Dining & Lodging

Dining

Food Requirements

All restaurants and retail food establishments must obtain health department approval prior to the event from the Garfield County Health Department (located in Rifle).

Alcohol Service

Any establishment wishing to sell alcohol must contact the City Clerk’s Office and apply for a Liquor License.

An event at which alcohol will be served or sold requires a special event liquor license. The applicant must be a nonprofit organization registered with the Colorado Secretary of State for purposes of social, fraternal, patriotic, political or athletic activities; a regularly chartered brand, lodge, or chapter of a national organization or society; a regularly established religious or philanthropic institution; or a political candidate or committee. For more information, contact City Clerk Catherine Mythen Fletcher at 970-384-6403.

Temporary Vendors

If you are a temporary vendor doing business in Glenwood Springs, you will need a business license to operate. Please submit an application online. Temporary vendors or event vendors must pay $25 and also provide a $100 deposit. Returning vendors should call 970-384-6455 before submitting the application to see if the deposit is still required. Temporary Vendors such as produce stands, peddlers, solicitors, short-term displaying of goods for retail sale and vending carts also need a Temporary Sales Permit. For more information please contact Community Development at 970-384-6411.

Food Trucks

Food trucks are responsible for all applicable regulations listed above for temporary vendors. Additionally, the Fire & Building Departments require an inspection in order to operate in Glenwood Springs city limits. All food trucks require a building inspection in the county where the truck is registered. Please contact GSFD at (970) 384-6482 for more information. 

Lodging

All overnight lodging business will need to have individual sales tax licenses for each property where lodging occurs and will also need to remit lodging tax revenue. The types of lodging establishments include Bed & Breakfast, Hotel/Motel, Short-Term Rentals and Accessory Tourist Rentals. Check with the Community Development Department for more information about permitting for each of these uses. 

Bed and Breakfast

A detached single-family dwelling, which is owner-occupied or occupied by a resident manager, where individual bedrooms are offered as single accommodations to guests for transient lodging and which facility includes incidental eating and drinking service from a single kitchen serving only residents and guests and is not operated in the manner of a commercial restaurant, or as a facility for commercial activities such as for-profit private parties or receptions, retail sales or similar activities. Bed and breakfasts shall have a minimum of two (2) bedrooms available for lodging and one (1) bedroom available for the owner or manager residing on-site. For buildings in existence on or before January 1, 1987, the total number of bedrooms shall be limited to those rooms historically used as sleeping quarters prior to January 1, 1987. For buildings constructed after January 1, 1987, the maximum number of bedrooms shall be limited to five (5). Bed and breakfast lodging shall not be allowed in planned unit developments unless specifically listed as an allowed use. Nor shall bed and breakfast lodging be allowed in any dwelling unit(s) permitted as an accessory dwelling unit.

Hotel/Motel

A building or group of buildings where transient lodging is offered in bedrooms, sleeping rooms, and dwelling units. The building or buildings may include accessory facilities such as parking, restaurants, meeting rooms, on-site check in lobbies, recreation areas or similar facilities commonly associated with lodging. The term "hotel/motel" does not include bed and breakfast, short term rental or an accessory tourist rental.

Short Term Rental

The rental of an entire dwelling unit for monetary consideration for a period of time less than thirty (30) consecutive days, not including a bed and breakfast, residency unit, boarding or rooming house, or hotel.

Accessory Tourist Rental

The rental for monetary compensation for any period of less than thirty (30) consecutive day, of not more than one (1) bedroom in those residential dwelling units which contain a minimum of two (2) bedrooms; are owner-occupied or occupied by a resident manager.