REOPENINGS SALES AND RENOS Sept. 8, 2020

Trump Hotel Vancouver closes

VANCOUVER — The Trump International Hotel Vancouver will be shutting down for good. A staff member told Global News that reservations are not being accepted and said staff were told they had been laid off and the hotel was closed for good. A notice was posted on the doors of the hotel’s restaurant saying it was temporarily closed for reasons not related to COVID-19. The company that owns Vancouver’s Trump International Hotel has filed for bankruptcy, according to documents from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada. Hotel operator TA Hotel Management Partnership Ltd. filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, Aug. 27. TA Hotel Management Limited Partnership is a subsidiary of TA Global Berhad, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

A third of the 63-storey tower designed by late architect Arthur Erickson was allocated to the hotel with the rest dedicated to condominiums. The hotel opened on Georgia Street three years ago and is not owned by U.S. President Donald Trump or anyone affiliated with him. Vancouver-based developer Holborn Group licenses the Trump name and owns the building. The contract to use the Trump name was signed long before Trump became the U.S. president.

The hotel has been the frequent site of protests, including on opening day in February 2017 when the president’s sons and one of his daughters attended the grand opening.

Sunray takes over Owens Hospitality

Sunray Group has acquired 100 per cent ownership interest in Owens Hospitality Group Ltd., a hospitality development and administration company with an ownership interest in three Saskatchewan hotels, including the 100-key Best Western Plus Airport Inn & Suites Saskatoon, the 125-key TownePlace Inn & Suites by Marriott Saskatoon, and the 100-key Best Western Plus Eastgate Inn & Suites, Regina. Sunray is a hospitality and development company which currently owns and operates 55 hotels across Canada. This acquisition provides a platform for Sunray Group in Western Canada. Colliers Hotels acted as the exclusive financial advisor.

St. Regis hotel reopened Sept. 1

VANCOUVER — The St. Regis Hotel in Vancouver reopened on Sept. 1 after extensive renovations done while it was closed. The renovations include upgrades to a new air conditioning system and a redesign of the St. Regis Bar & Grill and St. Regis Room.

When the decision was made in March to suspend operations, the team at the St. Regis were committed to emerge from the crisis better than before. They looked at every aspect of the hotel to see where there was room for improvement and investment in the sort of long-term upgrades which can only be done during a full shutdown.

Cost of renovations to the locally-owned and operated hotel cost nearly $2 million. These include the new air conditioning towers and room units, ground-up renovations for the St. Regis Bar & Grill, the St. Regis Room breakfast room and event space. The renovations to the Bar & Grill include new TVs, a new floor plan, upgraded washrooms and new décor to make it an even more attractive and welcoming spot for lunch, happy hour or catching the games on TV. The St. Regis Room has been given a down-to-the-floor contemporary redesign guaranteed to make the hotel’s signature complimentary breakfast an even better way to start the day and make private events even more memorable than before.

Spending this amount of money during the most severe travel crisis in memory requires faith in the long-term outlook for the city, but with a history that includes two World Wars, Spanish influenza, and other crises since first opening in 1913, the St. Regis Hotel operates with a long-term perspective top of mind.

“We’re very excited to reopen and show guests our newly-renovated St. Regis Room and St. Regis Bar & Grill,” said general manager Jeremy Roncoroni. “The COVID-19 crisis has been a challenge for everyone, but we remain optimistic about Vancouver’s future as a destination for leisure and business travel.”

The hotel offers a wide range of COVID-19 health and operational updates along with special reopening offers.

Fall back into Ontario travel at The Drake

TORONTO, WELLINGTON, Ont. — City and county road trips and sleepover packages, personalized wine tours, updated Afternoon Delights happy hour with special room rates and more are some of the features offered at The Drake in Toronto and Prince Edward Country, Ont.

Fun lives on in a whole new way this season at The Drake with a little something for everyone in Toronto and Prince Edward County. The Drake Hotel and its kitchens have remained open to serve first responders and stranded travellers throughout the COVID crisis, and the Drake Commissary has also reinvented itself with expanded larder and bakery operations. Both the Drake Devonshire and Drake Motor Inn have been operating at full capacity since their re-opening in May after a two-month closure. Finally, Drake One Fifty is set to reopen Sept. 14 in the Financial District. Drake Hotel Properties looks forward to another full season of delicious food and drink on patios and in parks, road-trip ready retreats, romantic elopements, Afternoon Delights and sleepovers for the whole bubble.

Naramata Inn now serving lunch

NARAMATA, B.C.– You asked. We’re delivering. In response to the many, and much appreciated, requests for more of Chef Ned Bell’s take on Naramatian cuisine, we are opening our dining room doors for lunch. The menu will also feature an extensive by-the-glass wine menu highlighting some of the most interesting pours from the Naramata Bench and Okanagan Valley.

Dinner service at the restaurant, which opened on June 29, has proved to be one of the hottest reservations in the Okanagan, and opening for lunch will allow more visitors to the Naramata Bench to sample Chef Ned Bell’s hyper-local, sustainable menu that focuses on the best of the Okanagan Valley, and British Columbian ingredients.

Available from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., seven days a week, lunch highlights include:

• Unearthed Farms tomatoes + Tanto Latte Okanagan burrata
• Jordan’s summer beans + Rosebank Farms chicken
• Great Bear scallops with of-the-moment stone fruit
• Cheese and charcuterie boards featuring local cheeses, cured meats, spreads, breads and more.
• Lamb and beef burger with organic apricot and sweet + sour summer squash.

Tea in the window returns to Notch8

VANCOUVER — Notch8 Restaurant at Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, downtown Vancouver’s “Castle in the City,” relaunched its Afternoon Tea in the Window service on Monday, August 17, 2020.

Available Monday through Friday with a single 2:00 p.m. seating, Tea in the Window is an exclusive and unique dining experience in the hotel’s street-level window display on West Georgia Street. This limited time tea service will give Vancouverites looking for isolated dining options the opportunity to enjoy afternoon tea for two in a space that is entirely their own.

Tea-goers will enjoy an intimate afternoon tea experience surrounded by custom art created by Mandy Lau, a Vancouver-based fashion illustrator. Lau, inspired by thoughts of afternoon tea and enjoying time with family and close friends, was pulled towards the idea of an exterior street scene inside an interior — a kind of fantasy world for passersby to stop and peer into. Created both traditionally, using graphite and ink, and digitally, the street scene perspective was illustrated to provide a sense of depth, with focus always resting on the tea table and the diners at the centre of it all.

Priced at $69 per person, Afternoon Tea in the Window can be reserved online here. With only one seating available each day, Afternoon Tea in the Window sold out in 2019, so it is recommended to make reservations for this exclusive tea experience before availability runs out. For those looking for a more traditional afternoon tea experience, Notch8 Restaurant is now serving traditional afternoon tea every Saturday and Sunday, with seatings at 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.