Market-Ability

Just got back from attending Tete-A-Tete in Ottawa, an annual tradeshow hosted by the Ottawa chapter of CSAE, the Canadian Society of Association Executives. 

I decided to stay at the Courtyard by Marriott Downtown located in the heart of Ottawa's historic Byward Market.  My guestroom - one of 183 in total - was beyond spacious, with an ultra-comfy king-sized pillow-topped bed, awesome work space (complimentary internet), and enormous flat-screen television.

The staff were universally cheerful, friendly and helpful; GM Nancy Champagne must be doing something right.  And how do I know the hotel General Manager's name?  There's a laminated letter posted by the elevator thanking guests and inviting comments and requests by phone or to her personal email address.

Loved the location, surrounded by great little restaurants and specialty food shops. It was a brisk (we're talking Ottawa in February, remember) seven minute walk to the snazzy Ottawa Convention Centre.

Home of the famous "Obama-Cookies"

Ice Sculpture in Progress for Winterlude

The sprawling lobby/bistro area is cunningly broken up into a variety of seating areas, with a double-sided fireplace - a welcome winter feature - and an outdoor terrace for the summer months.  The space can also be used for informal, though not private, functions - in addition to the hotel's 11 meeting rooms (5,000 total feet of meeting space).

"I DON'T LOOK MY AGE"

 

Awesome little piece of collateral from the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac announcing the "Renaissance of an Icon" and an additional 15,000 square feet of meeting space - coming in Spring of 2014 - for a total of 40,000 square feet at Quebec City's "castle".

Located within the walls of the +400-year old city, the hotel offers 613 guestroom and suites including 61 prestigious Fairmont Gold rooms and "inspiring views from any one of our 23 meeting rooms".

Growing older graciously, indeed.

A Different Kind of Railway Hotel

When I think of railway hotels I think of The Royal York Hotel in Toronto, the Queen Elizabeth in Montreal, The Palliser in Calgary.....Originally CP Hotels (Canadian Pacific - as in the railway) and now flying the Fairmont flag these "Grand Dames" were built to accommodate the railway travelling public, thereby encouraging rail travel: putting bums in seats and as bodies in beds.

Adjacent to arguably the most famous railway station* in the world - Grand Central Terminal - stands the towering Grand Hyatt New York, at 42nd Street East and Park Avenue.

Newly-renovated to the tune of $130 million, $90-million of it in guestrooms alone, the Grand Hyatt New York offers 707 guestrooms and 60,000 square feet of meeting space. The rooms-to-space ratio works well for a property whose business mix is 70/30 transient-to-group.

Red and blue "gobos" welcomed the United State Tennis Association (USTA) while we were there - during the prestigious US Open Tennis Championships

The wide-open and bustling lobby mimics Grand Central Terminal in encouraging efficient movement and travel. Unlike the railway terminal, though, the Grand Hyatt features welcoming seating, free w-fi, and the serene faces of Awilda and Chloe bearing dreamlike witness "encouraging the world around them to pause and perhaps join in the dream".

*Grand Central Terminal - celebrating its 100th anniversary this year,  is not really a "station", as trains do not literally pass though it - but people do.

Bricks and Mortar

 

"This is a BIG hotel. Not convention-center big, but tall and wide, like a roll of toilet-paper if the toilet-paper was skyscraper-sized, sliced in half, and covered with windows. And was made of hotel rooms instead of toilet paper."

- Liza May

I love this description of the newly-flagged Adoba Hotel in Dearborn, Michigan. All toilet roll comparisons aside, this 772-room property, with over 60,000 square feet of meeting space (formerly owned by the Ford Motor Company, and operated as a Hyatt) does in fact feel like a Hyatt.

I thought it might have been built by the famous Atlanta architect, John Portman responsible for the iconic Hyatt Atlanta - as well as the Hyatt O'Hare, the New York Marriott Marquis, the Atlanta Marriott Marquis and many other large, atrium-style convention hotels.

Detail from the Atlanta Marriott Marquis

Nope. It was built 1976 by Charles Luckman, who became an architect after a wildly successful career in business.  President of the Pepsodent Toothpaste company, later Lever Brothers, by age 30 he was dubbed "The Boy Wonder of American Business".  His diverse architectural portfolio includes Madison Square Gardens in New York, the Hyatt Regency Dearborn (now the Adoba), the Hyatt Regency Phoenix, and the Chicago Marriott Magnificent Mile.

There's a wonderful story quoted on Wikipedia about how Luckman had been drawn to architecture:

"As a nine-year-old paper boy outside the Muehlebach Hotel [currently operated as one of the three wings of the Kansas City Marriott Downtown] in Kansas City, he asked a customer about the pretty lights and was told they were called "chandeliers". Then he asked, "Who does...Who decides on things like that?" "An architect", came the reply. "He designs the hotel and says to put the chandeliers there."  Luckman wrote in his memoir, "Right then and there I decided to become an architect."

Growing BIGGER Gracefully

For the past four years I've attended a swing dance convention a the Town & Country Resort in San Diego.  Appropriately called SwingDiego, it attracts dancers from all over the world: Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, North and South America (dancers from Brazil dominated the competitions this year) for workshops, competitions and social dancing - quite literally - all night long.

 

The "happiness problem" of an event that keeps growing in popularity is that eventually you run into space issues. If you already have a great relationship with your hotel, sometimes you have to get a little creative. This year - in anticipation of hitting the 2000 mark in attendance - the organizers took a bit of a chance moving from the elegant 17,500 square foot Golden Ballroom to the hotel's 41,000 exhibition hall.

 

 

When I heard about the change I was a little concerned about the set up: 

How were they going to accommodate a big enough dance floor amongst all those pillars?

 

The event directors came up with their own design for the exhibit-hall-turned-ballroom, maximizing the available space between the pillars for dance floor, and arranging seating at tables and on risers on three sides. Pipe and drape blocked off the fourth wall. A stage with the event logo projected as a gobo became the focal point, framed by two of the pillars (attractively lit with coloured lights) and on either side there were screens for closed-circuit coverage of the dance  competitions.

Unionized  hotel employees were responsible for rigging, but beyond that the organizers were at liberty to use whatever venders they wished. They went with the hotel's in-house provider for A/V, with a customized set up directing music more towards the dancer floor - and the dancers - and less at the audience.

Brilliantly designed for great dancing  - all night long!!!

Hockey Night in Maple Leaf Square

Forty years after being one of the first NHL coaches to allow female reporters into the dressing room Don Cherry reneged on that decision. Yeesh!

The story came to mind when re-visiting Le Germain Maple Leaf Square last week. I do love the stunning black and white photos of professional athletes that dominate the guestroom décor, and perhaps not surprisingly women react a bit more to the expanse of male skin and sculpted muscle; men are totally blasé - possibly because of all that locker room experience?

Speaking of "hitting the showers", Maple Leaf Square is one of five Canadian-owned and managed luxury boutique hotels under the Le Germain banner, all of which feature the chain's signature glass-walled rain-water shower. You can actually watch television while taking a shower - never missing a moment of the playoffs ;)

The hotel is ideally located (for sports fans) adjacent to the Air Canada Centre. The coveted 'Penalty Box' meeting room overlooks the giant screen which is the focus of tailgate parties with live music in the square.

GO LEAFS!

Smoke and Mirrors

That expression is usually associated with deception or an attempt to fool an audience in a clever manner, but in this case it's being used to describe the design features and colour schemes of the new guestrooms unveiled - and occupied for the first time this week - at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel. In fact there are two colour schemes, red and blue, supported by smoky sheers, grey marble, and inlaid mirrors.

Local art adorns the walls, including black and white photography celebrating the hotel's history as one of Canada's famed railway hotels. Thoughtfully, there are abundant (and discreet) electrical outlets for all your devices, an ample desk with ergonomically designed chair, and even a bedside work station.

The guestroom hallways have been completely gutted and redesigned as well, from carpet to wall-covering, crown molding and light fixtures.

Eighty (80) renovated guestrooms are available now for groups of up 50 rooms on peak.  This kind of a block is nicely "paired" with the hotel's executive meeting space on the 19th floor.  By mid-June there will be another 120 new rooms available.