General Hotel News

[rocketphish]

Quebec chain gets funding to expand Alt Hotels brand across Canada

The Canadian Press ~ OBJ
Published on December 03, 2014

Quebec's Germain Hotels group plans to expand its Alt Hotels banner across Canada after securing $80 million of additional funding from investors.

Group Germain Hotels co-president Jean-Yves Germain said the new financial support demonstrates that the hotel industry represents fertile ground for growth.

The locations of the new hotels haven't been identified. The company already plans to use existing funding to open hotels over the next three years on Slater Street in Ottawa, as well as Winnipeg and Calgary.

Original investors from 2011 – the Caisse de depot, Investissement Quebec, La Capitale Financial Group and Industrial Alliance (TSX:IAG) –provided the additional undisclosed funding.

They are joined by the Quebec Federation of Labour's Solidarity Fund, Montreal investment bank DNA Capital and an undisclosed European investor.

Five Alt Hotels have opened since 2007, including two in the Montreal area, one in Quebec, one at Toronto's Pearson International Airport and one at the airport in Halifax.

Through this $15-million reinvestment, this key player in the hospitality industry will be able to continue expanding into Canada's hotel market," said Caisse de depot executive vice-president Christian Dube.

http://www.obj.ca/Local/Tourism/2014...cross-Canada/1

[DEWLine]

How "key" is this outfit in reality?

[rocketphish]

Bee Hotel coming to Ottawa:

Bees coming to Chateau Laurier, other Fairmont Hotels & Resorts locations

The Canadian Press ~ OBJ
Published on June 02, 2015

One of Canada's largest hotel companies is buzzing with efforts to provide more homes for bees.

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts says it will erect 16 additional so-called bee hotels in several cities across Canada to help give the population of the busy pollinators a space to nest.

Six of the specially built structures will be at Fairmont properties in Quebec City, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver and Whistler, as well as the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa.

The other 10 will be placed in public spaces in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Halifax.

Fairmont erected its first five bee hotels last year in the Toronto area, including one atop the Royal York near Union Station in the city's downtown.

The initiative is being done in partnership with Burt's Bees Canada, which makes a variety of bee-related products, as well as other groups devoted to sustaining the bee population.

http://www.obj.ca/Local/2015-06-02/a...ts-locations/1

More Info:
http://www.fairmont.com/promotions/fairmontbees/

Toronto's Fairmont Bee Hotel:
http://www.thestar.com/business/2015...l-program.html

[Radster]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Bee Hotel coming to Ottawa:



More Info:
http://www.fairmont.com/promotions/fairmontbees/

Toronto's Fairmont Bee Hotel:
http://www.thestar.com/business/2015...l-program.html

Nice, good to hear this is becoming a trend here! First time I heard about this and saw such installations was in Paris last year, on the roof of a shopping centre (Centre Commercial Beaugrenelle). I spotted it from my AirBnB unit in a highrise near the shopping centre.

[rocketphish]

Marriott buys Starwood for $12.2 billion, creating global hotel chain of unrivaled scope

The Associated Press ~ staff OBJ
Published on November 16, 2015



Hotel behemoth Marriott International is becoming even larger, taking over rival chain Starwood in a $12.2 billion deal that will catapult it to become the world's largest hotelier by a wide margin.

The stock-and-cash deal, if completed, will add 50 per cent more rooms to Marriott's portfolio and give it more unique, design-focused hotels that appeal to younger travellers.

The new company would have 5,500 properties with more than 1.1 million rooms around the world, uniting Starwood's brands, which include Sheraton, Westin, W and St. Regis, with Marriott's two dozen brands including Marriott's Courtyard, Ritz-Carlton and Fairfield Inn.

The deal is expected to close in the middle of 2016.

The next-largest hotel company is Hilton Worldwide with 4,500 properties and about 735,000 rooms.

"To be successful in today's marketplace, a wide distribution of brands and hotels across price points is critical," Starwood CEO Adam Aron said on a call with Wall Street analysts. "It appeals to travellers wherever they may go, leverages marketing and technology spend(ing) and strengthens frequent traveller loyalty. Today, size matters."

Marriott and Starwood – like other hotel chains – own very few individual hotels. Instead they manage or franchise their brands to hundreds of individual owners, often real estate development companies. Those individual hotel owners are responsible for setting nightly room rates. It isn't uncommon for a developer to own a Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and Sheraton in the same city.

The merger will give Marriott 30 brands and more leverage with corporate travel departments who often look for one giant chain to house all of their employees. Frequent business travellers will also be closely watching the deal. Starwood has a beloved frequent guest program with partnerships with American Express, Delta Air Lines and Uber. Marriott has a much larger program with partnerships with Chase and United Airlines.

Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson said he was attracted to Starwood, in part, because of its loyalty program. He said the members skew a little younger than Marriott's and the program is "very valued by elite travellers."

"We will take the best of both programs and make sure the bests are preserved," he said on the analyst call. The details will be worked out in the coming months.

Back in April, Starwood announced its board was exploring strategic options for the hotel company. The Stamford, Connecticut, company has struggled to grow as fast as its rivals, particularly in "limited service hotels," smaller properties which don't have restaurants or banquet halls. They are often located on the side of the highway, near airports or in suburban office parks.

There was speculation in the markets about a potential deal with Holiday Inn owner Intercontinental Hotels Group and more recently Hyatt Hotels Corp. But in the end, it was Marriott who prevailed.

Starwood's strong international presence will aid Marriott. In the past few years, Starwood has made a strong push to grow in China, India, the United Arab Emirates as well as more-established European destinations. Marriott, in turn, has a well-established network of hotels including deep coverage of small towns and cities with its Fairfield Inn, Courtyard and Residence Inn brands.

The deal comes at a time of record hotel occupancy and rates.

During the first nine months of this year, guests filled 67.3 per cent of the available rooms in the U.S., according to research firm STR. That's the highest level since STR started collecting data in 1987. Guests paid an average of $120.35 a night so far this year. The prior record, adjusted for inflation, was $119.70 in 2008.

Marriott, based in Bethesda, Maryland, has been aggressively growing. In April, it acquired Canadian chain Delta Hotels and Resorts, helping it become the largest hotel company in Canada.

The boards of both companies approved the acquisition unanimously, which now must be approved by investors in both hotel chains.

Marriott's Sorenson will be president and CEO of the combined company and the headquarters will be in Bethesda. Marriott's board of directors following the closing will increase from 11 to 14 members, with the expected addition of three members Starwood's board.

Marriott said it expects to deliver at least $200 million in annual savings in the second full year after closing.

Last month, Starwood announced the sale of its timeshare unit to Interval Leisure Group, with its shareholders retaining a 55-per cent stake in the company. That deal is expected to close before the Marriott acquisition, with Starwood shareholders receiving additional compensation for their stake in the timeshare business.

http://www.obj.ca/Canada---World/201...ivaled-scope/1

[rocketphish]

Ottawa's Fairmont Château Laurier included in $3B hotel chain purchase

Robert Sibley, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: December 9, 2015 | Last Updated: December 9, 2015 8:37 PM EST

One of Ottawa’s most prestigious hotels, the Fairmont Château Laurier, appears to included in a nearly $3-billion deal in which eight iconic Canadian hotels were sold to a French-based hotel chain.

AccorHotels SA announced Wednesday a share-and-cash deal worth $2.84 billion to acquire FRHI Holdings Limited, which operates 155 hotels and luxury resorts around the world under Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel brands, including Manhattan’s Plaza, London’s Savoy and Raffles in Singapore. Another 40 are under development.

In Canada, Toronto-based FRHI’s properties include several Fairmont-branded hotels in Canada, including, among others, the Château Laurier, Quebec City’s Le Château Frontenac, and Toronto’s Royal York as well as Banff Springs, Lake Louise and Jasper Park hotels in Alberta.

The press release announcing the sale does not specifically mention the Ottawa hotel, but an Accorhotel spokeswoman, Anne-France Malrieu, said in an email exchange that “all” the Fairmont hotels in Canada were part of the deal.

FRHI Holdings is made up of Oxford Properties, the property arm of a major Ontario pension plan, and investment companies in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Overall, FRHI has hotels and resorts in 34 countries across five continents, with 42 properties in North America, two in South America, 26 in Europe, 17 in the Africa-Middle East region and 28 in the Asia-Pacific region. AccorHotels has almost 500 luxury and upscale properties.

AccorHotels said it will make a cash payment of US$840 million and issue 46.7 million new shares under terms of the agreement. Both the Qatar Investment Authority and Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding Co. will become major Accor shareholders, with 10.5 and 5.8 per cent of the share capital respectively.

The announcement did not contain details on the payment to Oxford Properties, which is part of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System.

Paris-based AccorHotels, Europe’s biggest hotel operator, with 3,800 hotels in 92 countries around the world, described the transaction as an “outstanding opportunity” that offers the company “robust and global leadership in luxury hotels, a key segment in terms of geographic reach, growth potential and profitability.”

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...chain-purchase

[rocketphish]

Lord Elgin Hotel to undergo major renovations as it celebrates 75th anniversary

Tom Pechloff, OBJ
Published on February 29, 2016

More than 250 people attended a weekend gala to mark the 75th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone at the Lord Elgin Hotel, but the Ottawa landmark is planning much more than a party to mark its anniversary.

“The hotel is actually, throughout the year, going through a major renovation as well through the summer months, trying to get ready for 2017,” director of sales and marketing Ann Meelker told OBJ in a recent interview.

Ms. Meelker said the renovations – the hotel’s first since 2004 – will include extensive updates to all the rooms and corridors, estimating the tally at $28,000 per room. That puts the total cost of the makeover in the $10-million range.

“We’re excited. We want it ready for the big 150th (anniversary of Confederation next year), so we’re doing it in short order,” she said. “Short-term pain for long-term gain.”

Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King and Mayor Stanley Lewis were among the dignitaries who attended the laying of the cornerstone on Feb. 27, 1941. Mr. King was also the first person to sign the guest registry when the hotel opened on July 19 of that year.

“He was really involved from very early on,” Ms. Meelker said.

The Lord Elgin was designed by the same architects who were behind the Chateau Laurier and Toronto’s Royal York Hotel. Unlike those hotels, however, the Lord Elgin, originally run by the Ford Hotel Company, has managed to remain locally owned for most of its existence, Ms. Meelker said.

Its current owners, Gillin Engineering & Construction, also own the Residence Inn on Laurier Avenue and the Hotel Indigo on the corner of Laurier Avenue and Metcalfe Street. Gillin’s other holdings include the Residence Inn in Kingston and an interest in the Westin in Montreal.

While the Residence Inn is part of the Marriott chain and Hotel Indigo is a member of the Intercontinental Hotels Group, the Lord Elgin remains independent.

The industry has seen major consolidations in the last few years, but the Lord Elgin continues to outperform many other hotels in the area, according to Ms. Meelker.

“The Internet really has changed a lot in that realm,” she said. “People now search for travel online. As long as you can play that game well, you can compete, if you have a good product in a sound location.”

She said the hotel has been marketed internationally for several years and has a solid brand. While she wouldn’t reveal its annual revenues, she said the Lord Elgin's average occupancy rate is about 80 per cent and its average room rate is $160. That would put annual revenues at more than $16 million.

Ms. Meelker attributes the hotel’s “fairly high” occupancy rate to its diverse group of customers.

“We have a good strong leisure base, a strong meeting and group base. We have quite a lot of business travel, so we have a good mix and that helps to balance it all out,” she said.

The hotel may host more public events as the anniversary of the opening approaches, she said, adding there will definitely be a celebration for employees.

“A lot of our staff has been here for 10, 20, 30, 40 years,” said Ms. Meelker, who started her career at the Lord Elgin four decades ago with a summer job as a reservation clerk. “They’ve been a big part of the story, so we want to recognize them at that time and make sure we honour that. That’s a huge part of who we are.

“It has a way of getting into your blood,” she said. “It’s a very different kind of hotel.”

http://www.obj.ca/Local/Tourism/2016...-anniversary/1

[TheGoods]

I still cannot believe that the Lord Elgin is only 75 years old, I would have taught it is much older.

[rocketphish]

Starwood receives nearly $14B buyout bid from Chinese group

The Associated Press ~ staff OBJ
Published on March 14, 2016

A fight for control of the Starwood hotel chain is under way following a $14 billion buyout offer Monday from a consortium led by China's Anbang Insurance Group.

Anbang, which remains largely unknown to most Americans, has quickly positioned itself to become a player in the U.S. hotel industry, acquiring marque properties.

It made a splash in the fall of 2014 when it bought New York's Waldorf Astoria for almost $2 billion. And just days ago, it cut a $6.5 billion deal for Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc., which owns tony properties like The Westin St. Francis in San Francisco, JW Marriott Essex House in New York and Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego. Strategic also owned five different Four Seasons hotels, two Ritz Carltons and six other luxury properties.

Now it is going toe-to-toe with U.S. hotel giant Marriott International Inc., which said late last year that it would buy Starwood, the owner of Sheraton, Westin and St. Regis hotels, in a deal worth $12.2 billion. That acquisition would create the world's largest hotel chain with 5,500 properties and more than 1.1 million rooms around the world. Such scale would give the combined company pricing power when negotiating commissions with online travel agencies such as Expedia and Priceline, as well as help it land more corporate travel contracts.

The next-largest hotel company is Hilton Worldwide with 4,500 properties and about 735,000 rooms.

Marriott and Starwood – like other hotel chains – own very few individual hotels. Instead they manage or franchise their brands to hundreds of individual owners, often real estate development companies. Those individual hotel owners are responsible for setting nightly room rates. It isn't uncommon for a developer to own a Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and Sheraton in the same city. That's how Strategic, for instance, owned hotels under the Westin, JW Marriott, Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons and InterContinental brands.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. said Monday that it still favours the Marriott deal, but that it's looking at the latest bid.

The offer from the Chinese group includes $76 per Starwood share and Interval Leisure Group stock currently valued at about $5.50 per Starwood share. Starwood said that there are still "a number of matters" that need to be worked out in the group's proposal.

Asian companies have been acquiring U.S. properties because it is a relatively safe place to park money, particularly with signs of slowing economic growth in China.

Marriott, based in Bethesda, Maryland, said Monday that it stands behind its offer. Shareholders of Marriott and Starwood are expected to vote on that deal on March 28. If Starwood ends its agreement with Marriott or changes or withdraws its recommendation for shareholders to vote in favour of the Marriott transaction, Starwood would have to pay a $400 million termination fee.

Starwood essentially put itself up for sale last April. The company has struggled to grow as fast as its rivals, particularly in "limited service hotels," smaller properties which don't have restaurants or banquet halls. They are often located on the side of the highway, near airports or in suburban office parks. The deal with Marriott would help fill in many of those blank spots on the map where Marriott often has its Courtyard and Fairfield Inn brands.

However, outside the U.S. Starwood has been very active in growing its brand, especially in luxury hotels and in untapped markets such as China, India and the Middle East. For instance, after New York, the city with the most Starwood hotels is Dubai.

The deal making comes as the U.S. hotel industry comes off its best year in history. The per cent of hotel rooms occupied and the average night room rate were both at all-time highs in 2015. Right after Starwood and Marriott announced plans to merge, French hotel chain Accor announced in December that it was buying the parent company of the Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel hotel brands for $2.9 billion.

Starwood, based in Stamford, Connecticut, has almost 1,300 properties in about 100 countries. Its shares jumped more than 7 per cent in Monday before the opening bell.

http://www.obj.ca/Canada---World/201...hinese-group/1

[rocketphish]

Sheraton owner Starwood set to accept offer from China’s Anbang

Reuters
Published Friday, Mar. 18, 2016 10:09AM EDT | Last updated Friday, Mar. 18, 2016 10:11AM EDT

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc, the operator of Sheraton and Westin hotels, said on Friday it planned to accept a raised buyout offer from a group led by China’s Anbang Insurance and scrap its deal with Marriott International Inc.

A successful deal would bolster Anbang’s reputation as one of China’s top corporate acquirers and would follow its purchase of New York’s iconic Waldorf Astoria hotel last year.

It would also be the biggest acquisition of a U.S. company by a China-based investor.

Anbang’s new offer raises the value of Starwood to $13.16-billion from $12.82-billion, based on shares outstanding as of Feb. 19. Marriott had offered $12.2-billion for Starwood.

Anbang has also agreed to buy Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc for around $6.5-billion, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters last week.

Strategic Hotels’ properties include the Four Seasons Washington, D.C. on Pennsylvania Avenue, the Westin St. Francis on Union Square in San Francisco and the beach-front Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel in Orange County, California.

Marriott, which has until March 28 to counter Anbang’s offer, said it was considering its options.

The Anbang-led group, which includes private equity firms J.C. Flowers & Co and Primavera Capital Ltd, has raised its cash offer for Starwood to $78.00 per share from $76.00, Starwood said on Friday.

Starwood’s shares were up 4.6 per cent at $79.90 in early trading.

Starwood shareholders will also receive stock in Interval Leisure Group Inc, which is buying Starwood’s vacation ownership business for about $5.67 per Starwood share.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...ticle29287320/

[rocketphish]

China’s Anbang scraps bid for Starwood Hotels: source

Greg Roumeliotis, Reuters
Published Thursday, Mar. 31, 2016 4:32PM EDT | Last updated Thursday, Mar. 31, 2016 5:39PM EDT

China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co has abandoned its bid for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday, paving the way for Marriott International Inc to buy the Sheraton and Westin hotels operator.

The surprise withdrawal marks an anticlimactic end to a bidding war that had pitted Marriott’s ambitions to create the world’s largest lodging company, with about 5,700 hotels, against Anbang’s drive to create a vast portfolio of U.S. real estate assets.

Anbang did not offer Starwood a reason for not following through on its raised offer of March 26, the people said on Thursday. Starwood said on Monday that Anbang had raised its offer to almost $14-billion. That offer was not binding, and Anbang was expected to firm it up for Starwood to formally declare it superior to Marriott’s.

The sources asked not to be identified because the withdrawal has not been announced. Anbang, Starwood and Marriott declined to provide immediate comment.

Anbang’s move fuelled speculation on what drove it to change course. Chinese financial magazine Caixin reported earlier this month that China’s insurance regulator would likely reject a bid by Anbang to buy Starwood, since it would put the insurer’s offshore assets above a 15 per cent threshold for overseas investments.

Should Anbang have clinched an agreement with Starwood, it would have been scrutinized by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an interagency panel that reviews deals to ensure they do not harm national security. However, sources had said that both Starwood and Anbang believed the deal would have received CFIUS clearance.

In its latest offer, Anbang’s consortium, which includes private equity firms J.C. Flowers & Co and Primavera Capital Ltd, had offered $82.75 per share in cash. Marriott’s latest cash-and-stock offer, which was announced on March 21, is currently worth around $75 per share.

Starwood’s shares fell 4.4 per cent to $79.80 in extended trading, while Marriott shares fell 4.9 per cent to $67.68.

Starwood’s shareholders are scheduled to vote on the Marriott deal on April 8.

Lazard Ltd and Citigroup Global Markets Inc are financial advisers to Starwood. Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP is its legal counsel. Deutsche Bank Securities and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher are advising Marriott.

PJT Partners Inc is Anbang’s financial adviser, while Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is its legal counsel.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...ticle29481264/

[J.OT13]

Downtown Ottawa hotel landscape suddenly chic

David Sali
Published on June 10, 2016

“Fun” isn’t a word generally associated with business meetings, but it’s the one Ash Wilby chose to describe the “creative spaces” at Ottawa’s newest downtown hotel.

“They are fun rooms to be in,” the sales manager of Group Germain’s Alt Hotel said last month after giving an OBJ reporter a tour of the new building at 185 Slater St. “You go into some meeting rooms and think, ‘Oh my gosh, I have to spend the next eight hours of my life in this room?’ These are fun rooms.”

From the cozy guest quarters outfitted with minimalist work stations to those brightly painted meeting spaces featuring whiteboards on the walls, the Alt is part of a new wave of “lifestyle” hotels that are changing the face of the industry across North America – and the National Capital Region is no exception.

“These aren’t your grandfather’s hotels that are coming into Ottawa now,” says Pat Kelly, a former general manager of the city’s Westin Hotel who now runs his own travel consulting firm. “These are really cool brands.”

The 148-room Alt Hotel, which opened last month, is Group Germain’s 13th property in Canada and seventh under the Alt banner. The Montreal-based company is planning to open another hotel at the redeveloped Arts Court late next year under its more upscale Le Germain brand as part of an aggressive nationwide expansion campaign.

Group Germain isn’t the only chic hotel operator establishing a presence in the capital in 2016.

Another of the “cool brands” set to make its debut this year is Hyatt’s Andaz Ottawa ByWard Market, which will become the international chain’s first Canadian hotel under the Andaz banner when it opens its doors at the corner of Dalhousie and York streets in August. The 200-room lodging will join other Andaz-branded hotels already located in cities such as London, New York, Shanghai and Tokyo.

To Steve Ball, the president of the Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association, the opening of a pair of trendy boutique hotels within a few months of each other is a sure sign the local industry is in robust health despite several high-profile closures over the past few years.

“If you’re going to measure growth opportunity, look at the people that invest,” he said, noting Group Germain spent $30 million on its new Slater Street Alt location. “They wouldn’t do that if they didn’t think the return was there. It tells us we’re doing some things right in Ottawa. It shows confidence in our marketplace.”

In all, about 800 hotel rooms have disappeared in Ottawa over the past couple of years, many of them downtown. But Mr. Ball chalked up the closure or conversion of facilities such as the Holiday Inn on Cooper Street, Minto Suites Hotel on Lyon Street, the National Hotel & Suites on Queen Street and the Quality Hotel on Rideau Street to coincidence, not a long-term trend.

“We didn’t lose them because of lack of business opportunity in hotels,” he said. “We lost them for odd reasons. So to have the Andaz and Alt kind of replacing some of that inventory is really good because they’re great brands.”

In fact, Ottawa’s hotel market is one of the healthiest in the country, according to Brian Stanford, senior managing director of CBRE Hotels Valuation and Advisory Services in Toronto.

Ottawa tied Montreal for the third-highest average occupancy rate among Canada’s 12 major markets last year at 72 per cent, he said, a number that isn’t projected to change much in 2016. Meanwhile, the city’s average daily rate ranked fourth behind Vancouver, Quebec City and Montreal.

“Those are pretty healthy numbers,” Mr. Stanford said. “In part, I think the decline of some bad inventory has certainly helped the industry,” he added, calling some of the recently shuttered properties “functionally obsolete.”

The local scene is being rejuvenated thanks to new brands such as the Alt and Andaz, he said. They tend to have fewer rooms and a more laid-back feel than traditional highrise luxury hotels, Mr. Stanford explained, featuring more modern designs, bright colours, natural lighting and amenities like free Wi-Fi throughout the building.

These brands cater to millennials who want spaces where you can “sit and relax with your laptop, have a glass of wine, be seen, see people and, even if you’re not formally socially interacting, you feel like you are,” he said.

The Alt Hotel, for example, has a 24-hour cafe that serves locally catered food, offers alcohol in the evening and features computers equipped with high-speed Internet that guests can use free of charge.

Mr. Kelly said millennials are the fastest-growing market segment in the hospitality industry, and anything Ottawa can do to beef up its share of that pool of potential customers will benefit tourism in the region.

“It’s going to help the image of the city within the travel market,” he said. “It’s also good because the additional (hotel room) inventory will help relieve some of the pressure that’s been created by a bit of a soft supply and a strong demand.”

That inventory is expected to grow further if Morguard, the owner of the former National Hotel site at 361 Queen St., launches its proposed redevelopment of the property. The company announced last summer it was planning to demolish the two conjoined hotel towers and replace them with a new 300-unit lodging that would be part of a mixed-use complex.

The developer hasn’t provided any updates since then, but Mr. Stanford said a hotel would be a logical anchor for such a proposal.

“I think they’re looking at that as an opportunity to try and maximize the development mix between commercial, residential and hotel uses,” he said.

In the near term, Mr. Ball said he would be “thrilled” if the city can duplicate its occupancy numbers from 2015, conceding this spring’s numbers have been “a little bit softer” than last year’s. But with Canada’s 150th birthday on the horizon in 2017 and the long-awaited redevelopment of LeBreton Flats slated to include a hotel and other amenities expected to lure more visitors to the downtown core, he sees a bright future ahead.

“All the excitement will be LeBreton Flats,” he said. “We’re a ways away from seeing anything concrete, but at least now we’ve got a proponent. I can’t imagine a 150-room hotel would be what the owners would want. There will be a lot of discussion over the years ahead as to just what this community needs or is missing right now. We’ll see. But it’s exciting for sure.”

http://www.obj.ca/Local/Tourism/2016...uddenly-chic/1

They were talking about 800 hotel rooms in two facilities for Le Breton Flats.

[citydwlr]

Just noticed this thread, so I'll continue the conversation of the Metcalfe Hotel from the General Rumours thread here...

Another post went up today that shows a larger rendering of the Atrium/lobby; Phil235, looks like you were correct in your assumption that Hotel Indigo is rebranding as "The Metcalfe":

Sneak peek at what our renovated lobby will look like 👀🤗. Amazing to work with @4teinc on this! #Ottawa #meettheMet



12:42 PM - 6 Dec 2016

Looks pretty nice!

[rocketphish]

Hotel Indigo no more: Downtown lodging drops IHG to become Metcalfe Hotel

Peter Kovessy, OBJ
Published on January 17, 2017

The owners of a boutique hotel in downtown Ottawa are ending their decade-long affiliation with international hospitality giant IHG and plan to start operating independently next month.

On Feb. 12, the 106-room Hotel Indigo will become the Metcalfe Hotel, marking the latest chapter in the property’s storied history.

Patrick Quirouette, the director of sales and marketing, said the inspiration to go independent came to the property’s owners – a local family he declined to name – after seeing boutique hotels in the United States that had successfully positioned their property to capture business from both Baby Boomers and millennials.

"IHG was a great partner over the past 10 years. Part of the reason we decided to part ways was that the brand awareness wasn’t as strong as we had hoped it would be," he said.

Being part of a hotel chain typically forces a property owners to follow specific design standards, down to the carpet and furniture.

Now, the proprietors of the soon-to-be Metcalfe Hotel are using Ottawa-based design firm 4té to guide renovations of the property.

The early goals include upgrading the lobby with an eye to making it more inviting to pedestrians walking by the property, which is located at the corner of Metcalfe Street and Laurier Avenue West.

Corridors are also being repainted, crown moldings around door frames are being replaced and minor modifications are being made to guest rooms, including removing Indigo hallmarks such as murals.

One of the changes guests will see is more communal seating in the atrium area. Mr. Quirouette said he wanted to give guests the option of working in a more social environment and not feel confined to their rooms when they need to catch up on e-mails or prepare a presentation, for example.

That work will wrap up in May. More extensive guest room renovations are planned for 2018.

Mr. Quirouette said Hotel Indigo traditionally relied heavily on corporate and government business during the week as well as leisure travellers looking for a unique hospitality experience during the weekend.

One of the risks of going independent is that travellers who were attracted to Hotel Indigo in part by IHG’s popular loyalty rewards program will choose to stay at other properties where they can continue to collect and redeem points.

In addition to Hotel Indigo, IHG operates the Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and InterContinental brands, among others.

Mr. Quirouette conceded the Metcalfe Hotel may lose some of these customers but said he’s confident the majority of guests will continue to do business with the rebranded property.

“What they value the most is a familiar face when they check in, consistency of service and the ideal location,” he said. “We’ve been here for 10 years and are well-established and well-connected within our community.”

Mr. Quirouette said most of the money saved in IHG franchise fees will be put towards marketing the Metcalfe Hotel.

He adds that bookings at the hotel are higher than at the same time last year, in part because of the buzz surrounding the full year of festivities surrounding Canada's 150th anniversary.

This year’s rebranding is the latest change for the property, which has been the site of several hotels and home to several famous Ottawa residents for more than a century.

It’s the former site of a home once owned by Sir George Étienne Cartier, the powerful Quebec lieutenant and longtime political protégé of Sir John A. Macdonald, according to a history of the property written by local journalist Randy Boswell.

During the late 1860s and early 1870s, Mr. Cartier’s “modest brick house” was reportedly the social centre of the Confederation-era capital, where politicians of all stripes – as well as writers, musicians and other artists – gathered on Saturday nights to dine, drink, sing and dance, Mr. Boswell wrote.

A YMCA was later constructed on the site and became the one-time home of acclaimed photographer Yousuf Karsh took up residence.

In early 1970, Ottawa construction contractor and property developer Rupert McClelland bought the property for $393,645 and opened The Bytown, which was sometimes known as the Bytown Hotel or Bytown Inn.

Slightly more than a decade later, the hotel underwent substantial renovations and became The Roxborough. It changed ownership again in the 1990s, operating for several years as part of the international Howard Johnson chain.

http://www.obj.ca/Local/Tourism/2017...tcalfe-Hotel/1

[rocketphish]

Lord Elgin Hotel completes $12M renovations

Craig Lord, OBJ
Published on January 20, 2017

The Lord Elgin Hotel has completed its multimillion-dollar renovations in time for what management hopes will be a record year in 2017.

The overhaul began last year while the hotel was celebrating its 75th anniversary, with hopes of capitalizing on the highly-anticipated Ottawa 2017 festivities.

“In terms of renovating hotels, this was, without question, an accelerated timeline to have a hotel renovated to the extent that we’ve had,” says general manager David Smythe.

The original timeline called for work to be wrapped up by early December, but Mr. Smythe says he isn’t discouraged by the mid-January completion.

“We have the right product at the right time with the right team to make the most of this,” Mr. Smythe says. “We’re ready to welcome the world to Ottawa in 2017.”

The total cost of renovations to the Lord Elgin came in at $12 million, which includes $2 million worth of extensive improvements to the hotel’s air conditioning system done in advance of this overhaul.

This works out to around $30,000 worth of renovations in each of the hotel’s 355 rooms. Improvements included a full stripping down of the rooms, as well as the installation of new marble tile floors, showers and vanities. Hotel corridors and meeting rooms for the hotel’s business clientele were also refurbished and received updated Wi-Fi capabilities.

The renovation process moved floor-by-floor through the Lord Elgin, which allowed the hotel to maintain service while changes were implemented. Mr. Smythe attributes the smooth process to the expertise of owners Gillin Engineering & Construction, and their ability to work closely with contractor Lundy Construction.

This is the first major renovation to the hotel since 2004 when construction completed on two eight-storey towers on the north and south sides of the building.

http://www.obj.ca/Local/Tourism/2017...-renovations/1

[rocketphish]

Ottawa hoteliers look to Toronto for guidance to stop Airbnb 'abuse'

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: March 8, 2017 | Last Updated: March 8, 2017 3:50 PM EST

Ottawa’s hotel lobby group will wait to see what happens in Toronto before pushing for regulations targeting Airbnb, but the hoteliers already know what they want from city hall.

Steve Ball, president of the Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association, said a municipal licensing system should restrict hosts to posting on Airbnb only their principle residences to avoid the proliferation of hotel-like investment units across Ottawa.

“Just stop the abuse,” Ball said. “All we care about is the abuse going away.”

The City of Toronto is expected to develop a regulatory strategy for short-term accommodation market within months. Whatever Toronto adopts will surely be considered in Ottawa.

However, an Airbnb manager is warning against simply copying short-term rental regulations between cities.

“It really depends on what the city is interested in, what their concerns might be if there are any and what is appropriate,” according to Alex Dagg, Airbnb’s public policy manager in Canada. “Just because Toronto is regulating doesn’t necessarily mean what Toronto does is relevant or appropriate for Ottawa.”

While the hotel organization decries Airbnb hosts renting out multiple properties as a quasi-commercial operation, Airbnb says 80 per cent of its hosts are using their primary residences for the accommodations.

Fairbnb, a coalition of which the Ottawa hotel association is a member, offered up a recent Toronto-focused paper that suggests there’s minimal, pure “home-sharing” happening through the Airbnb platform.

Dagg questioned outside organizations making conclusions about Airbnb’s operations when they don’t have Airbnb’s internal data, citing one recent case of a third-party researcher making an error regarding the Vancouver market.

Airbnb says there 1,600 hosts in Ottawa and the typical host is earning just under $4,000 annually. In 2016, some 85,000 people stayed in Ottawa using Airbnb and their total spending while in the nation’s capital was $32 million, the company says.

“It’s a significant contributor to the local economy,” Dagg said.

Ball said the hotel industry must follow property-use rules and pay commercial taxes, so it isn’t fair for Airbnb and some hosts to provide hotel-like services and skirt the regulations.

“If Airbnb is allowed to function under the radar or as an underground economy, and if that becomes the new norm, then great. I think hotels would love to participate in that economy,” Ball said. “Hotels could drop their rates and compete with Airbnb if they didn’t have the health and safety regulations and taxation and zoning and commercial taxes.”

Airbnb officials say it has no problem with being regulated, but not in a one-size-fits-all approach.

“We do believe in regulations because to be regulated is to be recognized and we really think that’s an appropriate measure for cities to take,” Dagg said. “If Ottawa wants to look at regulating home sharing, then we just want to be part of that conversation.”

In fact, Airbnb has already started the conversation at Ottawa City Hall. Consultants working for the company have had lobbying activities with the mayor’s office dating back to October 2015. Dagg characterized the meetings as sharing information with the city, such as forwarding an economic impact report.

The Ottawa hotel association was eager to get moving on possible regulations last fall before Canada’s 150th birthday year kicked off in January 2017.

The competition for accommodations is expected to heat up in this year. That also makes the market attractive to homeowners looking to make a good buck off tourists as the big Canada Day party draws near.

Ball said Ottawa city officials have indicated they aren’t in a position to address the Airbnb issues right now, which is fine with the hotel association since it’s curious to see how Toronto sorts them out.

“If Toronto gets most of it right, then it’s easy for Ottawa to make a decision to follow suit,” Ball said.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...nb-regulations

[YOWetal]

There are a lot of units that are solely used for Airbnb. It can be annoying to have as neighbours.

It looks like a one bedroom will be well over $500 a night on Aribnb over the July 1 weekend. Nice chunk of change if you live downtown and are willing to get out of town for the weekend.

[gjhall]

"should restrict hosts to posting on Airbnb only their principle residences to avoid the proliferation of hotel-like investment units across Ottawa."

Hard to argue with for condos, but I would think for duplexes or secondary dwelling units that they should also be allowed to operate as short term rentals if the other unit is the owners principle residence.

[McC]

If they do bring forward this regulation, as a bare minimum, I hope that they spell "principal" correctly ;-)

[rocketphish]

Council approves new hotel tax, Southminster Church redevelopment

Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: December 13, 2017 | Last Updated: December 13, 2017 10:19 PM EST

Bed and breakfasts will be spared a new four-per-cent tax on guest accommodations, council ruled Wednesday.

But the tax will be collected from Airbnb hosts and from any establishment in Ottawa that uses a third-party home-sharing listing service to issue its invoices. Airbnb could be on the hook for $300,000.

The move comes a week after owners of small inns pleaded with Mayor Jim Watson and councillors to be exempted. It’s not fair to make those small businesses, already operating under small margins, collect a mandatory tax from guests to pay for tourism programs that rarely include bed and breakfasts, the owners said.

Since 2004, many Ottawa hotels have voluntarily collected a three-per-cent “destination marketing fee” from guests. The money goes to the Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association, which gives the funds to Ottawa Tourism. Between $8 million and $9 million has been sent to Ottawa Tourism each year.

About half of Ottawa hotels, representing 90 per cent of all the rooms, charge the destination marketing fee.

The 2017 Ontario budget allows municipalities to collect a mandatory accommodation tax from businesses providing accommodations for consecutive nights under 30 days. That includes bed and breakfasts and Airbnb hosts.

The City of Ottawa proposes to begin the four-per-cent accommodation tax on Jan. 1.

Michael Crockatt, president and chief executive of Ottawa Tourism, said the mandatory tax “levels the playing field” and allows the organization to attract more tourists to Ottawa by marketing the city around the world.

Crockatt said bed and breakfast operators always have a chance to work on Ottawa Tourism initiatives. But some of the bed and breakfast owners pointed out the Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association, the industry’s main lobby group, which would effectively become the tax collector in the proposed scheme, doesn’t accept members who have fewer than 50 guest rooms.

Small bed and breakfasts generally only have up to three bedrooms.

Bed and breakfast operators will be able to apply for an exemption if the establishment is occupied and operated by the property owner, and is classified in the residential property tax class.

<snip>


mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...-redevelopment