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THE 2016 PINNACLE AWARDS ISSUE
SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE COMPANY OF THE YEAR SUPERIOR LODGING’S DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGY SETS IT ON A WINNING PATH
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Volume 28, Number 8
| December 2016
the
Contents
28 Features
THE 2016 PINNACLE AWARDS 16 COMPANY OF THE YEAR WINNING WAYS
A strategy of diversification keeps Superior Lodging on an upward trajectory By Laura Pratt
26 REGIONAL COMPANY OF THE YEAR
ABOVE AND BEYOND Sunray Group has built its reputation on pursuing excellence By Amy Bostock
34 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
A MAN OF DISTINCTION After five decades in the hotel industry, Michael Beckley hangs up his hotelier hat, leaving behind a lasting legacy By Rosanna Caira
38 HOTELIER OF THE YEAR KEEPING IT REAL
Mandy Farmer sows success through levity By Iris Benaroia
C O V E R P H O T O G R A P H B Y C O L I N WAY
42 SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR THE POWER OF ONE
Avendra’s Canadian business model keeps hotel operations competitive in challenging markets By Denise Deveau
55 GOOD POINTS
Can a loyalty program really keep guests engaged? By Sarah MacLean
61 HOME AWAY FROM HOME
Whether it’s a staycation or a work affair, the extended-stay segment has hit its growth curve By Jennifer Febbraro
65 CRISIS AVERTED
Having a crisis-management plan in place can save hotels from negative consequences By Andrew Coppolino
69 AMENITY TRENDS
Locally sourced brands, sustain- able products and increased customization are top trends in the hotel amenities space for 2017 By Carolyn Grisold
Departments Scan to view our website hoteliermagazine.com
ON THE COVER (L to R) Trevor Hagel, VP of Operations; Eric Watson, COO; Marc Staniloff, president and CEO; Samantha Charlesworth, CFO
2 EDITOR’S PAGE 5 CHECKING IN 72 HOTELIER: Domini Baldasaro,
Walper Hotel, Kitchener, Ont.
DECEMBER 2016 HOTELIER
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A
WINNING T
he passage of time remains one of life’s mysteries. Try as we might to understand why it passes so indeterminably slowly when we are young and then seems to fly as we age, there is no easy answer. And, no matter how hard we may want to slow it down, or speed it up, time marches to its own drummer. These days, as technology continues to impact our lives in dramatic ways,
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DECEMBER 2016 HOTELIER
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time seems to march even faster — almost at warp speed. Wasn’t it just the start of 2016? So, when December suddenly arrives on our doorstep, it’s not surprising that we are left to ask ourselves ‘Where did the year go?’ Where indeed? With December’s sudden arrival, we are once again proud to salute this year’s stellar crop of Pinnacle Award winners, a total of five individuals
and companies that are impacting the hotel landscape in significant ways. Undoubtedly, they too are left to wonder how the year passed so quickly. Perhaps they were too busy innovating, introducing new elements to their businesses or growing at such a fast clip that they just didn’t notice it slipping between their fingers. Clearly, time changes us, sometimes imperceptibly; sometimes in obvious ways. But, hoteliermagazine.com
FROM THE EDITOR
THE KML TEAM: (standing l to r) Maggie Spence, Courtney Jenkins, Derek Rae, Danielle Schalk, Amy Bostock, Danna Smith, Daniela Pricoiu, Margaret Moore, Maria Fama Viecili, (sitting l to r) Elena Osina, Rosanna Caira, Jhanelle Porter, Cheryll San Juan Missing from photo, Wendy Gilchrist and Eric Alister
hopefully through the captive hands of time, we also grow and evolve. At KML, the growth and evolution continues full-force as we get set to announce several exciting new initiatives. First off, I’m proud to announce that late last year, after more than three decades of working and growing at KML, I became majority owner of the almost 50-year old media company. Together with founder Mitch Kostuch’s daughter Lynn, we now form the new ownership of KML. Sadly, Mitch’s passing two years ago left a great void in the company, but it also set the stage for the next step in the company’s evolution and growth. And, knowing Mitch, he would be happy to see that his daughter Lynn and I are at the helm, continuing his great legacy and his dream. As the forward-thinking entrepreneur that he was, were he still alive, Mitch would be thrilled to see the innumerable changes we’ve introduced in the past two years, including new digital product offerings, new conferences and the adaptation of new technology. Now, after two years of change, the KML team is set for more. Early in 2017, we will be unveiling a new tiered-membership club that will allow you to choose what kind of information is most important to you and customize it to suit what you need to run your business. You can still select from either the print or digital options, but in the new year, through exclusive benefits offered
FOLLOW US: hoteliermagazine.com
as a member of our new KEY by KML membership club, you’ll be able to access a slew of new features such as webinars, podcasts, aggregate content, special research reports, video interviews, native content, special contests, unrestricted access to web-only exclusive features and White Papers, as well as special discounts on all the KML events we produce — from the Icons and Innovators series to the Pinnacle Awards, to several new conferences launched this past year, including the Canadian Foodservice Summit, the Housekeeping Forum and more. By becoming a KEY by KML member, you will be able to tap into a variety of offerings from our print, digital and events pillars that will enhance and broaden your reader experience. Over the next few weeks, we will be letting you know more about this new way of consuming content, bringing us to the next step of our continued evolution as a true media company. For now, what I can tell you is that KEY by KML will open new doors and new opportunities for you — our industry partner, giving you access to more essential information than ever before. And, as we all know, in today’s information age, content is the true currency. Hand-in-hand with these changes, we will also be unveiling our refreshed and updated websites for both our magazine brands, as well as the KML corporate site. And, just in time to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday, we are thrilled to announce a series of initiatives, including the launch of Oh Canada!, a six-part series highlighting iconic hotels, resorts and influencers across our fabulous nation, as well as #KMLMadeinCanada, an integrated photo contest that will give our readers a chance to submit,
For daily news and announcements: @hoteliermag on Twitter
via Instragram, great photography of the iconic products, places and people that are uniquely Canadian — while having the opportunity to win a collection of great prizes that will allow them to experience Canada in unique and exciting ways. From January to October 2017, 10 winning entries will be chosen for F&H magazine and Hotelier magazine for a total of 150 pictures. From this stellar collection of original Canadian photos, which will be showcased on all our social-media platforms and on the pages of our magazines, our judges will choose the top-10 winning photos for both magazines that best reflect Canada’s spirit and varied portfolio of products. At next year’s Pinnacle Awards, we will celebrate the winners of this important contest and also salute the iconic figures who have been instrumental to the growth of Canadian cuisine and hospitality through another exciting initiative that would make Mitch Kostuch very proud — the KML Canadian Hall of Fame. Time doesn’t stand still and neither do we. As the new majority owner of KML, rest assured that we will continue to grow, to evolve and to impact your business. It’s a commitment I, and our entire team, take seriously. On behalf of all of us at KML, here’s to a fabulous sesquicentennial for this great country we call home, and, as we head into the holidays, here’s to a season filled with health, happiness and, always, a touch of magic.
ROSANNA CAIRA Editor and Publisher rcaira@kostuchmedia.com
and Hotelier magazine on Facebook
DECEMBER 2016 HOTELIER
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ROSANNA CAIRA | EDITOR & PUBLISHER rcaira@kostuchmedia.com
Do you have the new and improved Hotelier magazine App? With the redesigned Hotelier magazine app, you can access all the latest issues. View the entire issue page by page or jump directly to your favourites. All the departments and features you’ve come to know and love, all at the tap of a screen. Search “Hotelier magazine” in the App Store
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MANAGING EDITOR abostock@kostuchmedia.com ASSISTANT EDITOR dschalk@kostuchmedia.com EDITORIAL ASSISTANT ealister@kostuchmedia.com
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MULTIMEDIA MANAGER drae@kostuchmedia.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER cjenkins@kostuchmedia.com SOCIAL MEDIA/EVENTS CO-ORDINATOR jporter@kostuchmedia.com
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ADVISORY BOARD David McMillan, AXIS HOSPITALITY INTERNATIONAL; Bill Stone, CBRE HOTELS; David Larone, CBRE HOTELS; Anthony Cohen, CRESCENT HOTELS — GLOBAL EDGE INVESTMENTS; Charles Suddaby, CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD LTD. — HOSPITALITY & GAMING GROUP; Christiane Germain, GROUPE GERMAIN HOSPITALITE; Michael Haywood, THE HAYWOOD GROUP; Lyle Hall, HLT ADVISORY; Drew Coles, INNVEST REIT; Ryan Murray, THE PILLAR + POST HOTEL; Geoffrey Allan, PROJECT CAPITAL MANAGEMENT HOTELS; Stephen Renard, RENARD INTERNATIONAL HOSPITALITY & SEARCH CONSULTANTS; Anne Larcade, SEQUEL HOTELS & RESORTS HOTELIER is published eight times a year by Kostuch Media Ltd., 23 Lesmill Rd., Suite 101, Toronto, Ont., M3B 3P6, (416) 447-0888, Fax (416) 447-5333. All rights reserved. Subscription rates: Canada: $25 per year, single issue $4, U.S.A.: $30 per year; all other countries $40 per year. Canadian Publication Mail Product Sales Agreement #40 063470. Member of Canadian Circulations Audit Board, the American Business Media and Magazines Canada. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund for our publishing activities. Printed in Canada on recycled stock.
hoteliermagazine.com
Checking In THE LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS FOR HOTEL EXECUTIVES FROM CANADA
AND AROUND THE WORLD
AGE OF DISRUPTION At October’s Western Canadian Lodging Conference, held in Vancouver, Leonard
MEETING OF THE MINDS Hotel industry gathered in Vancouver for 2016 Western Canadian Lodging Conference
T
he Western Canadian Lodging Conference, held in Vancouver on Oct. 4 and 5, brought together 280 hotel professionals to network, share ideas and gain insight into the Western Canadian hotel and resort industry. Hosted by CBRE and HLT Advisory, the event discussed challenges and opportunities unique to the Western-Canadian economy and offered a closer look at the financial performance and transaction highlights of this highly competitive market. Carrie Russell of HVS and Cindy Schoenauer of CBRE Hotels kicked-off the program by discussing “up-to-the-minute” top line and financial performance as well as transaction highlights of the hotel and resort markets in Western Canada. The plenary session helped delegates understand why markets vary so greatly and what’s impacting demand for hotel and resort lodging and buoyant deal activity. Next up was a panel of economists and hotel executives — featuring Drew Coles of InnVest REIT, Don Schultz of ATB Financial, Tyler MacDonald from Oxford Properties Group, Jean-Francois Perrault from Scotiabank and Sukhi Rai of PHI Hotel Group — weighed in on the B.C. and Alberta economies, and examined the impact factors such as global black-swan events, infusion of off-shore capital, the soft Canadian dollar and the energy sector are having on hotel operations, investment activity, and development. Moderated by Carrie Russell and Cindy Schoenauer, the panel looked at what the threats are and where money can be made. Garth Peterson from IDeaS – a SAS company, presented four case studies highlighting how, with internet distribution at an all-time high and potential customers shopping hotel rates directly from their iPads, using spreadsheets to manage revenue, pricing and forecasting is no longer viable. The interactive session, which featured Darren Simpson, GM of The Burrad in Vancouver, looked at how hotels are affected by competitive pricing, strategic pricing decisions compared to tactical ones and analyzing the impact of competitive pricing on demand. The afternoon program offered breakout sessions addressing the impact of Airbnb on the lodging industry as well as how to identify and protect hotel properties from data breaches.
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Brody tackled the issue of widespread uncertainty caused by disruption in the hotel industry, which has left organizations struggling to engage consumers and employees while staying relevant. In his talk, Brody addressed the rapid pace of change, innovation and disruption facing us all, and what to do about it. “The last five years have been some of the most tumultuous in history, coming on the end of the financial crisis and giving way to huge bounds in technological advancement in every sector,” read the keynote summary. Brody, an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and author, told the audience that those who learn to adapt to this rapid pace of change and allow themselves to be “rewritten” for the modern day, will survive and prosper.
DESTINATION GROWTH David Goldstein, president and CEO of Destination Canada, provided an update on DC’s marketing initiatives at the recent Western Canadian Lodging Conference, held in Vancouver. He spoke about how the Crown corporation has modernized its mission to grow Canada’s tourism export revenues and support travel/tourism industry partners. He also offered insight into new initiatives utilizing data-driven marketing strategies to stimulate international demand and tourism export revenue for Canada.
DECEMBER 2016 HOTELIER
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COMING EVENTS Dec. 12-14: The 2016 International Aboriginal Tourism Conference, Membertou, Sydney, N.S. Tel: 604-639-4408; email: info@ aboriginalcanada.ca; website: iatc-canada.ca Jan. 23-25: The American Lodging Investment Summit, JW Marriott & Microsoft Theatre, Los Angeles, Calif. Tel: 1-714-5409300; email: marketing@burba. com; website: alisconference.com Feb. 15-16: Hotel Association of Canada’s National Conference, Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel & Conference Centre, Toronto. Tel: 416-924-2002 ext. 229; email: yalilabarreda@bigpictureconferences.ca; website: bigpictureconferences.ca
March 23: Icons & Innovators Breakfast Series featuring Arne Sorenson, CEO of Marriott International, Tel: 416-447-0888, ext. 235; email: dpricoiu@kostuchmedia.com; website: kostuchmedia.com Apr. 3-4: British Columbia Hotel Association Summit 2017, TBD, Victoria, B.C. Tel: 604-681-7164; website: summit2017.ca May 15-16: Canadian Hotel Investment Conference, Westin Harbour Castle Toronto, Toronto. Tel: 416-924-2002 ext. 229; email: yalilabarreda@bigpictureconferences.ca; website: bigpictureconferences.ca
FOR MORE EVENTS, visit http://bit.ly/Hotelierevents
ICONIC MAKEOVER Birks Group Inc. and Jean Salette, owner of Le St-Martin Hotels, are transforming the iconic Birks building in downtown Montreal into a luxury lifestyle property bearing the Birks name. The new destination will house a high-end boutique hotel and bistro, as well as the renovated Birks Montreal flagship store. Renovations for the Birks Hotel are scheduled to start next spring with opening slated for the spring of 2018. The Birks Montreal store will also undergo renovations. “The iconic Birks building is a magnificent location to house a luxury boutique hotel on Phillips Square,” says Salette. “Our property will boast 120 rooms and will offer guests a unique lifestyle experience.” CORRECTION: In the 2016 Who’s Who Market Almanac printed in the Oct./Nov. issue of Hotelier magazine, the correct contact for Cushman & Wakefield’s hotel brokerage should have been listed as Curtis Gallagher. Corrected contact information, in full detail, is available in the digital copy of the 2016 Almanac on hoteliermagazine.com
ATLIFIC OVERHAUL Atlific Hotels recently completed renovations of its managed property, Hilton Garden Inn Montréal Airport. The overhaul, by Hager Design International Inc., includes all 161 guestrooms, public spaces and a new restaurant, bar and fitness centre. Inspired by nature, the overall design of the hotel is spacious, contemporary and warm, with lively social spaces and quiet guestrooms. The chic guestrooms feature new custom furniture, drapery and artwork, as well as plush beds with new mattresses, 43-inch HDTVs with premium channels, USB outlets, free Wi-Fi, Keurig coffee makers, a refrigerator and microwave. Fully renovated bathrooms round-out the room improvements. The hotel’s restaurant, Resto Bar & Lounge, was enlarged to create a bright and airy atmosphere enhanced by a carefully selected colour palette. The business centre adjacent to the lobby provides a stylish space that maintains the open feel and energy of the lobby. The fitness centre was relocated, doubled in size and outfitted with the latest in workout equipment. Other amenities include 1,600 sq. ft. of flexible meeting space for up to 100 people, a 500-sq.-ft. terrace, convenient grab-and-go options from The Pavilion Pantry, as well as a heated indoor pool and Jacuzzi.
InBrief A judge has approved a receiver to supervise the sale of Toronto’s Trump International Hotel & Tower. FTI Consulting Canada Inc. has been named as receiver for the sale of the 65-storey hotel and condominium complex…Realstar Hospitality has opened its newest Canadian Motel 6 property. Located in Fort Nelson, B.C., the 39-room hotel offers free Wi-Fi, micro-fridges in all guestrooms and complimentary morning coffee in the lobby…The recently redesigned Matisse Restaurant & Bar has been unveiled at the Toronto Marriott Bloor Yorkville Hotel, featuring globally inspired cuisine made with fresh local ingredients…Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has had an impact on his businesses in Canada and knock-on effects for those who have partnered with his brand. The
Foodbuy Canada is pleased to congratulate industry leaders Superior Lodging Corp. and Sunray Group on their 2016 Pinnacle Awards
Congratulations we are proud to be a partner in your success
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developer of the new Trump Tower in Vancouver is being pressured to drop the Trump name from the project…On March 1, 2017, Hyatt Hotels Corporation is launching its all-new global loyalty program. World of Hyatt aims to build community and engage with high-end travellers. The World of Hyatt program consists of three tiers — Discoverist, Explorist and Globalist…Hyatt Place Edmonton opened its doors following years of delays. According to the Edmonton Journal, construction of the $55-million hotel — the first major new downtown-Edmonton hotel in a generation — was delayed by underground gasoline contamination and city permit holdups… Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts has unveiled the new Four Seasons Research and Discovery Studio at the company’s global headquarters in Toronto. The R&D Studio, which features graffitied walls, communal meeting and workspaces and multiple-testing areas, is a collabora-
tive workspace that includes work areas dedicated to the fundamental guest touch points…Choice Hotels Canada opened four new locations in the third quarter of 2016, bringing its total number of properties to 322… Lonely Planet has named Canada “the best place to travel to in 2017” in its latest Best in Travel rankings… Wyndham Rewards has unveiled plans to expand its loyalty program across one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, Wyndham Worldwide, starting with the immediate addition of more than 17,000 condos and homes to the program’s nearly 8,000 hotel redemption portfolio… Trump Hotels has revealed the official name and concept details for its much-anticipated new hotel brand, Scion — a multi-faceted lifestyle brand developed in response to the boom in social clubs and the “we” economy…North Hatley, Que.’s Manoir Hovey garnered top honours on Condé Nast Traveler’s annual Readers’ Choice Awards.
People Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts in Toronto has promoted two members of its executive team. Christian Clerc has been promoted to president of Worldwide Hotel Operations and will oversee all aspects of operations in the company’s growing global portfolio. Vince Parrotta is the new president of Hotel Operations — Americas, overseeing operations for the company’s largest region, which currently encompasses close to 50 hotels and resorts…AccorHotels has added three executives to its team. Greg Doman is the new SVP of Development, North and Central America and Luxury Hotels Americas & Residential; Francois Baudin has been named SVP of Development, Luxury Hotels Europe, Middle East and Africa; and Laure Morvan joins the team as VP of Development, Luxury Hotels ASPAC…
ELIMINATE COSTLY FRAUDULENT CHARGEBACK LOSSES! National Payments is excited to announce that we can now offer the First Fully Integrated EMV Chip & Pin Solution with Opera PMS in Canada! National Payments is a boutique payment processing provider that specials in the hotel industry and can provide your hotel a complete EMV Chip & Pin solution that is fully integrated with your PMS platform. Contact National Payments to discuss this game-changer solution and how your hotel can save money, reduce chargebacks and streamline reconciliation processes. GET STARTED NOW! Call: 1-866-963-8886 Email: sales@nationalpayments.ca
Pinnacle winners
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Choice Hotels Canada has announced three recent leadership appointments that support the increasing success of Susie Grynol its franchise network. Julie Chan-McConnell is the new senior director of Marketing and Distribution; Brendan Gibney is now senior director of Franchise Services; and Tamer Dalati has been appointed to director of Revenue Management…Susie Grynol is the new president of The Hotel Association of Canada (HAC). Grynol joined the HAC from the Retail Council of Canada, where she served as vice-president of Federal Government Relations since 2013. She brings more than 10 years of experience managing political affairs and public relations. Grynol assumes the position from Anthony Pollard, who retired in September following 25 years as president of the HAC.
OBITUARY
Following a brave battle with cancer, Warren Bruce Adamson passed away on Sep. 22, at the age of 74. Adamson made a remarkable contribution to the Canadian hospitality industry, starting his career at Pannell Kerr Forster and Commonwealth Hospitality before joining Ramada Franchise Canada as president. He later transitioned to president and COO of AFM Hospitality Corporation and wound up his career at InnOps Inc. and InnLand Hospitality, where his final focus was developing the Red Pine Inn in Alliston, Ont.
Supply Side Smartcool Systems Inc. has successfully installed its Chiller Energy Savings system at the Radisson, Ramada and Vision Hotels in Dubai
and Abu Dhabi. The Vancouverbased company plans to expand into Riyadh and Jeddah regions next, with Quwait Oil Company as its next installation…Global hotel technology solutions provider, IDS Next Business Solutions, has launched a mobile analytics app. Pulze 247 will provide hotel owners and GMs with real-time information on their properties’ performance at all times. Pulze 247 is available for download on smartphones and tablets and integrates into IDS Next’s all-in-one FortuneNEXT 6i Hotel ERP…Electric Mirror unveiled the next generation of its Keen Technology, which offers improved functionality, and is now available at a lower cost. Keen allows hotel guests to individualize their lighted mirror experience by choosing from eight different lighting levels. It also includes a function that automatically reduces the light level by 50 per cent after being on for an hour, offering significant energy savings for hoteliers.
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DECEMBER 2016 HOTELIER
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THE 2016
PINNACLE AWARDS With the holiday season upon us, it’s time to celebrate industry excellence at our annual Pinnacle Awards. This year marks the 28th anniversary of KML’s celebration of the best in foodservice and hospitality — companies that have left an indelible mark on the Canadian landscape, while at the same time making a difference in their communities. The following pages spotlight this year’s Hotelier winners. We hope you are as inspired as we were. — Amy Bostock
hoteliermagazine.com
DECEMBER 2016 HOTELIER
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(L to R) Trevor Hagel, VP of Operations; Eric Watson, COO; Marc Staniloff, president and CEO; Samantha Charlesworth, CFO
THE 2016 PINNACLE AWARDS
COMPANY OF THE YEAR
WINNING WAYS A STRATEGY OF DIVERSIFICATION KEEPS SUPERIOR LODGING ON AN UPWARD TRAJECTORY ST O RY B Y L A UR A P RATT PH OT OGRAPH BY C OLIN WAY
T
he video footage from May 3, 2016 is spectacular. In it, a newscaster reports against a backdrop of the raging wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alta. that would dominate the Canadian headlines until it was declared under control two months later. In this clip, just over the right shoulder of the clearly rattled reporter, a Super 8 hotel — the most successful in the whole system — is engulfed in flames. Great billows of black smoke lift into the sky above this beleaguered city — 53,000 of whose residents would be ordered to evacuate. The then 15-year-old Fort McMurray Super 8 did $7.4 million in business in 2014 — more than any of the 2,200 Super 8s worldwide — and was always a system-leader in average daily rate, occupancy and RevPAR counts. It had 140 rooms — lots, by the brand’s standards — and they were always busting at the seams. Indeed, so spectacularly did this property perform that its parent company decided to erect a sibling Microtel beside it. But last Christmas, when the fourfloor newcomer was framed and freshly under roof cover, an hoteliermagazine.com
arsonist torched it. Undeterred, Superior took another run at it in March. The foundation of the second-try structure was in the ground on May 3 when it was destroyed in the same fire that destroyed its neighbour. “This is about as bad as it gets,” the Global National correspondent declares on the video clip filmed that day, gesturing at the disintegrating hotels behind him. Marc Staniloff, president and CEO of Superior Lodging Corp., would almost certainly concur. “It’s been a challenging year,” he says, before conceding that the Calgary market as a whole is down 25 per cent, and the Calgary airport hotel is down 40 per cent. But then he grabs hold of the phoenix that soared so capably from these embers and he’s off in characteristic fashion, expounding on his company’s winning ways. Superior Lodging, this year’s Pinnacle Awards honouree for Company of the Year, is a dynamic Canadian hotel developer — the most active in Canada — and real-estate investment company. It owns 250 hotels across the country under the Super 8, Microtel, Thriftlodge and Travelodge banners and its principal focus is on the entrepreneurial DECEMBER 2016 HOTELIER
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development, investment and management of limited-service hotels for hotel owners (franchisees) and investors. The limited-service market is a purposeful point of focus, says Staniloff, given that its minimal site amenities and manageable operating costs make it the most profitable segment there is. This privately owned, Calgarybased company is a standout for a whole suite of reasons, not the least of which is its $1-billion portfolio of real-estate assets. Consider that two of Canada’s top 10 hotel brands — Travelodge and Super 8 — are Superior properties. The organization’s cultivation of Super 8 is among its most celebrated achievements and the Microtel brand, currently ranked among the best economy/budget hotel chains in Canada, is poised for its own greatness with 14 locations opened in just four years with four more expected to open by the end of 2017. Superior also plans to deploy the first location of its proprietary
brand, Jmarc Inn & Suites, in 2017. Consider, too, the way Superior has exploded onto the market in the past two decades, growing its lodging oeuvre from five to a spectacular 247 hotels. Since 2015 alone, the company has added six Super 8s, five Microtel Inns and Suites, 85 Travelodge and six Thriftlodges to its count. And consider its impressive dedication to charitable initiatives and environmental stewardship. Superior focuses its development efforts on those projects that minimize the environmental footprint on the communities it occupies and to endorsing environmental awareness and protection programs that educate, influence and reduce waste. It was among the first hotel companies in Canada to embrace the Ecostay LivClean program and it recently transitioned into a homegrown usurper, Common Ground, that counts environmental sustainability among its most treasured tenets. Superior also participates in Green Key, a graduated-
rating system designed to recognize hotels keen to improve environmental and fiscal performance. On the charitable front, the company provides financial sponsorship to a range of social causes and grants its full-time employees three paid days off annually to volunteer. But first, consider that all of these wins lift out of a disproportionate number of Superior’s franchisees being “very focused in the West.� The struggling oil market in this country lights its home fires in the same place Superior does — of its 129 Super 8s, 36 are in Alberta (with another two signed but yet to open) and 10 are in Saskatchewan; of its 14 Microtels, four are in Alberta and three in Saskatchewan; and of its 85 Travelodges, 18 are in Alberta (with another signed but yet to open) and nine are in Saskatchewan. “We’re certainly affected by the downturn,� Staniloff says. All of this explains the whack of belt-tightening measures Superior
Congratulations to Superior Lodging, recipient of the 2016 Pinnacle Award for Hotelier Magazine Company of the Year. • TRAVELODGE CANADA IS VERY PROUD TO BE PART OF THE SUPERIOR LODGING FAMILY •
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Congratulations to all 2016 Pinnacle Award Recipients. We wish Superior Lodging and Mandy Farmer of Accent Inns continued success and are pleased to be a partner in your achievements.
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has had to introduce to its operations including, says CFO Samantha Charlesworth, a rationalization of executive travel. Nobody took a wage cut, but some corporate positions were realigned. These initiatives, she says, “came when we took a hard look at budgets and realized this economic downturn was going to last 12 to 24 months, if not more.” Reducing costs has been effective, says Staniloff, and strategic, too. “When the business comes back, it’ll turn very quickly to being profitable.” In the meantime, the company’s been engaged in a development flurry elsewhere, madly obliging existing properties coming around to the powers of a branded hotel, including name recognition, consistency, predictability, standards, thriving rewards programs and abundant representation with online travel agents. “If you’ve got a Joe’s Motel and a Super 8, you go to the Super 8,” says Staniloff. While the company’s revenues
“IF I LOOK IN SPECIFIC MARKETS, I’M CHALLENGED, BUT BECAUSE OF MY DIVERSIFICATION, THE NET IS GROWTH” — MARC STANILOFF are down in hotels in resourcebased communities, sales figures on a unit-by-unit sales basis in Ontario are up. Same with Quebec and the Maritimes (save St. John’s, where oil has also wreaked havoc). Overall,
Staniloff demurs, “my year has been okay. If I look in specific markets, I’m challenged, but because of my diversification, the net is growth.” Superior owns interests in 32 hotels and has had an interest in more than 100 over Staniloff’s history with the company. This business model sees it, in conjunction with partners, developing and seasoning properties (for between a month and 10 years) before selling them. Sometimes they’re existing entities that want to franchise or that Superior has identified as ripe for branding. Sometimes they’re fromscratch creations (whose origins begin with a would-be franchisee approaching the brand, or the brand culling together interested parties in a likely market). What differentiates Superior from many of the other franchisors is that it’s also a developer. That means it will assume partial ownership in a hotel compared to the other brands, which are just trying to sell
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Gupta, VP Sunray Group
a franchise. “My providing equity to these franchises gives these guys a degree of comfort. They’re looking for partners and I’m prepared to risk some of my capital on the asset side — it’s a win-win.” Indeed, Superior’s partnership approach is key to success on all sides, says Chip Ohlsson, chief development officer for North America for Wyndham Hotel Group, which partners with Superior on the Super 8, Microtel and Travelodge banners. “They understand the value of a give-and-take relationship and they’re not in this for short-term gain,” he says. “They stand alongside us at every launch of every initiative and truly believe in the growth of the brand. That they’re so invested makes for a great relationship.” Nowhere is that dynamic more apparent than in the Microtel case. “What’s firing-up the growth with Microtel is MasterBuilt’s involvement,” says Eric Watson, chief operating officer of MasterBuilt Hotels,
a vertically integrated hotel-development company of which Superior Lodging owns 25 per cent. “We’re the only guys out there putting skin in the game. There’s human capital that goes into a Microtel development that other brands just don’t have. That’s why it’s growing so fast.” Indeed, Microtel is the fastestgrowing new construction hotel brand in Canada. The company, which has opened 14 new-construction hotels since the first Microtel opened in Canada (in Estevan, Sask.) in 2012, has an agreement with Wyndham to have 45 Microtels in operation across the country by 2021, and 75 by 2036. It currently has 40 deals in the pipeline, all with identified sites and markets. “We’ve got people across the country who are exclusively invested in helping to develop the Microtel brand. These are much deeper partnerships, where other brands are just trying to sell franchises.” Also firing the growth of this contemporary midscale player are
the stellar reviews it attracts. Of the 12 Microtels open for at least six months, seven are market leaders on TripAdvisor. Another success factor is the company’s purposeful strategy of diversification. By spreading its hotel-development interests across the country, Superior’s been able to mitigate the impact of the oil-ravaged backdrop that serves as Superior’s home-base scene. The company anticipates a revenue boost in 2016 of 15 per cent over 2015. Today, the foundation of the third iteration of the resilient Fort McMurray Microtel is complete and Superior execs are in the development process of rebuilding the Super 8 that so famously met its end beside it. “My highest-grossing Super 8 burns to the ground on May 3 and I’m still smiling. How’s that for a year?” says Staniloff, before getting sanguine about the stuff. “It’s business. It is what it is. We’ll get it figured out.” u
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Wyndham Hotel Group would like to congratulate Superior Lodging for winning Hotelier’s Company of the Year award
For information on development opportunities call
888-223-4680 or visit us at www.whgdevelopment.com This is not an offer. Certain provincial laws regulate the offer and sale of franchises. An offer will only be made in compliance with those laws and regulations, which may require we provide you with a Disclosure Document, a copy of which can be obtained by contacting Wyndham Hotel Group Canada, ULC at 22 Sylvan Way, Parsippany, NJ 07054. All hotels are independently owned and operated with the exception of certain hotels managed or owned by an affi liate of the company. Š 2016 Wyndham Hotel Group Canada, ULC. All rights reserved
THANK YOU TO OUR PINNACLE AWARDS SPONSORS FOR THEIR COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE
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CONGRATULATIONS, SUPERIOR LODGING!
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SUPERIOR LODGING’S ENDORSED VENDORS ARE PROUD TO BE A PART OF THE HOTEL COMPANY OF THE YEAR’S TEAM! Congratulations to Superior Lodging and all 2016 Pinnacle Award Winners
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Sandeep Gupta (left), vice-president and Ray Gupta, president of Sunray Group
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DECEMBER 2016 HOTELIER
hoteliermagazine.com
THE 2016 PINNACLE AWARDS
REGIONAL COMPANY OF THE YEAR
ABOVE AND BEYOND THIS YEAR’S REGIONAL COMPANY OF THE YEAR HAS BUILT ITS REPUTATION ON PURSUING EXCELLENCE
ST O RY B Y A M Y BOST OC K PH OT OGRAPH BY BRIAN S U MMERS
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unray Group is known for going that extra mile. Whether it’s surpassing brand standards at its conversion properties, developing new technology for its hotels, or launching charitable initiatives to help those in need, president Ray Gupta and his team are never happy with “good enough.” Founded in 2006, Oshawa-based Sunray Group is a familyowned, multifaceted corporation specializing in hospitality and development. The company, which currently owns and operates 30 hotels and employs 1,500 staff members across Ontario and Quebec, has established successful partnerships with popular hotel brands such as Marriott, Starwood, Carlson, Best Western and Choice Hotels. “We’ve made it our mandate to be an award-winning company from a hotel perspective,” says Sandeep Gupta, vicepresident of Sunray Group. “We brought in the right people from an executive team perspective to ensure that operationally, we’re exceeding brand standards and that the focus on the renovation side is to [offer better than] typical brand standards/prototypes on each project In Vaughan, for example, Sunray is converting its Super 8 property to a Four Points by Sheraton “And when it came to hoteliermagazine.com
the sample room, we weren’t 100-per-cent satisfied with the current standard for the Four Points brand, so we spent almost eight months designing a full custom-room package,” says Sandeep Gupta, adding “when Starwood came for the sampleroom review, they told us it was one of the best sample-room reviews they’d ever done.” In another instance, Sunray converted a no-name hotel in Leamington, Ont., to a Best Western Plus. “It needed about $2 million in renovations to make it a Best Western Plus but we actually spent $4.5 million,” he says. “We put a lot of pride and effort into it to achieve above brand standards from both a guest perspective and a renovation perspective. We have also made it a mandate in our last seven months of operation to exceed brand standards in guest satisfaction scores.” This reputation for excellence has contributed to a strong year for Sunray Group’s hotel portfolio — the company reported operating revenues of $67.2 million in 2015 and will finish out 2016 with a projected increase of 32 per cent to $88.6 million. According to Sandeep Gupta, the company plans to further add to its portfolio in 2016, with a target of acquiring an additional 500 rooms before year’s end. The company’s approach to the hotel business has always DECEMBER 2016 HOTELIER
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been unique. “When we started out, we were looking at undervalued properties; looking outside of the box to see how we could add value to the existing property,” says Ray Gupta. “We were not buying [hotels] based on the current yield or profitability; these were properties operating at huge losses and with our strategic approach, we were able to turn them around — either by repositioning/ rebranding them or by renovating.” This forward-thinking tactic has allowed Sunray Group to create unique experiences. “From our potential dual-brand Marriott conversion in Oshawa to our resortstyle Best Western in Leamington, we are constantly trying to raise the bar in terms of design and development. When most tell us “it can’t be done” we know we are on the right track,” he says. The company’s growth began in southwestern Ontario, with a focus on the 401 corridor — boasting representation in almost every major
city from Windsor to Kingston, Ont. “Wherever we have a property, we try to cluster — a minimum of two properties in any given area — which allows us to have a full operations team in place,” says Sandeep Gupta. Now, he says, Sunray has set its sights on central Ontario. “The last year of acquisitions have been mainly in central Ontario,” he says. “We’ve started expanding outside of the 401 corridor to other major highways, such as Highway 400 from Vaughan to Orillia.” In an increasingly online world, Sunray is creating new digital technologies focused on enhancing the guest experience. GuestLink, the company’s new in-room digital solution, took more than 18 months to develop. “From a security and management perspective, using a third-party provider would have cost $350,000/year, so we decided to utilize those funds to create our own program where we can manage our security in-house,” Sandeep Gupta explains.
GuestLink allows hotels to connect with guests — in a non-intrusive way — to deliver the latest offers, news and information, all while being able to enrich their stay with the latest games, apps and rich-media experiences. An in-room tablet that docks on guestroom desks, GuestLink includes features such as a guest directory, the ability to stream Netflix directly to the TV with no buffering and access to digital newspapers. GuestLink is currently being tested at the 240-room Radisson Hotel Toronto East — generating a revenue stream through not just advertising in the guest directory, but also the interaction with the front desk to the tablet. Sunray predicts that in the first year of testing, the tablet will bring in $300,000 in extra revenue. “We can sell robes, beds, do advertising — there’s lots of different revenue streams we’ve been playing around with.” The company’s success can be attributed to a number of factors,
Cushman & Wakefield would like to congratulate Sunray Group for winning the Regional Company of the Year at the 2016 Hotelier Pinnacle Awards. We are proud to have worked with Sunray through their extraordinary growth, and we look forward to continuing to partner with them in the exciting years to come. To learn more about Cushman & Wakefield’s Hospitality and Gaming Group, please contact:
Charles Suddaby, CMC, MRICS Vice President, Practice Leader Valuation & Advisory
Cushman & Wakefield Ltd. Tel: 416 359 2407 charles.suddaby@ca.cushwake.com
Dear Mr. Ray Gupta & Sandeep Gupta,
To the wonderful group at Sunray Hotels, congratulations on your recognition! Your strategy, teamwork and devotion continues to drive your results.
Our team at EJS would like to extend our genuine congratulations on this award. May this be one of many to come. Sincerely Elias Shomali & EJS team
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Scott Irwin, Partner Jones DesLauriers Insurance Management Inc. 2375 Skymark Ave, Mississauga, ON. L4W4Y6 O: 1.877.232.9996 | C: 416.937.6784 | W: www.jdimi.com
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It gives us great joy to join many others in congratulating Sunray Group for this great award & achievement. We have been privileged to have had the chance to witness some of their impressive growth but most importantly, we have come to realize how pleasant they are to deal with — whether in business or beyond.
WELL DESERVED! Mataj Architects Inc. 96 Forsythe St, Oakville, On L6K 3J8 C: 289.259.6269 | T: 905.281.4444 1.855.830.6309 | E: info@matajarchitects.com
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Your spirit, drive and hard work have made Sunray Group the success it is today. Congratulations on the Hotelier “Regional Company of the Year” Pinnacle Award. Ritsick Design is proud to be part of your team.
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according to Sandeep Gupta. “We have an in-depth executive team; we have been able to cut costs where necessary; and put a strong regional sales force in place to garner business that wasn’t there before.” But what he’s most proud of is Sunray Group’s philosophy of hiring caring individuals who are dependable, ethical and trustworthy. “We’ve built our company reputation on our pursuit of those characteristics,” he says. “Who we are and who our employees are is based on our ethics and commitment to keeping family unity within our company.” Even with its growth, he says, “We can’t forget where we started — both from an executive and employee level,” adding that Sunray Group offers a wide range of employee incentives and strives to ensure the wellbeing of all its staff. In turn, employees are quick to lend a hand when it comes to giving back to the community. Over the past year, Sunray has donated more
than $300,000 to organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Choice Foundation and Sleeping Children Around the World. “Our employees are also encouraged to donate hotel rooms to local hospitals. In addition to the financial contributions the company has made, many of our team members donate their time as well,” says Sandeep Gupta, who himself represents Sunray on the boards of Emajain and many other charitable foundations. This year, Sunray Group will launch The Sunray Foundation in recognition of the need to lend a hand to employees in the hospitality industry who may have suffered hardships along the way. With its slogan, “A ray of hope for those less fortunate,” The Foundation has pledged to raise $1 million to support those in need. According to Sandeep Gupta, 2016 has been extremely productive. “Over the last 12 months, we have continued to strategically grow our portfolio by
more than 1,000 rooms. This year, we’ll be completing a lot of our conversions and renovations and eight to 10 hotels will be rebranded or renovated and brought back into the portfolio.” Although the company grew tremendously in 2016 with regard to acquisitions and adding to its portfolio, he says 2017 will be a bit calmer “because most of our current acquisitions and hotels will be fully converted and operating under the new brand or renovated current brand,” adding the company has set a goal of the mid-30 hotel range by end of 2017. But it hasn’t been an easy road. “When we started our company in 2006, it was a large struggle, as it is for most when they buy their first hotel,” says Sandeep Gupta. “I was very excited about this award because, although my father is not the kind of person who likes to be in the spotlight, with all his hard work he truly deserves this recognition. It means the world to me and our family.” u
Congratulations Sunray Group Hotelier Magazine’s Regional Company of the Year.
© 2016 IHG - InterContinental Hotels Group. All rights reserved. Most hotels are individually owned/operated.
Fairmont applauds this year’s Pinnacle Award winners
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SUNRAY GROUP ON THIS YEAR’S PINNACLE AWARD
Congratulations to all the 2016 Pinnacle Award Winners
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CONGRATULATIONS
Congrats to Sunray Group on achieving the 2016 Pinnacle Award for Regional Company of the Year
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Congratulations to Sunray Group on winning the Pinnacle Award for Regional Company of the Year! Your achievement is well-deserved. We’re proud to have you as a partner. Š2016 Choice Hotels Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Awarded ‘Regional Hotel Company of 2015’ by Pinnacle, Easton’s Group of Hotels, has long been at the forefront of the industry and was a pioneer in bringing high quality hotel choices within the reach of a wider market of Canadian travellers. Its flagship hotel properties include the industry’s most renowned brands in increasingly diverse locations – from cosmopolitan downtown Toronto, Montreal and Thunder Bay. TOWNEPLACE SUITES THUNDER BAY
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Michael Beckley, this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner
THE 2016 PINNACLE AWARDS
ROSANNA CAIRA LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
A MAN OF DISTINCTION AFTER FIVE DECADES IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY, MICHAEL BECKLEY HANGS UP HIS HOTELIER HAT, LEAVING BEHIND A LASTING LEGACY ST O RY B Y R OSA N N A C A IRA PH OT OGRAPH BY AND REA S TENS ON
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or more than a decade, Michael Beckley has been trying unsuccessfully to retire from the hotel industry. Somehow, every time he was set to call it a day, circumstances and timing colluded to stand between him and a life of leisure. Finally, last year, just as Marriott Hotels announced its acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, the charming 75-year-old hotelier bid adieu to his colleagues at Marriott Hotels, where, for 15 years, he’s been expanding the brand’s footprint in Canada. Beckley and the hotel industry have been intimately intertwined for the past 50 years. And though he may have finally hung up his hotelier hat, he leaves a lasting mark on the hotel landscape through the countless people he has developed and mentored along the way, his sound business acumen and deal-making and his passion for giving back to the community. As a teenager growing up in England, Beckley knew he wanted to work in the hotel industry. But never did he imagine the legacy he would build with a career spanning five hoteliermagazine.com
decades and seven countries. Born in Hartfordshire, 20 miles north of London, a stint working at a pub to help his parents pay for his private-school education sparked his love of hospitality. “The pub owner was a mentor and at the time, there weren’t many educational access points for hotels,” he says. While career advisors stressed the importance of a university education, prodding him to become a doctor or a lawyer, Beckley stood fast in his conviction. “My mom encouraged me,” he recalls. “She told me ‘Well you will always have a roof over your head and food in your stomach’” — important considerations for a family that had lived through the war. After graduating from Westminster Hotel School, Beckley landed his first job as a management trainee for British Transport Hotels, the British version of Canadian Pacific Hotels, with such marquee names as Gleneagles, St. Andrews and the Great Eastern Hotel. During the company’s mandated five-year training program, Beckley worked as a cook in the U.K., a waiter in France and a frontdesk attendant and night auditor in Germany. “I had been exposed to every single department,” boasts the always natDECEMBER 2016 HOTELIER
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tily attired Beckley, “and it taught me two languages.” While working as a junior assistant manager at a Manchester Hotel, he received a call from a hotel manager he knew in Bermuda, inviting him to join the team at the Pink Beach Club hotel; he jumped at the opportunity. “It really had an appeal. As someone brought up in pinstripe suits and button holes with flowers, the thought of going to Bermuda was kind of sexy,” recalls Beckley. He spent two years at the hotel, followed by another six in Barbados honing his skills and learning from mentors such as Sig Wollman, managing director of the Pink Beach. “He taught me a lot. He had escaped from Siberia and got to the U.S. where he worked his way through many New York hotels. When I left Barbados, he gave me a solid 18/24karat gold ring, and said, ‘Put this on and never take it off; you’re going to be one of the great hoteliers.’” The Caribbean was pivotal in building Beckley’s resort experience and working in all departments helped build his confidence. It’s also where he met his Dutch-born wife Janet, to whom he has been married for 40 years. He learned several important lessons there that still serve him well — one of which was delivered by the head housekeeper at the hotel who also happened to be head of the union. Only days into the job, she took him aside and told him: “Ask rather than tell; lead rather than manage; and learn to be humble.” For many, Beckley will always be associated with Commonwealth Hospitality, a juggernaut with strong roots in the U.K., and at one time, Canada’s largest hotel company. The company was a fertile training ground for many of the industry’s top hoteliers. Hired by Ray Yelle, then president, Beckley arrived in Canada in 1981 as the company’s executive vice-president, with a mission to build the Holiday Inn brand. “It was the largest hotel in Canada at the time with about 60 hotels. It was a big jump for me, with responsibility 36
DECEMBER 2016 HOTELIER
for 14,000 people.” Almost immediately, the personable hotelier began making a name for himself. Over the years, Beckley’s effusive personality — not to mention his suave demeanor and sense of humour — have pulled people to him like a magnet. In fact, his strong people skills are amongst his best qualities.
MICHAEL IS AN ENTREPRENEUR, STATESMAN, DEAL JUNKY AND VISIONARY ALL ROLLED INTO ONE — BILL STONE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CBRE
“Back in those days, we had a good culture and great employee relations. It was like an extended family. We were probably the leader in training programs and social infrastructure. We had a lot of employee loyalty,” he says. Not surprisingly, by 1987, Beckley became president of the company. According to David MacMillan, now an industry consultant, who worked for Beckley at Commonwealth, “At the start and the end, Michael is a family man …but the family grew to include all of us. Michael had the ability to be fair and challenging, strict but flexible, demanding but forgiving. He’s smart, precise and reliable,” says MacMillan. Aside from dealing with the various challenges of running a large company, Beckley was instrumental in making the Canadian brand more attractive as a marketing destination. Spearheading a discussion with Simon Cooper and Robert De Mone, both of whom ran very large companies (Cooper with Delta and
DeMone with Canadian Pacific), the triumvirate decided that with all their contacts combined, they could fuel increased tourism to the country. The result was the launch of an advertising campaign called “Experience Canada,” which spurred big-name stars and Canadians alike to vacation in Canada. The campaign became so successful, the federal government decided to finance it, fuelling the creation of the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) and earning the trio a Pinnacle Award in 1994. By 1999, after dealing with five ownership changes at Commonwealth, just as the hotel world began to consolidate through mergers and acquisitions, Unihost (now Westmont) acquired Commonwealth and Beckley’s job was eliminated. The Caribbean lured him back for a while, this time as a consultant for the Barbados government. By 2001, he was ready to pack it in and retire when he got a fortuitous call from Simon Cooper, who had left his role at Marriott to lead the Ritz Carlton brand. Cooper informed Beckley that Marriott was looking to hire someone to build the brand in Canada and urged him to meet with Marriott execs at its head office in Bethesda, Md. Before he knew it, Beckley was hired as the top man in Canada. He laughingly recalls agreeing to the job with the stipulation that he would only serve a two-year term. Through the years, there were many times when Beckley was set to retire, only to be talked out of it. “I remember once saying to Mr. Marriott, ‘I’m 70 you know,’” and Marriott, who happens to be about 10 years Beckley’s senior replied: “So, what’s your point?” Fifteen years later, Beckley’s mark on Marriott is far-reaching, and his time there remains the highlight of his career. From 17 units when he joined in 2001, to a total of 162 units upon his departure, the company now has a portfolio of 30 brands, including the homegrown Delta brand, and more recently, the acquisition of the Starwood brands. hoteliermagazine.com
“To be given the opportunity to grow a business in a country is one heck of an opportunity,” says Beckley. Over the years, Beckley has learned many lessons and he’s imparted a few of his own. He’s a firm believer in culture. “For whichever organization I’ve been with, culture was as important as the business components of running a company.” Through the myriad ownership changes at Commonwealth, for example, “what always held it together was the culture. It still resembled a family. And, ironically at Marriott, it was a perfect fit because the belief was always, if you look after the associates, they’ll look after the guests and the guests will return.” Secondly, he says, “One has to give back in as many ways as possible.” He’s done that in spades. Beckley served as chair of the Ontario Tourism Strategy under the Bob Rae government; he was co-chair of the fundraising committee for George Brown College’s expansion almost a decade ago;
and he spearheaded the creation of the CTC. “Back in those days, we were competitive but we understood the value of making a bigger pie so everyone would benefit.” And, says Beckley, “It’s very important to look forward to the future, but equally important to leave a legacy behind you.” Ironically, while he has spent a great deal of effort over the years trying to retire, not even a year after finally doing so, he’s back at it, albeit in a part-time capacity working with real-estate brokerage CBRE, where he puts in about 15 hours a week consulting on hotel deals. According to Bill Stone, executive director, CBRE “Michael is an entrepreneur, statesman, deal junky and visionary all rolled into one. He continues to be so well respected and has elegantly expanded our footprint.” While the real-estate stint allows Beckley to be connected to the industry at his own pace, he’s happily devoting the rest of his time
STK Toronto Toronto, ON
Photography: David Whittaker
to his wife, five children and four grandchildren. “If you have health, time becomes a very important commodity and I owe it to Janet and the family to spend time with them,” he says. “We go to Europe every year and we love it.” At the time of this interview, he and his wife were set to jet off to Spain. “Last year we were in the south of France, the year before, Italy, and we have a small home in Boca Raton, Fla.,” where he hopes to spend most of the winter, although he’ll have to wait to head south because his wife prefers to spend Christmas in Canada. Oddly enough, he says, while his wife is from the Islands, she’s the one who loves the change of seasons. He, on the other hand, is a professed sun worshipper who would much prefer to spend the winter in Florida, away from the harsh Canadian weather. For now, however, he’s happy making his wife happy, and she’s happy he’s finally retired — sort of. u
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RAISE THE ROOF THINKING LIKE A HOTELIER HAS HELPED HOUSTON CONSTRUCTION WIN THE 2015 SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR AWARD S TORY B Y S HA N E SC H I C K PHOTOGR A P H B Y M A R G A R E T M UL L I G A N
Mandy Farmer, president and CEO of Accent Inns and Hotel Zed
THE 2016 PINNACLE AWARDS
HOTELIER OF THE YEAR
KEEPING IT REAL HOTELIER OF THE YEAR, MANDY FARMER, SOWS SUCCESS THROUGH LEVITY
ST O RY B Y IRIS B EN A R O I A PH OT OGRAPH BY JEFFREY BO SDET
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hen faced with a self-absorbed dandy with a handlebar mustache who ignores you from behind the front desk of a hipster hotel, there’s not much you can do. Except feel rebuffed and disappointed, which essentially describes Mandy Farmer’s experience. The president and CEO of B.C.’s Accent Inns, whose properties include the two fabulous, fun, retro-themed Hotel Zeds, encountered the clerk a few years ago in Portland, Ore. She had gone to visit a hotel brand popular for its cool quotient. “I was super excited to stay there,” says Farmer, 43. “The guy at the front had this cute, curled mustache and he was so absorbed [with it] that he had no time of day for this middle-aged woman in front of him,” she says. “I have never felt more dowdy and unwelcome.” The deflated reception sparked something in Farmer. She promised her guests would never feel jilted by staff: “I vowed we would have authentic individuals at all of our properties.” That’s exactly who travellers meet at Farmer’s B.C.-centric hoteliermagazine.com
hotels in Burnaby, Kelowna, Kamloops, Richmond and Victoria where she is based. “[Our employees] are not cool kids, they are just awesome, beautiful people. Their behaviour has nothing to do with trends or fashion,” she says. “We look for quirky or open-hearted people for our team,” adds Farmer, who oversees 200 employees in a hotel chain boasting 755 rooms. While the majority of company heads cleave to 25-cent words, Farmer isn’t fussed about appearances. She uses the word “awesome” liberally and signs-off work emails as “chief rebel” and “bike lover” — Farmer meets her cycling club at the crack of dawn for an adrenalin-pumped 45-km ride and is home for 7 a.m. to get her two kids ready for school before heading to the office. Maybe it’s the exercise, the upbringing, or both — her dad Terry started Accent Inns in the 1980s, so hospitality is in her genes — that explains Farmer’s likeability and work ethic. She is earthy and energetic and genuinely wants to create a lively, laidback vibe across the hotel brand. “One of the biggest things I try to do is make this a fun workplace,” DECEMBER 2016 HOTELIER
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she says. And she’s humble, to boot. “I am nothing without the people here. I have a director of Ops who is my right-hand man and he oversees all of the properties, so the general managers report to him,” she says. “The GMs are the leaders of the property and I trust them to do an amazing job. My job is to be the cheerleader and the crazy visionary who comes up with the weird, kooky ideas.” As the sentiment goes, happy employees thrive in a happy place. According to Shawn Achor, the author of The Happiness Advantage, that’s not just lip service — motivated people translate to a better bottom line, so less stress should be the incentive for organizations. “Happiness leads to greater levels of profits” for companies that take the right steps, he said recently in Fast Company, a magazine that specializes in progressive business leaders. This is clear with Accent Inns, where revenues have increased 25 per cent since 2014. Accent Inns also garnered recognition at the Victoria Real Estate Board Commercial Building Awards in the hotel category for the rebranding of Hotel Zed. In turn, Destination British Columbia highlighted the hotel when it unveiled its new $2.6-million marketing strategy late last year. On a personal note, a cool coup happened earlier this year when Farmer was appointed Honorary Captain of the Navy for CFB Esquimalt, the largest naval base in Canada. But back to everyone’s favourite topic — fun — which Farmer notes doesn’t have to be over-the-top. “In Victoria, we have a ritual every Friday afternoon where we drop everything at 3 p.m. and we eat treats,” she says. “We try to outdo each other to see who has the best treats.” Other feelgood events for employees include laser tag, bowling and river rafting. Mirth is a motif in the hotel designs, too. At Accent Inns, a “super-clean and moderately-priced down-to-earth, friendly hotel chain,” as Farmer describes it, lighthearted 40
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touches in the signage make for a relaxing stay. In a digital-deluged age where everyone is too cool for school, you might expect a jaded reception from guests — but not so. On a TripAdvisor post, one traveller praises the lack of pretention: “Instead of the typical no smoking, do-not-disturb signs ... this hotel [has one that says] ‘Where there’s smoke... there’s a surcharge.’” Another guest lauds the rubber duckies wearing hair curlers as “the best idea” and the pencils instructing guests not to forget to steal them as “very funny.” But the best example of Farmer’s humour is manifested in Hotel Zed;
“MY JOB IS TO BE THE CHEERLEADER AND THE CRAZY VISIONARY WHO COMES UP WITH THE WEIRD, KOOKY IDEAS” — MANDY FARMER the concept that saw dumpy, dated motels transformed into “boutique motels,” as Farmer calls them. The first one opened in Victoria in 2014, the second in Kelowna this past summer. In tribute to the 1960s and ’70s, the hotels offer interactive social spaces for guests to let loose. At the Kelowna motel, they can play in Ping-Pong lounges or channel their best Saturday-Night-Fever moves at the mini disco, adorned with a fog machine and disco balls. Or they can borrow roller-skates to ride on the nearby boardwalk or hop on a Volkswagen shuttle bus for a tour of the sights.
Farmer devised the idea for Hotel Zed about a decade ago. “But it was a 10-year battle for me trying to convince [my two business partners] that I had a good idea.” They eventually acquiesced after seeing the popularity of Accent Inns. “The first Hotel Zed was a huge success,” she says proudly, “but yet again, when another property came along [that I wanted to transform] it was a struggle.” One person who immediately embraced the idiosyncratic idea was her dad. He’s retired but still comes into the office when he’s not travelling the world, says Farmer. They talk shop over coffee (Farmer calls him “her business partner, mentor and best friend”) and his presence is always welcome. “He’s a fun-loving, charismatic man. He says hello to the housekeepers and finds out how they’re doing,” she says. “That’s a huge job and it’s an important one.” She should know. At 15, one of her first gigs at a bed-and-breakfast in Victoria was in housekeeping, then waitressing. At 17, she took a job behind the front desk at Accent Inns, leaving it for stints at The Empress and The Delta Ocean Pointe. At 27, after completing an undergraduate degree in business from McGill University in Montreal and an MBA from Royal Roads University in Victoria, she returned to Accent Inns to assume a sales and manager position, where she, of course, remains today. There are more exciting endeavours planned for the future (of course there is, this is Mandy Farmer, who is never content with hanging in the sidelines). “We’ve got something interesting coming down the pipeline that might take us in different directions. I’m looking at a few revolutionary angles,” she says, deliberately coy about what exactly that will entail, though she hints at expanding Accent Inn and Hotel Zed. “I’ve still got to flesh it out and get the business approvals on that one,” she says. Farmer is fine to passionately plug away. And why not? “I’m doing what I love,” she says, “scheming for my next big thing.” u hoteliermagazine.com
Congratulations to Mandy Farmer of Accent Inns Hotelier of the Year
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Afsar Ali Khan, Avendra’s director, Field Support and Customer Relations, Central & Eastern Canada
THE 2016 PINNACLE AWARDS
SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR
THE POWER OF ONE AVENDRA’S CANADIAN BUSINESS MODEL KEEPS HOTEL OPERATIONS COMPETITIVE IN CHALLENGING MARKETS
ST O RY B Y D EN IS E D EV EAU PH OT OGRAPH BY A N DREA STEN SO N
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vendra Canada is certainly no stranger to the hotel community, and vice versa. “The hotel industry is 95 per cent of what we do,” says Herman Schumacher, VP, Strategic Accounts and Field Support at Avendra, whose Canadian operation is the recipient of this year’s Pinnacle Award for Supplier of the Year. The Rockville, Md.-based company was formed in 2001 through the cooperative efforts of four organizations — Canadian-born Fairmont, Marriott, Hyatt and ClubCorp — who banded together to create a new kind of procurement model. “Despite the fact they were competing with each other, they also understood they were buying products they didn’t compete on, such as light bulbs,” Schumacher says. “So they asked: how could they leverage that buying power for the greater good?” The collective goal to ensure a strategic lens, which could meet hotel budgets and guest satisfaction requirements, was applied to any procurement decisions. Today, Avendra in North America leverages more than $4 billion of annual purchases while at the same time offering expert advisory serhoteliermagazine.com
vices and in-depth purchasing data and analysis. The supply chain it has built is vast and complex, bringing in products from all corners of the globe to service more than 7,000 member properties throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico — 200 of which are located in Canada. With 290 associates throughout North America, including four in Canada, Avendra runs a very lean operation, says Afsar Ali Khan, director, Field Support and Customer Relations for Avendra in Canada. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t manage a complex business model.” Khan has been the voice and face of Avendra in Canada for the past 15 years and says the company’s growth in this country has been significant — last year saw a 20-per-cent gain over the previous year. This year, growth is tracking in the eight-per-cent range. Membership with Avendra is free, but requires a minimum purchasing commitment per year. “That allows us to go back to the supply community for the best pricing,” Khan explains, adding the company works with both individual properties as well as hotel management companies to manage total portfolios. Customers can select from any or all of Avendra’s programs, DECEMBER 2016 HOTELIER
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which include food-and-beverage, rooms, engineering, administrative, golf and spa. Carmen Villarin, vice-president, Finance for CK Atlantis, which operates two of its three properties in Canada, says despite the fact her operations are comparatively small, Avendra has allowed her to leverage the buying power of larger companies to compete. “The moment we signed up, our costs went down by about 15 per cent. Now we purchase 80 per cent of products through their suppliers. With all the industry consolidation going on, it’s important that independents like us can survive and compete.” A more important factor for Villarin, however, is integrity. “Almost every year I get a cheque back if a supplier has charged more than they should. It’s great to have the security that someone is watching out for us.” The support goes beyond the properties to the suppliers themselves.
Avendra has an expansive list of 800 contracts across North America, 170 of which are extendable to Canada. Out of that 170, 90 per cent of Avendra’s spend is with Canadian suppliers, Khan reports. “People want to do business with others in their neighbourhood, so we try to do as much as we can with in-country suppliers.” Avendra’s inventory list covers almost all sundries a hotel needs — with the exception of the bricks and mortar, IT and alcoholic beverages. Products range from food, china, tableware and uniforms to engineering supplies, service contracts, landscaping, laundry and housekeeping. The company has built-in flexibility in terms of catering to brands and programs, Khan adds. “We can supply any brand, whatever the tier. Flexibility is important, as all brands want to be something different.” The real secret to Avendra’s success is the strong relationships it has built with multiple stakeholders within the hotel community, he believes.
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“We work with many of the functional leaders who oversee different aspects of operations, as well as supplier partners, to set goals and make sure whatever we do aligns with their brand and the marketplace.” Avendra also prides itself on keeping its end-users up-to-date on new trends and supplier changes, Khan says. “Everyone at a hotel has multiple tasks, so we strive to align with our end-users at a local level and be a trusted advisor in the field. Sometimes we form development teams from different operations to look at suppliers and how they process their products. If a property has a 100-km radius policy, we give our partners a list of what they can source in their area.” Tony Tamburro, GM, JW Marriott, The Rosseau Muskoka Resort & Spa, has been working with Avendra for the nine years since the resort opened. “When a resort brings on a partner or vendor, that partnership needs to work for both sides. Avendra
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has the same philosophy we do — we are all about our customers.” There’s also the bottom line to consider, he adds. “Avendra is literally a one-stop shop that allows us to leverage its purchasing power and pass the savings on to the property. On average I’d say those savings range between seven and 13 per cent. Also, the vendors are pre-screened, so all the liabilities have been taken care of. We don’t need to waste unnecessary time because they do all the checks and balances.” Avendra’s Canadian operations may be lean, but whenever there is an issue, there is always someone on the ground to help through the centralized customer-support team that covers all time zones, says Khan. “Our customer-care contact, Nora Cornish, is remarkable in understanding customer needs and helping to resolve any potential issues.” One testament to the company’s success with the Canadian hospitality community is its annual supplier
show, which alternates between Toronto and Montreal. According to Khan, the sixth show in Toronto had 134 suppliers and drew 1,000 customers. The first year they had 50 vendors. “We hold this show for decision-makers, whether it’s general managers, purchasing managers, engineers, or executive chefs. Nobody else does that with their suppliers.” Charity and community support are also an integral part of Avendra’s commitment to local markets and the company runs defined programs and policies and associate-driven causes ranging from medical foundations to disaster-recovery efforts. On Charity Denim days, for example, Avendra associates donate $5 to support a sponsored cause — raising more than $20,000 (in $5 increments/4,000 donations) and supporting 27 charitable organizations in 2015 alone. Additionally, Avendra encourages each of its departments to spend a half-day doing community service together each year. Associates donate
their time cleaning parks, packing lunches for children in need, working in the local food bank or assisting any number of local charities. More than 600 hours of community service were provided by Avendra associates in 2015 alone. Throughout the year, Avendra associates donate food, school supplies, toys and clothes to local charity groups. The company’s newest initiative is an annual scholarship program through the Canadian Hospitality Foundation (CHF) worth $1,200. The company is also doing its part to promote sustainability along the supply chain, forming partnerships with customers and suppliers to create opportunities for collaborative, sustainable decision making. In the meantime, the Canadian operation continues to grow its customer base. “We’re continuing to see new customers interested in joining the program,” Schumacher says. “The ball keeps rolling — and it is getting bigger as we speak.” u
CONGRATULATIONS AVENDRA CANADA! On behalf of Kruger Products, a warm congratulations on receiving the “Supplier of the Year” award in this year’s Hotelier Pinnacle Awards.
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Congratulations! Congratulations, Avendra, on winning Hotelier’s 2016 Supplier of the Year Pinnacle Award. For years, Avendra has successfully matched great suppliers to customers’ specific needs. We value your organization’s work and partnership, and look forward to many more years of making everyday experiences extraordinary experiences, together.
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H A N D C R A F T E D O R GA N I C T E A
We would like to congratulate Avendra and the other Pinnacle Award recipients on their awards in recognition of their role in inspiring, and transforming the foodservice industry Lisa Kermizis Abraham lkabraham@imsfood.com Gwen Hannaford ghannaford@imsfood.com
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Congratulations to our partner
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CONGRATULATIONS TO AVENDRA! Hector Larivée is proud to be a partner of Avendra and a participant in your success!
Michel Larivée Tél: 514-521-8331 vice-président Ventes 1-800-663-5674 Cell: 514-386-9868 mlarivee@hectorlarivee.com www.hectorlarivee.com
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ACongratulations WELL-DESERVED REWARD. to our friends at AvendrA on receiving SUPPLIER of the year.
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IMITATION IS THE GREATEST FORM OF FLATTERY BUT
THERE’S ONLY ONE CANADIAN HOTELIER While others may lay claim to the Hotelier moniker, there’s only one Hotelier!
Since 1989, Hotelier has been covering Canada’s $18-billion hotel industry. Our coverage is unparalleled and unrivalled. We write about the news that matters to the industry, from topics of interest to profiles on the movers and shakers in the industry, to controversial issues that are making headlines.
• It’s national (More than 10,000 subscribers and more than 45,000 readers) • It’s authoritative (Anticipated and trusted by the industry’s leaders) • It’s audited (Third-party CCAB audit ensures we reach who we say we reach) • It’s trusted (Readers take action on what they read) • It has integrity (We walk the talk) • It has longevity in the field (It’s been around since 1989).
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s n o i t a l u t Congra CONGRATULATIONS to Avendra and Afsar ALI Khan
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Kostuch Media Launches
N I E D A M A D A N CA BIG BOLD ,
, AND BOUNTIFUL
A YEAR-LONG PHOTO CONTEST
TO HELP CELEBRATE CANADA’S 150TH BIRTHDAY To coincide with Canada’s 150th birthday, KML readers are invited to tap into their creative side by entering the “Made in Canada” photo contest. Throughout 2017, readers can snap pictures of various iconic products, ingredients, menu dishes as well as hotels and resorts that reflect a Canadian sensibility and provide a visual perspective on what this country is all about. Each month a judging panel comprised of the F&H and Hotelier editorial team, photographers, contest sponsors, editorial board members and graphic designers will choose a total of 10 photos that reflect strong composition, exposure and focus while adhering to a Canadian theme. By the end of 2017, the magazines will have a collection of 150 images from which to choose 10 “Grand Winners,” whose submissions will be featured in the December issue of both F&H and Hotelier magazine.
Winners will be announced and fêted at 2017 December Pinnacle Awards Luncheon.
UPLOAD YOUR PHOTO:
#KMLMadeinCanada
or email jporter@kostuchmedia.com
Submit pictures in the following categories: • Food: appetizers (soups, salads); proteins,veggies, fruits, desserts • Drinks, cocktails, wines, beers; • Ingredients: spices, herbs, maple syrup, et cetera • Iconic restaurants, iconic hotels and resorts, attractions • Hotel rooms, lobby spaces, guestrooms, suites, bars, • Personalities: chefs, hoteliers, farmers/ producers/suppliers.
For Contest Rules and Regulations visit hoteliermagazine.com/ made-in-canada
TRENDS
GOOD POINTS Can a loyalty program really keep guests engaged? BY SARAH MACLEAN
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anadians are a loyal bunch. In fact, according to Aimia’s 2015 Loyalty Lens report, 89 per cent of us belong to some form of loyalty program, compared to 85 per cent globally. We use our loyalty rewards for treats (28 per cent), essentials (22 per cent) or a mix of both (45 per cent). Today’s increasingly savvy consumer understands the best loyalty programs are all about give-and-take, but while 31 per cent of Canadians consider their personal
hoteliermagazine.com
data “highly valuable” to the companies they choose to share it with, only eight per cent feel they’re actually receiving better offers as a result of sharing their details. That’s a problem Best Western Hotels & Resorts is looking to rectify. “We look at our Best Western Rewards Program as a platform that allows us to establish relationships with customers,” explains Tammy Lucas, vicepresident, Marketing at Best Western Hotels & Resorts. “It’s the backbone of our relationship with them,” she says of the award-winning 25-year-old program. “It really is an extension of our customer service and the program allows us to communicate effectively with our customers.” DECEMBER 2016 HOTELIER
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LOYAL FOLLOWING
The benefits of administering a hotel loyalty program can include a closer relationship with customers that, through targeted offers and rewards, encourages them to book directly, visit your hotel more often, stay longer and spend more money while they are there. “It’s a delicate balance using data to better understand your customers, because lots of people are still very much focused on their privacy,” acknowledges Lucas. “My personal data and my privacy is important to me; however, I’m also expecting brands to understand me and serve me up relevant, targeted offers.” As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. With these benefits comes increased expectations. “Our guests are smarter, sharper and their expectations have been elevated so they have certain expectations of how this relationship should work,” says Lucas. “The way our customers are consuming information is much more empowered than in the past, so we have to make sure we’re on our toes.” POWER IN NUMBERS
The Atlantica Hotel in Halifax, N.S. was previously a nationally branded hotel whose owners decided to go the independent route about seven years ago. Naturally, the company 56
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wanted to retain its existing customers, who had been accustomed to collecting points during their stays through the national program. “A loyalty program was very important to them and so it’s very important to us,” says Colleen Forward, director of Sales and Marketing for the Atlantica. The hotel initially developed its own loyalty program, but found the rewards it could offer as an independent hotel were limited. Business travellers, for instance, who are consistently among the most avid hotel loyalty program participants, often don’t want to return to the destinations they visit on business when they are travelling for leisure. In March 2016, The Atlantica launched a new program — Atlantica Advantage Rewards — in partnership with Voilà Hotel Rewards (Voilà) through Hospitality Marketing Concepts (HMC). Established in 1988, B.C.-based HMC’s offerings include white-labelled points-based loyalty programs, with Voilà serving as the individual hotel program’s supporting brand (similar to the Star Alliance frequent-flyer program). Voilà, launched in 2008, is the world’s number-1 loyalty program for independent hotels, uniting a network of more than 250 properties. “We’re here to do two things: one,
On Sept. 23, 2016, Marriott International and Starwood Hotels and Resorts completed their merger, making Marriott the largest hotel company in the world with 1.1 million rooms in more than 100 countries. Marriott’s first move following this historic deal? Reaching out to the newly expanded membership of its loyalty program. In an open letter to existing members of the Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest programs, president and CEO Arne Sorenson noted that since announcing plans for the merger members had “raised questions about the impact of the merger on your membership.” He wrote: “Serving our valued guests has always been our priority at Marriott and your feedback is important to us as we collaborate with Starwood on the vision for our loyalty programs. After we become one company, we expect to run parallel loyalty programs while we engage in the complicated work of integration. During this period, there is no change to how you manage your Marriott Rewards account or book reservations, and you will maintain your existing member benefits for some time. In fact, we don’t anticipate launching a newly combined program until 2018.” Sorenson went on to describe the newly expanded benefits of belonging to Marriott’s loyalty program, including access to a portfolio of 5,500 hotels and reports, more “unique benefits to help members pursue their passions and greater opportunities for exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime experiences” and personalized service before, during and after their stay. If Marriott is able to keep its promise to members that the service and rewards they receive will only be enhanced by this news, it will enjoy a unique advantage due to members being able to collect points at more hotels and resorts than ever before — and then redeem them for rewards anywhere in the world. It’s a powerful tool that will put pressure on other brands to ensure they are offering their members the greatest possible value in exchange for their ever more precious loyalty.
to provide a hotel loyalty program that rivals the national chains in terms of its benefits and its value proposition and, two, unite those hotels to appeal to those who prefer hoteliermagazine.com
Colliers International Hotels is pleased to congratulate the following industry leaders for their outstanding achievements in the Canadian lodging industry. Best wishes for continued success!
REGIONAL COMPANY OF THE YEAR
COMPANY OF THE YEAR
www.collierscanada.com/hotels
HOTELIER OF THE YEAR: MANDY FARMER
independent boutique hotels or travel to areas that aren’t serviced by the big chains,” explains Peter Gorla, vice-president and CMO, HMC and managing director – Voilà. “What we’ve enjoyed about the program [since launching in March 2016 is] that it offers the ability for guests to collect points they can redeem at a vast network of hotels internationally,” says Forward. “Or they can choose to get gift cards for a number of different partners. The administration of the program is handled through [HMC] and it is professional, well-designed communication.” Forward says all hotels — brands, independents, et cetera — are looking for ways to encourage guests to book directly, which is the most cost-effective channel for hotels. “Having a loyalty program is a great way to incentivize people to do that because people only collect points when they are booking directly. They don’t collect points if they are booking through third-party channels,” says Forward. Gorla explains that while large hotel chains have the leverage to negotiate reasonable commissions for online travel agents, independent boutique hotels don’t have that kind of power and typically pay about 25-per-cent commission on these bookings. Gorla estimates that, even with the costs associated with administering a loyalty program, hotels save 19 to 20 per cent every time a customer books directly in order to collect loyalty points.
“WHAT THOSE EXPECTATIONS LOOK LIKE AND HOW WE EXECUTE THEM WILL VARY FROM PERSONTO-PERSON, BUT OUR FUNDAMENTAL GOAL IS TO CONSISTENTLY DELIVER INDUSTRYLEADING PERSONALIZED EXPERIENCES, WITH GREATER VALUE AND MORE BENEFITS” — AARON GLICK, HILTON HHONORS
GIVE GUESTS WHAT THEY REALLY WANT
With 55 million members in 105 countries across 13 brands, the Hilton HHonors program was ranked highest among hotel loyalty and rewards programs for overall customer
satisfaction in J.D. Power’s 2016 Hotel Loyalty/Rewards Program Satisfaction Report. And the program continues to grow — last quarter, Hilton HHonors enrollment was up nearly 80 per cent year-over-year, adding 2.4 million new members in Q2 alone. “Our job is to make sure our members are always feeling honoured,” says Aaron Glick, Hilton HHonours VP. “Hilton HHonors members are our greatest asset and we’re constantly trying to stay a step ahead of what our guests want. We’re continuously innovating, but the one thing that never changes is that our guests want exceptional experiences that are relevant and personal to them. What those expectations look like and how we execute them will vary from person-to-person, but our fundamental goal is to consistently deliver industry-leading personalized experiences, with greater value and more benefits.” A balanced approach to serving guests’ wants and needs is a hallmark of successful programs. While the hospitality industry is all about great experiences and guests appreciate feeling pampered, they also want to be assured they are getting solid value through their participation. Thirdparty hotel loyalty program rankings also give significant weight to the “earn-and-burn” ratio of programs — the cost of earning points versus their redemption value.
Lucas believes many hotel loyalty program administrators have devalued their offerings in recent years
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by increasing the cost of collecting points and/or the amount of points required to redeem for rewards. She declines to name names and, according to J.D. Power’s latest report, slightly more than threequarters (77 per cent) of members say their program is equally as valuable as it was in 2015, with just 11 per cent indicating they believe their program is less valuable than the year before. “We remain focused on continuing to strengthen our position,” says Lucas. “For example, the actual threshold, or points, it takes to redeem for free nights — many of our competitors have increased those. We’ve tried to go the other way and make sure our free-night points levels are very competitive, if not one of the lowest in the industry, globally.” THE FUTURE IS MOBILE
Increasingly, connections of all kinds are happening through mobile
phones and this shift is creating a plethora of new opportunities for hotel loyalty programs. “People are becoming more reliant on mobile phones — to give us directions, to help us pick a great restaurant and to manage our daily lives,” says Glick. “This is also true in hospitality and loyalty: travellers are increasingly mobile and it’s vital that hotel loyalty programs take this into consideration. So we gave Hilton HHonors members the ability to turn their smartphones into the “remote control” of their stay experience with the Hilton HHonors app. A guest wants a room with a view? They can use the app to view the hotel floor plan and pick their room location before they arrive. Don’t like lines? Use the Digital Key to bypass check-in. Hungry? Uber Local Scene provides a list of restaurants and nightlife locations based on the drop-off/pick-up popularity with Uber riders.” Features such as these have made the Hilton Hhonors app the top-rated hospital-
ity app on the Apple App Store. It is downloaded every six seconds — or 600 times every hour. How the hotel loyalty programs of tomorrow will leverage mobile technology to better understand guests and consistently deliver what really matters to them is anyone’s guess, but at the end of the day, the principles of warm hospitality combined with solid value are timeless. “The human aspect of delivering on strong customer experience and delivering on the expectations of our guests relative to their experience, is a make-or-break opportunity,” concludes Lucas. “You can have a great program, but if you don’t have the customer-service angle or if you’re not following through on your customers’ expectations, they are not going to stay with you or your rewards program. There’s no reward strong enough to make that happen. It really comes back to the foundation of customer service.” u
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SEGMENT REPORT
HOME AWAY FROM HOME BY JENNIFER FEBBRARO
Whether it’s a staycation or a work affair, the extended-stay segment has hit its growth curve BY JENNIFER FEBBRARO hoteliermagazine.com
DECEMBER 2016 HOTELIER
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R
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EXTENDED-STAY HOTELS IN CANADA EXTENDED-STAY PROPERTIES ACTUAL OCC
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016F
72%
73%
72%
73%
73%
ADR
$136
$139
$144
$150
$149
CHANGE
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016F
OCC
—
1%
-1%
1%
0%
ADR
—
$3
$5
$6
-$1
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016F
ALL PROPERTIES ACTUAL OCC
62%
63%
64%
64%
63%
ADR
$129
$132
$137
$144
$147
CHANGE
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016F
OCC
—
1%
1%
0%
-1%
ADR
—
$3
$5
$7
$3
don’t participate in “dual branding” are witnessing momentum and a need to increase choices for the extendedstay guest. “One thing that’s really important is that the property reflect the amenities and comfort of home,” says Jeanette Costa, vice-president of Sales and Marketing at Crescent Hotels & Resorts based in Fairfax, Va. “That includes convenience amenities, such as free laundry, fully equipped kitchens and storage lockers, at no extra cost.” Costa notes that an extended-stay
hotel normally runs at approximately 55 to 65 per cent occupancy. “This is the optimal mix,” she says. “But it depends on how other sectors in the market are managing, the time of year, or even current events.” Given regularity of natural disasters relative to climate change, Costa says it’s important for a hotelier to not just cater to the business class, but to remember the segment also remains key for the demographic relocating during a crisis. “Extended-stay includes everything, including families that
hoteliermagazine.com
SOURCE: CBRE HOTELS
emember Richard Gere in Pretty Woman — the decadent playboy who lived in luxurious hotels and traded personal stories with the hotel manager and concierge? Back then, the very notion of living in a hotel was far-fetched. But in today’s hospitality industry, hotels are being built for that very purpose. The extended-stay segment is trending towards expansion and few brands are willing to be left out of the development loop. Brian Stanford, senior managing director at CBRE Hotels, says the dual-branded hotel model is the industry mechanism of change. “As a way to maximize the value of amenities, the dual-branded hotel model can cater to the long- and short-term guest — without having to build two sets of amenities,” explains Stanford. “The extended-stay hotel will ultimately run at a higher occupancy rate and ADR, which benefits the select-service brand.” Stanford states the occupancy numbers regularly run several points higher than the select-service occupancy rates, while ADR remains consistent between the two. But even extended-stay hotels that
have been displaced by an emergency,” she says. “Or it may include families relocating temporarily while they search for a permanent home. That’s where extras really make a difference — to a family in transition.” Whatever the reason for the industry turn, extended-stay properties have seen a five-per-cent leap in growth and development. “We’re seeing a supply growth in this area, especially from upper-tier brands,” explains Stanford. “Take the Homewood Suites by Hilton or Residence Inn by Marriott, which are relatively new to the Canadian market — these are considered upscale in terms of the brand spectrum. It’s a development within the sector we never would have seen say, 20 years ago.” In part, globalization has required businesspeople to travel and stay for longer periods of time. “Development is bound to happen in parts of the country where people are travelling for work, such as Alberta,” says SilverBirch Hotel & Resorts’ CEO Steve
HOME SUITE HOME Extended-stay properties have become a haven for business travellers who are away from home for longer periods of time
Giblin, who opened the first Hiltonbranded Home2Suites in Canada. It’s one of the first Hilton-exclusive extended-stay offerings with trademark services such as an “Inspired Table” complimentary breakfast, free Wi-Fi, a 24-hour business centre, digital check-in options and lots of convenient extras such as a desk on
wheels for guests to relocate their work areas within the spacious suites. On June 1, 2016, the property won the Edmonton Mayor’s Award for accessibility, which honoured the development’s inclusivity of design. Not only are Home2Suites by Hilton West Edmonton accessible, but the property allows the possibil-
ity for disabled guests to upgrade their rooms to larger suites with bigger bathrooms, roll-in showers or bathtubs and wheelchair-accessible kitchens — with appliances, counters and sinks designed to be operable while seated. “It’s the attention to detail that will really win you back customer loyalty,” says Giblin. “In this industry, return guests are crucial.” “There’s also a lot of team building that happens at extended-stay properties,” says Costa. “Or you may have a project team come for an extended stay. These are teams of people that usually arrive on a Monday and then check-out by Thursday.” For these types of short stays, Costa says attracting the millennial guest is key. “There are a lot of young, single people who come through, working on a contract. It’s just the nature of work these days. So you want to make sure your amenities and food-and-beverage options cater to that demographic.”
A LUXURY SUITE OF HOTELS IN CANADA. For over 50 years, Oxford has led the Canadian marketplace in service and scale. Oxford owns a collection of luxury hotel and resort properties across Canada which represent some of the most renowned experiences the country has to offer and which are located in some of the country’s most treasured locations. www.oxfordproperties.com
Steve Gupta, CEO of the Gupta Group and Easton’s Group of Hotels, recently opened a Courtyard Marriott and a TownePlace Suites by Marriott. “This was a 20-year dream in the making,” says Gupta. “But I think it will become a trend in terms of combining hotels depending on use. Extended-stay is a growing segment.” Gupta’s notion was controversial because of the single front desk and the two concepts rolled into a single tower, but he says it works. “[TownePlace Suites] caters to extended-stay guests by offering much more space, free buffet breakfast and other business options,” he notes. Extended-stay guests enjoy breakfast on the top floor of the building, where extensive Toronto skylines stretch before them. “But it’s also a huge advantage because of the large amount of venue space.” With more than 13,000 sq. ft. on the main floor, participants at a conference or multiday event can return to the rooms without ever leaving the building.
There are, however, cautionary tales. “Extended-stay buildings will bring to them a number of different types of guests, so developers really need to take noise into consideration when designing a building,” says Costa. She notes that most of the complaints received in this kind of property relate to noise level with neighbours or door slamming in the corridors. “Some people may just really be trying to get their rest — even during the daytime hours, so it’s important to ensure noise doesn’t travel.” With an ever-increasing millennial demographic, there really is nothing more important than digital connectivity. To this end, Costa warns there is no such thing as being too current. “Managers and staff will need to revisit their technology plan frequently leading up to installation,” cautions Costa. “With the quick-changing nature of the tech world, your plan could change within months — and your brand new hotel could already be outdated by the time you open.” u
OPERATIONS
CRISIS AVERTED
Having a crisis-management plan in place can save hotels from negative consequences BY ANDREW COPPOLINO
A CRISIS is a specific
and unforeseen economic, environmental, social or political event that represents a significant disruption and turning-point in the normal course of day-to-day living. For hotels, a crisis is a phenomenon, large or small, whose magnitude can, at best, damage reputation and brand and impede daily operations and, at worst, result in long-term and potentially irrevocable financial damage.
PLAN FOR THE WORST
Because of the difficulty of anticipating crises and their potential gravity, investment in crisis-management preparation is the surest way to see business return to normal in the post-crisis environment. Despite the paradox, anticipating crises and planning for the unexpected is key to buffering potential negative impact on business, according to Samantha Jacobs, founder and president of Hemsworth Communications. Crisis teams, she says, should also have regular meetings to ensure all staff understands individual roles and responsibilities if a threat were hoteliermagazine.com
to arise. “Preparation to ensure the safety and security of all involved — as well as outlining steps for immediate information and education — are the most important factors of crisis management,” Jacobs says, adding hoteliers must find best practices within the industry that work for their business. “Establish an electronic-communications plan which specifically outlines steps to take in response to certain situations.” The plan must then be re-visited, updated regularly and be familiar and accessible to the crisis-communications team, she stresses. Crises can be events in the physical realm such as floods, fire, SARSlike health issues and others such as food poisoning of guests. Financial catastrophe in national and global money markets can also be considered a serious long-term threat to the hospitality business, as can short-term threats such as terrorism and building lock-downs, business scams and fraud, cyber-attacks and external infrastructure and technology malfunctions such as computer
failures and power outages. Internally, examples such as improper employee behaviour, malfeasance and retaliation could reach a crisis level that is damaging to hotel business. Whether they are internal or external in origin, the reaction to a crisis must be a planned and documented enactment of a well-considered and practiced process — flexible enough to respond to unknown possibilities and threats and updated regularly. While it’s impossible to plan for every unknown threat, information is power: planning should get the right information and procedures in the right hands at the right time. Break the process into “pre-event, real time and post-event” modes. What management does during each of those stages of a crisis is vital to getting back to normal business as quickly as possible. Training takes over once the groundwork of planning for a crisis has been established, according to Graeme McIntosh, director of Business Development at Torontobased Risk Solutions — a fire, life and safety consultancy focused on DECEMBER 2016 HOTELIER
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LEARNING FROM THE PAST Although they had an inkling something could be in the wind, a labour disruption in the Montreal hotel sector caught several businesses by surprise this past summer as hotels began to wind down after a busy Quebec tourist season. “While it wasn’t a catastrophic event in the city or the world, it blindsided us and we had to deal with it quickly,” says Sandeep Gupta, vice-president of Sunray Group, based in Toronto. As Gupta explains, during a labour and bargaining situation, one of the 10 hotels couldn’t come to terms during negotiations and housekeeping staff walked off the job for a day. “It was a significant crisis,” adds Gupta. “We were sold out that day.” For managers, the short-term crisis prompted a long-term plan — at the same time it evoked the principle that necessity is the mother of invention for Gupta. He says a crisis requires a nimble reaction and that size and duration don’t matter. After the dust had settled and it was back to business, the first step he took was to put together a team and start crisis-management planning for just such future issues. The resulting crisis strategy is what he refers to as a basic procedure for preparation, response, recovery and mitigation and prevention in the future. “We now have a four-step process in preparing for crisis management. We elected a crisis-management team within our company that consists of the top-end executives and we prepare for a crisis that may happen in the future,” says Gupta. “From preparation, we then look at potential response to a crisis, followed by looking at how we recover. The final step after recovery is how do we mitigate and prevent it from happening again.” In addition, Kenny Gibson, Sunray Group’s president, Asset Management, says that while you can’t anticipate a crisis, training staff properly and making sure information is travelling up and down the chain of command is important. So is a general awareness and an eye on the horizon.
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hotel infrastructure and fire-andsafety compliance in light of the serious threat that fire represents. “It comes down to training. If you don’t have properly trained staff then you are not going to have a successful outcome amid a crisis, whatever that may be,” McIntosh says. “Even if it’s a flood and you have to evacuate the hotel, or parts of the hotel, if you have training in place, the evacuation will go a lot more smoothly. That means business continuity and a faster track back to normal conditions for your guests as well.” Jacobs breaks crisis management into internal and external points of action. Internally, hotel management must first ensure the safety and security of staff, guests “and anyone on property” with information about what is happening, she says. “A pre-designated crisis-response team ensures all actions during the threat are automated, with scripted roles identified in advance, so hotel management is not spending time delegating in the midst of a situation.” CRITICAL TEAMS AND COMMUNICATIONS
A hotel needs to align its plans with its external allies, including its legal and PR teams, Jacobs says. “People think public-relations agencies simply send statements and releases out to media. However, the right agency can help develop both proactive and reactive communications strategies, messaging and responses,” she says, adding the right agency can be a strategic partner in crisis response. “Depending on the type of crisis, a PR agency can and should designate a person to provide full-time off-site or on-site support. In many cases, agencies assign a liaison for as long as it takes.” No matter the nature of the crisis, hotels need plans in place to deal with staff, guests, the media and a legal strategy, too, according to Kenny Gibson, Sunray Group’s president, Asset Management. But he points to another communication piece that needs consideration — and one for which the example is just about the
largest order of magnitude conceivable: 9-11. Gibson says it’s important to communicate with partners, “whether it be lenders, equity partners or franchise partners who have their own crisis plans.” When the hospitality group he worked for was impacted by 9-11, Gibson says it contacted and updated the capital group that was its major lender. “We put a plan in place where we communicated with them on a weekly basis about what was happening in the business and travel sector. A communication plan with your partners is essential.” How a hotel reacts in a time of crisis is one thing, what they say is another. The message should be clear, uniform and accurate. And it’s important not to say too much. Of course, controlling information in a time of social media can be a considerable challenge that should not be underestimated. It’s one thing to deliver single comments to a media source, it is quite another to have to manage the multiple and potentially viral streams of information flying around via social media. A crisis-communications plan should include what Jacobs refers to as “templated responses” and releases that cover a wide range of potential crises that “have been approved by both internal communications and legal teams,” she says. “Creating these reactive statements — which can be customized quickly — ensures hotels are proactively prepared to be nimble if and when something does happen.” Jacobs says it’s important to have a “small, select group” of people authorized to communicate with the templated statements as guidelines. “I recommend having one internal spokesperson and one media spokesperson. However, if a hotel prefers, it can provide two internal spokespeople, one for staff and one for guests, as well as one media spokesperson.” What is said and how much is said, she stresses, depends on the nature of the crisis. Similarly, what information staff members need to know is again dependent upon the situation. That staff are aware of the crisis and are able to act according to a plan is obviously important, Jacobs adds. “In hoteliermagazine.com
most cases, a broad non-specific controlled message that informs and educates is recommended for employees. It’s important to release a more specific message to certain staff, such as those in sales and marketing, as it relates to their area of work.” SOCIAL MEDIA
In no other era in human history has there been the possibility of immediate, real-time responses to issues and events. Social media — in some cases, a burdensome, pesky method of communication — can make instant connections with a vast number of people to disseminate information and messages through a wide range of channels. The expectation is that information will be forthcoming via these channels, so managers must be prepared. That’s both good and bad. “There are digital platforms that allow us to communicate real-time and programs you can opt into with local authorities to be alerted of crisis situations as they unfold,” Jacobs says. But, she warns, it is important to monitor the frequency of a hotel’s communications during a crisis. “Social-media posts and alerts should be included in a hotel’s crisis plan, such that a hotel is communicating, but not overwhelmingly. Generally, we do not recommend crisis situations being communicated real-time to guests via social media, unless there is an imminent threat and shelter-inplace order,” she says. Jacobs cites the recent situation posed by Hurricane Matthew, in which hotel and resort clients in impacted areas were recommended to delay any pre-scheduled social-media posts or leisure-driven announcements. “During a time of crisis, such as a weather event, media is focused on the issue at hand — as are your guests or potential guests. You want to make sure the public knows you’re sensitive to the situation and not simply maintaining business as usual.” POST-CRISIS AND MOVING AHEAD
After a crisis event, McIntosh says, the work is not done, even though normal business practice is getting back on track. In the post-crisis environment, he suggests thorough inspections should be done to ensure compliance and safety requirements have been met. “Is it safe for employees to go back to work and the guests to go back to their rooms?” he asks. Post-crisis analysis is key, he adds, including an examination that looks at what, if anything, took place in terms of a breakdown in communications or crisis-management plans. It is a “recursive” process that closes the circle returning to prevention strategies, according to McIntosh. “That should be looked at immediately as a learning experience for future events.” u hoteliermagazine.com
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EQUIPMENT
AMENITY TRENDS Locally sourced brands, sustainable products and increased customization are top trends in the hotel amenities space for 2017 BY CAROLYN GRISOLD
A
ccording to the Telegraph newspaper, trends in the hotel industry for 2016 included upping the ante on in-house dining, attracting millennials, a focus on wellness and the cache of exclusivity. But how does meeting these trends, as well as delivering on guest expectations and the ongoing demand for eco-consciousness, impact hotel amenity sourcing? And what are hoteliers expecting for 2017? We spoke with industry executives from across Canada about their top considerations when sourcing amenities and discovered an affinity towards local products is leading the way. Adopting a locavore perspective is a huge trend where it concerns consumer spending habits and lodging is no excephoteliermagazine.com
tion. For Montreal-based Groupe Germain, offering the local amenities guests want can also help create a memorable stay. “Promoting locally sourced products, designers and artists is part of our philosophy,” says Julie Tremblay, national public relations manager for Groupe Germain Hotels, adding this can help guests feel even more immersed in a city. “If we do not find a local product that suits our needs, we will look elsewhere [but] by offering guests local products and by exposing them to local brands during their stay at the hotel, it becomes part of the experience.” “The main criteria when sourcing amenities is quality,” Tremblay continues, “then we look at costs, shipping and logistical considerations.” Groupe Germain’s boutique properties strive for a good balance between quality and local product, “not only because of a cost perspective, but because it is part of our values.” It’s about the details, she
AMENITY AFFINITY Attention to detail – such as where products are sourced, branding and customization – are key considerations when choosing hotel amenities
says, adding “design being at the heart of our properties, aesthetics are also very important in the final choices we make.” Garth W. Ruggiero, Purchasing director for Quebec-based Atlific Hotels, agrees. He constantly seeks ways to combine quality and cost — especially when it comes to attracting guests in a highly curated world where image is king. “We are all looking for the ideal DECEMBER 2016 HOTELIER
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[amenities] line that has that X-factor,” he says, adding “of course this will all be based on the service level provided by the individual hotel.” “Certainly, you want your hotel’s amenity package to look good on the vanity,” says Aodhan T. Sheahan, vicepresident of Operations with MasterBuilt Hotels in Calgary. “The look is a part of what you’re selling to guests and it forms part of their perception of your property.” But the actual experience of using the product is also important, he says, and must align with the image presented. Ruggiero adds not all brands can afford “the look” and must choose more cost-effective lines. While there can be almost no limit to what a property might pay at the highest end of the market, most hotel amenities range between $1.50 and $3.50 per occupied room, or from $0.21 up to $0.90 per item, depending on the quality of offering and portion size. “To provide the best total value proposition to the guest, it’s necessary to have a firm handle on the price positioning of your hotel and the expectations of the guests paying that price,” Sheahan says. “Amenities, and virtually everything else the hotel offers, must be tailored to that positioning to achieve the goal of great guest satisfaction and reasonable profitability for owners.” With upscale hotels, there is a consumer demand for a wide array of products, while mid-scale property consumers “are generally satisfied with the basic required amenities and supple70
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ment with their own products,” says Sheahan. When asked how else larger franchise hotel groups differ in their amenity offering from smaller, boutique hotels, he says it has to do with what guests expect. The larger brands “trend towards mainstream, broadly available or custom amenity lines in order to provide guests with a consistent experience everywhere it operates,” whereas boutique hotels “can craft all aspects of the guest experience to a particular location and price point.” “We always try to provide something to the guest that they cannot get elsewhere,” says Ruggiero. Although, sometimes “it is best to use a branded product in an independent location so guests get the feeling that not everything is unknown.” There is a sense of comfort, he says, when guests see recognizable brands on the amenity tray. He adds that, from a boutique property’s standpoint, “[hoteliers] try to select a higher-end line of product as they want to set themselves apart from the rest.” This flexibility around offerings is likely where the industry is trending today, Ruggiero says. When it comes to refreshing or renewing amenity brands, “you can ask five people and get five different responses.” Some change the amenity offerings as hotel ownership changes, while others change based on demographics — discovering millennials are seeking different products from Gen X consumers. He believes a hotel’s amenity package should be changed every few years to stay current with
market demand. Sheahan agrees that “changing amenities helps provide a sense of progression or renewal to guests,” but he points out that “brands with good guest perception around amenities will often change things carefully in areas such as packaging or scent rather than a whole-scale line change.” “Loyalty is important,” says Tremblay. “Over the years, we forged strong relationships with the suppliers we collaborate with. In that sense, [our] amenities brands do not change very often, as long as the quality and the demand are still present.” Most of the products carried by Groupe Germain feature the name of the hotel as well as the name of the given brand. But there’s more to the locavore trend than creating cache in the minds of consumers. “Being a Canadianbased company, it would make sense [to] run specific lines with a Canadian manufacturer,” says Ruggiero, explaining that shipping costs also influence a hotel’s amenities choice, especially when products are being ordered monthly. Fluctuating U.S. currency exchange rates also play an important role in the selection, as do delivery times, which he notes can be expedited when ordering locally. Ruggiero says supplying local products also meets Atlific’s eco-friendly considerations. “It’s all about environmental stewardship, [reducing] the carbon footprint, local manufacturing [and] biodegradable packaging.” MasterBuilt Hotels uses an environmentally friendly line of products across its Canadian Microtel properties. “Environmental sustainability is a pillar of our company,” says Sheahan. “Using amenities that are friendly to groundwater, not tested on animals and fully biodegradable is one small part of that.” Wastage is another factor affecting both environmental standards and amenity costs. Ruggiero points out that a hotel with 120 rooms at 73 per cent occupancy will most likely see approximately 61,320 bars of soap, 30,660 plastic bottles and 5,750 ounces of liquid go unused each year. By utilizing the Hotel Recycling Program from hoteliermagazine.com
Clean the World Foundation, Atlific is able to repurpose its unused product by donating it to third-world or underprivileged areas for use in comprehensive water sanitation and hygiene projects. Programs such as those used by MasterBuilt and Atlific help companies meet their social-responsibility goals as well as connect with guests who increasingly rank sustainability among their own considerations when booking accommodation. Meeting guest expectations is an ongoing challenge for large-scale hotel
chains and boutique properties alike. Whether it’s sustainable or locally produced, “a leisure guest who may have shopped multiple hotels online for the best rate [at] mid-market properties doesn’t want to pay for premium spa amenities generally speaking,” says Sheahan. Whereas a guest staying at a boutique or upscale lifestyle-brand hotel “likely expects these products and at some level understands [they are] part of the experience they are paying for.” It’s an experience hotels are also
helping guests take home. “It’s about finding products and brands that will leave a positive impression,” says Tremblay. The bedding collection from Le Germain Hotels, for example, is available for purchase at eight Simons stores across Canada, as well as online. She notes that choosing a product, not only for rational reasons but also emotional ones, is a trend hoteliers should keep in mind for 2017. “We hope when guests do bring their amenity home, it takes them back to a pleasurable experience with us, creating that emotional connection” More customization across brand families and closer alignment of the amenity line to the brand’s overall messaging are what Sheahan sees as top trends for the coming year. “Environmental considerations will continue to grow in importance and brands will offer a range of options to hotels that meet standards to allow for better customization to the hotel’s guest demographic.” u
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From the Ground Up For Domini Baldasaro, hotel-keeping is all about having the pulse on guest needs BY ROSANNA CAIRA
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our region; and with staycationers from within our city.” The 29-year old hotelier oversees a management team of nine and a line-staff team of 40. “No department can be a silo in a small property, so we have embraced opportunities for shadowing and task sharing. I’m never too busy to help my team and, in exchange, I expect them never to be too busy to help our guests.” Though the renovation has produced a refreshed property, Baldasaro isn’t content to rest on the hotel’s laurels. “We recently adopted a pour-over coffee program in our guestrooms. We partnered with a local roaster and provide fresh-ground coffee daily to our guests. This initiative was spurred by our team’s love of coffee and matched by our commitment to upholding green practices throughout the hotel. The coffee and filters are biodegradable and the packaging is entirely recyclable, which allows us to pair a great cup of coffee with a low environmental impact.” Next up is the launch of the hotel’s lobby bar. Though stress may be a byproduct of the 24-7 hotel environment, the affable hotelier finds the most stressful days are also the most exciting. At the end of the day, “Authenticity resonates,” she says, adding it’s important to “define your brand identity and refuse to waiver. You cannot be everything to everyone.” u hoteliermagazine.com
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CAMERON McGILL
ew hotels in Canada can lay claim to being more than 100 years old, but the 92-room Walper Hotel in Kitchener, Ont., is one of them. At 124 years of age, the property is steeped in history. Retaining the history of the architectural gem was pivotal in the hotel’s recent $10-million renovation. “To know the hotel is to know what makes each room special,” says Domini Baldasaro, chief in charge. “Through the renovation, we endeavored to optimize the functionality of each guest space, through details such as exposed architectural beams, framed-outarched windows and an assortment of wallpapers QUICK QUIPS: and colour schemes in each room.” To what do you attribute Though Baldasaro graduated your success?: An absolute from the University of Waterloo love of the industry… and with an English degree, she landed phenomenal mentors. at the hotel six years ago, heeding Your first job: A housekeeper at the Buffalo Mountain Lodge the advice of one of her mentors in Banff, Alta. to learn the hotel industry from What you loved most about the ground up. the job: The physical demands “As a smaller, independent of the job and the visual property in a tech hub, [the imporreward of a room transformed tance of] anticipating the needs of from post-guest stay to our savvy guests keeps us on our arriving-guest readiness. toes,” she says. “With 92 guestrooms, we have the opportunity to get to know our guests personally over the course of their stay. They help me keep my finger on the pulse of the hotel, give me clues to the state of the team’s morale and help me anticipate opportunities for improvement in our service,” she explains. Located in a growing region, The Walper plays host to business travellers during the week. “Our weekends keep us busy with out-of-town guests attending weddings in our Crystal Ballroom; with leisure travellers exploring
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