Canadian Lodging News - May 2013

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LodgingNews May 2013 Vol. 10 No. 4

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LodgingNews May 2013 Vol. 10 No. 4

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What Chinese travellers want

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ORILLIA, ON—Last year, Resorts of Ontario delegates asked why Chinese travellers didn’t ‘get’ the resort experience. This year, they were pro-active, assembling a panel at their annual conference in Orillia last month to talk about ways to attract the local and overseas Chinese communities to their establishments.

Cindy Gu, publisher of the Epoch Times, a leading Chinese newspaper, moderated the panel, which included newspaper columnist and teacher Jane Tang, CMA Janet Chi, and Jennifer Wang, who is in the import business.

All of them immigrated to Canada from China.

Gu noted that about half the population of Toronto is foreign-born, and about 10 per cent of the city’s population is Chinese—there’s a lot of Chinese spending power.

Location crucial All three panellists agreed that location is what determines where they will spend their vacation, noting that they are generally looking at trips on weekends—particularly long weekends.

“I’d drive four or five hours if I was with friends; two to three hours if I was with family,” said Chi. “When we have family come from China, they want to brag that they have been to all the famous places—Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Kingston, Ottawa, Quebec City and Montreal, so that is where you go.

“If you are with local Chinese friends, you stay away from those places!”

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Engaging community at 8th Online Revealed

Left to right, Jennifer Wang, Cindy Gu, Jane Tang and Janet Chi.

By Colleen Isherwood, Editor

N E W S P A P E R

The experience is also important.

“You want to find something new — find what the place is famous for,” said Tang.

“The experience is very important—you have to look at it from the point of view of the family, the kids, or the husband and wife,” Chi added.

Packages are appreciated, but only when they are relevant. “We want spheres we are comfortable with, nothing too extreme,” Chi said. “We want to be reassured about safety.”

“If the package includes things we don’t need, then it’s not a good deal any more,” said Gu. Fishing, kayaking and canoeing, with the help of instructors are popular. Golf is associated with enhanced social status. Hiking and water activities are suitable for all generations.

These activities should be highlighted in promotional materials.

Wang noted that since pollution is bad in China, overseas guests, in particular, want to enjoy nature—the unspoiled lakes and forests of central Ontario certainly have their appeal.

“If you want Chinese visitors to stay overnight, tell them they can see the Milky Way or the stars,” said Gu.

Print and TV marketing Despite all the current focus on Internet and social media, the panellists felt that the best ways to reach Chinese people are by using traditional print or TV media—preferably Chinese media.

“Most Chinese people can’t research online in English,” said Chi. She added that new immigrants in particular learn about things by word of mouth, particularly in English as a

second language schools. “They start chatting about where to go, how to eat and how to cook,” she said.

Target markets Tang noted that it’s important to target both local and overseas Chinese.

“Newcomers make plans for their kids and families every year, but they also have friends visiting them.”

Chi said she thought targeting locals was more important. “The Canada/China trade tourism agreement involves people coming with tourist groups, but if relatives are coming to visit family, then it’s best to target local people.”

Food and language While Chinese tourists don’t necessarily expect Chinese food, they would have trouble reading a menu with unfamiliar words in a fancy French restaurant.

“Keep it simple—for example, steak, seafood or chicken,” Wang recommended. “You can have some Chinese food choices, but it’s not necessary to speak the language.”

Chi added that her son is dying for Western food when they travel. “Give us the chef’s top recommendation— meat, chicken or fish, and we’ll order that,” she said.

People may imagine that the food may be bad or that it is very expensive—they find it intimidating and need more information, noted Gu. But, if they know there is a chef’s special for $29.99, that will help ease their minds.

Continued on page 10

WINDSOR—Both Online Revealed and social media itself have come a long way since Patricia Brusha and Alicia Whalen of A Couple of Chicks hosted their first conference in 2006.

At that time, the words ‘Twitter’ and ‘Pinterest’ were not in anyone’s vocabulary.

“But Online Revealed has consistently provided some of the most engaging content [in the field],” said Edward Perry, global senior director of e-commerce, social media and innovation programs for WORLDHotels, who co-chaired this year’s conference along with Brusha. “They foresee emerging trends and capitalize on them.”

For the past two years, Online Revealed has been held in Toronto in conjunction with the Hotel Association of Canada conference and the Canadian Tourism Marketing Summit. This year, the conference was a stand-alone event held April 2-4 at Caesar’s Casino in Windsor.

Many of this year’s speakers talked about use of specific aspects of social media—Hari Nair of Expedia kicked off with a look at Canadian Travel Trends through an ‘Expedia lens.’

Other speakers dealt with blogs, Pinterest, search engine optimization (SEO), mobile and multi-screen, Travelzoo, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google, facebook and analytics.

But a common theme throughout the conference was the need to genuinely engage with online audiences, be they sports fans, potential visitors to your property or DMO, the LGBT community or brand advocates.

Continued on page 12

Welcome to the new Eaton Chelsea

Langham Hospitality Group unveiled its plans for Canada’s largest hotel last month.

An interview with Hotel Superwoman

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Not only is Heather McCrory GM of the iconic Fairmont Royal York, but she is also a regional VP for the chain.

Training for keeps in the hospitality field

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A look at the new line of hospitality champions and how the industry can maintain their interest.

Is that Ron MacLean of Coach’s Corner?

Hari Nair, president of market management, North America, Expedia was a keynote speaker at Online Revealed.

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And why is he dropping the puck for Reegan McCullough and Bruce Okabe at the AHLA conference in Lake Louise?

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SilverBirch opens up an Eastern office TORONTO—Vancouver-based SilverBirch Hotels & Resorts has set up a new corporate satellite office at 10 Four Seasons Place near Burnhamthorpe and Highway 427 in Toronto, to help support the company’s growing portfolio of hotel and conference facilities in Eastern Canada.

Steve Vallevand, who has been with CHIP REIT and later SilverBirch since the late 1990s, is managing the office in his new role as vice president, operations, Eastern Canada.

The office will act as the home base for SilverBirch’s Eastern Canada operations and corporate sales and marketing team, which also includes Vishal Malhotra, director of sales and marketing, Eastern Canada, and Ami Diop, national sales manager.

Malhotra, who has just joined Sil- Left to right, Ami Diop, Steve Vallevand verBirch, has 16 years of hospitality and Vishal Malhotra. experience, most recently with WestResorts. “Having a stronger corporate presence mont Hospitality. in this part of the country will help support our Diop, who joined SilverBirch in December, activities and partnerships with strong internawas formerly director of sales with Auberge tional hotel brands, as well as help us identify Saint-Antoine in Quebec City. new opportunities.”

“This is another step in our growth strategy Last summer, SilverBirch opened the in key markets across Canada,” says Steve GibTownePlace Suites by Marriott Mississauga – lin, president and CEO of SilverBirch Hotels &

Airport Corporate Centre, a 173-room all-suite hotel featuring fully equipped kitchens, adjustable work spaces and free WiFi access.

Later this spring, SilverBirch will open the new Fairfield Inn & Suites

by Marriott in St. John’s, NL. The newly renovated property will feature 104 rooms and 44 suites equipped with microwave and refrigerator, innovative meeting spaces and provide complimentary amenities including free breakfast and Internet access for guests.

Opening in early 2014, the Homewood Suites by Hilton and Hampton Inn by Hilton in Halifax, NS will be the city’s first dual-branded hotel project offering a combined 316 units, a shared SilverBirch Conference Centre and Connections Café, as well as a fitness centre and retail shops.

SilverBirch Hotels & Resorts is one of Canada’s leading hotel management companies and manages over 20 hotels and resorts across Canada.

The company manages independent hotels and hotels operating under major franchise brands, such as Marriott, Radisson, Hilton, Quality, Best Western and Ramada.

Langham debuts Eaton Chelsea Toronto

By Kristen Smith TORONTO—After nearly 40 years of having the Delta name attached to the Gerrard Street hotel, the Delta Chelsea will become the Langham Hospitality Group’s Canadian flagship location.

As of July 1, the Hong Kong-based Great Eagle Holdings Limited is to assume management of the Delta Chelsea, under its subsidiary Langham Hospitality Group. In December, Langham announced that the 1,590-room hotel would be rebranded as The Chelsea Toronto. On April 15, regional vice-president and managing director of the Delta Chelsea Josef Ebner announced that

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Josef Ebner and Vivienne Gan with plans for the Eaton Chelsea lobby

Canada’s largest hotel will become the Eaton Chelsea Toronto, Langham Group’s first Canadian entity.

“When one era comes to an end, a new one usually starts,” said Ebner of the change which will see the hotel rise over central Toronto’s skyline without the word Delta attached to it for the first time since 1975.

“Great Eagle Holdings has owned the hotel for almost two decades but the time is now right for the Langham Hospitality Group to assume management,” Brett Butcher, chief executive officer of Langham Hospitality Group, said in a release.

Ebner said Langham has “very strong expansion plans” in North America and worldwide.

Langham has committed to retain the hotel’s staff of 800.

Ebner said major renovations will begin this month as part of a multi-million dollar investment program. Renovations will begin with the north tower balconies, and include the lobby, Market Garden Restaurant, the Elm St. Lounge and the banquet and conference facilities. In the winter, he noted, the hotel will resume its standard rolling room renovations.

“Whatever has the Delta name on it has to be changed by June 30,” Ebner told CLN, noting this includes all amenities.

Vivienne Gan, vice-president of public relations for Langham, was on hand for the announcement.

“We have exciting plans at Langham Hospitality Group and I think one of the major ones is (this transition),” said Gan. She noted Langham Group has 16 properties worldwide and about five more opening this year.

The Eaton brand is about “balanced living, great service and great rates,” said Ebner. He noted the 26-floor hotel is too large to be branded as one of the Langham Group’s luxury hotels, but it will still be a first-class operation. He noted the “smart, modern and uncomplicated interior,” following an unveiling of exterior and lobby renditions, is a “little different, and a little younger.”

NEWS

BRIEFS

U.K. hotelier offers goldfish for lonely travellers DUTTON, U.K.—A hotel in Britain is offering the services of an aquatic roommate for a small charge.

At The Happy Guest Hotel in Dutton, near Warrington, visitors can request the company of Happy the goldfish for the equivalent of about $8 per night.

According to the U.K. newspaper Metro, owner Jeff Riley believes the goldfish, named for his cheerful disposition, can offer comfort to visitors.

“A lot of guests spend many days away from home. It can be lonely travelling alone, but now, when our guests return to their hotel rooms after a difficult day at the office, Happy could be there to give them unconditional love and a valuable sounding board,” said Riley, who added he plans to introduce more goldfish to the fleet if Happy is well-received.

According to the Huffington Post, the only hotels to offer goldfish as an extra amenity were the Soho Grand Hotel in New York City and hotels that are part of the North American Kimpton Hotels chain. The Kimpton Hotels chain introduced the program in 2001 and it is now available at about two dozen U.S. locations.

Nanaimo hospitality association questions tax exemption NANAIMO, BC—The Nanaimo Hospitality Association has successfully amended the city’s proposal to offer a tax exemption for new hotel developments in Nanaimo.

In an attempt to entice new developers, the city recommended the “Revitalization Tax Exemption Bylaw No. 7143,” which would offer a 10-year tax exemption for new hotels with a minimum of $2 million invested.

The bylaw was initially proposed in November to foster interest in a development site across from the Vancouver Island Conference Centre. The association voiced its concern that the exemption would create an unequal playing field for existing hotels, as the new-builds could potentially save a large sum of money, not within reach of older facilities.

Earlier this year, on the recommendation of the association, the city voted unanimously on adding facets to the bylaw that offered an exemption to existing hotels if they are undergoing a renovation that adds services, adds rooms, or improves the quality of stay at the hotel.

Other recommendations that were not adopted included freezing taxes for existing hotels and waiving development costs.

Travellers with sticky fingers TORONTO—Many travellers revel in wonderful hotel amenities—a plush robe, gourmet coffee, luxury bedding. However, 35 per cent of global travellers actually take these amenities home according to a recent survey by Hotels.com. While a majority of hotel guests globally (65 per cent) say they’ve never pilfered an item from a hotel room—except toiletries, everyone takes those—Danish travellers were exceptionally honest with 88 per cent saying they’ve never pocketed a hotel amenity.

Quebecers weren’t too far behind with 81 per cent; however English Canadians weren’t quite as honest as their French counterparts at 70 per cent.

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LodgingNews www.canadianlodgingnews.com Editor Colleen Isherwood ext. 231 cisherwood@canadianlodgingnews.com Senior Contributing Editor Leslie Wu ext. 227 lwu@canadianrestaurantnews.com Contributing Editors Marni Andrews marni@trolltales.com Larry Mogelonsky larry@lma.ca Elaine Anselmi ext. 226 eanselmi@canadianlodgingnews.com Kristen Smith ext. 238 ksmith@canadianlodgingnews.com National Sales Manager Dave Bell ext. 230 dbell@canadianlodgingnews.com Senior Account Manager Debbie McGilvray ext. 233 dmcgilvray@canadianlodgingnews.com Production Stephanie Giammarco sgiammarco@canadianlodgingnews.com Circulation Manager Don Trimm ext. 228 dtrimm@canadianrestaurantnews.com Controller Tammy Turgeon ext. 237 tammy@canadianlodgingnews.com How to reach us: Tel (905) 206-0150

C OM M E N T

By Colleen Isherwood, Editor

TFW: Going the extra mile

The Toronto Star has been talking about temporary foreign workers as though their presence is a burgeoning blight designed to wrest jobs from Canadians. That’s certainly not an attitude shared by hospitality associations and training bodies across Canada, (see article pages 14-15).

As assistant editor Elaine Anselmi found out while researching her article on skills and training, there’s an employment gap in our industry that can only be filled using a diverse labour pool, including temporary foreign workers.

At the Alberta Hotel & Lodging Association conference held in Lake Louise last month, the discussion was on how employers can better communicate with foreign workers, so that they can engage and retain them.

In a session titled “Going the extra mile,” Josephine Pon of Scotiabank described some of the misconceptions employers and their foreign workers have about their roles, and what can be done to bridge this communications gap. Pon is an immigrant herself; originally from Hong Kong, she came to Canada as a teenager.

When foreign workers arrive in Canada, one

of their top priorities is to get to a bank to set up an account so that they can send money home.

A smart move is to pick up the new worker at the airport, take them to a bank and help them set up a bank account.

“It makes them feel good,”said Pon. “They’re here, they can make more money and send it back home. You can also teach them about Internet banking—it all contributes to peace of mind.”

She added that there are many immigrant societies, services and government organizations that can help get the new workers settled.

Pon stressed the need for communications training, and an on-board buddy system to help with the adjustment period and show the workers you care.

But perhaps the most impactful part of her presentation was her example showing some of the misunderstandings that can arise.

Here is a list of complaints from the employer of an internationally trained employee: “My employee doesn’t initiate contact with me. He doesn’t provide timing updates. He’s always late.

He doesn’t talk in meetings. He doesn’t respond to managers. He doesn’t prioritize and use effective time management. He just comes though my door and starts talking to me. He doesn’t provide data or evidence. He doesn’t have writing skills. He doesn’t understand personal space.”

And here’s the view of the internationally trained employee: “I never see my manager. She doesn’t seem to care about my work. She doesn’t come to my office. I have no feedback—back home my manager checked on me every two hours. My manager doesn’t know my field. She doesn’t recognize my skills. She doesn’t want to promote me. She doesn’t know how to manage.”

In Canada, we don’t micromanage; we give people a job and expect them to do it. But in China and other Asian countries, there’s often a meeting every morning and frequent checks throughout the day.

“It’s important to have clear expectations up front—that’s extremely important for foreign workers who come from different systems and a different culture,” said Pon. “Use plain, polite, purposeful language.”

Let your foreign workers know how you would like them to communicate, and whether they should set up an appointment when they need to talk to you. Let them know how often they should report on what they’re doing.

“Employees are our greatest asset,” stressed Pon. That’s why it’s so important to go the extra mile and bridge the communications gap.

—Colleen Isherwood, Editor

Are You An Ostrich or a Llama?

By Larry Mogelonsky, P. Eng. Publisher Steven Isherwood ext. 236 sisherwood@canadianlodgingnews.com

Heather McCrory, aka Hotel Superwoman of Canada’s largest hotels, let alone your other responsibilities?

There is a certain degree of sacrifice that one has to make. But the secret lies in balance; delegating to my executive team and focusing on leadership development within our vast organization. By ensuring dedication to missionoriented goals and reminding everyone that our relationship with the guest is paramount, our priorities will shine through.

Volume 10 No. 4 Canadian Lodging News is published 10 times a year by Ishcom Publications Ltd. which also publishes Atlantic Restaurant News, Ontario Restaurant News Pacific/Prairie Restaurant News, and Canadian Chains Directory and Canadian Lodging News Buyers’ Directory Address: 2065 Dundas Street East, Suite 201 Mississauga, Ontario L4X 2W1 Tel: (905) 206-0150 Fax: (905) 206-9972 In Canada (800) 201-8596 Subscriptions: Canada & USA: 1 year $39.57, 2 years $63.43 (PLUS APPLICABLE TAX) Single copy: $5.00 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to Circulation Department, 2065 Dundas Street East, Suite 201, Mississauga, Ontario L4X 2W1 EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Jason Cheskes, Above The Line Solutions Vito Curalli, Hilton Worldwide Justin Friesen, Western Financial Group Philippe Gadbois, Atlific Hotels & Resorts Mark Hope, Coast Hotels & Resorts Elizabeth Hueston, Sysco Guest Supply Canada Inc. Dave Kaiser, Alberta Hotel & Lodging Association Brian Leon, Choice Hotels Canada Inc. Chris Lund, Deerhurst Resort Dr. David Martin, Ted Rogers School of Hospitality Christine Pella, Serta Mattress Company Tony Pollard, Hotel Association of Canada Sarah Segal, Informa Canada Andrew Chlebus, LG Electronics Publication Mail Agreement No. 40010152 ISSN 1710-145X GST number R102533890

Somehow, someway, I was able to squeeze in a Q&A with Heather McCrory, the GM of The Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. She had recently received Hotelier of the Year honours from Canada’s Hotelier Magazine. Add to that her double duty as the regional VP, Central Canada for Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.

The Royal York’s room count fluctuates between 1,365 and 1,472 depending on suite allocations, along with bustling F&B and a cohort of 1,200 employees. Heather is also championing a multi-million dollar renovation amidst stiff competition from new luxury entrants including Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Shangri-la and Trump. But I didn’t meet Heather in her cozy office just to pay homage. I wanted to know what it takes to reach the top of the industry while still maintaining your sanity!

Q: You’ve been called a “Hotel Superwoman” for your abilities. How do you manage the seemingly impossible task of being GM of one

Q: What of the complexities of meeting the demands of owners, fulfilling the growth of your management team and delivering the brand’s values?

There is no question that there are financial targets we have to meet. We’re fortunate that the strong business climate in Toronto has translated into excellent RevPAR growth. Despite all the new high-end competition, our ADR continues to climb and our 2012 occupancy percentage has hovered at 75 per cent, a record high. Further, the gear up towards the PanAm Games in the summer of 2015 has provided a ‘line in the sand’ in terms of capital project delivery and a further impetus to accelerate our renovation activities. This renovation will see a critical upgrade of our guestroom stock and an enticing enhancement of our Fairmont Gold product. In essence, we will be creating a hotel within a hotel with 103 luxury rooms differentiated through larger room size, separate elevators and checkin, enhanced services including complimentary food and beverage components: breakfast, open honour bar and evening hors d’oeuvres.

Q: What business impact have you seen from these new luxury properties?

It certainly has been a busy time for Toronto.

Those who have not been here in the past few years might not even recognize the downtown.

The addition of this new luxury room stock has created a new super-premium pricing tier. For too long the Toronto hotel market has had to deal with price compression: a narrow spread between the higher and middle priced products. These new entries have created a whole new pricing echelon, meaning that we can demonstrate excellent customer value for our core product while effectively positioning the new Fairmont Gold within this strengthened high end segment.

Q: What about tiered pricing?

Tiered products actually. We define completely separate competitive sets for each of our Core and Gold products, managing both with individualized STR reports and revenue management programs. And we have the added advantage of being able to upsell between products, a particularly apt tool in the convention segment.

Q: When you ask someone where they’re staying in Toronto, they typically say the Royal York, not the Fairmont Royal York. What of the brand?

There is no question that the Royal York is an icon. We’re Canada’s classic downtown hotel while the Banff Springs, also a Fairmont property, is Canada’s iconic resort. So it’s no wonder that our name gets abbreviated. The genesis of the Fairmont chain was to create an international presence for the old Canadian Pacific Hotels brand: a name that clearly has little relevance outside of Canada. Thus, the DNA of the Fairmont chain incorporates the core elements of what we believe in: engaging service, unrivalled presence and being authentically local. It all fits.

We are equally proud of both our Fairmont brand and our Royal York traditions. They go hand and hand.

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CANADIAN LODGING NEWS

GAME ON: AHLA’s 93rd Convention and Tradeshow LAKE LOUISE, AB—It was all in jest, really. In keeping with the theme of Alberta Hotel and Lodging Association’s 93rd Convention and Tradeshow, “Game on,” president Dave Kaiser suggested a game of hockey on the still-frozen Lake Louise. He asked Reegan McCullough, assistant deputy minister of Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation to don an Edmonton Oilers jersey, and Bruce Okabe, CEO of Travel Alberta, to represent the Calgary Flames. Breakfast keynote speaker Ron MacLean then dropped a puck for a faceoff.

The game never did take place, but is was a fitting introduction for MacLean, Don Cherry’s co-host on Coach’s Corner. MacLean, a Red Deer native, described his job as being “a listener, who saves Don Cherry from getting a puck in the head.” He regaled his audience with a dead-on Don Cherry imitation, honed by a quarter century of proximity to the flamboyant sportscaster.

Later in the day, detective William (Bill) Allen, counterfeit currency coordinator for the Edmonton Police Service spoke to delegates about the evolution of payment card-based crime. He pointed out how easy it is for criminals to compromise PIN pads. “They used to have to steal the PIN pad, but now they are more advanced with Bluetooth technology on their parasitic hardware.”

He stressed the need to keep PIN pads secure, not out in the open.

“Bring it out as needed, or have a nice holder to anchor it down.” He recommends daily checks of the PIN pads, and noted that Safeway puts its own stickers on the devices to protect them from tampering.

He drew attention to a new threat targeting food industry serving systems. Criminals use remote software to hack through the back door en-

abling them to see the PIN numbers before they are encrypted. “If you have a key stroke logger, get it off your system,” Allen warned. “This also captures data before it is encrypted.”

Another session dealt with integrating foreign workers. Josephine Pon, regional development manager with Scotiabank, spoke from the viewpoint of someone who is an immigrant herself, and who works with many temporary foreign workers.

(See Editorial, page 6.)

AHLA marks 30 years of Housekeeping Awards AHLA marked its 30th year of Housekeeping Awards. Over that time frame, about 23,000 property inspections have been conducted, with over 100,000 guestrooms being viewed. In total, the association has presented 2,889 Housekeeping Awards.

Based on strategic decisions in the AHLA business plan, the association has decided not to conduct inspections of the more than 700 properties that were previously inspected under the Approved Accommodation Program. Instead, the AHLA has developed a new process for the Housekeeping Awards that does not rely on these inspections.

The new process puts the onus on properties to apply for the award based on certain criteria filters.

“It will now be the responsibility of each and every property to submit an application to be considered for this award,” the association said in a release. “However, it is our goal to make the new process as simple and transparent as possible. It is important to note that the criteria and inspection process for the Housekeeping Awards will remain the same. It is only the application process that has changed.”

For more AHLA coverage, to www. canadianlodgingnews.com.

AHLA offers its members a unique Jamaican recruitment opportunity

Photos clockwise from top: Reegan McCullough, assistant deputy minister, Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation, Ron MacLean of Coach’s Corner and Bruce Okabe, CEO of Travel Alberta. Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.

Marcus, canine ambassador for the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, shows off his tricks. Josephine Pon, regional development manager for Scotiabank, spoke to conference delegates about integrating temporary foreign workers (see Editorial, page 6). Kevin Maven and Joey Mouallem of Mouallem Group of Companies on the tradeshow floor. Detective William (Bill) Allen, counterfeit currency coordinator for the Edmonton Police Service, addressed hoteliers on the topic of payment card-based crime.

EDMONTON—Alberta Hotel and Lodging Association members will now be able to recruit temporary foreign workers from Jamaica directly through the Jamaican government, without the expense of using a third-party recruiter.

The AHLA, the Jamaican Ministry of Labour and the Jamaica Liaison Service have partnered together to bring members this staff recruitment opportunity.

Here is what the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS) and the Jamaica Liaison Service (JLS) will do: o Submit employment contracts to the Ministry of Labour to be delivered to candidates for signing. MLSS arranges a date for medical and police background check. o JLS advises the employer of the names of the candidates who have successfully completed their medicals. o JLS submits labour market opinion (LMO) to MLSS. o MLSS collates documents and submits them to the Canadian High Commission for the processing of the visa. o JLS informs employer when the visas are issued (typically in six to eight weeks). o JLS will review accommodation information identified by the employer prior to arrival. JLS receives workers at the Toronto airport and provides assistance as necessary. o JLS negotiated an agreement with Westjet Airlines, which allows employers a 20 per cent discount on the lowest fare for the flight coming out of Jamaica. o JLS provides settlement support for the workers.

For more information, go to www.ahla.ca or contact the Jamaica Liaison Service at 250-762-4219.

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CANADIAN LODGING NEWS

Go Resorting Resorts of Ontario’s call to action

By Colleen Isherwood, Editor ORILLIA—One of the stars of the show at Resorts of Ontario’s annual conference held last month at Casino Rama and Fern Resort was a new phrase, “Go Resorting.” It’s also the title of the association’s new magazine, unveiled at the conference. Resorts of Ontario is now selling the “resorting” experience.

The magazine includes personal vacation stories, plus articles by pro-

Glenn Spriggs

fessional travellers, resort owners and guests. Grace Sammut, managing director of the association, explained that Go Resorting is the primary print piece in an otherwise digital strategy, and has evolved from a resort guide to a magazine format.

“By migrating to a digital strategy and significantly ramping up our digital footprint, an exciting framework has been built around the deployment of the magazine, in tandem with social media, including Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and blogs,” Sammut noted in a post-conference digital news release. “Through the magazine, we will be able to sell the resort experience in a more emotive, storytelling way that people can easily relate to,” she explained.

The digital strategy is already yielding results, with a 300 per cent increase in unique visits in spring and summer 2012, Greg Elmhirst of Elmhirst Resort noted in his marketing report during the annual general meeting. This tally takes in radio, digital, a campaign-specific url, Flyerland contests, Google AdWords and other marketing initiatives.

The Resorts of Ontario website got a distinct facelift at a miniscule cost thanks to recommendations

from Mark Coles of First Page SEO. All members are now listed on the website, and last year the website alone had a 52 per cent increase in traffic over 2011, with page views numbering just under half a million.

In other Resorts of Ontario news, the association has hired Glenn Spriggs as manager member field services, to liaise, recruit and maintain association membership. Spriggs came to the association in December, after four years with the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation (OTMPC).

The mood at the conference was cautiously upbeat, as Brian Stanford of PKF told delegates they should take advantage of slow but steady growth in the next few years, and raise their rates. Sean Billing, GM of Horseshoe Resort, gave a well-received motivational speech about identifying your resort’s unique capabilities, and working within your capacities to create unforgettable experiences for guests.

Fern Resort hosted a multi-course gala dinner, impeccably served by staff including many recruited from Jamaica. At the dinner, outgoing chair Sheila Maxwell of The Briar’s Resort turned over the reins of the association to Mark Downing of Fern Resort.

Sheila Maxwell and Greg Elmhirst show off Resorts of Ontario’s new magazine

Chinese Visitors

just the ability to boil water—then we can do noodle soup,” said Gu.

Continued from page 1

What about price?

Chi says that she would prefer to pay a cheap price for overnight accommodation, but that she would pay up to $300 per night if it was an experience she could not get elsewhere.

Wang’s price limit is lower—$100 to $150 per family per night.

The panellists did not understand the term “Modified American Plan,” where prices are per person per night and include some meals. “We are looking for a group or family rate; we are not familiar with a per person rate,” said Tang. “Ninety-nine per cent of the time, we go on vacation with family. We work, we feel guilty, and when we get time off, we want to spend it with family.”

Tang talked about “congee people”—adding that even inside China foods are different and that congee or noodle soup can make people feel comfortable.

Large suites with kitchen Large suites are popular, because Chinese people like to travel with extended family, panellists noted. But it’s not essential for everyone to stay together under one roof.

“As long as we can do activities together, we are fine,” said Wang. “And we love to have a kitchen. After skiing, we like to have hot pot—we can cook our own if there is a kitchen.”

“Even if there is no kitchen, but

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VANCOUVER—Local operator Sean Heather sees his new restaurant, deli and retail space in the ground floor of the heritage Rainier Hotel as a reflection of the community and the glory days of Gastown.

“We don’t call what we’re doing at Rainier Provisions gentrification, we call it restoring,” Heather told CLN. He pointed out that the downtown east side used to be the most prosperous part of the city between 1908 and 1940.

“We’re bringing it back to what it used to be,” he said.

Rainier Provisions, which opened in mid-February, spotlights the artisanal producers with whom Heather has built relationships over the years for his seven other restaurants and pubs in the area.

A carvery option with roasted meats and hot sides such as mashed potatoes, polenta and gravy allows for quick turnover at lunch, as well as quick items such as seafood pot pie, vegan chili and pulled pork sandwiches.

year one and per year thereafter.

B U S I N E S S

By Leslie Wu, Senior Contributing Editor

Rainier Hotel restaurant a reflection of Gastown’s glory days

Direct Vent

SASKATOON—Four years and $18 million later, the Radisson Saskatoon has a new look. That look, plus the efforts of general manager Patty Schweighardt and her team, led to this hotel being named Radisson’s Hotel of the Year at the Carlson Rezidor Full Service Brands conference held in Chicago in late February.

The decisions were not always easy.

For example, the renovation involved demolition of the marble staircase, which used to dominate the lobby, with a jackhammer. This prompted some comments from guests who weren’t necessarily sure the old look should go, Schweighardt told CLN. Both staff and guests had to live through a few weeks of dust and plastic draping. At that point, face masks and ear plugs were available at the front desk.

“Then we had floods—the pipes

burst and we had to replace all the pipes in the building,” she added.

When Schweighardt found out the hotel had won Hotel of the Year for Radisson Americas, she screamed into the phone. “For us, it was kind of a sign that hard work pays off.”

The Radisson Saskatoon is located downtown, one of the hottest markets in Canada. Its neighbours are the Delta Bessborough, which recently underwent a multimillion dollar reno, and the Sheraton Cavalier, which is currently under renovation.

“It’s a fabulous property,” said Schweighardt. “We were trying to reposition it in the market. We are now able to ask for and secure higher rates that show the value the hotel has to offer.

Our sales team has new confidence and belief in our product.”

Patty Schweighardt, centre, poses with her staff and the awards the team See Before and After page 22

Oak Bay Beach Hotel expands foodservice

P.14

The numbers are in and owner Kevin Walker has hired chef Iain Rennie to implement afternoon tea and more outdoor eating areas to meet growing demand.

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Legal Corner

By Stephen Blood, Chamberlain Architect Services Limited

Hotel builders use building energy modelling to offset new code costs

By Stephen Blood

The cost of a building energy model often pays for itself by providing energy efficient options, complete with expected payback periods.

In this case, energy modelling can be used to find economic justification for a more expensive mechanical system.

There are a few PTAC units that use hot water for heating, which may become a viable option if they become less complex and expensive.

There is a new energy code in Ontario that is changing the way hotels, especially limited service hotels, are being built.

Dealing with PTAC units The Supplementary Standard Limited service hotels face a SB-10 of the Ontario Building Code, slightly different dilemma. While combines the requirements of the they usually have smaller window arlatest ASHRAE 90.1 Energy Stan- eas, they are traditionally heated and South-facing window dard with additional provisions from cooled with PTAC units, which can be requirements limit site ASHRAE 189.1 2009, a Standard for easily serviced and replaced. planning the Design of High Performance Stringent requirement that Green Buildings. more windows face south, rather This new code effectively

There is a new energy than east or west, can be very jumps from 1999 to 2013 stancode in Ontario that is changrestrictive on site planning for dards in one giant step, giving a hotel. An otherwise desirable ing the way hotels, especially Ontario the most progressive site that is long and narrow in limited service hotels, are being energy standard requirements in the north-south direction or has built.

This new code effectively North America. Hotel builders lake views to the east or west may jumps from 1999 to 2013 stanin other areas are watching to see not be a viable option under the dards in one giant step, giving if their provinces will follow suit. new code.

“

Strict, often costly new requirements for new builds For new build hotels, this means finding ways to save money while meeting the strict and often costly new requirements.

Urban and full service hotel designs, especially those that have large window areas, have begun utilizing building energy modelling as part of their design plan. This service, usually reserved for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified projects, helps to optimize the building envelope and mechanical and electrical systems for LEED credits.

Architects are now using this building energy modelling to efficiently meet the new energy code standard. This process allows hotel builders to evaluate various energy saving measures for return on investment in order to choose the most cost effective solution to the new regulations.

Ontario the most progressive energy standard requirements in North America. Hotel builders in other areas are watching to see if their provinces will follow suit.

—Stephen Blood

”

Typically, these units use electricity as a power source, which places them squarely in the new codes most severe Ontario Climatic Zone 7. This means that hotels with electric PTAC units need to be designed as if they were located in Thunder Bay even if they are located in balmy St. Catharines!

New requirements for more energy efficient lighting and heat recovery in hotel exhaust systems have also been called for.

Many of the options for optimizing mechanical and electrical systems to minimize the economic consequences of the new requirements are not available when using PTACs.

About the author Stephen Blood is an associate at Chamberlain Architect Services, Limited in Burlington, Ontario. A winner of both the W. Gerald Raymore and Henry Adams Medals, Stephen has been solving building challenges with the Chamberlain Group since 1996. He is a member of the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) and the Ontario Building Envelope Council. Stephen’s degrees include a Masters of Architecture, Bachelor of Environmental Design Studies, a Diploma in Computer Programming and a Bachelor of Arts. Stephen may be reached at sblood@chamberlainIPD.com.

Determining the most cost-effective solutions Balancing the long-term payback of energy improvements, against often critical capital costs, will define building decisions. Building Energy Modelling can help determine the most cost effective solutions.

Modelling should be done at the earliest stages of the project to provide the largest number of options and get maximum return on investment.

Energy savings from innovative building envelopes, alternate energy sources, heat recovery, sun shading, and building controls solutions can also reduce initial capital costs by downsizing expensive mechanical systems.

For example: the use of solar energy to preheat fresh air and provide hot water has produced significant savings for some projects. This strategy dovetails smoothly with the philosophy of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), in which design and construction methods and cost choices are integrated from the first moment a project is considered – now with a new emphasis on energy and sustainability.

Minimizing construction costs while complying with regulations While following prescriptive measures may minimize design costs, it will not guarantee effective control of construction costs, which can be 10 to 20 times the related design fees.

Hotel owners and developers need to evaluate how construction costs can be minimized while complying with the new regulations by including building energy modelling in the design process.

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CANADIAN LODGING NEWS

On Facebook, Pinterest or Flickr engagement is key

John Freeman Continued from page 3

Every world super-region has seen tremendous increases in access to the Internet since 2012, and there’s more trade and commerce being done online, Expedia’s Nair told the conference delegates in his leadoff session.

Seventy-seven per cent of Canadians should have Internet access by 2016; 74 per cent is the comparable U.S. figure.

Expedia.ca has been operating for 17 years and has 3,319 Canadian hotel partners. There is a high proportion of leisure travel on Expedia—90 per cent.

Nair said there are four top ways hoteliers can use Expedia to help grow their business. o Expedia has a high proportion of international customers, 40 per cent versus 20 per cent in the overall market. “International travellers stay longer and spend more,” said Nair. “They’re hard to reach and

Tony Pollard

expensive to target. We have the ability to help hotels slice and dice their offerings—for example, to cater to a hotel in Canada that only wants customers from the UK.” o Hotels can benefit from Expedia by extending their availability in the three days leading up to the booking date. “Booking on Expedia in the zero to three-day window is exploding—those people are booking online using their smartphone or tablet. If you have no availability, you will miss out on this group, which accounts for 10 per cent of the Canadian market and is growing.” o Increase the number of product [or room] types available. If you have more than one offering, you have the ability to drive higher than the market rates, especially among leisure consumers, who generally pay higher rates than corporate or group customers.

Canadian e-tourism award winners WINDSOR, ON—Online Revealed concluded with a celebration of the 2012 best of the best in online marketing. The Canadian e-tourism awards were created by the Canadian e-Tourism Council and have made their home at Online Revealed for the page three years. The awards recognize individual traveller marketers who creating engaging online Canadian travel stories and businesses that prove innovation, creativity and results in marketing Canadian travel experiences. This year, a record 47 entries were received.

The winners for 2012 are the following: Best Online Campaign: Winner, Best Western International; second place, Travel Alberta; third place Tourism PEI. Best User Generated Content: Winner, Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism; second place, Fogo Island Inn, NL; third place, Ocean Delight Cottages.

Best Innovative Use of Technology: Winner, Tourism Vancouver; second place, Barberstock digital asset management for DMOs; third place, Banff Lake Louise Tourism.

Best Website: Winner Tourism New Brunswick; second place, Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism, third place, Banff Lake Louise Tourism.

Alicia Whalen

o Don’t underestimate the power of content, both on the OTAs and your own sites. “Retail is detail,” said Nair—it all comes down to descriptions, photos and reviews.

Later that day, conference co-host Edward Perry from WORLDHotels, and John Knowles, director of innovation and new media marketing at the 130-room Roger Smith Hotel in midtown Manhattan, talked about ways in the hotel used Pinterest to build

community among the hotel’s largely European and Swedish clientele. The hotel’s approach included socialmedia fuelled pop-ups—essentially they created a live version of Pinterest. Companies were encouraged to transform three 600-1000 square foot underutilized spaces on the first floor to whatever they wanted—a market, a restaurant or a themed experience— on a short-term basis. The hotel got a lot of media attention, which in turn is driving business to the property.

Day one of the conference concluded with case studies from the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club, Facebook Canada and Charlottesville Albemarle County, Virginia on social media successes.

John Freeman of Charlottesville Albemarle County started with a $12,000 budget, and a young staff consisting of himself and some interns. Together, they created a Facebook page, which started with zero fans, and has transformed into the world’s most engaged DMO Facebook page. (In one ranking, the only Facebook page that was more engaging was Disney’s.) Freeman and his staff

used an edgy voice, plus pictures of animals and sunsets, as well as Flickr, to get audience reactions. Although they only have 40,000 fans, the Charlottesville page often finds itself in the ranks of the top 1,500 most engaged Facebook pages in the world.

On day two, Alicia Whalen, cofounder and e-strategist at A Couple of Chicks, chaired a panel presenting the findings of the Canadian Destination Benchmarking Study, which the Chicks are undertaking in conjunction with the Canadian Tourism Commission. The session reviewed the online performance of 22 Canadian DMOs. Tony Pollard, president of the Hotel Association of Canada chaired a panel consisting of Gerry Chase, president and COO of New Castle Hotels and Resorts, David Elkins, director of advertising for TripAdvisor, David Doucette, executive director, of Internet marketing Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, and Victoria Isley, CEO of Destination Marketing International. They spoke on the ways brands can help drive traffic to destinations.

How can hospitality marketers best connect with the LGBT market?

ORILLIA & WINDSOR, ON—Next Year, from June 20—29, 2014 Toronto, Canada will host World Pride, a huge event expected to attract millions of people.

But that’s just one reason for Canadian travel marketers to look carefully at the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) market, according to speakers at two recent hospitality conferences. Liz Devine of Rainbow High Travel and Ryan Mcelroy of Travel Agency Tribes and Globetrotting Tips spoke at the Online Revealed Conference on the Next Generation of LGBT Travel Engagement: Get Social, Start a Conversation, Build a Campaign.

And Darrell Schuurman, cofounder and executive director of Travel Gay Canada spoke on a similar topic, LGBT Travel: Becoming Market Ready, at the Resorts of Ontario conference in Orillia last month.

All of the speakers agree that Canada is in a unique position when it comes to attracting this market.

“Canada has positioned itself as a leader of LGBT rights, human rights, standards and policies,” Schuurman said. “That’s how other countries, and especially the U.S., perceive us.”

Devine mentioned that Canada is the No. 1 destination abroad for visitors from the U.S., including LGBT visitors. Passports are not a problem for this group—78 per cent have passports compared to 56 per cent for the U.S. population in general. And LGBT travellers come from all over the world to get married here—in fact, over half the gay marriages performed in Canada are for couples who come from other countries.

“It’s legal to be visible, gay and to get married here,” she said.

She added that while income levels among this group mirror those of the

Liz Devine

general population, they have more disposable income.

“They often don’t have the same kinds of constraints—children, community activities, financial obligations. They will spend more and will travel more frequently.”

Schuurman pointed out that the Canadian gay travel market is already a $7 billion business, and that gay travellers typically spend $1,131 per trip versus $597 for travellers in general.

Mcelroy added that you need to build brands that speak directly to this community. “It’s a lucrative market, but one that needs to be spoken to in a specific manner.”

“Your voice has to be deliberate and authentic,” said Devine. For example, one company spent $50,000 sponsoring a stage at Pride—and nothing happened.

“There were no follow-up conversations—you don’t get liked back if you don’t talk back,” she noted. “You want to be speaking with [this market], not speaking to.”

That online dialogue can begin now with the intersection of the mobile technology revolution and the

Darrell Schuurman

desire of people to search for communities. She spoke about a group called Meet Up, which she recently rejoined.

Through this group, she met up with 20 professional lesbian women going for a walk in Toronto’s High Park.

“We’re doing mutual fun things in an anonymous setting... That’s the revolution,” she said.

“Honest engagement is better.

There are ways for brands to have communication and dialogue, but the conversation has to be two-way and real.”

Travel Gay Canada’s Schuurman noted that a location has to be inviting—travellers have to feel not only safe from harassment, but comfortable, with people who support and embrace them.

There also has to be a commitment demonstrated on a consistent, longterm basis. “A few years ago, a national hotel chain put LGBT tourism into their strategy, but they didn’t see returns, and pulled out after one year.

“There is no [one] gay market,” said Schuurman. “There are lots of markets within the LGBT community—dining, families, etc. Focus on the segments that fit for you.”

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By Elaine Anselmi, Assistant Editor Photo by Rafael Reverte.

Alternative programs

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friend of mine booked into a hotel in Minneapolis this winter, on his way home from a ski race. When taking the reservation, the concierge asked his girlfriend what was bringing them to the area, and she explained the situation.

When, weary and frost-bitten, they arrived in their room, they found a complimentary recovery kit including bath salts, relaxing tea and snacks, as well as a celebratory bottle of champagne. The concierge had personally purchased the items and attached a hand-written note to each. The warm welcome after a cold day did not go unnoticed. The appreciative and satisfied guests left a card for the concierge and are sure to remember the service they were given without even asking.

It is this above and beyond service that starts at the frontline and goes back to the many people behind the scenes in the hospitality industry. It is this service that makes an award-winning hotel and a memorable experience for guests.

And, it all begins with the right people and the right training.

“We are the places to eat and places to sleep in the customer service industry. With that comes so many layers of customer service needs,” says CarolAnn Gilliard, CEO of Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador (HNL). “The people of tourism are a critical element of providing that positive experience because it’s the people you interact with in a destination that change your experience.”

Learning to hire In offering guests the sort of experience they will write home about – and not to complain about snarky service or bed bugs – the first step is hiring the right person. When it comes to frontline positions, in particular, there are basic characteristics that need to be there.

“The basics of customer service are the basics of customer service,” says Gilliard. “We do all need to have those basic skills that make people feel comfortable and wonderful and send them away feeling they’ve had a positive experience.

That formula doesn’t change.”

A welcoming and service-ready per-

sonality is a non-negotiable for most members of the tourism industry, says Jo-Anne Hecht, director of learning at the Ontario Tourism Education Corporation (OTEC). “In hotels, one thing that’s really important is that you hire for the attitude, not the skillset.”

She gives the example of one of her clients whose “non-negotiable” is that a staff member needs to be able to look someone in the eye and give them a handshake.

“When a person comes in for the interview and doesn’t talk to anyone, doesn’t enter and say hello, they’re just waiting until the interview to let their personality shine,” she says. “If they come to the front desk and they’re not ‘on’ already, and only turn ‘on’ for the interview, that right away is a pitfall.”

She says that beyond that first introduction, behavioral or situational questions are a strong indicator of a candidate’s values.

When asked for examples of going above and beyond to assist a guest, Hecht says basic responses such as “A customer walked in and asked for food and I gave it to them,” suggests that the person doesn’t really know what above and beyond looks like. “They’re thinking reactive service is good enough,” she says.

Going above and beyond could include recognizing the specific need of a guest, perhaps a gluten allergy, and making a distinct effort to ensure that food with gluten is kept out of their room and that gluten-free options are available to them.

The Canadian Tourism Human Resources Council (CTHRC) vicepresident of communications, Jon Kiely, says that the industry needs to look at non-traditional labour markets to fill the present gap. “Thirty-five per cent of the workforce is between 15 and 24 years old,” he says. “That demographic is simply shrinking, so employers need to look at other demographics such as new Canadians, the Aboriginal community and mature workers looking at a forced retirement.

“It’s not a one-size-fits-all as far as reaching people. That’s where employers have to look at different ways to get

those people, whether through community organizations, band councils, or different vehicles.”

With a different labour market comes different challenges. One of the more evident challenges is the diversity and language barriers that persist in both hiring and training. This, along with other challenges within tourism and hospitality, has sparked a more diverse approach to hiring and training. At OTEC, Hecht says they look at practical issues with hiring such as candidates who don’t have references from within Canada. She says they offer resources to determine a person’s skillset without a local reference.

She says one issue that comes up in interviews is the use of complicated questions that use colloquial or slang terms, rather than the plain English that nonnative speakers can understand. “One of the HR managers working with us said one question she always asks is how do you bend over backwards to assist guests?” says Hecht.

Carol Lumb New Canadians struggled with the qu e s t i on and its intended meaning until they changed the wording to, “Tell me a time when you did something very special for a customer.” She says this is a subtle example of a best practice in hiring.

When it comes to hiring for attitude rather than skill, Adam Morrison, director of projects at OTEC, suggests that sometimes what seems like poor attitude can really be due to a lack of experience.

Various programs are offered across Canada to provide the experience and understanding needed to enter the hospitality workforce.

“We’ve set up programs with local community partners that draws from lack of experience and barriers in the past,” says Morrison. “You work with them, let them build that confidence and sometimes, you find that the willingness is there and the aptitude.” Morrison says the programs generally include an orientation to the industry, a transferable skills assessment and then a process of narrowing participants down to specific occupations.

One of OTEC’s projects, based on the CTHRC’s Ready to Work model, is with the Metis Nation in Ontario and takes place over a 10week period in Midland, North Bay, Sault St. Marie and Thunder Bay. After the first five weeks spent orienting participants to the industry, cultural issues and communications norms are discussed and participants receive key certification such as WHMIS, food safety and service excellence.

“There’s also occupational-specific certification programs,” says Morrison. “After 10 weeks they’ve studied all the standards for that role. “We’ve had a fantastic response from the industry to those projects. They are pretty new, pretty innovative,” he says.

“There’s been a gap in

the industry and it’s looking to engage new demographics.”

There are various stakeholders involved with funding these programs including the federal government, municipalities and the industry itself.

The CTHRC’s Ready to Work program has several versions across the country. In Saskatchewan, Carol Lumb, director of STEC, says they have partnered with the CTHRC on the program since the early ‘90s.

STEC also works with secondary schools in the province on their Service Best program, that trains teachers on how to deliver their customer service program, as a part of the Canadian Academy of Travel and Tourism (CATT). “It helps them develop knowledge and skills in young people,” says Lumb. “A high percentage of young people’s first jobs will be in our sector. Very often schools can’t afford what we would charge for an industry workshop.”

Through the partnership, STEC is training teachers to facilitate the customer service programs. Lumb says they currently have more than 60 teachers in the province who are able provide the program and who do it through their regular class schedule as a part of their curriculum. “They’re able to break it up and deliver it regardless of the education system. They can make it work within that schedule,” she says.

CATT also offers a program in small Aboriginal communities where there isn’t a great deal of tourism.

It’s hugely successful, from there we work with them to fill existing vacancies,” Lumb notes. She says students are hired from the program, and STEC provides mentorship to the employer and participant for six months afterwards.

A heritage interpreter in Wanuskewin Heritage Park: among the more than 40 occupations for which there are National Occupation Standards and 25 occupations available for Professional or Specialist certification.

Adaptability and diversity “One of the most misunderstood elements of tourism is that people only see it as a customer service industry,” says Gilliard. “Travel and tourism is based on tourism planning, a business background, CEOs that run multi-million dollar corporations.”

Jon Kiely of the CTHRC says that

Alternative programs

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getting over this perspective that all jobs in tourism are frontline positions is essential. “There are over 3,000 occupations in the industry that run the gamut,” he says. “We need to change some of those perceptions of what working in the industry means.”

With such a broad spectrum of positions and diverse population within the hospitality industry, an equally broad approach to hiring and training needs to be taken.

Gilliard says the focus at HNL for the last couple of years has been in building an understanding of the current needs of travellers in such a globalized world.

“The world is changing very fast. Now you don’t just talk across a counter or across a desk,” she says. “You have to talk to travellers around the world through social networks. The front line of customer service is now online.”

In providing a service across various platforms, a mixed-approach to training takes this concept to heart.

“We’re trying to walk-the-walk in regards to flexibility,” says Kiely. “Sometimes you come up with things that are surprising – people wondered why we created online training for housekeeping. Out of any industry in Canada [housekeeping] has the highest percentage of English as a second language.

There was fear that the computer would be the worst possible thing, but what that training video really allows you to do is have a lot more video and audio.”

He says the housekeeping online training is now their best selling program.

Adam Morrison, director of projects at OTEC, says that accommodating departments that have a majority of nonnative English speakers can include options such as making inventory controls and reporting more numerical instead of language-based. As well, he says advanced translating systems have been adopted by hotels.

In addition to alleviating some language barriers, Carol Lumb, director of the Saskatchewan Tourism Education Council (STEC) says online training offers employees the flexibility of where and when they train.

“In Saskatchewan, with our labour force being so tight, finding people to fill positions is a challenge,” she says.

“Where traditionally we could hold a workshop scenario, what we’re finding is employers need to backfill if they send someone to a workshop and that makes it almost impossible.” Since the training is still necessary, she says that online options make this scenario feasible.

One of the CTHRC’s newest training modules is a mobile platform in which training can be done over a smartphone in brief, five minute segments.

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www.canadianlodgingnews.com “Mobile is all about small bits. You don’t want someone to be typing an essay on the phone, so it’s about finding ways to do that online learning on mobile apps,” he says. For their first foray into mobile training the CTHRC is launching two courses: Customer Service 101 for providing quality service, and Building a Profitable Menu for food and beverage service.

They’ve taken pieces of training from the online version of the course and rendered the same content in a user-friendly way. He says options such as multiple choice are used because they only involve checking a box rather than writing.

Building these programs in-house for the emerit product line, has allowed them to boil down the large amount of information provided through the online segment to the most essential parts, Kiely says.

As a partner of many years with the CTHRC and their emerit program, Morrison says OTEC tries to be as adaptable as possible to the diverse needs of the industry.

Hecht says, while instructor led training is still their bread and butter, there has been a strong insurgence of blended learning that could encompass instructor-led plus coaching, informal learning or webinars. She says, “77 per cent of corporations right now are doing e-learning. Tourism and hospitality has been a little slower. In my opinion, I think one of the reasons is because people think you can’t get performancebased outcomes from e-learning, but we know that is not accurate.”

Morrison says another trend OTEC is seeing is flexible development packages that take into account employees who have been workplace trained, rather than formally educated in a post-secondary institution. “OTEC is working with the education system in Ontario, using emerit as a common currency,” he says. “Maybe people go straight into the workplace [from high school] to start their career, but start to earn credentials along the way.

“Everyone from generation Y to mature workers, to new Canadians: It’s not a uniform workforce and managers have to adapt to who they’re working with,” says Morrison.

Investing in people Gilliard says one of the hoteliers she is in contact with in St. John’s will wait for two to three weeks before ordering a custom-fit uniform for a new employee.

The reasoning? “She’s been burned so many times and stuck with a custom uniform that doesn’t fit anyone,” says Gilliard. The high turnover rate in the

Main photo: Participants in OTEC’s Remote Line Cook Program get a taste of the job from an experienced chef. Inset left to right: Adam Morrison, Jo-Anne Hecht. Photos courtesy of OTEC.

hospitality industry plays a role in a hesitation towards investing in, not only uniforms, but training as well.

“Other industries tend to invest far more financially,” says Hecht, citing a CTHRC finding that for every employee, the hospitality industry spends approximately $199 per year, significantly less than other industries. Again, this hesitation comes from a fear of investing in an employee’s training only to have them leave after a short time.

However, Gilliard says that the tourism industry needs to think on a longterm basis. Investing in training is one large factor leading to sustainable success in the long-term.

“People often say ‘what if I train them and they leave?’” says Gilliard.

“This, versus, what if I don’t train them and they stay?”

Employee retention is a clear concern for operators and Lumb says that this is increasingly true with a shrinking employee pool. “We used to use the analogy that there was always a busload of people coming down the road needing work,” she says. Now, the flag of STEC’s 2013 catalogue reads: Recruit, Train, Retain.

“It’s the investment. Training takes time, but businesses need to schedule time for their teams,” says Morrison.

“We need to budget for this, we need to understand the role of our employees in providing the service and seeing the connections there.”

Kiely says studies have shown an important factor in keeping employees on board is illustrating the opportunities for advancement within the industry, and showing how transferable their gained skills are. “Maybe it’s a part time job or summer job, but to show them that they’re learning valuable and

transferable skills is really important to highlight in the process,” he says.

Lumb offers that an employee can be hired on as a food and beverage server, but the employer needs to take the opportunity to say, “this may, in your mind, be a summer job but in fact there are lots of careers that you can undertake while you’re here with us,” she says. “Even if you do change careers, the kinds of things you learn in our industry are all transferable skills: teamwork, conflict resolution, these things serve

Health and Safety Training When it comes to health and safety, proper training is a serious matter. Barbara Malacko, executive director of the Alberta Hotel Safety Association says that this should be a focus during the orientation of every employee.

“One of the most critical things that an employer can be doing is taking a look at their orientation program. Not just going over the rules of the hotel and uniform and pay day program, but going through the possible hazards and what, as the employer, they’ve done to reduce the risk of that,” she says. “Things like emergency response, where the FirstAid kit is; some of those really critical ones should be covered off on the first day.”

She stresses that it is not just

Photos: Left: Hospitality NL Chair Darlene Thomas presents newly certified industry professionals with their emerit certification. Below: Carol-Ann Gilliard.

Barbara Malacko

you well no matter what and I don’t think we take the time to share that.”

In society in general, Lumb says there is a lack of adequate respect for service providers. “I think on the interviewing and recruiting side of things, there is a need to reinvigorate the pride in being of service to others and then, as a general society, respecting that.”

about telling, but showing the new employees and ensuring that they understand all procedures. You can give an employee a manual, but how many of them will read it?

“The biggest thing of testing the competency is actually watching them do it,” Malacko says. “If you do WHMIS training, for example, it’s a written exam to display competency.

If it’s a housekeeper, displaying competency would actually be demonstrating it.”

Malacko says that some of the biggest risks in hospitality are back injuries, slips and falls and over-exertion. Properly training staff on body positioning, weight restrictions and proper stocking methods for carts can mitigate these risks.

“Show them how to do the job and then watch them do the job,” she says. “There’s that balance between production, individual safety and the quality to be in there. It’s about ensuring that we don’t forget about that individual’s safety.”

Listing step by step how to do a job is an important part of setting out any health and safety procedure, says Malacko. Putting any assumptions on staff, despite prior experience at another property, allows for varying interpretations of processes.

“You want a step by step of how we do it at this property,” she says.

“We don’t want to use language that is out of the ordinary – I don’t want jargon used in it. I want to use language that is familiar for everybody.”

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CHIC: The opportunities, straight talk, dollars and cents TORONTO—First launched in 1997, the Canadian Hotel Investment Conference has established itself as the definitive source for information, insight and opinion on today’s Canadian lodging market.

For senior executives from across North America this business conference delivers outstanding insight on where the industry is today, where it’s heading and the options it can deliver.

Hard-hitting sessions and powerful industry panels zero in on lodging development, investment and finance to reveal viable opportunities, future trends and up-to-theminute cross country performance. Critical insights from experts, shared information from industry insiders and important one-on-one networking all come together in a program that has become a “must-do” annual event.

On Tuesday, May 28 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., conference hosts CBRE Hotels, Colliers International Hotels, and HLT Advisory Inc. welcome all registered delegates to reunite with old acquaintances and strike new relationships.

Transaction markets continue to be “bubbly” On Wednesday May 29, confer-

ence hosts Lyle Hall of HLT Advisory and Bill Stone of CBRE Hotels kick off the morning with an economic update for Canadian hotels. The Canadian hotel and broader commercial real estate transaction markets continue to be bubbly, with a reasonably positive economic outlook.

million in population. This session looks at the supply pipeline and development opportunities in upand-coming markets across Canada, including Fort McMurray, Regina, Saskatoon, Quebec City and Halifax.

Other breakouts look at hotel investment from the points of view of the asset manager and the passive hotel investor.

Afternoon sessions will provide delegates with a chance to meet some industry advocates in Ottawa; and have an in depth look at the anatomy of financing.

One of the afternoon sessions turns the focus to the major urban and resort markets, providing an update of the supply pipeline and development opportunities in major Canadian centres, including case studies of Toronto Airport, downtown Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.

One panel deals with the special issues that crop up in family-run businesses.

Panellists include Steve and Reetu Gupta, Easton’s Group of Hotels; Bob and Ryan Pomeroy of the Pomeroy Group; Hugo and Jean-Yves Germain of Groupe Germain; and Anil and Ash Taneja of Palm Holdings.

What are the reasons? Where are the opportunities? How do you compete in such an active phase of the investment cycle?

Breakout sessions will look at the market opportunities from unusual perspectives. For example, one session looks at markets of under one

A candid look at work in a family business And then there’s the question of working in a family business. Special issues crop up in family-run businesses that don’t occur anywhere else. Steve and Reetu Gupta of

Easton’s Group of Hotels, Bob and Ryan Pomeroy of the Pomeroy Group, Hugo and Jean-Yves Germain of Groupe Germain, and Anil and Ash Taneja of Palm Holdings, will provide a candid discussion of the challenges and opportunities of working with family.

The day will conclude with a reception held in conjunction with delegates from the Canadian Restaurant Investment Summit.

Canadian Restaurant Investment Summit now in fourth year Now in its fourth year, the Canadian Restaurant Investment Summit has solidly established itself as Steve and Reetu Gupta will participate in a an annual business confer- discussion of family-run businesses. ence that brings the indusdesign and construction, communitry into focus.

Operators, chain executives, fran- ty sponsorship, franchisor/franchichise operators, investors, lenders see relationships, and the migration and key suppliers from across the of brands from west to east.

Another session asks, “What hapcountry agree that this is an event that delivers what they need—in- pens when a local becomes a chain?”

The conference will conclude sight, information and opportunity—all with meaningful content with an interview with Annie Youngand a tight focus that is uniquely Scrivner who joined Starbucks in September 2009 as chief marketing Canadian.

This year’s topics include using officer and is currently president of Google to gain a competitive edge, Starbucks Canada.

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Centennial College conference: A lesson in greening tourism

By Kristen Smith TORONTO—Tourism students and hospitality professionals got a lesson in sustainability best practices at Centennial College’s Greening Tourism conference last month.

Mitchell Beer, president of Smarter Shift, spoke on how and why sustainability can be profitable.

The former meeting professional said, “Frustration with the industry’s slow adoption of sustainable practices … was one of my reasons for leaving the industry.”

He warned that if meetings, hospitality and tourism don’t start taking sustainability more seriously—more than switching light bulbs and tableware—it could get ugly. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change set a goal for industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by the year 2050 for a four in five chance to avoid runaway climate change. “The people who are in school now get this,” he said.

The solutions can be profitable, said Beer, adding hospitality and travel can take the lead. He suggested going up the fifth floor of an oceanfront hotel and asking how much property could be under water by 2100.

Beer noted every dollar saved by operating more efficiently goes straight to the bottom line. He suggested replacing glass exteriors so Job buildings are easier to #cool,IW-0001 replacing boilers and reducing electricity use as a few measures.

“If the sustainability program comes from the engineering department, they’ll be able to determine what to do,” he said, noting capital costs will be recovered quickly, and initiatives shouldn’t be coming out of the public relations department.

“It’s seen as a nice press release, not as a long-term plan with a set of long-term, ambitious goals,” said Beer.

Liz Driver, director and curator at the Campbell House Museum in Toronto, spoke of the potential impact of wind energy projects on tourism. She brought the situation Client - Magazine Ads of in PrinceImagewear Edward County to the attention the conference and argued that wind farms

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are incompatible with the development of tourism in rural areas. The hot-button topic in many Ontario rural communities spurred some debate.

She cited concerns about harm to nature, health and the local economy.

Home to 32 wineries, the area’s business owners and tourism operators are leading the charge with the creation of County Coalition for Safe and Appropriate Green Energy.

“Anyone who cares about tourism in rural areas should be deeply concerned about the number of industrial wind projects that are Date Ver #theFNL Apr 11/13 up all over on the way to sprouting countryside,” said Driver.

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Algonquin Eco-Lodge a sustainable answer to the Call of the Wild

By Elaine Anselmi TORONTO—The Green Living Show at Toronto’s Direct Energy Centre brought together a wide range of industries with a focus on environmentally-friendly operations. CLN caught up with one lodging industry member who offers his guests remote living rather than a remote control.

The Algonquin Eco-Lodge was a first-time exhibitor at the Green Robin Banerjee Living Show, but owner Robin Banerjee said he has been on the consumer show circuit at events such as the Outdoor Adventure Show. “My other business is doing guided canoe trips, but the lodge fit in better for families who want that wilderness experience but don’t necessarily want to sleep in a tent,” he said.

As well as the Eco-Lodge, which he opened in 2002, Banerjee is the president of Call of the Wild, Adventure Consultants. While working as a structural engineer, Banerjee travelled extensively and led ski and canoe trips in the Algonquin area.

“I started offering canoe trips in the summertime,” he said. “Then I quit my engineering job and needed a place to stay for the winter.”

Banerjee took up residence at the lodge and when the owner eventually decided to sell, he made the offer.

“I leased it for two years and [the owner] stuck around and taught me how to run a building, groom trails, and all of that,” he said.

The lodge is a 2.5 km hike from the parking lot, which is off of Algonquin Park’s Highway 60 corridor. Banerjee said it is approximately a 25 minute walk and on relatively flat-ground. Surrounded by Crown land, the lodge offers 40 km of groomed trails in the winter and plays host to various ski and snowshoe clubs throughout the winter.

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“Being ‘eco’ differentiates us” In the past few years, Banerjee said the lodge has been greatly improved to meet the demands of its guests, while improving its sustainable practices. The lodge is completely off the grid, and Banerjee invested in a micro hydro generator that powers the facility via a waterfall on the property. “We’ve spent more money on upgrades than we bought the business for,” said Banerjee. “We went from Flintstones to Jetsons.”

As well as traditional recreational offerings such as canoeing or swimming (the lodge sits on the shore of Moffatt pond), guests can also enjoy a dip in the carbonneutral hot tub.

With 17 rooms, the lodge accommodates up to 34 people, and Banerjee said rooms are basic and fairly small with either a double bed or double, plus single.

“The idea is you’re in your room just to sleep and change.

“Being very ‘eco’ has helped us because it differentiates us,” he said. “Peoples’ expectations are different. Our rooms are on the small side, and there’s no TV, or coffeemaker.”

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Choice launches SkyTouch Technology division Ric Leutwyler

SILVER SPRING, MD—Choice Hotels International Inc., one of the world’s largest hotel companies, has announced the launch of SkyTouch Technology, a new division that develops and markets cloud-based technology products to help hoteliers industry-wide improve their efficiency and profitability.

Choice has been building its technology on a cloud-based platform, choiceADVANTAGE, since 2003, so that hotels could operate without expensive technology, said Ric Leutwyler, president of the new division.

“Over the years, it has been evolving to include more brands, countries and languages.

There is a robust property management system (PMS), choiceADVANTAGE, and a rate management centre with 5,500 hotels (close to 300 in Canada) and 50,000 users.

“Others in the industry were watching as Choice made these moves. There is a real market because no one has cloud-based technology at this level. I was brought on to bring this technology to the marketplace.”

“Since its introduction by Choice Hotels in 2003, choiceADVANTAGE has set the industry standard for ease-of-use, functionality and affordability,” said Stephen P. Joyce, president and chief executive officer of Choice Hotels International. “choiceADVANTAGE has been so effective for Choice franchisees that other hoteliers, including chains and independents around the world, have asked to use it. It’s a big milestone for the company that we can now offer a similar system via SkyTouch Hotel OS.” SkyTouch Technology launched with the market introduction of SkyTouch Hotel OS, a new property and rate management solution that draws on the choiceADVANTAGE property management system for handling reservations, guest stays and rates on any device with an Internet connection.

will continue to enjoy the exclusive benefits of choiceADVANTAGE, including integration withChoiceHotels.com, Choice central reservation systems, the Choice Privilege loyalty program and other Choice systems.

“We believe that launching SkyTouch Technology as a separate line of business apart from our core hotel franchising operations gives the division the independence it needs to offer custom solutions and high levels of support, service and security to all its users,” Joyce noted.

Leutwyler is an accomplished executive

Marketing the core platform “What we are marketing is the basic core platform,” Leutwyler told CLN. “We are taking the core technology and bringing it to the marketplace without the Choice connections.”

SkyTouch Hotel OS offers many of the same functions of the choiceADVANTAGE property and rate management platform, as well as the ability to connect seamlessly with other systems used by chain and independent hotels.

But at the same time, Choice franchisees

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whose career has included hospitality, technology and entrepreneurial experience. He calls SkyTouch his “dream job” because it combines all of his past experience. He has assembled a team of over 100 people with more than 1,000 years of combined hospitality experience.

One key feature of SkyTouch is an ideas portal, where users can submit and even vote on ideas. “Sixty-two per cent of our enhancements have come from [user] ideas. We have a huge customer base, and they’re very engaged,” said Leutwyler.

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Northern Vision invests in third Whitehorse hotel WHITEHORSE, YK—Northern Vision has purchased its third hotel in Whitehorse, which has approximately 15 hotels in total. The 32room Edgewater Hotel will be added to the company’s hospitality portfolio that already includes High Country Inn and Gold Rush Inn. Northern Vision’s plans for the new purchase include updating food and beverage service and improving the quality of the rooms, according to the CBC. “I think everybody knows our approach to these hotels; they’ve watched us since 2006,” Northern Vision president Rich Thompson told the CBC. “We buy the hotels and we put substantial capital expenditures in to improve the quality of the rooms.” Northern Vision also owns the Waterfront Station and old Canadian Tire store in Whitehorse.

Coast Inn of the North gets a $2 million spring facelift PRINCE GEORGE, BC—The Coast Inn of the North is getting a spring facelift, spending more than $2 million to modernize and refresh the guest rooms. Work will begin in the coming weeks and will be completed by this fall.

The investment will include new bathrooms, carpets, window coverings and wall finishings. Guest beds will also be fitted with Coast Hotels’ triple sheeting.

The Coast Inn of the North’s restaurants are already enjoying an evolution under the helm of new award-winning executive chef Tony Heesterman. Chef Heesterman will also soon launch a new menu for Shogun, the on-site authentic Japanese steak house.

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Stone Edge Estate: B&B elegance near Georgetown, ON ways the baker and all of her recipes were in German. So with the help of a niece, Rapien had the recipes translated and learned to bake.

Breakfasts include three-egg omelettes, fresh baked muffins and croissants, plus fresh fruit. Rapien’s repertoire also includes cheesecakes and tortes.

There’s not a lot of accommodation choice in Georgetown, and Stone Edge Estate is rated No. 1 on TripAdvisor. That’s not always a good thing, Rapien explained.

“I’m the first one they call. I don’t give half off and there are no extra nights. I have to give them the bad news about accommodation prices in Georgetown.

“Our focus is on Greater Toronto and the general area. We’re a nice B&B; the only place in the area with a pool. A lot of people come here just to get away.”

Doug Rapien with dog Mandi

GEORGETOWN, ON—When Doug Rapien built an 8,000 square foot family home on 96 acres near Georgetown, ON, he had no plans to open a bed and breakfast.

But in early 2011, when he was downsized from his job as a computer executive, he consulted Donna Messer of ConnectUs Canada about his next steps. “I showed Donna the house and she latched onto this house like you wouldn’t believe,” Rapien told CLN. “She kept asking how this house could generate some revenue, and I kept saying, ‘It wasn’t designed to do that.’”

But the germ of an idea was planted, and the Rapiens began to warm to the idea. Then, Rapien’s wife, Beate, passed away suddenly in August 2011 and there was no question of Rapien going back to a demanding full-time executive job that would take him away from the house for 10 to 12 hours per day. His wife had been the primary caregiver for their disabled daughter, Theresa. “There was a need for me to stay home and care for Theresa,” Rapien explained.

The B&B idea seemed to make more and more sense. But there was work to be done. “As a computer executive, my jobs were always projects with substantial responsibility,” said Rapien. “Initiatives focused on financials, budgets and project plans. I started project managing this.”

Renovations started in October 2011 and took six months. “I renovated the first three rooms, then the suite, and then the common areas. The pool, dining room and living room were all redone. We changed the drapes in the pool room as well.”

He perfected the art of bargain hunting. “I shopped in a very structured way. For example, I saw seven of a certain design of wing chair that usually cost $799 apiece at Sears. I got them for $149 to $249. I paid attention and realized that Sears and Sears Home stores change their showrooms on a staggered basis. I have nursing care for Theresa in the evenings, so once a week I would take a quick tour. At Liquidation World, I found the chairs for $150 apiece. I had to go to three different Liquidation Worlds.” In the end, he purchased 14 wing chairs at rock bottom prices. “It’s all about knowing what you want and having patience,” he said.

Rapien views his situation as being “semi-retired.”

Thanks to other finances, he only has to replace some of his income. But, he notes, “Ultimately ... if I stay in the house, it has to make financial sense.”

That’s why he has set his rates high and doesn’t like to heavily discount. Posted rates for the three spacious rooms are $176 to $192 per night. His clients are primarily people visiting family in Georgetown. He does offer a wedding package—all the rooms for $1200 for the weekend. “There are no restrictions on day use. On the day of the wedding, they can use the common spaces to get their hair done,” noted Rapien. The B&B is eight miles from Terra Cotta Inn, and not far from six to eight other wedding venues.

Rapien was already a good cook, but his wife was al-

Suite at Stone Edge Estate

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Le Centre Sheraton Montréal wins Grand Prix du tourisme quebecois

Michel G. Giguère, GM and team from Le Centre accepting the Grand Prix Award

Montréal—Le Centre Sheraton Montréal became the proud recipient of a Grand Prix du tourisme quebecois award within the Montréal region last month. Winning in the accommodations “200 units or more” category, this particular Grand Prix award was presented by the Palais des Congrès de Montréal.

The Grands Prix du tourisme quebecois have been presented for the past

Fox Harb’r one of six Four Diamond hotels in Atlantic Canada WALLACE, NS—The much-anticipated Canadian Automobile Association/American Automobile Association Four Diamond Award list was recently released, and Fox Harb’r Golf Resort & Spa in Nova Scotia is one of only six Atlantic Canada properties to have received the highly esteemed award for 2013.

The other five properties are: o The Holman Grand Hotel, Charlottetown, PEI, first year (new) o Casino New Brunswick, Moncton, NB, first year (new) o The Westin Nova Scotian, Halifax, NS, fourth year o The Prince George Hotel, Halifax, NS, 11th year o Halifax Marriott Harbourfront,

27 years and showcase the dedication and effort by businesses in the tourism industry whose excellent performance contribute to Montréal’s global reputation as an exceptional destination. A total of 15 awards were handed out at this year’s gala.

Le Centre Sheraton Montréal is ideally situated across the street from the famous Bell Centre and just steps from the Underground City, top din-

Landscaping at Fox Harb’r Golf Resort & Spa

Halifax, NS, 28th year Since opening in 2000, Fox Harb’r Golf Resort & Spa has offered awardwinning dining in The Great Room restaurant, The Willard for casual dining, the Spa at Fox Harb’r, 18 holes of Championship Golf Course; a par three Golf Course; The Golf Academy

Kristen Smith joins Ishcom & Canadian Lodging News as assistant editor, digital content Steven Isherwood, publisher of Canadian Lodging News, is pleased to announce that Kristen Smith has joined the editorial team of Ishcom Publications as assistant editor, digital content.

With newsroom experience as a reporter at the Orillia Packet & Times and a multimedia journalist at the Collingwood Enterprise-Bulletin, Kristen has also interned at the Na-

ing and shopping on St. Catherine Street. The 825-room hotel unveiled an all-encompassing $40 million renovation last year. The property has 51,000 square feet of meeting, pre-function and exhibition space including 44 versatile meeting rooms and a 13,000-square-foot Grand Ballroom with the highest ceiling in the city and an atrium-style foyer bathed in natural light.

tional Post following her postgraduate Journalism degree at Humber College.

Reporting to Restaurant News editorial director Leslie Wu, Kristen will also work closely with Canadian Lodging News editor Colleen Isherwood on the revamped Restaurant News and Canadian Lodging News websites and recently launched social media platform.

at Fox Harb’r, a skeet and sport shooting facility, a private jetport; deep sea marina; and luxurious private homes and town homes.

Anticipating another successful year, Fox Harb’r Golf Resort and Spa opens its 14th season on May 10, 2013.

A Couple’s Journey Back from Guillain-Barré Syndrome

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uzan and John Jennings went through an unexpected and harrowing ordeal. Within six days, Suzan went from normal to total paralysis from the neck down. They subsequently found that she had been stricken with a little-known condition called GuillainBarré syndrome (GBS). This condition was caused by her immune system mistakenly identifying her nerves as an enemy to destroy. Very rapidly all communication between the brain and the rest of her body was cut, rendering her unable to move and even affecting her breathing.

Suzan and John Jennings both had successful careers in hospitality sales and marketing in British Columbia, and each of them has traveled extensively with their career. They have been married for ten years and have recently moved to Parksville on Vancouver Island. John has one daughter, Devon.

“This book is the Jennings’ honest account of her experience with GBS highlights the important emotional impact of an acute medical illness. Suzan and John have literally moved a large group of medical students to tears and laughter with their honest account – and received a standing ovation from the class! Mrs. Jennings has put her hard earned knowledge about this illness to good use, becoming involved in local advocacy issues volunteering with the Guillain-Barré Foundation of Canada, providing support to other newly diagnosed patients.”

-Dr. Kristine Chapman, MD, FRCPC, Faculty of Medicine the University of British Columbia, Vancouver General Hospital, Neuromuscular Diseases Unit, Neurology and EMG

BEST

BOOK S

Suzan was headed for a nice comfy retirement after a life of challenges. She had no idea that her retirement plans would need to be put on hold while she tried at rst to understand and then deal with the cruel, bizarre and ultimately rewarding diagnosis of GBS. Rewarding because in this book we learn that GBS has given Suzan a single minded purpose, to bring much needed awareness to this strange and particularly devastating illness. You may not have heard of GBS but through the lens of Suzan in her narrative I can assure you that you will never forget her struggle to come out and beat it. A must read for anyone that is or knows of someone facing seemingly insurmountable odds of adversity.

Percy von Lipinski Presenter/Producer, CNNi/CNN WorldPressMedia

Paralyzed without Warning

By Suzan and John Jennings

In recent years the brand has moved squarely into the spotlight as the key to success in the hospitality industry. Business strategy once began with marketing and incorporated branding as one of its elements; today the brand drives marketing within the larger hospitality enterprise.

Not only has it become the chief means of attracting customers, it has, more broadly, become the chief organizing principle for most hospitality organizations.

The never-ending quest for market share follows trend after trend, from offering ever more elaborate and sophisticated amenities to the use of social media as a marketing tool—all driven by the preeminence of the brand.

Chekitan S. Dev’s book, Hospitality Branding, is part of Cornell University’s Hospitality Management Best Practices series.

His award-winning research has appeared in leading journals including Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, Journal of Marketing, and Harvard Business Review.

What happened to ‘service with a smile’ and ‘the customer is always right,’ ask tourism specialists Simon and Louise Hudson.

In 300 fact-filled pages, the authors of Customer Service for Hospitality and Tourism answer these tourism problems in their most recent book. Their solutions, presented in a readable style, stress the vital importance of delivering old-fashioned quality service in a modern day environment.

Each author has in-depth experience in the tourism industry. Dr. Simon Hudson, an academic professor, has drawn from his worldwide experiences as source material for the several tourism books he has authored. Louise Hudson, a freelance journalist, has also written extensively about travel, and has co-authored research publications with Dr. Hudson.

Their combined efforts have produced an easyto-follow, well-documented book that defines what customer service is, identifies major tourism trends, and provides successful marketing techniques that result in sales. Their book comes complete with charts, diagrams, lists of references and sources of information at the end of each chapter.

They stress that at all times, service means serving the customer and that quality service brings in repeat customers and continuous profits for owners and managers.

One travel section that was completely overlooked by the authors is the special services that enhance the travel experience for women.

With women travellers’ needs in mind, one woman traveller comments that the book might include in a chapter on services for women travelers: that a gym is good, but not essential, but a coffee machine in the room, a hair dryer, proper lighting in the bathroom and bedroom, a feather pillow, skirt hangers and a full length mirror are added features that make a hotel stay a pleasant experience for women. She comments, “The best hotels in the world are in Asia.”

Information about the odd perks that keep guests coming back can be found in the chapters on the Importance of Market Research and Building and Maintaining Customer Relationships.

The authors stress the continuing need for service providers to keep up-to-date on current trends, and suggests ways to satisfy the needs of repeat travellers to keep them coming back.

At the same time excellent employees should be acknowledged with rewards and recognition.

The final chapter is pure gold for service providers. The authors have combined all the information in the book into a series of 21 questions and answers that cover many of the important points in each chapter. The questions begin with ‘What is good customer service?’ and end with ‘The role of the Internet in customer service’.

Customer Service for Hospitality and Tourism should be on the list of every tourism provider who wants to keep guests happy and returning.

7—Reviewed by Katherine McIntyre

S

uzan and John Jennings went through an unexpected and harrowing ordeal. Within six days, Suzan went from normal to total paralysis from the neck down. They subsequently found that she had been stricken with a little-known condition called GuillainBarré syndrome (GBS). This condition was caused by her immune system mistakenly identifying her nerves as an enemy to destroy. Very rapidly all communication between the brain and the rest of her body was cut, rendering her unable to move and even affecting her breathing.

The Jennings’s honest account of her experience with GBS highlights the important emotional impact of an acute medical illness, not just on the individual but on the family. Suzan vividly describes one of the most challenging aspects of GBS—the psychological toll of the unexpected, rapid, loss of function and dependence on others. Through the acute illness and long rehabilitation phase, Suzan has used her wonderful sense of humor, charisma, and determination to deal with the challenges that have come her way.

Suzan and John Jennings both had successful careers in hospitality sales and marketing in British Columbia, and each of them has traveled extensively with their career. They have been married for ten years and have recently moved to Parksville on Vancouver Island. John has one daughter, Devon.

PARALYZED

A Couple’s Journey Back | 2 from 1 Guillain-Barré Syndrome

PARALYZED

WITHOUT WARNING A Couple’s Journey Back from Guillain-Barré Syndrome

e h th s u o b th B w th re a h w im

T th p w o d p fa

W

hen the indom tumbled to th did her world endless high-paced a hotel sales executive. through terrible times shared, heartrending us much about lov over adversity, aided by medical magicia they had never hear Barré syndrome until wicked lightning, this their journey to make recovery as possible. T and John’s words of humor, readers becom with this little-known, improbable disease.

This book is about un the revitalization of people, and their s won knowledge to eas of others. It shows th daunting odds against possible to recover to facing this terrible dise

Suzan and John Jennings

By Simon and Louise Hudson

By Chekitan S. Dev

Guillain-Barre syndrome, or GBS, is the most common cause of acute neuromuscular paralysis in the world. This book outlines what happens when it strikes a high profile hospitality professional couple.

Suzan and John Jennings were part of the Canadian lodging industry, working in downWITHOUT town Vancouver hotels for aWARNING combined total of 45 A Couple’s Journey Back from years—John withGuillain-Barré Expo ‘86, Syndrome the Vancouver Tour“Throughand Suzan and John’s words of candor and Downtown humour, readers become ism Awards the Holiday Inn Vanconversant with the dire, uncaring and improbable disease. This book is about survival, the revitalization of life for two people, and their sharing hard couver;unlikely Suzan with Metropolitan Hotels, Crowne won knowledge to ease the journey of others.”

-Rick Antonson, President & CEO, Tourism Vancouver and Author.

Plaza Hotel Georgia and the Vancouver Tourism “This book is the Jennings’ honest account of her experience with GBS the important emotional impact of an acute medical illness. Suzan Awards.highlights (That where and John have was literally moved a largethey group of met.) medical students to tears and laughter with their honest account – and received a standing ovation from the class!

Mrs. Jennings has put her hard earned illness the Then Suzan was struck withknowledge GBS.aboutItthistook to good use, becoming involved in local advocacy issues volunteering with the Guillain-Barré Foundation of Canada, providing support to other newly Jennings over three years to write the story of diagnosed patients.”

-Dr. Kristine Chapman, MD, FRCPC, Faculty of Medicine the their battle with GBS, but it isVancouver nowGeneral finished University of British Columbia, Hospital,and Neuromuscular Diseases Unit, Neurology and EMG has been published.

Suzan was headed for a nice comfy retirement after a life of challenges. She had no idea that her retirement plans would need to be put on hold while she “Suzan to understand and thenanddeal with tried at had rst to understand and then deal with the cruel, bizarre ultimately rewarding diagnosis of GBS. Rewarding because in this book we learn that GBS bizarre has given Suzan a single minded purpose, rewarding to bring much needed the cruel, and ultimately diagawareness to this strange and particularly devastating illness. You may not heard of GBS but through the lens of Suzan in her narrative I can assure nosis ofhave GBS. Rewarding because in this book we you that you will never forget her struggle to come out and beat it. A must read for anyone that is or knows of someone facing seemingly insurmountable learn that odds ofGBS adversity.has given Suzan a single-minded Percy von Lipinski Presenter/Producer, CNNi/CNN purpose, to bring much needed awareness to this WorldPressMedia strange and particularly devastating illness,” said Percy von Lipinski, presenter/producer, CNNi/ CNN, WorldPressMedia, in a review of the book.

PARALYZED WITHOUT WARNING

Hospitality Branding

WITHOUT WARNING

W

Suzan and John Jennings “You may not have heard of GBS but through the lens of Suzan in her narrative I can assure you that you will never forget her struggle to come out and beat it.”

Suzan Jennings brought CLN up to date on their news.

“We have just recently retired from New Westminster to Vancouver Island because we were seeking a quieter lifestyle for our advancing years and boy, did we ever find it here in Parksville!

Since, 2009 I have been a liaison for the GBS/ CIDP Foundation of Canada and have had the pleasure of being a support person for over 40 patients.”

Dev skillfully blends the knowledge of recent history, the wisdom of cutting-edge research, and promise of future trends. This book offers hospitality organizations advice that can help them survive and thrive in today’s competitive global business environment.

Customer Service for Hospitality and Tourism

PARALYZED

Suzan and John Jennings

The Jennings’s honest account of her experience with GBS highlights the important emotional impact of an acute medical illness, not just on the individual but on the family. Suzan vividly describes one of the most challenging aspects of GBS—the psychological toll of the unexpected, rapid, loss of function and dependence on others. Through the acute illness and long rehabilitation phase, Suzan has used her wonderful sense of humor, charisma, and determination to deal with the challenges that have come her way.

“Through Suzan and John’s words of candor and humour, readers become conversant with the dire, uncaring and improbable disease. This book is about unlikely survival, the revitalization of life for two people, and their sharing hard won knowledge to ease the journey of others.”

-Rick Antonson, President & CEO, Tourism Vancouver and Author.

ARALYZED WITHOUT WARNING

PARALYZED

WITHOUT WARNING

Suzan and John Jennings

www.canadianlodgingnews.com

22 |

CANADIAN LODGING NEWS

PEOPLE

Choice’s new franchise team Allison Fraser, GM Hilton Saint John and SJ Convention Centre

Tammy LeBlanc, general manager, Hilton Toronto Airport

Baptiste Peupion, executive chef, Fairmont Le Château Frontenac

Susan Mason, VP franchise operations, Radisson Americas

Michael Phelan, director, Holloway Lodging Corporation

Kevin Sebulski, director of golf, Horseshoe Resort, Barrie, ON

Louis Wilby, GM, Best Western Plus Fredericton Hotel and Suites

Sherry Baumgardner, senior marketing consultant, Twist Marketing

Allison Fraser is the new GM of the 197-room Hilton Saint John in Saint John, NB. Her responsibilities include managing the adjacent Saint John Trade & Convention Centre.

Prior to joining Hilton, she served for five years as general manager of the Emerald Lake Lodge in Field, BC, a four-star property renowned for its food and beverage. Prior to that, she was GM at three four-star properties in South Africa. During her 26-year career, she has also worked in operations, housekeeping and F&B roles at six South African hotels.

Fraser succeeds Tammy LeBlanc, who was recently appointed general manager of the Hilton Toronto Airport Hotel & Suites. Prior to her fiveyear tenure at the Hilton Saint John,

Mark Wadsworth, executive chef, Westin Bear Mountain, Victoria

Leslie Smejkal, vice president government relations, ORHMA

Tammy spent two years as director of business development of the 486room Hilton Montreal Airport. Before that, she was director of sales and marketing of the Holiday Inn Select Quebec. An active member in various civic/community organizations, LeBlanc was chair of the Saint John Destination Marketing Organization, and a board member of the Saint John Hotel Association.

ating officer, Radisson, and executive vice president, owned and managed hotels, Americas. Mason began her career with Carlson as an executive housekeeper in 1985, and was promoted through the ranks, serving in almost every area of hotel operations, including manager of guest services, executive assistant manager and general manager.

Baptiste Peupion has been appointed the executive chef and culinary director of Quebec’s Fairmont Le Château Frontenac. Originally from Paris, Peupion has worked in Britain, the U.S., Australia and Hong Kong during his 15-year culinary career.

After working under Alain Ducasse, Peupion became chef at his Parisian restaurant, Rech, in 2007 and 2008. At age 29, Peupion was the youngest chef to head one of Ducasse’s restaurants.

He has worked in several Michelinstarred restaurants, including Louis XV at the Hotel de Paris, Monaco. In 2010, Peupion joined the Shangri-La Hotel in Paris in his most recent position as chef de cuisine.

Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group has appointed 28-year company veteran Susan Mason as vice president, Franchise operations, Radisson, Americas, effective April 15, 2013. She will report to Javier Rosenberg, chief oper-

Holloway Lodging Corporation has announced its appointment of Michael Phelan as director. Phelan is the president and chairman of Massachusetts-based, real estate advisory firm The Valuations Group. Before co-founding the group in 1994, Phelan acquired a B.A. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley. With a focus on acquiring, owning and operating lodging properties and select full service hotels, Holloway’s mandate will be complemented

by Phelan’s real estate experience.

Horseshoe, a Skyline Resort near Barrie, ON has named Kevin Sebulski as director of Golf. Sebulski joins Horseshoe with more than 10 years’ experience as a PGA of Canada professional. Most recently he was the director of golf at the prestigious El Camaleon Mayakoba Golf Club in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. The course is renowned for hosting the PGA Tour’s annual Mayakoba Golf Classic.

Choice Hotels Canada’s new franchise team. Top L-R: Daniel Da Emi, Eric Normand, Brendan Gibney, Doug Amirault, Michael Cruz, Rob Alldred.

Bottom L-R: Kent Hull, Cheryl Warner, Sandra Stewart, Tim Trowbridge

TORONTO—Choice Hotels Canada recently appointed five exceptional industry talents to its leadership roster. The new team will report to Brendan Gibney, director, franchise operations.

Rob Alldred, franchise performance consultant, comes to Choice from Ottawa, where he was general manager at SilverBirch Hotels & Resorts, executive director at Revera Inc. and general manager at Sheraton, as well as director of operations at the Hilton Toronto Airport.

Formerly a franchise performance consultant, Patrick Dinan will assume his new role as training consultant. Prior to joining Choice Hotels Canada in 1997, Dinan taught Hospitality and Tourism at LaSalle College in Montréal.

Daniel Da Emi, bilingual specialist, operations resource centre, brings

a wealth of experience in growing staff engagement and improving service at the property level. He has held positions in the GTA including assistant general manager/HR manager at The Waterside Inn and Conference Centre, manager at The Old Mill Inn & Spa and guest services manager at Best Western Sunset Inn. Kent Hull, franchise performance consultant, has worked with a number of brands such as Westin, Fairmont, Sandman and Sonesta Resorts and was most recently vice-president, revenue management at Revenue Generation LLC. Eric Normand, franchise performance consultant, has held several positions in Quebec including general manager at Clarion Hotel, director at Cote Jardin, general manager at Hotel Gouverneur and general manager at SilverBirch Hotels and Resorts.

Levesque-Toner Management is pleased to announce the appointment of Louis Wilby as general manager of the Best Western Plus Fredericton Hotel & Suites. Wilby has worked in the hospitality industry for 18 years.

Most recently, he was regional GM of Future Inns in Moncton and Halifax.

He has also worked at the Delta Hotel and Holiday Inn Hotel and Resort in Fredericton. Wilby has served as president of the Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick (TIANB), and has also served on the board of directors for the Atlantic Provinces Restaurant Association.

Leslie Smejkal as the new vice president of government relations for the ORHMA. She got her start in the restaurant business while managing a busy restaurant in the City of Guelph.

Most recently Smejkal’s career took her to Tim Hortons Inc. as manager of government affairs, where she spent seven years working with all levels of government across Canada.

During that time, she was able to successfully mitigate and influence positive changes on legislative and regulatory issues.

Home is where the heart is, and for Victoria native Mark Wadsworth, who joined the Westin Bear Mountain recently as their new executive chef, this statement rings loud and clear. Island trained, Wadsworth has a wealth of five star hotel experiences, developing his skills at the world famous Grosvenor House—A JW Marriott Hotel in London, UK, the Westin Whistler Resort and most recently the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel.

Vancouver-based Sherry Baumgardner has joined Twist Marketing as senior marketing consultant.

Twist’s BC clients that include the District of Lillooet, City of Castlegar, District of Elkford and the town of Radium Hot Springs. Baumgardner, who holds an MBA in Hospitality & Tourism, has an extensive 20-year background in the hospitality industry as a marketing leader and strategic thinker. Most recently, she was director of marketing for Coast Hotels & Resorts.

M AY 2 01 3

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First graduates from ORHMA’s adaptive cooking class Volunteers and course founders Brenda Ryan and Anne Robertson hold class photos presented by Tony Elenis of the ORHMA.

Sheldon Aaron, (right) GM of the Best Western Lamplighter congratulates participant Clifford Young

Adaptive devices for cooking

By Colleen Isherwood, Editor LONDON, ON—The Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association (ORHMA) honoured the 15 graduates of its first-ever Adaptive Cooking Class at the Best Western Lamplighter Inn in London, ON on April 3.

President and CEO Tony Elenis and director of corporate marketing and business development Fatima Finnegan of the ORHMA were on hand, along with ORHMA chair Darren Sim from A&W, and Alfred Spencer of the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario.

The 15 participants attended cooking classes conducted by Nick Gucanin Gazibaric, executive chef at the Best Western Lamplighter. Over the course of six weeks, the students, who have sight and mobility disabilities, learned to manage a budget, shop for food, and prepare a variety of healthy dishes.

“At the beginning of the program, we asked participants how many packaged meals they had eaten in the past week, and the answer was around seven. At the end of the course, that number was down to one or two,” said Anne Robertson, who initiated the idea along with fellow Londoner Brenda Ryan.

There are many adaptive devices and cooking aids. Most of them cost less than $20.

Adaptive devices and gadgets make all the difference when it comes to culinary skills.

For example, participant Clifford Young, who has had a stroke, is paralyzed on one side and has trouble using a knife. A cutting board with a knife that is anchored at the end and pivots, solves that problem. For the vision-impaired participants, stable devices that prop open a freezer bag allow the cooks to pour liquids, since they can feel the edges and rest the pot on the device. For participants who must depend on others to prepare the food, the course teaches them how to guide or instruct these support staff on how to prepare healthy, cost-effective meals.

The participants worked in a portable adaptive kitchen, specially designed and donated by McCormick Foods. Spacious enough to accommodate wheelchairs, it has a water pump with sink, a separate butane burner and a convection oven. An overhanging mirror makes it easier for many to see the cooking process. Adjustable shelving in the front and sides allows for volunteers to come up and assist the chef with the cooking. It takes just minutes to set up and dismantle, and is small enough to be stored in a garage.

The kitchen has been reassembled for an-

other course being held during April and May at the Delta Toronto East hotel. The ORHMA is planning other courses throughout the province. There is no charge to participants.

At the ceremony, each participant received a diploma and a seed cup so they can grow their own basil for cooking. The ceremony was emotional at times, as participants told the volunteers and staff how much they enjoyed the course, and smiled and joked as they received their diplomas.

“Each week, when they came into the lobby for the course, they were so excited,” said Sheldon Aaron, general manager of the hotel, who donated a room with a fireplace at the front of the hotel that could accommodate the modular kitchen.

Rooms:

THERE’S STRENGTH IN NUMBERS*

Properties: Years:

536,800 6,600 70

Countries:

30+

Potential:

Unlimited

905.206.7316 • ChoiceHotelsFranchise.ca

*Source: Internal data as of 12/31/11. Data reflects open and under development properties worldwide. ©2013 Choice Hotels Canada Inc. All rights reserved.

ChoiceHotelsFranchise.ca

www.canadianlodgingnews.com

24 |

CANADIAN LODGING NEWS

L’Auberge du Littoral—Hotel & Spa

OP E N I NG S , S A L E S A N D R E NO VAT ION S

$21-million Holiday Inn Express project for downtown Oshawa OSHAWA—The construction of a downtown Oshawa Holiday Inn Express is expected to get underway this fall after a land deal between the city and a developer closed March 28.

A one-acre piece of land at the corner of Simcoe and Richmond streets was sold to Abdul Rehman, president of Chayell Hospitality Group, with a price tag of $375,400, according to Clarington-Oshawa-Whitby This Week.

Rehman said once brown field remediation is complete, the plan is to build a six-storey, 125-room hotel, with a leased restaurant, 300-person conference centre and underground parking – a $21 million project.

He told This Week he thinks there is demand for a downtown hotel.

“From our perspective, when we go into a city we don’t jump into it,” said Rehman, adding the feasibility report has gone to the InterContinental Hotel Group.

According to the city’s website, construction is expected to be complete December 2014, which would see the hotel ready for the 2015 Pan Am Games. Oshawa will host boxing at the General Motors Centre, which is walking distance from the hotel.

Controversial Byward Market hotel/condo discussed in Ottawa OTTAWA—A proposal for a new Byward Market hotel with a connected condominium tower has residents putting up a fight. A project proposed by Claridge Homes will see the empty Union du Canada building on Dalhousie St. renovated with an additional six floors and new façade.

As well, nearby bar the Honest Lawyer will be replaced with a 22-storey condo tower, according to the Ottawa Citizen.

Residents told the Citizen that the, already dense, traffic in the Market will be aggravated by a highly populated condo tower and hotel. Concerns of creating a high-rise district in the area were also voiced.

Ottawa city planners said the location of the Market is ideal for more population and increased walking traffic, and that a light-rail transit station is planned for a few blocks away.

The planners said Claridge’s plan will improve the look of the buildings and give new use to the empty space.

L’Auberge du Littoral’s ambitious expansion BEAUPORT, QUEBEC—L’Auberge du Littoral—Hotel & Spa, located just 5 km from Old Quebec and Montmorency Falls in the borough of Beauport, has been constantly changing ever since Solange Veilleux, and

Claude, Jonathan and Marika Hamel took possession in 2004. Now, they have begun their biggest expansion yet.

In eight years, the Auberge du Littoral—Hotel & Spa has received more than $3.5 million in private investment, always respecting the historic character of the Victorian house at the core of the property.

The $2 million renovation will transform the motel section of the Auberge into a hotel. Existing rooms will be gutted, 17 rooms will be added for a total of 54 rooms and suites, and an elevator will also be installed.

All rooms are equipped with a cork floor and equipped with furniture custom made and designed by Dumont Board Designer, whose clients include L’Atelier Tartars & Cocktails, La Planque and Times Hotels.

The project should be completed this June.

Best Western opens Prestige Inn in Radium Hot Springs, BC RADIUM HOT SPRINGS, BC—The Best Western Plus Prestige Inn Radium Hot Springs is located at the crossroads of Highways 93 and 95, in a panoramic mountain setting at the edge of Kootenay National Park and the world-famous therapeutic Radium Hot Springs pools. The 87room inn offers easy access to many of the area’s seasonal outdoor activities including hiking, golfing, skiing, snowmobiling, water rafting, wildlife viewing and cycling, all within minutes of the hotel.

The property features a pool, fitness centre, onsite restaurant, hot tub and room service. Pets may be accepted.

Transformed meeting and event space at Hotel Omni Mont-Royal

vestibule-style lobby includes a grand fireplace, plush chairs and modern artwork. Dramatic metal screens separate the entrance from the Alice Bar, named after Alice, the bronze female statue that has been a hotel habitué since the property opened in 1999. The spectacular atrium with its 23-foot glass ceiling overlooks Sherbrooke St. West and is a perfect venue for a cocktail reception.

The pool at Best Western Plus Prestige Inn Radium Hot Springs

Opus stakes claim as premier boutique hotel VANCOUVER—This spring, Opus Vancouver reasserted itself as Canada’s premier boutique hotel with a complete revamp of its playful 96 rooms. Once again led by interior designer, Robert Bailey, and inspired by the expressions of designers from the 1970s, the interpretation is bold, fresh and a little cheeky with artwork by a local artists.

Notable local artists splash the walls with vibrancy and flavour.

Pieces include Tiko Kerr’s urban Vancouver watercolors, Taizo Yamamoto’s thought provoking shopping carts, Mark Mizgala’s controversial water pistols, Michael Miller’s nostalgic pop-culture imagery and Alana Rothstein’s bold digital interpretations.

“Our vision at Opus Vancouver has always been to provide the best boutique hotel experience in North America,” said Nicholas Gandossi, general manager.

“Guests have always loved the Opus Vancouver rooms and with this revamp we sought to touch every aspect of the guest experience. From our new signature scent and boutique curated uniforms to the exhilarating launch of our new restaurant, La Pentola della Quercia, our guests will immediately be struck by the changes as they walk through the door.”

Each room reflects the subtle to avant-garde tastes of one of five fictional muses, representing the personality and preferences of the Opus guest. The room inspired by muse, Mike, a New York based doctor now pops with luscious raspberry red walls and a faux-snake skin headboard. Susan, the fashion executive prefers her room bathed in a cosmopolitan periwinkle, while Pierre, the Parisian food critic’s room is wrapped in warm Hermes-orange. Billy, the British Rock star’s quarters are retro Liverpool-green and the dramatic actress Dede has her daring personality drawn all over the walls of her deeply textured room.

MONTREAL—The Omni Hotels & Resorts group recently completed a $20 million transformation project at its only Canadian property, the Hotel Omni Mont-Royal in downtown Montreal.

Led by celebrity designer Alexandra Champalimaud, a former Montrealer, it involved a complete redesign and refurbishment of the hotel’s facilities, including over 10 flexible meeting rooms with 14,000 square feet of event space. The renovated rooms, which range in size from 241 to 4,410 square feet, now feature an elegant, Muse-inspired guestroom at Opus Vancouver modern design complete with dramatic windows and abundant natural light.

The hotel’s meeting and events clients can also enjoy the rest of the 299-room hotel’s renovated facilities. The

The atrium at Hotel Omni Mont-Royal has a 23-foot glass ceiling

Playful art at Opus Vancouver

M AY 2 01 3

Huntsville flooding HUNTSVILLE, ON—It’s the worst flooding 83-year-old Edwin West from Tally Ho Inn has seen since his family took over the Inn in the 1940s.

Located on Penn Lake, Tally Ho was one of the resorts affected by flooding in Ontario cottage country in mid-April.

“The lake rose about three feet, there was water in the basements and storm drainages backed up,” said his son, Andrew West on Monday, April 22.

“Luckily the water level has peaked and is starting to recede.

“Friday was exciting. We had a man with an excavator locate the basement drains, dig a trench to the lake and let [the water] go.”

Thanks to those measures, basements at Tally Ho are now dry and

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the cottages are fine.

While floating docks are okay, fixed docks have been damaged.

“The dock that is usually three feet above the water is now buried by two feet of water,” said Andrew West, noting that the fixed docks will require repairs.

Gord Bell of nearby Beauview Cottages noted that his property was not affected. “Beauview is up higher than the flood waters and we have floating docks,” he said.

Chris Lund, general manager at Deerhurst Resort, said that they had some minor landscape areas under water in and around their Lakeside golf course and beach, neither of which are currently open for the season. “But that is it, no buildings or any other facilities are impacted.”

Top photo shows the public dock, boat ramp and beach for Peninsula Lake. The photo was taken from Sunnyside cottage at Tally Ho Inn. Bottom photo shows the water levels are very high around the Sunnyside cottage at Tally Ho Inn. All of the trees should be on land. Water is about 10 feet from the cottage but normally is 70 feet away. Photos courtesy of Patti Colquette, Tally Ho Inn.

Green Key celebrates 15 years OTTAWA—Green Key Global headed into Earth Week celebrating two major milestones for its flagship offering, the Green Key Eco‐Rating Program.

This spring Green Key Global celebrates the Green Key Program’s 15th anniversary as well as having reached the 3,000 member mark.

“This is a significant achievement for the Green Key program but more notably for the entire lodging industry,” said Tony Pollard, managing director of Green Key Global.

“This is tangible proof that the lodging industry has successfully assumed a leading role in demonstrating sustainable and environmentally conscious business practices.”

Developed by the Hotel Association of Canada (HAC), the initial concept for the Green Key Program was introduced to the Canadian lodging industry as a result of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

The program grew steadily while gaining recognition from major Canadian hotel companies, eventually celebrating 1,000 members in 2008.

Throughout 2007 and 2008 Green Key began to welcome its first U.S. properties into the membership and as a result, the program underwent a review to ensure its applicability to a more international audience.

In order to meet the needs of the growing U.S. membership, HAC partnered with LRA Worldwide in 2009 to deliver the program in the United States, thus creating Green Key Global.

Green Key Global is now a leading environmental certification body offering programs designed to evaluate and certify lodging facilities on the extent of their sustainable initiatives.

The Green Key Eco Rating Program encompasses the five main areas of a lodging facility and includes a carbon calculator that allows users to benchmark their progress year over year.

The Green Key Meetings Program assesses six core areas of a hotel’s meeting facilities.

Both programs provide members with a variety of supplemental resources including a detailed performance report and marketing materials.

“We are extremely proud to see the positive impact our program has

made in over 20 countries worldwide” added Pollard.

A brand new Drake in downtown Toronto TORONTO—After cryptic details were released about a new Drake outpost in downtown Toronto in early March, further information about a standalone concept in Toronto’s Financial District are out.

Drake One Fifty will open in the early summer at 150 York St. and Adelaide, in a former bank location.

The 6,000 square foot space will seat 175 people with the addition of a 70-seat patio.

The space, which includes a dining room, bar and scaled-down version of the Drake General Store, was a collaboration between the Drake team and British designer Martin Burdnizki.

The menu will be developed by newly appointed executive chef Ted Corrado (as reported in the April issue of CLN) who also oversees the other Drake properties, and Jennifer Von Schleinitz, who will be the new location’s general manager.

“Drake has always shown a genuine commitment to its food and beverage offerings, which have consistently been a source of deep pride for us,” Jeff Stober, CEO and founder of Drake Hotel Properties, said in a release.

“Our new venture in the thriving core of downtown Toronto allows us to showcase our superb food and cocktail program as the headline act, with all the usual Drake cultural offerings backing it up,” he said.

These cultural offerings at Drake One Fifty will include permanent and rotating art collections. Mia Nielsen will curate the collection that, in its first year, will host an installation by Douglas Coupland, a Canadian author whose public art contributions spot the city.

The restaurant will also feature performance space, a DJ area reminiscent of the Drake Underground, and projectors for video art.

Drake Hotel Properties will be opening another location in 2013, the Drake Devonshire Inn in Prince Edward County.

This first Drake installment outside of Toronto will be a boutique hotel in a restored historic building on the shores of Lake Ontario. Further details of the Drake Devonshire Inn have yet to be released.

Drake One Fifty, 150 York St., www.drakehotel.ca, @thedrakehotel.

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26 |

CANADIAN LODGING NEWS

TOP BE F OR E

&

A F T E R

Letting in the light at Delta Ottawa ENTRANCE AFTER

FRONT DESK AFTER

Randa Tukan, HOK

ENTRANCE BEFORE

FRONT DESK BEFORE

OTTAWA, ON—The former Crowne Plaza Ottawa, built in 1969, was easy to recognize due to the big, green ramp that led up to the hotel’s entrance on the second floor. That ramp was one of the design challenges when the hotel rebranded as the Delta Ottawa last year.

“The sense of arrival was awful,” says Randa Tukan, of HOK, which did the redesign. “The space where the reception and restaurant were located was cavernous, dark and deep. It required a major reconfiguration.”

HOK tore down the ramp and opened up the hotel’s facade. “There’s a whole glazed facade with light pouring in, and it’s a huge, huge improvement,” Tukan notes.

The most remarkable outside feature is now a gray archway holding a canopy, which was actually designed to disguise a fresh air intake that couldn’t be moved.

Now that the entranceway is located at ground level, HOK faced the challenge of get-

C OM I NG

May 18-21: NRA Show (National Restaurant Association), McCormick Place, Chicago. Website: http://show.restaurant.org/Attend/Register.

May 28-29: Canadian Hotel Investment Conference (CHIC), Hilton Toronto Hotel, Toronto.

Contact: Orie Berlasso. Phone: 416-924-2002 or 866-887-4453. E-mail: orieberlasso@bigpictureconferences.ca. Website: www.hotelinvest.ca.

May 29-30: Canadian Restaurant Investment Conference (CRIC), Hilton Toronto Hotel, Toronto. Contact: Orie Berlasso. Phone: 416-9242002 or 866-887-4453. E-mail: orieberlasso@ bigpictureconferences.ca. Website: www.hotelinvest.ca.

May 29-June 1: 50th Anniversary CCFCC,

ting patrons up to a restaurant located on the second floor. “We created visual cues, showing that something interesting was happening,” explains Tukan. “A glass staircase draws the eye up to boxes hanging in the atrium, showing that something lively is going on, creating enough interest to get people up to the restaurant.”

Public spaces are deliberately open and flexible. “You can drag the furniture here and there.

At the harvest table, you could have a little meeting, and get service from the kitchen, rather than formally booking a meeting room.

“At the base of the stairs, there is a podium with loose stools, so that people can sit there and chat, or take a call.

“It’s a bit of a landmark building in Ottawa—kids got their first jobs at the hotel—there are a lot of memories. The new Delta design has enough visual impact to get people to turn that page, and no longer see it as the Crowne Plaza they used to know.”

E V E N T S

Marriott River Cree Resort, Edmonton, AB. Website: ccfcc2013.ca.

Oct. 8: The Manitoba Hotel Association Tradeshow, Victoria Inn Hotel, Winnipeg. Website: www.centrex.ca.

Oct. 10-12: Travel Gay Canada’s 4th Annual Conference, The White Oaks Resort & Spa, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Contact: Darrell Schuurman. Website: http://www.tgcconference.com.

Oct. 22-23: CRDA Connect, Canadian Resort Development Association’s annual conference, Fairmont Waterfront Centre Hotel, Vancouver, BC. E-mail: info@crdaconference.com.

Oct. 27-28: Connect, BC’s first food, drink

and lodging expo, Vancouver Convention Centre West. Contact: Cailey Murphy, director of communications, British Columbia Hotel Association. Tel: 604-443-4751. E-mail: cailey@bchotelassociation.com. Website: http://www.crfa.ca.

Oct. 28-29: Shared Ownership Investment Conference, Eden Roc Renaissance, Miami Beach, FL. Phone: 305-668-3495. Website: http://www.regonline.com/2013SharedOwner shipInvestmentConference.

Nov. 9-12: International Hotel, Motel & Restaurant Show, Javits Convention Center, New York, NY. Contact: Phil Robinson,. Phone: 513-263-9331. E-mail: phil.robinson@stmediagroup.com. Website: www.ihmrs.com.

10

LIST

Ten Transaction Market Highlights from Colliers’ 2013 Investment Report The hotel transaction market continued its strong momentum in 2012 with $1.2 billion in sales registered for the year. This surpassed 2011’s $1.1 billion in deal volume and replaced 2011 as the fifth strongest year since Colliers began recording transaction data in 1985.

Sales of lodging properties across Canada marked its third year of growth; nearly tripling in total dollar terms since the full effects of the last downturn.

Despite the relative stability in yearover-year volume, there were a number of nuances that cycled through the market in 2012. Transaction market highlights include: 1. Full vs. focused-service: Fullservice hotels totalled 41 per cent of transaction volume, although the focused-service segment (28 per cent of volume) led on a price-per-room basis, garnering a 37 per cent premium to overall results.

2. Real estate buyers: Real estate companies were the most significant buyer at 43 per cent of total volume, growing from an 8 per cent share in the year prior.

3. Hotel investment sellers: Hotel investment companies were net-sellers representing 43 per cent of sell-side activity, reversing course from 2011 when they were the dominant buyer group with 45 per cent of volume.

4. REITS & C-Corps re-emerge: For the first time since 2008, REITs/CCorps emerged as an active buyer group at 16 per cent of volume for 2012 (vs. 3 per cent in 2011). This buyer group was also a net seller for the year representing 17 per cent of the transactions sold (9 per cent in 2011).

5. Coss-border sales down: Selling by cross border companies represented 24 per cent of volume (vs. 40 per cent in 2011).

6. One cross-border purchase: On the buy-side the 160-room Banff International Hotel was the only cross border sale, continuing the trend from last year when there were only two transactions to non-Canadian groups.

7. Lender-driven asset sales: Ten hotels sold that were lender-driven, which corresponded to 4 per cent of overall transaction volume. Distressed hotel property sales peaked in 2010 at 12 per cent of volume and have since moderated as lender-driven asset sales have largely worked their way through to resolution.

8. Focused service in secondary markets: Sales in the focused-service category grew as key buyer groups aggressively chased this asset class in secondary markets. Approximately 60 per cent of these sales occurred in Western Canada.

9. Ontario volumes outpace Alberta’s: Ontario saw the most activity both in number of trades and total volume, outpacing Alberta by 18 per cent in volume.

10. No strategic transactions: No strategic transactions were reported during the year. This compares to 2011 when about 27 per cent of overall activity was driven by strategic motives.

For more information The complete 2013 Canadian Hotel Investment Report can be accessed at Colliers’ new website, www.colliershotels.com. More coverage at www.canadianlodgingnews.com.

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STAYING AGILE IS CRITICAL. FORTUNATELY, OPENING MORE THAN 1,100 NEW* HOTELS HAS KEPT US IN SHAPE. In the past five years, Hilton Worldwide has opened more than 1,100 new hotels around the world, bringing us to more than 3,900 hotels in 90 countries today.* In Canada, we have 86 hotels open from coast to coast with a growing pipeline of over 40 signed projects. Impressive growth, made possible by our ability to adapt to the world’s increasingly complex business environments. As a result, we’ve developed a wealth of experience creating and operating the most award-winning portfolio of hotels in the industry. Not a bad workout for a 93-year-old.

For development opportunities in Canada, please contact Tom Lorenzo, Vice President and Managing Director of Development (+1-203-463-3407, thomas.lorenzo@hilton.com), and Jeff Cury, Director of Development (+1-514-695-6798, jeff.cury@hilton.com).

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