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Boulder Outlook goes allergy-free

Hotel aims to curb sniffles and sneezes with updated rooms

By Missy Johnson, For the Camera
July 16, 2006

Itchy eyes and stuffy noses might become a rarity at the Boulder Outlook Hotel with the introduction of rooms that try to eliminate as many causes of allergies as possible.

Eleven of the Boulder Outlook's 165 rooms will feature electronic air purifiers, allergy-reducing bed encasing and chlorine-filter shower heads as just a few of the amenities that classify a room as one that is friendly to those with allergies.

The Boulder Outlook, 800 28th St., is the first hotel in the Denver-Boulder area to offer rooms using the technology of New York-based Pure Solutions N.A.

"I'm convinced it's going to be very popular," said Dan King, owner of the Boulder Outlook.

Pure Solutions has been selling Pure Rooms aggressively for eight months and currently is used in 18 hotels around the country. Thomas Pickles, Pure Solutions' director of sales, visited the Boulder Outlook Wednesday to educate guests and hotel staff on the product.

Making a room friendly to those with allergies is a six-step cleaning and purifying process. After the air vents are cleaned, tea tree oil is added to act as a micro-antiseptic, helping prevent the collection of dust and bacteria. To minimize the growth of micro-organisms, the room is coated with PureShield, a spray-on barrier that bonds to objects at a molecular level.

"The shield is like washing and waxing your car," Pickles said. "You clean everything and then you put a five-year coat over it that repels germs and keeps them from breeding."

Pure Rooms also are filled temporarily with ozone, which seeps into tiny crevasses, killing mold and bacteria. Because ozone also is an irritant, Pickles said it is only used once unless unpleasant odors require a second use.

The room is completed with the addition of a purifier capable of changing the air in the room up to 15 times an hour; a filtering shower head; and mattress and pillowcase covers that fight off dust mites.

Transforming the first set of rooms into Pure Rooms cost King $21,000, he said, but by charging an additional $10 for a Pure Room, King expects to earn his money back within eight months.

Room rates at the hotel run between $69 and $149 per night.

Although unaware of the Pure Solutions product, Dr. Samuel A. Bock, a Boulder asthma and allergy doctor, said the concept is a good idea, but practically speaking, he's not sure if Pure Solutions can pull it off.

"Does the science support the claim?" Bock asked. "Science takes some time and it's not always perfect."

One concern is monitoring how much of a closed space the hotel room is. A second concern, Bock said, is that progress in the area of allergy reduction is often slow.

Sid Friedman, an allergy sufferer and one of the first guests to experience a Pure Room, said the room is valuable.

"I woke up, and I can really tell my allergic reaction by looking at my face in the morning, and the difference was dramatic," Friedman said. "When I looked in the mirror my face and eyes were clear."

Friedman said the extra money for the room is well worth it.