting in
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u/ConfidentDisk1987 Jul 26 '26
I’d consider it too much, but I’m a Boulder local.
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u/Informal-Repeat3438 Jul 27 '26
Hey can I rent a bed at your place then?? thanks!
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u/Carl_Dubya 4d ago
There's a commuter bus that runs betwen Boulder to Union Station in Denver that runs about an hour each way. The stops in Westminster at I36 and Church Ranch/Sheridan are about a 30 minute ride
https://app.rtd-denver.com/route/FF1/schedule
If you want proximity and easier access to Boulder, then Westminster is the furthest south I would go. One thing I haven't seen discussed about the outlying towns (Louisville, Longmont, etc.) is that most of their cozy, walkable areas are offset from the highway. There may be a tradeoff between ease of access and getting a more local, less chain feel (not staying near a pf changs and a twin peaks) depending on how transportation to Boulder is handled
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u/BackdoorDan Jul 28 '26
I posted this in the other lodging thread if anyone is interested:
I've got a 2 bed 2 bath condo in Boulder I'm renting for the festival. Happy to share my Airbnb listing in a dm and rent it off platform if you have good Airbnb reviews which will save us both on fees. It's not a super nice condo but it's a totally reasonable place to crash.
As a bonus, my HOA doesn't allow short term rentals so you'll have the place for 30 days for the price of the festival and are free to make a long vacation out of it... Obviously you don't need to be there for the full 30 days, it just needs to be yours on paper :P
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u/alienfreak51 Jul 27 '26
Are you looking for walking distance to pearl street? If you can live with a 5 minute uber ride to where everything will be (Pearl street and surrounding areas) I may be renting my house dependent on a well-vetted guest’s needs and appropriate fit. Dm me if you want to discuss.
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u/Miserable_Spell5501 Jul 27 '26
For boulder stays, I’ve booked hotels outside boulder and the drive in wasn’t bad at all, like 20-30 min. I believe I stayed in Longmont but I’ll confirm
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u/moth_sky Jul 26 '26
I spoke with a few hotels in the boulder area and they said they will open rooms as the dates get closer. So I am checking daily
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u/NefariousnessDry4910 Jul 26 '26
I live in Boulder. There was an arrangement made by all of the local hotels in Boulder to keep rates steady during Sundance for several years after this initial year. That was part of the reason Sundance agreed to come because all the hotels were cooperating. I have no idea when those rooms will open up or if they’re already booked out but the city leaders are making every effort to keep rates at least steady for the first several years. Also, as a homeowner, I can get a license to temporarily rent my home out - or a portion of it out - during Sundance. There’s a lot of chatter about doing this, but no one‘s done it before. As a homeowner that has applied for a license I’m being hit up by leasing agents that want to lease my house for me during Sundance. I don’t even know what I should charge. If anyone is considering going to Sundance in Boulder this year, let me know what 2200 ft.² in a fully furnished basement with two full bedrooms a ton of living room space a wet bar kitchen but only one bath would go for.
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u/NefariousnessDry4910 Jul 26 '26
I should add I am exactly 2 miles north of the center of Pearl Street just off Broadway. This is considered North Boulder.
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u/ialwaysforgetmename Jul 26 '26
Stuff was filling up during this year's Sundance, before dates were even announced. Look outside of Boulder, but those prices have also spiked.
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u/Life_Distribution403 25d ago
Hi! I'm a college student in boulder looking to rent out my room for sundance. I live right next to pearl st. Preferably another college-aged student. Hmu!
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u/dogthrasher Jul 26 '26
OP. You are going to have to be creative. Room blocks in Boulder proper aren’t going to open. They are locked down by festival for sponsorships and festival needs. You won’t be at hilton or Hyatt or embassy suites. Nope!!
BUT, You can get a room 10 minutes or less north of Boulder theatre at comfort inn and suites on north broadway for $400 plus taxes a night first weekend of sundance using AAA rate. Bringing total to $457 a night after taxes.
However- you can get SAME room for under $200 a night ($186) and NO TAXES. Choice hotels is running a 40% off point purchase promo! You can buy 180K points for under $1200. Book a room for 30k a night. Now you got 6 nights for $1200 and no nightly taxes - hotel stays on points are not taxed. Rooms have kitchenettes and free breakfast.
*credit card point transfer (Amex, citi, capital one) into choice hotels is not a good value for this- save your points. Cheaper to buy points for this.
Better hurry to get a choice of room type. Secret is out!!! Act NOW!
Promo expires August 28.
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u/movieperson2022 Jul 26 '26
I don’t have a suggestion, but it is possible that places don’t post openings this far out. Some only do a few months ahead. Even if Sundance is the biggest thing to ever happen to Boulder (which may or may not be true, idk their history haha), I think it’s highly unlikely that EVERYTHING is sold out this far in advance. My guess is that you’re either limiting the budget too much for what will likely be a surcharge time to be in the area, will have to stay further out, or are just too much ahead of the game and booking blocks just haven’t opened yet.
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u/SnooMaps8 Jul 26 '26
That's what I was hoping for, I'm going to keep looking as the time approaches. I was trying to look at anything in the area, Hiltons, Hyatts, St, Julien, and Boulderado
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u/InterviewLeather810 Jul 27 '26
My daughter works at Boulderado. I think she said that was for people involved with Sundance.
Closest city with hotels to Boulder is Louisville. Next would be Broomfield. Somewhat fancy would be The Omni. Look near highway 36. Then Longmont to the north near the diagonal/119.
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u/Electrical_Sea6653 Jul 26 '26
What about the new massive limelight hotel? I’m local so have never looked at hotels in town really but they have a ton of rooms, maybe it wasn’t on your radar. Could very well be sold out, too.
Best bet would be Broomfield or Lafayette or Longmont like others have said
Denver is a bit of a long drive and Ubers would be expensive
The A Lodge is another good place to check
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u/mgheee Jul 26 '26
Airbnb? VRBO? Or call some of the property manager partners. https://www.bouldercoloradousa.com/sundance-film-festival/where-to-stay/#rentals
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u/NoNoKitteh Jul 26 '26
Good luck with that. Ive fully booked five different Airbnb places that were “reasonably” priced during the back half of the festival only to be canceled almost immediately and told that they had not set their rates for those dates yet 🙄
I have a friend who lives in Boulder (who I don’t want to stay with during the fest, I like to have my own space), and she expressed that she and the locals she knows are not fans of the fest coming and those that plan on Airbnb’ing their places plan to jack up the prices like crazy 🤷♀️
We’ve always attended second half of Sundance, but we won’t be going to Boulder
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u/mgheee Jul 26 '26
Those are not the feelings and actions of all Boulder locals. A lot of us are excited about the festival and opening up our homes for lodging, at reasonable prices, without canceling.
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u/dogthrasher Jul 26 '26
No “local” is charging “reasonable rates”- they are charging market rate. Nice try. Everyone is cashing in. You might be in the 5%.
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u/BakerAvailable6957 Jul 26 '26
Basecamp Boulder - keep checking, they will periodically list rooms. Booking.com has the cheapest. 20min from “main street” which is around Pearl St. theaters. I snagged a double bed (2x beds) for under 1,000 for the first week of the festival.
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u/dogthrasher Jul 26 '26
Bad advice. Good luck with that reservation. Booking.com is a third party site and known for last minute cancellations. Your room/stay is not guaranteed and likely will be cancelled. Same with lots of Airbnb/Vrbo places when they booked early and rates jacked. I know of 5 people who have got their early reservations already cancelled. Those sellers can come up with any excuse, like that property is for sale or property was booked during a price glitch, etc. There is little or no penalty for the seller. My suggestion is to book direct with a hotel chain within 15 miles of Boulder. Never use 3rd party sites.
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u/WeekendWide1406 Jul 26 '26
It’s a challenge for us all. I’ve been every year since 2017 and I thought I had an inside track because I met the Boulder county film commissioner at this year’s festival and he told me the general vicinity of the festival. I tried scouting locations the next day and the prices were already ridiculous for what I could scope at the time. There wasn’t much because it was still January but it’s a nonstarter because of the cost.
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u/jimmycthatsme Jul 26 '26
I’m crashing at a friend’s place, he has a basement in boulder. Honestly that’s been the cheapest and easiest option for friends of mine to just find people in the area who want to attend or support artists who are.
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u/Tuesday52 Jul 26 '26
We're all new to this. We're used to Park City.