Posted Nov 9, 2012, 12:32 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Ottawa
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Article and pictures of newly renovated Delta Ottawa City Centre.
Quote:
Ramp up, ramp out at landmark Ottawa hotel
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Ramp+ra...#ixzz2BgH7WIdq
Delta Ottawa Centre loses its least popular feature in multi-million-dollar rebuild
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Ramp+ra...#ixzz2BgHAstd8
OTTAWA — Delta Hotels and Resorts has completed its full renovation of a landmark Lyon Street hotel that opened in Canada’s centennial year as the Skyline and has subsequently had many names, most recently the Crowne Plaza.
Now the Delta Ottawa City Centre, the 26-floor hotel underwent two years of rebuilding in a project that Ken Greene, president and chief executive of the Canadian hotel chain, said could reach $25 million.
The reno included a reconfiguration of the hotel’s public and meeting spaces into social hubs for guests. Design and space elements have created multi-purpose areas where guests can connect devices to the Internet and find workspaces with scenic views of the Ottawa River, rather than visit a traditional business area. All guest rooms have been overhauled and boast large, wall-mounted televisions, roomy work surfaces with multiple electrical outlets and other modern design elements.
But for Ottawa residents, the most noticeable change could be the removal of the green ramp on which guests had to drive up to access the second-floor lobby and entrance, effectively giving the building zero street presence and a reputation as one of the ugliest in the city.
Removal of the ramp was top priority, said general manager Peter Gillis. The lobby has been moved to the first floor, with the front desk placed to the right of the main doors in a move away from a traditional barrier between staff and guests, Greene said.
Getting rid of the ramp has helped that transition, as well, said Sandy Indig, spokeswoman for Delta.
“It really shut off the property from the street before and you couldn’t really see in, so it was really about opening it up so people from outside could see in,” said Indig.
Now, pedestrians have begun walking in just to see the renovations.
Ottawa City Centre now houses 26,000 square feet of redone meeting and conference space, including a 10,000-square-foot ballroom that is one of the three largest in the city. Guests may dine at a brand new full-service restaurant and lounge called LIFT, run by executive chef Christopher Marz, who’s been at the hotel for eight years.
Delta formerly operated a 328-room hotel nearby on Queen Street — now the National Hotel and Suites — but ended its agreement with owner Morguard Corp. after taking over the Crowne Plaza.
The renovation is meant to launch a “reinvigorated” brand for the chain, which has 43 hotels and resorts across Canada. The showpiece will be a 45-storey hotel to be built in Toronto.
The hotel has also embarked on an exclusive partnership with Philosophy bath and body products, normally sold at retailers.
“Obviously they have a very high-end product, we believe we do, too,” said Greene, the Delta CEO. “So when they looked at the opportunity, they agreed.”
The Philosophy amenity line is available only in the renovated guest rooms across the chain.
As the Crowne Plaza, a standard room rate was between $109 and $119. Gillis says the rates are now between $159 and $169, which, he says, the Delta customer has no qualms paying. Most are business travellers, “so we are really trying to create and design a space that is really flexible and adaptable to them.”
Greene, newly appointed to head Delta, previously worked in Wyndham Hotel and Resort’s Asia-Pacific market, building 400 properties in three years. He had been with the company for 20 years but wanted to be part of a team with a service culture value system, he said Wednesday from the open, naturally lit lobby on Lyon Street.
Even as Delta renovates its buildings, he says the most important shift is being able to adapt to the consumer.
“I think that has been an issue with our business. Guests come and they try to figure out, ‘All right, how do I do my thing in this place?’
“What we want to do is be able to be the place where people can do their thing as fast as they can, as comfortably as they can, and adapt to them.”
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http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/ot...395/story.html
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