InnFocus Fall 2021

International Travel 

TRENDS 

Best Practices in 

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Trends 

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Kiera Bourgeault 

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2020/2021 Board of Directors 

Executive Committee 

Bryan Pilbeam – Chair, Delta Kamloops 

Jonas Melin – Vice Chair, 

Harbourfront Pinnacle Hotel, Vancouver 

John Kearns – Past Chair, 

Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel 

David McQuinn – Treasurer, Coast Bastion, Namaimo 

David MacKenzie – Director, 

Pemberton Valley Lodge 

Stephen Roughley – Director, 

Marriott Victoria Inner Harbour 

Vivek Sharma – Director, Fairmont Hot Springs 

Directors 

Doug Andrews, The Listel Hotel, Whistler 

Ravinder Dhaliwal, Mundi Hotels 

Angie Eccleston, Prestige Hudson Bay Lodge 

Stewart Instance, Best Western Tin Wis Resort 

Scott Johnson, Holiday Inn Express Metrotown 

Brian Rohl, Coast Coal Harbour by APA 

Eleanor Ryan, Pomeroy Inn & Suites & Stonebridge 

Chris Watson, Best Western Plus Carlton Plaza 

Barry Zwueste, St. Eugene Golf Resort & Casino 

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Regulars 

Five Technology Trends 

The future of hospitality is here, and it’s contactless 

International Travel Trends 

Where can we expect to see our international tourists arriving from? 

Best Practices in Sustainability 

See how local hoteliers have gone green 

Maintaining a Future Stable of Employees 

What can you do to keep a steady and reliable workforce? 

4 BC Hotel Association Report 

15 Trends & Insights – Booking Direct 

12 Go Green: Transitioning to Cleaner Operations 

14 What’s New? 

21 Leader of the Future: Jorin McSween 

26 Names in the News 

14 BC Hospitality Foundation 

11 Hotelier Feature: Jamie Hackl 

30 BCHA Member Engagement 

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InnFocus 3

y Ingrid Jarrett, President & CEO 

With 18+ months of the pandemic under our belt, we continue to 

experience a constantly changing landscape of uncertainty. In 2019, 

none of us could have imagined the hardship and challenges that laid 

ahead. The benchmark of the business volumes from 2019, that so 

greatly contributed to our national and provincial economy, will continue 

to be the measurement for relief and recovery measures moving forward. 

And with our constantly evolving atmosphere, the predictions from 

trusted analysts for future travel and sector recovery continue to roll 

in; some of which are encouraging, most of which are based on the 

unknowns such as border activity and protocols for countries across 

the globe. The good news, however, is that Canada has initiated steps 

forward for reopening with relaxed measures for US and international 

visitors. We are all eager to support the specifics of the reopening plan— 

abiding by protocols will hold Canadians safe—while at the same time, 

encouraging a resurgence of our hospitality economy. 

In June and July, we worked diligently with our industry partners and 

members of government to develop the Restart Toolkit for Step 3 of the 

BC provincial restart plan, ensuring that operators had all the necessary 

tools and resources needed to move forward into the next phase of our 

reopening. The key continues to be for residents, travellers, and our 

industry to have a clear understanding of restrictions, recommendations, 

and the specifics on how to move forward operationally. By the time 

this article publishes, we anticipate that we will be in Step 4 of our 

provincial restart and operators will be able to find the fourth iteration of 

our Communications Toolkit on our website. 

Currently, we have two incredibly significant pieces of work we are 

committed to, the first being continued fiscal relief for our industry both 

provincially and federally. This will take the form of supporting programs to 

ensure that between now and spring of 2022, the financial burden can be 

eased to keep businesses in business and ensure the current workforce 

can be retained. The second is the severe workforce shortage that we 

now face. We know this is not new, but the pandemic has exacerbated 

the issue and removed significant portions of our workforce by way of 

the travel restrictions, border closures, and COVID-19 policy restrictions. 

We have also supported the need for health care workers, long-term care 

workers, and vaccination clinic workers with the hospitality workforce, 

which we now need to ensure is reengaged. 

At the BC Hotel Association, we have a fierce resolve to ensure we 

continue to work with partners federally and provincially to find new 

access to a hospitality workforce. We must explore this path through 

training and education; international partnerships; immigration; and 

ensuring that the historic programs, which at one time served us so 

well, are once again reignited prior to 2022. 

This summer, we faced a dreadful fire season, which has devastated 

our province’s tourism season, and threatened the safety of residents 

across BC who were forced to evacuate their homes. We have worked 

daily with our partners at Emergency Management BC (EMBC) and a 

large selection of our membership to support the need for safe shelter 

for evacuees. This is not the first time our industry has gone above and 

beyond the call of duty to help our province’s vulnerable populations, 

and I suspect it will not be the last. 

As we have witnessed over the past few months in many parts of 

our province, it has been challenging to strike a balance between 

encouraging travel to parts of the province while navigating COVID-19 

restrictions, the workforce crisis, evacuation orders, and lack of demand 

due to smoky conditions. We continue to share Destination BC’s “know 

before you go” messaging and encourage all operators to do the same 

to keep travellers informed on real-time conditions. 

Looking further to the future, our team is currently working with our 

partners at Tourism Industry Association of BC (TIABC) on the 2022 

Tourism and Hospitality conference, which is being held in Prince 

George March 8-11. We are excited to be planning an in-person event 

once again and to bring our sector together for the most inspiring, 

educational conference of the year. We look forward to welcoming you 

and seeing you in person. 

Finally, I’d like to take a moment to thank our Chair of the Board, Bryan 

Pilbeam, and our board of directors for their encouragement, support, 

and leadership over the past 18 months. We are all in this together, and 

it is remarkable to have such an amazing team of professionals who care 

so deeply about the industry leading this organization. 

I encourage all of you to be kind with yourselves, pay attention to your 

own wellbeing, and rest assured we are doing everything possible to 

support you during this immensely difficult time. Our team is here for you, 

and we encourage you to please reach out if you have any questions 

or need any support. 

4 InnFocus

Five 

Technology 

Trends 

The Future of Hospitality 

Is Here, and It’s Contactless 

by Joanne Sasvari 


If nothing else, the COVID-19 pandemic has 

accelerated our use of technology. That’s 

especially true in the hospitality sector, where 

technology will affect just about every aspect 

of the business—if it doesn’t already. 

That’s thanks in large part to what is being 

called the “Internet of Things,” or IoT, the 

network of physical objects that are connected 

through the Internet and controlled 

with devices such as tablets or smart 

phones. It might as well be called the 

Internet of Everything. According to 

GlobalData, a London-based data 

analytics and consulting company, 

IoT technology can help ease guests’ 

concerns about health and safety 

while allowing businesses to collect 

a treasure trove of data to improve both 

the guest experience and their operational 

bottom line. 

“It all basically boils down to the fact that 

more and more systems are connected to 

the internet and with IoT those systems can 

interact with each other in a smart way,” writes 

Serge de Klerk CMO of the online news service 

Hospitality Net. “Intelligent technology has 

6 InnFocus 

more and more become a part of our daily 

lives and there is no reason for hotel guests 

not to expect this when traveling to your hotel. 

These days, hotel technology goes well 

beyond TVs and phones in the guest rooms. 

Here are five tech trends hoteliers can expect 

to see in 2021 and beyond. 

71% of travellers would be 

more likely to stay at a hotel 

with self-service. 

1. Contactless Service 

Even before the pandemic made everyone 

squeamish about sharing anyone else’s 

space, technology was moving toward less 

and less human contact. Pre-pandemic it 

was all about convenience. Now, of course, 

it’s for peace of mind. And besides, we’re all 

used to it. 

Over the past year and a half, we’ve 

become adept at using QR codes, going 

cashless, and ordering food through apps. 

Indeed, Hospitality Net writes that the QR 

code “became the silent hero of pandemic 

operation.” 

According to the travel research company 

Skift, not only is contactless service here 

to stay, but it will help guide hotels through 

the recovery. A 2020 survey by Skift and 

Oracle Hospitality reported that 71% 

of travellers would be more likely to 

stay at a hotel with self-service. Chains 

such as Marriott, Hyatt, and Hilton have 

already opted for contactless check-in 

and many other brands have invested in 

digital keys that allow guests to use their 

phones to open their guestroom door. 

But going contactless isn’t just about 

the room key. It’s about the entire contactless 

guest journey. 

Guests increasingly prefer text messaging 

to speaking by phone or using email. They 

appreciate the convenience of voice-activated 

search functions as well as facial recognition 

software. And they demand the ease of online 

booking, especially if it is optimized for mobile 

devices.

2. Smart Rooms 

IoT technology is most visible in the smart 

guest room, where digital interfaces control 

lighting and temperature, entertainment 

options for streaming on any device, and 

sensors that reduce power usage during 

specific hours or when the guest is not in 

the room. Indeed, the US-based hotel WiFi 

provider DeepBlue predicts that contactless 

room control will be the future, and guests will 

expect rooms to adjust to their preferences 

before they even arrive. 

Guests can use their phone or an in-room 

tablet provided by the hotel to adjust in-room 

settings, book spa appointments, order food, 

or explore local tours. Meanwhile, as more and 

more consumers adopt voice-activated virtual 

assistants at home, they expect nothing less 

when they stay in a hotel. Volara is one such 

system that integrates seamlessly with work 

order management systems as well as in-room 

entertainment. 

But all this technology demands fast, 

powerful WiFi, and chances are yours isn’t 

up to the task. Look for the arrival of WiFi 6, 

which is 30% faster than 5G. 

3. Robots and Chatbots 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) will define the 

next wave of the hotel industry, says Kerry 

Goyette, the founder and president of Aperio 

Consulting. Not only can chatbots, robots, 

and the like streamline operations, she says, 

they can free up employees’ time so they can 

focus on high-touch, personalized service. 

A chatbot is a computer program designed 

to simulate conversation with human users. 

It can handle frequently-asked questions, 

operates 24/7, and can drive direct bookings. 

A robot, on the other hand, is a machine 

that can carry out complex actions guided by 

external controls. Robots can be used to greet 

guests when they arrive and provide them with 

information upon arrival, like Hilton’s “Connie” 

does. Robots can also be used to deliver room 

service and for some housekeeping services. 

4. Behind the Scenes Systems 

Working away behind the scenes is the 

property management system that acts 

as “mission control” for hotel operations. 

But hotels also use channel management 

software, revenue management systems, and 

customer relationship management systems. 

Is it any wonder that the next big trend is the 

integration of all this technology? 

More and more hotels are opting for cloudbased 

technology for data storage, application 

programming interface (API) to connect 

computers and computer programs, and 

software as a service (SaaS), in which centrally 

hosted software is licensed on a subscription 

basis. Hospitality Net’s de Klerk predicts 

that 2021 will mark the year where hoteliers 

stop trying to fit offline systems into a digital 

landscape. “More and more are we seeing that 

the core, a hotel’s PMS, is completely cloudbased 

and API driven,” he says. 

5. Safety, Security, Sustainability 

Safety is top of mind for many travellers these 

days, and that is a trend that is not going away. 

In addition to less clutter and more hand 

sanitizer, guest rooms will have features such 

as antimicrobial surfaces, resins that prevent 

viruses from sticking, and self-cleaning metals 

in bathrooms. Air filtration systems will be 

essential, especially as pollution from wildfires 

increases. Guests will not only demand 

cleanliness but sustainability, so expect to see 

energy-saving appliances, room-occupancy 

sensors, LED lighting and low-flow showers 

and faucets, which have the benefit of saving 

costs as well as resources. 

While technology has made life safer in 

some ways, it has also opened us to other 

risks. 

According to Hotel Tech Report, hotels are 

a prime target for hackers, yet three-quarters 

of them are not compliant with data security 

best practices, making them “potential 

disasters waiting to happen.” Already, malware 

attacks have compromised the information 

of hundreds of millions of guests’ data. 

Hoteliers need to invest in tech tools that 

provide multilayer security, data protection, 

secure transactions, and compliance with 

international payment and data privacy 

standards. 

At the end of the day, technology can only 

do so much. The future may be contactless, 

but nothing can ever replace the human touch 

and thoughtful service that are at the heart of 

hospitality. 


Courtesy of Destination BC/Jordan Dyck. 

Whale watching tour with Ocean Outfitters 

International 

Travel 

Trends 

by Kristen Learned on behalf of 

Destination BC 

**Disclaimer: this article was written in July based on available data 

and information on international travel resumption at that time. 

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Destination BC has continued 

to work in lock-step with Provincial Health Orders and recommendations, 

and encourages the tourism industry to do the same. 


Courtesy of Destination BC/Dave Silver. The Gitmaxmak’ay Nisga’a Dancers and the 

Wii Gisigwilgwelk (Big Northern Lights) Dancers at the Cassiar Cannery in Port Edward 

On July 19, Canada’s tourism industry received welcome news from 

our federal government that signaled a continued progression towards 

recovery: plans and target dates for Canada to begin welcoming 

international visitors for leisure travel once again. 

While BC’s tourism industry spent its summer welcoming back 

Canadian residents from across the country, it’s been well over a year 

since we’ve been able to host 

guests from other parts of 

Visitors from Washington are 

only second to BC residents for 

spring and fall travel. 

the globe. As we begin this 

critical step for the recovery 

of tourism in Canada and 

return to compete on the 

global stage, it’s important to 

note that our visitors may be 

seeking different experiences than before COVID, and may carry with 

them a different set of expectations that our industry will need to be 

ready to meet, if not surpass. 

Like what we’ve seen with our domestic markets—particularly in the 

early stages of the return to travel—visitors will be looking for flexibility 

when it comes to bookings, cancellations, and refund policies. There 

will also be a greater emphasis on health and safety protocols in place 

at the businesses they choose to visit. While BC began transitioning 

from COVID-19 Safety Plans to Communicable Disease Prevention 

in Phase 3 of its Restart Plan, consumers are now hyper-aware 

of the importance of hygiene protocol and disease prevention, 

and it is expected that they will continue to seek this out for the 

foreseeable future. 

While there has been a high 

uptake of vaccine in Canada, which 

has allowed for the resumption of 

larger gatherings and events, many 

international visitors are expected 

to favour large, open spaces and 

uncrowded areas as they take their 

first leap back into travel abroad. Many 

are seeking reconnection with family and friends, choosing to take 

trips together and spend overdue quality time with one another 

while taking in new sights. 

As we prepare to welcome back our long-awaited international 

visitors, here are the markets we’ll be focusing on for immediate 

marketing, and the signals we’ll be monitoring to determine the right 

time for market expansion. 


Immediate Priority Markets: US, UK & Germany 

Since the Spring, Destination BC has worked closely with travel 

media in the US to build interest in BC for once border restrictions 

were eased. Our close relationship with our American neighbours 

continues to create travel demand for BC from that market—a 

trend which is expected to continue, and one that we are ready 

to leverage quickly with a significant marketing campaign planned 

to target Washington visitors with the appeal of BC’s nature 

experiences. Washington is the largest market for BC from the 

US, and while summer remains the most popular travel season, 

visitors from Washington are only second to BC residents for 

spring and fall travel. 

From our key overseas markets, Destination BC has identified 

two markets as the most immediate opportunity for international 

visitation and expenditure. If restrictions are eased as predicted, 

both within Canada and in our key markets, Destination BC will 

target the United Kingdom and Germany as our priority markets 

when international travel resumes. 

The UK and Germany are among the top largest international 

markets for BC, and have been high-performance, long-standing 

visitor markets for many years. The markets’ strong pre-COVID 

air access to and from YVR is expected to recover quickly, with 

an immediate increase in both routes and demand. Travel is a 

top priority for these markets, whose visitors excel in geographic 

and seasonal dispersion throughout BC, generating revenue 

in every corner of the province. Seeking out custom fly/drive 

packages (including flights, car/RV rentals and accommodation), 

and immersion in nature with everything from wildlife viewing 

and coastal touring to day excursions and wilderness lodges, 

remarkable outdoor experiences are a perfect product match, 

and continue to exceed consumer expectations. 

Other Markets of Note: China 

Before COVID, China was the 2nd largest international market for 

BC, welcoming 333,837 visitors to the province in 2019. While this 

market shows strong travel to BC year-round, week-long national 

holidays in October and January/February are key travel periods 

for the population. The China market enjoys a diverse wealth of 

experiences, from local food and beverage in urban areas, to 

guided city and nature tours, Indigenous cultural experiences, and 

wildlife viewing. While the desire to travel is strong with the Chinese 

market, strict restrictions on both inbound and outbound travel 

from China are expected to remain for 2021 and most of 2022. 

What we’ll be watching: once international borders open and 

Chinese outbound travel resumes, there will be fierce competition 

for the Chinese traveller globally, as well as domestically in China. 

Large group travel may be replaced by smaller groups and FIT 

travellers. 

Other Markets of Note: Australia 

Before COVID, Australia was the 4th largest international market 

for BC, with 246,490 visitor arrivals from Australia to BC in 2019. 

Australians visit BC year-round to enjoy the natural wonders of the 

province, such as eco-lodges, wildlife viewing, and ski adventures. 

While BC remains the most popular Canadian destination for 

Australian travellers, strict border controls and a slow vaccine 

rollout indicate a slower recovery for this market. 

What we’ll be watching: vaccination rates of Australians, 

Australian border reopening for inbound and outbound travel, 

and the return of direct air service to YVR. 

Courtesy of Tourism Richmond. 

Dining at the Golden Village district 

in Richmond, Vancouver BC 

Other Markets of Note: Mexico 

Before COVID, Mexico was the 5th largest international market for 

BC, with 160,265 visitor arrivals to BC in 2019. Visitors from this 

market are year-round travellers to BC, with a particular spike in spring 

visitation due to Easter break, which is a key travel period for that 

segment. Urban experiences in the Vancouver/Victoria areas, as well 

as ski holidays to major resorts like Whistler are a key draw, although 

awareness of and demand for other areas such as Vancouver Island, 

the Okanagan, and the Rockies are on the rise. These visitors tend 

to be affluent and prioritize travel with groups of friends and family. 

While Mexico never saw the same level of border restrictions as other 

markets, vaccine rollout within the country has been slow, which 

could impact this market’s ability to travel to destinations requiring 

full vaccination from their visitors. 

What we’ll be watching: vaccination rate in Mexico and the return 

of direct air service to YVR. 

Industry Resources 

To stay up to date on the latest information as it relates to travel, 

markets, marketing, and more, please consult the following resources 

from Destination BC: 

• View our Market Profiles & Market Research for more information 

on our key visitor segments. 

• Visit DestinationBC.ca for the latest research and analytics. 

• Send an email to Marketing.Plan@destinationbc.ca to request 

a copy of Destination BC’s marketing strategy. 

• Register for our regular tourism industry calls, where we 

share updates on government programs, Destination BC 

initiatives and marketing plans, and new tools for industry, by 

emailing covid19response@destinationbc.ca. Recordings of 

past calls are also available through our website. 

• Subscribe to Destination BC’s e-newsletter, Directions, 

for updates on our marketing campaigns, tourism partnerships, 

new research, and more. 


HOTELIER FEATURE: 

Jamie Hackl 

Hampton Inn & Suites by 

Hilton, Kelowna Airport 

by Chris McBeath 

Jamie Hackl 

With a degree in pure mathematics, 

Jamie Hackl’s future could well have been 

in finance, data analysis, or even astronomy. 

Finding him at the helm of Kelowna’s Hampton Inn 

& Suites by Hilton seems somewhat anomalous. 

Until you watch him operate. 

An inspirational, hands-on manager, Jamie might be found in 

housekeeping, bussing tables, or at the front desk—always multi-tasking, 

finding solutions to problems and, quite simply, ‘getting the job done’. 

Jamie started in hospitality while at the University of Calgary, paying 

his way by tending bar and working in restaurants. By happenstance, 

his future wife, Samantha Sinotte, was one of his managers. 

“After university, I started a junk removal business but when oil hit $50 

a barrel in Calgary that felt like the crash of 2008,” Jamie recalls. “Even 

though the business was floating along, the economic climate meant 

limited growth, so I decided to pursue banking. Again, the timing was 

such that immediate prospects were limited. So, when Samantha got 

a job at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, I was able to join the hotel’s 

banquet department, and we went together.” 

Jamie’s move to the Canadian Rockies in 2016 set the stage for his 

fast-track to senior management. 

Within a short while, Jamie became Banquet Manager which led to a 

position as Executive Services Meeting Manager, and then on to Special 

Events Manager—this involved planning and executing the hotel’s iconic 

signature package events. “It was key to solidifying my organizational 

and managerial skills, besides which I really enjoyed the ‘show’ of it all.” 

Most importantly, his responsibilities meant working closely with every 

department of the hotel. It was a dynamic way to learn about teamwork, 

leadership, effective communication, and just what it takes to deliver 

an exceptional guest experience—qualities that Fairmont recognized in 

naming Jamie ‘Leader of the Year’. 

“I’ve been incredibly fortunate with the opportunities this industry has 

offered, especially with those who have mentored me,” he admits. “My 

time in Jasper started me on an unexpected career path that I have 

grown to love.” 

Jamie cites his “big leap” was accepting the invitation of a former 

colleague to be Rooms Division Manager at The Eldorado Resort in 

Kelowna. By this time, he and Samantha were married and a move to 

the Okanagan meant living closer to family, career growth, and a lifestyle 

that was hard to beat. 

However, their relocation was in the early days of the pandemic 

and fraught with the unknown. “We all know the challenges COVID-19 

presented so my job quickly became a 24/7 multi-task, staying 

overnight to do night audit, trying to stay ahead of the ever-changing 

health requirements, and helping out where necessary.” 

When he stepped into the General Manager role at Hampton Inn 

& Suites by Hilton, with the pandemic still assuaging the industry, 

he arrived with the kind of proficiency one can only acquire through 

hands-on experience. 

“I have been A-line staff in most areas, so I have a good 

understanding of the demands and how to transform those pressures 

into performance. Leadership is about stepping up, problem solving, 

and leading by example. Sometimes the solution is simple as in get 

that bed made,” he says, which is why Jamie might be found doing 

a stint in housekeeping and even, on occasion, cooking breakfast. It 

helps, too, that his acumen for numbers leans to a natural wizardry 

in logistics, data analysis, and the ever-evolving high-tech needs of a 

forward-savvy hotel operation. 

The fact that both he and Samantha are fully immersed in the 

hotel industry has worked very much in their favour. “From our days 

in Calgary, we’ve always worked together. The other saving grace is 

Kelowna itself because even just a half-day off feels like a vacation. We 

love that family is nearby, really enjoy hiking and biking, and touring 

the wineries. Samantha is Food & Beverage Director at the Eldorado 

Resort and always claims these visits are entirely professional,” he 

quips with a wink. 

If there is one thing that speaks to Jamie’s heart, it is paying forward 

the concept of mentorship. “Hard work is not always the answer. Time 

and again I’ve seen extremely talented people passed over because 

they hadn’t been coached in how to get recognized in the right 

light. I believe a large part of leadership is empowering others to sell 

themselves with confidence and that involves good communication 

skills and a strong command of language. Mentoring talent is what 

makes being a General Manager a real privilege.” 


GO 

Green 

Transitioning to 

Cleaner Operations 

by George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy 

The past year has shown the incredible resiliency of BC’s tourism sector. 

Despite facing one of the most significant public health and economic 

challenges in a generation, we’re starting to see signs of a strong recovery 

in BC thanks in large part to the response of people and businesses 

across the province working together to protect the health and safety of 

their communities. 

Strong leadership and 

collaboration have proven 

that the fundamentals of 

BC’s tourism and hotel 

industry are strong. With 

supports through our 

StrongerBC recovery 

plan, and positive signs 

in our vaccination rates and reopening plan, I’m optimistic on the outlook 

for tourism in our province. 

In BC, our spectacular natural environment continues to attract people 

from around the world. How we care for the environment is one of the 

most important investments in our future. 

Our government is working to build on this advantage and support 

businesses of all sizes to transition to cleaner operations through our 

CleanBC plan. In the hotel sector, there are a number of opportunities and 

supports that are available to businesses. 

CleanBC is a comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse gas 

emissions and increase opportunities in all sectors of the clean economy. 

In transportation and 

buildings, the province 

CleanBC is a comprehensive plan to reduce 

greenhouse gas emissions and increase 

opportunities in all sectors of the clean economy. 

provides incentives for 

businesses looking at 

cleaner vehicles and 

more energy-efficient 

building upgrades and 

construction. 

BC is a leader in North 

America with the highest uptake in electric vehicles (EVs) on the continent 

and one of the most extensive vehicle charging networks in Canada. 

Many businesses are making the switch to electric to save on fuel and 

maintenance costs, which are substantially lower with EVs. 

If your business is looking to upgrade its vehicle fleet, the province provides 

significant rebates through the CleanBC Go Electric program that can be 


combined with federal rebates for a total 

of up to $8,000 off the purchase price. 

CleanBC also offers significant rebates 

for hotels and other accommodation 

businesses looking at buying zero 

emission shuttle buses, electric cargo 

bikes, and other vehicles through 

the Specialty Use Vehicle Incentive 

Program. Through our StrongerBC 

plan, we doubled the amount available 

for tourism businesses to two-thirds 

off the purchase price up 

to $100,000 per vehicle. 

And, if your hotel offers 

bike rentals, which is an 

increasingly attractive 

way for people to experience 

our province, we’ve 

removed the PST on 

electric bikes and are 

investing in active transportation 

infrastructure. 

Additional rebates for the installation 

of EV charging stations, as well as free 

support services including consultations 

and technical assessments for 

businesses, are available at Plug In BC. 

On top of that, the federal government 

offers a 100% tax write-off of zeroemission 

vehicle purchases. 

CleanBC also provides substantial 

incentives to support cleaner, more 

energy-efficient buildings. If you are 

upgrading your hotel or building with 

low-carbon options that will lower your 

energy costs and your emissions, there 

are a wide range of offerings available at 

CleanBC Better Buildings. This includes 

rebates for highly efficient, electric heat 

pumps, which double as air conditioning 

units in the summer, as well as supports 

Through our StrongerBC plan, 

we doubled the amount available 

for tourism businesses... 

to improve insulation, electric boilers, 

lighting, and other improvements. 

You can also access free energy 

coaching and energy evaluation services 

as well as incentives for energy-saving 

studies and energy-efficient equipment 

like commercial laundry, dishwashing, 

cooking, and refrigeration. 

Our government is committed to 

supporting the hotel and tourism sector 

through CleanBC and StrongerBC. 

We know how important tourism is to 

BC’s economy and the positive impact 

it has on people living in communities 

across the province. 

It’s why we created a 

$100-million tourismspecific 

stream under the 

Small and Medium-Size 

Business Grant program 

and added a further 

$120 million in funding 

for tourism recovery in 

the most recent provincial budget. 

I’m confident that by working together, 

we can all build a cleaner, stronger future 

that is ready for a world that is rapidly 

moving towards a net-zero emissions 

future, which embraces opportunities 

in the clean economy and addresses 

the threat of climate change with the 

seriousness it deserves. 


y Deb Froehlick 

New Products and Services 

from BCHA Associate Members 

BC Hospitality Foundation 

is Canada’s ONLY Charity 

of its Kind 

Salt Spring Coffee has a new in-room 

coffee pods program. A truly sustainable 

option—pods are 100% compostable 

including the overwrap. Four Roasts 

are available: Peru, Blue Heron, French 

Roast, and Decaf. Certified organic, fair 

trade, and proudly Canadian, the pods are 

K-Cup compatible (including 2.0). Launching 

September 2021 www.saltspringcoffee.com 

Rethink2gether is introducing a new 

e-learning short course to help commercial 

kitchens prevent food surplus and improve 

their bottom line. This five-module training 

will introduce concepts in digestible and 

practical lessons, with an option to join their 

monthly group coaching calls. 

www.rethink2gether.com/starter 

Sunco’s Hosted VoIP Phone System is 

a fully hosted solution for business 

communication. It combines the power 

of VoIP and cloud technology to provide 

a cost-effective mobile workforce and 

a better customer service experience. 

Voice for Business is a high-value, lowcost 

solution for companies that want 

to upgrade old or obsolete phones, 

switch some communications to the 

Cloud (a hybrid system), or create 

a brand new, customized system. 

www.sunco.ca/products/voice-for-business 

Nerval Corp is now supplying high-quality 

shower doors, bases, and surrounds to 

hospitality bathroom renovation projects 

across Canada. Installation services are 

available. www.nervalcorp.com/landingpage/ 

shower-doors 

Araam Inc. is launching Hospitality Handicap 

Hi-Low Bed Frames for those who may 

need assistance transitioning from sitting 

to standing to get out of bed. Their Hi-Low 

bed can help guests stand with the touch 

of a button and provides the features of 

a homecare bed without the institutional 

look. Remove the rear section of the bed 

frame and attach a decorative headboard. 

www.araam.ca/commercial/handicap-bed 

Dyson Canada’s new Dyson Purifier 

Cool (TP07) is launching in September. 

Keep cool with Dyson’s latest purifying 

technology. Equipped with a powerful 

HEPA filter and activated carbon, it 

automatically detects and traps 99.97% 

of particles as small as 0.3 microns. It 

works as a fan, delivering a steady stream 

of cool, purified air to ensure year-round 

comfort while offering quiet settings and 

a dimmed display for guests at night. 

www.dysoncanada.ca/en/commercial/airtreatment/dyson-purifier-cool 

Nespresso is introducing the Nespresso 

Momento 120. It creates exceptional coffee 

drinks, including 12 specialty coffees 

with fresh milk. This smart machine has 

touchless capabilities and recognizes 

capsules when they are inserted, 

recommending the optimal recipe. It is 

designed sustainably and has various 

energy-saving modes to ensure the precise 

consumption of water, coffee, and energy. 

www.nespresso.com/pro/ca/en/ 

professional-contactus 

Restwell Sleep Products is pleased to 

introduce a new pillow line. Spring Air Hotel 

Standard Pillows are made in BC, with a 

natural cotton shell, hypoallergenic MicroGel 

fill, and SilverClear antimicrobial technology 

to keep things feeling fresh, clean, and 

comfortable. Available in 3 levels of comfort 

and 3 different sizes, with a 3-year warranty. 

www.springairhospitality.ca/pillows/ 

TELUS Business is announcing the launch 

of Guest TV. This Android-based TV solution 

features live TV, Netflix and YouTube 

integration, the Google Play Store, and 

screen casting. It also has a voice-controlled 

remote and TELUS Local Camera, as well as 

live on-site video stream fully integrated into 

the TV platform. hospitality@telus.com 

At the BC Hospitality Foundation (BCHF), 

we hope your business had a profitable 

summer. We were very happy that many 

businesses were able to expand the scope 

of their operations due to decreased public 

health restrictions. It’s a pleasure to see 

people getting out and safely enjoying some 

of the fantastic accommodation and food 

and drink experiences as well as sightseeing 

and other activities our province has to offer. 

We wish your team continued success in the 

season ahead. 

We want to hear from you if you know 

of someone who needs our help. Our 

primary mission is supporting hospitality and 

tourism workers facing financial crisis due 

to a serious health condition experienced 

by themselves or a family member. In 

particular, we’d appreciate it if you would 

send the name of your organization’s 

Human Resources Director to us at info@ 

bchospitalityfoundation.com so we can 

contact them with information about what 

the BCHF does. Together we’re able to make 

a tangible, positive difference in the lives of 

our colleagues in need. Here are a couple of 

examples of people we’ve helped recently: 

• A career hospitality worker who was 

taking one week off in between jobs and 

vacationing on Salt Spring Island. She was 

hit head-on by a truck while riding a scooter. 

She had multiple broken bones and doctors 

thought she would never walk again, but 

thanks to several surgeries, intensive rehab, 

and unstoppable determination, she was on 

her feet with the aid of a cane only six months 

after the accident. The BCHF was able to 

support her by helping cover her basic living 

expenses until she was able to return to work. 

• A former hospitality worker will soon 

be the first person in Canada to undergo a 

double hand transplant. At press time, he 

was still awaiting the surgery in Ontario. He 

had both of his hands and legs amputated 

as the result of a severe case of Bacterial 

Meningitis. The BCHF supported him by 

assisting with related medical expenses, 

including the cost of immunosuppressive 

medication. 

Please help us continue to make a positive 

difference in our community by donating 

online at www.bchospitalityfoundation.com 

and keeping us in mind for fundraisers. 

Thank you for your support! 


TRENDS & INSIGHTS 

by GlobalData 

Travellers Prefer Booking Direct 

A recent GlobalData poll has revealed a shift in consumer 

preference towards booking holidays directly, instead of 

going through an online travel agency (OTA). A total 39%* of 

respondents said they would typically book directly, followed 

by 17% that opted for OTAs and price comparison sites. 

Gus Gardner, Associate Travel and Tourism Analyst at 

GlobalData, comments, “The pandemic has caused a 

significant shift in consumer booking habits. A previous survey 

in Q3 2019** showed that OTAs 

were the most popular booking 

option, followed by direct 

booking with a hotel or airline. 

However, some OTAs have been 

extremely slow to issue refunds 

and have received a raft of bad press as a result. This has 

knocked travellers’ confidence to book through intermediaries. 

“Direct booking channels are likely to have experienced an 

increase in popularity due to the fragility of booking a trip in 

the current situation. Travellers now desire the highest level 

of flexibility, and it is no wonder that direct booking channels’ 

flexible terms, easy changes, and quick refunds are winning 

travellers over. 

39% Book Directly 

“Further, the ability to make changes online places the 

power back into the traveller’s hands and streamlines the 

whole process. By booking directly, the traveller cuts out the 

middleman, considerably speeds up the change/refund process, 

and increases their satisfaction.” 

Some OTAs such as lastminute.com have been slow to 

issue refunds, and the negative press received has not helped 

traveller confidence. In fact, in lastminute.com’s case, the 

UK Competition and Markets Authority 

threatened legal action unless it met a 14- 

day refund timeline. 

Gardner concludes, “Confidence in 

OTAs’ ability to issue refunds has quickly 

dented confidence. The slow responses 

have been incredibly frustrating and have resulted in a slight 

shift away from this booking method.” 

* GlobalData Live Tracker Verdict Poll of 156 respondents, 

Live since 19 April 2021. 

** GlobalData Q3 2019 Consumer Survey, 29,744 global 

respondents. 44% of respondents preferred booking 

through an OTA, 36% directly with a hotel and 34% directly 

with an airline. 


Victoria 

Rules 

Again 

With regional travel 

booming this summer, 

the capital city’s hotels 

fling their doors open 

in welcome 

by Joanne Sasvari 

In a normal year, summertime hotel 

occupancy in Victoria hovers around 100% 

as business and leisure visitors alike are drawn 

by the city’s mild climate, lush gardens, dynamic 

dining scene, and charming historical vibe. 

This year and last, of course, have been anything 

but normal. The pandemic put a stop to all the cruise 

ships, conventions and bus tours, and occupancy 

plummeted to historic lows. 

But now the visitors are returning, although 

international and business travel likely won’t rebound 

till spring. 

“It’s really come to life,” says Sarah Webb, general 

manager of the Oswego Hotel. “Almost the day the 

government said people can travel, we had a full flood 

of visitors.” Bill Lewis, GM at the Magnolia Hotel, agrees. 

“Regional travel is off the charts,” he says. “We’re setting 

record numbers for parking right now.” 

Here are three Victoria properties enjoying summer 2021’s 

tourism rebound. 

Oswego Hotel 

Located in leafy James Bay, conveniently close to the Parliament 

Buildings, the Oswego Hotel is a pet-friendly, contemporary, 

boutique property that opened in 2008 and features a private Zen 

Garden and 80 studio, one- and two-bedroom suites. 

“They all have full kitchens, which is really popular in winter with 

snowbirds and people who work in government,” Webb says. “We 

stay pretty busy all year round. Even during COVID we were doing 60% 

occupancy all year round.” 

Last year, the property opened an Italian-style restaurant, Bar 500, 

which has become a favourite brunch spot for locals. It also increased 

its selection of locally produced ingredients and amenities, and built on its 

relationships with neighbouring businesses through its Passport to Victoria 

Courtesy of the Oswego Hotel 


program. “We’ve got a huge focus on bringing in more local 

product. We’re trying to be as local and sustainable as possible,” 

Webb says. 

Next up is a full upgrade of all the guest rooms, starting in 

spring 2022, which will include all-new linens. “Even right now 

the rooms are quite comfortable, with a nice homey feel to them,” 

Webb says, adding, “I’m personally very picky about pillows, so 

I tested every one that came our way.” 

Best Western Plus Carlton Plaza 

The Best Western Plus Carlton Plaza had just completed a 

four-year renovation when the pandemic hit in March 2020. “We 

went through the pain of managing inventory every off season 

for a number of years, just to be faced with COVID, which would 

have been an ideal time to do renovation work,” says Chris 

Watson, the hotel’s general manager. “We are now experiencing 

unprecedented demand. We are running so short on staff that 

we barely have time to breathe.” 

The 108-room property offers a selection of different guest 

room styles, including some suites with full kitchens. It was 

originally built in 1912 and mixes turn-of-the-century charm 

with contemporary décor and amenities, including free WiFi, a 

business centre, fitness room, valet parking and, since 2013, 

“text, text, and more texts.” Watson explains, “We were a very 

early adaptor of a texting concierge service. Guests love it!” 

Perhaps the property’s greatest selling point, though, is 

its location on historic Lower Johnson Street, in the “LoJo” 

neighbourhood of funky shops and eateries. “If anyone is looking 

for the best location to explore Victoria, we are 

the one,” Watson says, adding, “Our tenant, 

The Ruby on Johnson, is one of the most 

popular brunch spots in Victoria. Their fried 

chicken and waffles is a must-try.” 

Magnolia Hotel 

When the Magnolia Hotel was built in 1998, it brought the 

concept of boutique luxury to Victoria. The 64-room property 

is tucked away on a quiet downtown street just steps from the 

Inner Harbour. It features beautifully appointed guest rooms, a 

serene full-service spa and an elegant restaurant, The Courtney 

Room, named by enRoute as one of Canada’s Top 10 new 

restaurants of 2018. 

In 2020, the property was named Canada’s best hotel in 

TripAdvisor’s 2020 Travellers’ Choice Awards. “We got the 

award in the middle of a pandemic, which was kind of weird. 

The kind of recognition you’d like to promote, we just couldn’t,” 

says Lewis. 

He found the biggest challenge of the pandemic wasn’t with 

operations: “We always wanted to far exceed whatever the 

guidelines were,” he says—but with the uncertainty. Worst was 

the impact of repeated closures on staffing, even though they 

managed to keep everyone employed over winter. 

They used the time to upgrade the bathrooms on their 

Diamond level, replacing many bathtubs with double-sized 

luxury showers, and plan to redo all of them by spring 2023. 

They also added a patio that will likely be made permanent. 

And now, business is bouncing back, especially on weekends. 

For all these positives, Lewis credits the two families who 

built and still own the property. “Managing it is like caring for 

their child,” he says. “It’s a business, but it’s also a passion 

project.” 

Courtesy of Magnolia Hotel 

Courtesy of Best Western Plus Carlton Plaza 


Best 

Practices in 

Sustainability 

by Amy Watkins 


Small changes can make a big difference when 

it comes to adopting sustainable best practices. 

From switching out soap for dispensers and 

providing electric vehicle charging stations, to 

creating an entire geothermal heating system, 

here’s how local hoteliers have successfully 

gone green. 

Going Green with Housekeeping 

Sustainable housekeeping practices are a 

relatively straightforward way to show guests 

that you care. Switching to environmentally 

friendly and chemical-free cleaning products 

and offering incentives to skip 

housekeeping services, are two 

simple ways to cut down on using 

resources such as water and also 

save money. At Best Western Plus 

Kamloops, the housekeeping 

team has been using ozone water 

instead of chemicals to clean the 

rooms for nine years, with only 

COVID regulations temporarily changing that. 

Ozone water is tap water that is ozonated and 

is 99.999% effective against killing harmful 

bacteria (more so than bleach) and is Health 

Canada approved. 

In larger properties, it’s cost effective to offer 

financial or points-based incentives, such as 

the Go Green program at Prestige Hotels 

and Resorts. “Our Go Green program is a 

program that started several years ago offering 

an incentive for guests to choose to forgo 

housekeeping services during their overnight 

stay,” says Robyn Yenney, Director of Guest 

Experience at Kelowna-based Prestige Hotels 

& Resorts. When guests choose to Go Green 

they can choose between receiving a $10 

voucher to the on-site restaurant or 1,000 

Prestige Reward points. “By offering the Go 

Green Program we are allowing our guests 

to contribute to our sustainability efforts of 

lessening our impact on the environment,” 

says Yenney. “To Go Green helps offset our 

daily water, power, and detergent usage, 

reducing our environmental impact. We 

believe that every small action to help the 

environment adds up to great impact.” 

To Go Green helps offset our daily 

water, power, and detergent usage, 

reducing our environmental impact. 

Turning Corporate Responsibility 

Green 

Sustainability is a key element of corporate 

responsibility. Prestige Hotels and Resorts’ 

corporate sustainability program (Prestige in 

Balance) recently launched a Sustainability 

Committee that meets once a month to 

discuss sustainability efforts and ideas. “Their 

purpose is to keep sustainability efforts front 

of mind at their respective properties in order 

to improve existing efforts and bring any new 

ideas to management,” says Yenney. “So 

far through these committees we have seen 

important initiatives such as outdoor recycling 

bins and donating partially used amenities. 

We’re excited to see the positive impacts of 

our front-line sustainability committee!” 

Sustainable Building Practices 

Best Western Plus Kamloops is a prime 

example of a hotel designed with sustainability 

in mind. Communal spaces are heated using 

geothermal heating year-round. In 2010 the 

Hampel family took over an old motel and dug 

down 10 ft. to put in a 30,000 ft. geothermal 

field under the car park. “There was an initial 

$500,000 investment with a seven year pay 

back,” says Best Western Plus 

Kamloops’ GM, Tim Rodgers. “We’re 

now in year 11 and saving around $5- 

7,000 a year on utilities. We should 

have a $3-4,000 gas bill, but we pay 

under $1,000, Hydro should be $7- 

8,000, but we pay $4-5,000. We pay 

around 50% less than the average 

hotel thanks to energy efficiency.” 

Sustainable best practices extend to 

suppliers and vendors too. At Best Western 

Plus Kamloops, the team chose shower 

curtains made of recycled rubber, and opted for 

compostable cutlery rather than use chemicals 

to clean them as waste water goes into the river. 

The hotel won TOTA’s 2020 Sustainable Project 

of the Year Award for the refurbishment of their 

4th floor. Their goal was to repurpose, resell, or 

recycle 90% of the materials, but they managed 

to achieve 95%. Beds and desks were sold to 

local motels and other buyers, or repurposed in 

other ways. “We believe in doing the work and 

making sure that anything we replace doesn’t 


end up in landfill,” says Rodgers. “We do our homework and we know 

what we’re doing with used items and before we buy new ones we know 

the answer. It’s not out of sight out of mind for us. Sustainability is an 

obligation, not just an expectation, and is second nature to us.” 

Providing Guests with Resources to be Sustainable 

The team at Best Western Plus Kamloops also makes sure to try to buy 

local when it comes to food, and provides other options for guests that 

align with sustainable best 

practices, such as using 

shampoo dispensers 

in the washrooms and 

having a saltwater pool 

that doesn’t require 

chemicals. 

Recycling programs 

are fairly standard in most 

hotels now, with easily 

recognizable blue bins in the rooms or communal spaces. At Pemberton 

Valley Lodge, a five Green Key property, the team believes in guests being 

active participants in sustainable initiatives. “We went further each year,” 

says GM David MacKenzie. “When we started in-room composting 

we wondered if it would take off, but people in BC and from the Lower 

Mainland are excellent stewards of the environment and it comes naturally 

to them. Even without instructions from the housekeeper we had guests 

embracing it and being participants.” 

Providing alternative transport options is another way to allow guests 

to take part in sustainable programs. From electric car charging stations 


People in BC and from the Lower Mainland 

are excellent stewards of the environment 

and it comes naturally to them 

to providing mountain bikes to explore the great outdoors, guests are 

given alternatives to enjoy the local area. 

Green Key Programs 

Recognitions such as the national Green Key program allow hotels to easily 

show guests that they have reached a specific standard of sustainability. 

Awarded out of five keys, Pemberton Valley Lodge began with three keys 

and made it their mission to reach five. “When we had our first assessment, 

we got three Green Keys 

and the management team 

wanted to make changes,” 

says MacKenzie. “We’re based 

in a beautiful mountain resort 

town and want to preserve 

that. The Green Key program 

makes suggestions on how to 

improve so we were able to do 

that for further assessments. 

Guests embraced that we had made that commitment and it has that 

guest recognition.” 

Green Key programs are also recognized by corporate clients looking for 

hotels that align with their corporate values, and individual guests respond 

to recognitions such as TripAdvisor’s Green Hotel program. Investing in 

greener options and choosing sustainable best practices has shown to 

help grow confidence in hotel brands and sow a more sustainable future 

for the beautiful BC destinations that bring visitors to the region.

Leader of the Future: 

Jorin McSween, 

Sales and Marketing Executive for 

JW Marriott Parq Vancouver and The DOUGLAS, 

an Autograph Collection Hotel 

by Jacquie Maynard 

At first, Jorin McSween, Sales and 

Marketing Executive for JW Marriott 

Parq Vancouver and The DOUGLAS, an 

Autograph Collection Hotel, in Vancouver, 

wasn’t sure where he wanted to be in his 

career. 

“All I knew was that I wanted to have a job 

where I got to meet people, have a good 

time, and help people enjoy themselves.” 

Fortunately for him, he’s found it. 

Hands-on Experience 

Starting at square one, McSween found 

himself in the University of Fraser Valley’s 

Hospitality and Event Management 

program, where he says he learned a lot 

but yearned for more hands-on experience. 

It was at his first job in the industry as an 

intern at a Four Seasons where he finally got 

a taste for what a career in hospitality would 

look like. “It was amazing seeing so many 

people whose brains worked the same way 

mine did. I was so excited to find that it was 

an actual niche that existed,” McSween 

says. “They really are an industry of daymakers 

and I wanted to be part of that.” 

Right away, he was hooked. Not only 

does he love sharing his home city of 

Vancouver with visitors, but even if guests 

aren’t travelling for a happy reason, he can 

still give them a soft place to land and feel at 

home. “It leans into what my mind naturally 

does,” he explains. “I have a good memory 

for details, and so much of it is just getting to 

know people.” 

As he moved along to other positions, 

his passion for the industry grew. He says 

that while he loved working as a concierge, 

eventually sales and marketing began to draw 

his attention when he saw how the marketing 

team was in more of a steering position at 

the hotel and involved in different types of 

conversations that he wanted to be involved 

in too. “I always found a way to stick my nose 

into the marketing and sales office, which was 

probably annoying for a while,” he laughs. 

“It was so valuable, though, and gave me a 

chance to learn.” 

Opening Vancouver’s Newest Luxury 

Resort 

When McSween was hired to be on the 

opening team of the JW Marriott Parq 

Vancouver, he says that it was his ability to 

make his potential boss laugh via LinkedIn 

messages that got him the job. He fit into the 

company culture right away and worked his 

way up the ranks to where he is now. 

It wasn’t necessarily a typical journey, 

however, since the JW Marriott Parq Vancouver 

is an 800,000 square-foot resort—like a city 

within a city. Internationally recognized, and 

with the largest hotel ballroom in Western 

Canada, McSween and the team had plenty of 

opportunities to show off their skills organizing 

and executing many grand events. 

His pride and joy, however, is The DOUGLAS 

Hotel, a part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection, 

meant to highlight the distinctive personality 

and style of the city it resides in. “It was 

designed to represent Vancouver, to be 

authentic to the city and to us,” he says. 

“We built it from the ground up so we really 

got to visualize how we wanted it and got 

to put our own personality into it.” 

Unfortunately, less than three years later, 

the COVID-19 pandemic forced the doors 

to close, but now that restrictions are 

beginning to lift, he says that he is looking 

forward to reintroducing The DOUGLAS 

to the city and finding ways to breathe life 

back into their beautiful resort. 

Best Part of the Job 

Sure, it may be nice to spend your workdays 

at one of the fanciest resorts in town, but 

for McSween, it’s the people that make 

him love his job. Whether it’s little things 

like having the perfect complimentary 

gift waiting for a guest in their room or 

planning a huge event two years down the 

road, he just loves being a day-maker. “My 

favourite part is making a connection with 

people and sharing the city with them,” he 

describes. “The sales world has goals and 

numbers to meet, which is rewarding in its 

own way, but the really rewarding thing, 

for me, is having a genuine conversation.” 

Putting together a travel package or a 

carefully crafted stay and experience for a 

guest not only makes the guest happy but 

makes McSween feel like he’s in the right 

place as well. 

“I’ve made a point to pursue things that 

have sparked genuine excitement and 

curiosity in me and it’s meant everything 

for my career journey.” 

Photo credit: Sova Photography (IG @Sova.photography) 


Maintaining a 

Future Stable of 

Employees 

by Ginger Brunner 


One of the most enduring challenges facing the tourism and hospitality 

industry is labour supply. Simply put, businesses need a steady and 

reliable workforce to realize their potential and maximize the visitor 

experience. 

As industry continues to rebuild after a long period of uncertainty, 

the need to maintain a stable workforce becomes even more pressing. 

Some historical challenges to the 

labour supply, such as housing and 

transportation, continue to factor 

into the supply issues of today. Add 

in increased competition for skilled 

workers in today’s competitive job 

market and heightened employee 

expectations, and employers are in an 

exceedingly difficult position when it 

comes to attracting and retaining staff. 

And if a business lacks a steady workforce, it is vulnerable to a host of 

additional challenges beyond its bottom line. But there are tactics that 

employers can start implementing today to help to attract and retain staff. 

Where can an employer focus its efforts? We’ve curated a few expert 

tips that an employer can easily implement to help maintain that stable 

workforce. 

Consider utilizing 

cross-training to harness the 

power of existing employees. 

Prioritize Health and Safety 

Health and safety have become a top priority for guests and employees 

alike. Employees are choosing to remain with employers that 

prioritize health and safety. Employers can continue to make health 

and safety part of their workplace culture by providing employee 

training such as BC Safety Assured for Everyone (BSAFE) and 

taking advantage of go2HR free expert 

advice on implementing a health and 

safety program. Employers can share 

their Communicable Disease Prevention 

Program (the provincial health and safety 

protocols that replaces the COVID-19 

safety plan) with employees and allow 

for their input, affording ownership into 

the health and safety of the operation. 

Give Recognition 

Employees who feel valued at work are more likely to stay and return 

next season. But we cannot overlook the residual impact of the global 

pandemic. It is important to acknowledge that this past year has been 

incredibly challenging for everyone, particularly front-line workers. But 


you might be surprised at the simple things that employers can do 

to express their appreciation or reward a job well done—surprise 

an employee with a thank you note, gift card, or even some paid 

time off. You can even share your appreciation on social media! 

Finding ways to express gratitude and show appreciation can help 

to foster a loyal workforce. 

Provide Flexibility 

Changing business operations and a reduced workforce have 

meant an increased need in anchor employees—those staff 

members with broad skill sets who are capable of working in a range 

of positions vital to the success of the business. Employers who 

can offer flexibility in the workplace have a greater opportunity to 

create an attractive work/life balance for their staff. Consider offering 

multiple part-time positions instead of full-time for employees 

who require or desire more shift flexibility. Offer cross-training to 

employees who are interested, so that they are able to work in a 

range of positions and pick up shifts where needed. 

Offer Stability 

Attracting and retaining talented workers is an ongoing challenge for 

employers. When employees begin to feel disconnected to their work 

and their employer, they start considering other employment. Invest in 

professional development, encouraging employees to learn and take 

on new opportunities within their roles. Keep employees informed 

about what is happening in the business and how it may or may 

not impact them to help foster feelings of security, connection, and 

stability. Employers that are able to offer full-time, year-round vs. parttime, 

seasonal positions will experience an increase in productivity, 

engagement, and cost savings by minimizing the continual need to 

recruit and train new employees each season. While this is not easy 

and may not be an option for every tourism employer, it may be for 

some that haven’t previously considered it, particularly for the more 

challenging positions to fill such as culinary. 


Build Community 

Employees who have established roots at work and in the 

community are less likely to consider leaving. A lack of housing 

and transportation challenges continue across the province. As a 

result, communities and employers are starting to work together to 

determine how they can collaborate to address these challenges 

for their residents. Explore cross-seasonal employment exchanges 

with other tourism and non-tourism employers in the community. 

Help employees stitch together seasonal job opportunities to create 

year-round employment in your community. This will help to build an 

increased sense of loyalty 

Explore cross-seasonal employment 

exchanges with other tourism and 

non-tourism employers 

towards the employers and 

communities involved. 

Remember to consider 

the employees and 

their other connections. 

Retaining employees can 

be a challenge if their 

spouse/partner is having difficulty finding employment within the 

community. Employers can assist by providing resources to support 

with a spouse’s employment, such as referrals within your network 

or employment service providers. 

Other things employers can do is help build a sense of 

community by modelling that behaviour. Engage in corporate social 

responsibility. Underscore your commitment to community with 

support for local causes or groups in need. Connect employees 

with local immigrant settlement services or a mentor who shares 

their common interests and can help connect them with likeminded 

groups or individuals. 

Challenge the Status Quo 

Employers can contribute to retaining staff by thinking outside of 

the box and being highly creative with the way they engage with 

staff. Ask your employees what they enjoy the least or the most 

about their jobs and be prepared to listen. Engage employees 

in exploring opportunities to adjust how their work is performed 

by discussing ways to make it more effective, interesting, and 

productive. Connecting with employees and soliciting their 

opinion about work can be revealing to employers as some simple 

adjustments may yield a major impact on job satisfaction, and 

ultimately, retention. 

Make time to focus on 

engaging and communicating 

with employees so they will want 

to continue working into the 

winter season or return to your 

seasonal positions next Spring. 

We know that worker shortages 

and increased competition for talent are not new issues, and they 

have been exacerbated over the past year. However, with some 

forethought and planning, strong communication, and a focus on 

involving employees in decision making, employers can attract 

and retain great staff. 

Ginger Brunner is Senior HR Specialist at go2HR. 

Next Issue: 

Winter 2021 

Reserve October 22 

Published December 3 

Managing Expenses 

Best Practices for Social Media 

Diversity & Inclusion 

Improving Accessibility 


NAMES IN THE NEWS 

by Deb Froehlick 

New Members 

The BC Hotel Association is proud to 

welcome these new members: 

Associate members: 

Salt Spring Coffee 

Bliss Hospitality Talent and Education 

Design Uniforms (PORTEX DESIGN) 

Braidwood Hospitality 

Canadian Institute of Blended Learning 

Signals Design 

Tourism Fernie 

Blackwood Apparel 

Hotel members: 

Crown Isle Resort & Golf Community 

Hotel Zed - Tofino 

Key-oh Lodge 

Queen Charlotte Lodge 

Strathcona Park Lodge 

Tweedsmuir Hotel 

Congratulations 

Congratulations to the following 2021 

Greater Victoria Business Awards Winners: 

Community Builder – Accent Inns Inc. 

Outstanding Workplace – Brentwood 

Bay Resort 

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has been 

recognized as the 2021 most trusted hotel 

brand in Canada. The results of the seventh 

annual Gustavson Brand Trust Index were 

presented by the Peter B. Gustavson School 

of Business at the University of Victoria. 

Coast Hotels is excited to announce that 

27 properties within its portfolio have been 

honoured with Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice 

awards. “Being recognized as fulfilling 

guests’ expectations is an indication of trust 

in our people and our brand,” remarked Kelli 

Steer, Coast Hotels Vice President Hotel 

Operations. “This year more than ever, 

our properties have had to adapt to put 

the safety and wellbeing of our guests and 

Ambassadors ahead of all else. We’re so 

grateful that the warmth and dedication of 

our Ambassadors still came across to our 

guests, from behind the mask.” 

Destination Canada is pleased to 

announce that their team in France was 

named International Tourism Office of the 

year at the Travel d’Or awards ceremony, 

which celebrates France’s best travel 

brands. Over 4,000 people nominated 

their favourite foreign tourism offices with 

the top five including Spain, Portugal, 

Mauritius, Ireland, and Canada. 15 industry 

experts evaluated the nominated offices 

and recognized Destination Canada as the 

winner. 

Appointments 

The BC Chamber of Commerce is pleased 

to welcome Vivek Sharma, CEO of Fairmont 

Hot Springs to the 2021-22 Board of 

Directors. Sharma also sits on the Board of 

Directors at the BC Hotel Association. 

Dan McGowan was 

appointed as General 

Manager of The 

Fairmont Empress in 

Victoria. He joins The 

Fairmont Empress 

team following his 

most recent role as 

the General Manager 

of Fairmont San Jose 

Dan McGowan 

and brings over 25 

years of experience 

working within the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts 

brand. 

The BC Hotel 

Association’s very 

own Executive 

Committee Director, 

David MacKenzie, 

has been elected 

to the go2HR 

Board of Directors. 

In addition to his 

board tenure with 

both the BCHA and David MacKenzie 

Tourism Industry 

Association of BC, David will play an integral 

role in supporting the tourism and hospitality 

sector through his work with go2HR. 

TOTA is delighted to share that Ellen 

Walker-Matthews has been appointed 

President and CEO. Walker-Matthews has 

more than 40 years of experience in the 

hospitality, travel, and tourism industry. 

She has spent the last 11 with TOTA in 

various capacities and has been the Acting 

President and CEO of the organization for 

the past six months. Over her illustrious 

career, Walker-Matthews has spearheaded 

and played a significant role in key initiatives 

including Biosphere Certification, Green- 

Step Certification, and Green Destination 

Top 100; overseeing the Tourism Resiliency 

Program; development and implementation 

of regional tourism strategies; and sales, 

marketing, and business plans. 

The Board of 

Directors of Tourism 

Prince George 

announced Colin 

Carson as their 

new CEO. Colin has 

been with Tourism 

Prince George 

for four years in a 

variety of positions 

Colin Carson 

in marketing, visitor 

services, and sport 

tourism. Hailing from Prince George, Carson 

has the background, insights, and local 

contacts that will see him flourish in the role. 

Mandy Farmer, Accent Inns and Hotel 

Zed President & CEO 

has been elected to 

the Hotel Association 

of Canada Board of 

Directors. There, she 

will use her voice, 

immeasurable talent, 

and unwavering 

resolve to support 

industry and champion 

the hotel sector. 

Mandy Farmer 

New Hotels 

Versante Hotel, Greater Vancouver’s 

newest luxury boutique hotel opened on 

July 29. Locally owned and operated, it 

is Greater Vancouver’s first new luxury 

boutique hotel in years, and the first hotel 

of its kind in the city of Richmond. The 

property boasts leading-edge technology, 

100 guestrooms and suites with bold décor 

themes, expansive mountain and river 

views, a 24-hour fitness centre, an array of 

exciting new dining options, 5,500 square 

feet of function space, and pet friendly 

accommodation options. 


Overturning 

Orthodoxies: 

How Hotel CEOs 

Can Accelerate 

Diversity 

by Alex Mirza 

As a double immigrant raised in Toronto, having spent a decade 

in New York and eventually starting a lifestyle hotel brand in 

Shanghai, I enjoyed the benefit of living in and working among 

the most diverse and multicultural places on earth. I have 

also worked for diversity award-winning corporations such 

as Deloitte, Accenture, and Hilton to name a few. 

Research confirms that discrimination is best understood, not 

by classroom lectures or corporate training, but by those who have 

experienced it firsthand. In 2007, when I was SVP of Corporate 

Development at Hilton, I was presenting to the Board of Directors 

at a Waldorf Astoria resort in Phoenix. After a very thorough 

question and answer period that 

followed my presentation, I undid 

my tie and walked to the valet to 

retrieve my car rental. The valet 

crew was out retrieving vehicles, so 

I waited politely alongside a few 

other hotel guests at this iconic 

resort. In a span of a few minutes, 

not one but three white men handed 

me the car keys to their vintage sports cars, mistaking me for the 

valet. I passed the keys over to the actual valet who quipped, “This 

is one of the few places where they trust brown people.” It turns 

out all three were CEOs of real estate and finance companies 

and were frequent guests at the resort. While the implicit bias of 

this experience was demoralizing, it pales in comparison to the 

explicit barriers that women and ethnic minorities face in reaching 

the senior ranks of hospitality industry. 

Given the lack of diversity at the top of hotel companies, it is 

even more important for executives to get off the beaten path. 

When I became CEO of Cachet Hotels in Shanghai in 2012, 

I championed increasing diversity and made it one of my top 

three objectives as CEO. In many Asian markets, hotel owners 

strongly associate prestigious international hotel brands 

with the tall handsome European men who usually manage 

them. Despite this association, in 2012, Cachet Hotels set 

a bold goal of 50% female and minority general managers at 

our hotels and restaurants. At the time, women comprised 

70% of the hotel workforce in China, but only 5% of full-service 

hotel general managers. 

In Canada, only 14% are 

women and 11% are minorities 

at the executive level. 

Cachet Hotels’ diversity initiative grew from a top-down purpose 

that I articulated at our first Chinese press conference in Shanghai 

to being a widely adopted practice that was embraced by hotel 

operators whose entire work experience was working for European 

men in mainland China. Five years later, we met our objective 

across our entire portfolio of hotels and restaurants in China, the 

rest of Asia and the Americas. We were also pleased that 

a few years later, in 2015, Accor announced a goal of 35% 

women hotel general managers in the Asia-Pacific region. 

A few years ago, I partnered with hotel industry veterans, 

data scientists, and technologists to build Mogul Recruiter, an 

elite talent marketplace whose mission is to perfect meritocracy 

and accelerate diversity. We found that though women and 

minorities make up 60% and 29% of the hotel front-line in 

Canada, only 14% are women and 11% are minorities at the 

executive level. Even worse, less than 1% of Canadian corporate 

leaders are Black. Over the past few years, we have developed 

algorithms to rank diverse pools of talent and predict their worth 

and annual compensation. Today, our talent database has over 

500,000 elite global hospitality leaders in supervisor roles and 

above featuring over 50% women and 33% who identify as 

minorities. However, our work is just getting started. 

Through these leadership experiences and “swimming in the 

data,” I learned a thing or two about sourcing and developing 

diverse talent in the hospitality industry. Today, the hotel industry’s 

consolidation has made the executive ranks a small world. Many 

of my former corporate colleagues, 

owners, and business partners 

are now CEOs of major hotel 

brands and real estate groups. 

Most are quite sophisticated, 

care deeply about building winning 

cultures, and have established 

clear metrics that define winning 

in real estate, property operations, 

and online distribution. But prior to 2020, few have set 

diversity as one of their top management priorities. Many have 

remained silent despite their good intentions and continue to 

invest large sums of money marketing their brands as champions 

of diversity on social media platforms. 

The hotel industry remains extremely conservative with few 

outsider CEOs. Being in the same industry and company for a 

long period of time can ingrain even the most exceptional business 

leaders with orthodoxies or deeply held beliefs about “how we do 

business in this industry.” These widely adopted orthodoxies are 

perpetuated by the investment community, media, academics, 

industry associations, and universities. Not all orthodoxies are 

toxic, but the ones that are create massive blind spots which 

ultimately become driving lanes for disruption. 

Hotel CEOs can start by identifying the toxic orthodoxies 

that must be challenged to accelerate diversity and then 

brainstorm what opportunities could be made possible if they are 

overturned. To start the process, the following are five industry 

orthodoxies regarding diversity in the hotel industry: 


Data also helps stimulate debate and new 

ideas and may even create entire markets 

for innovation. It is also in the shareholders’ 

best interest for hotel CEOs to take the 

lead rather than hide beyond legal excuses 

and wait for regulators and politicians to 

legislate requirements that may serve their 

parochial political interests. 

Regular reports on diversity gaps should 

be as important as customer reviews. 

Diversity should be an integral part of 

a talent pipeline, integrated into dashboards 

and pushed all the way down to 

hotel management teams. 

1. “The focus of a CEO’s diversity 

agenda should be the Board and 

Human Resources leader, including 

a strong diversity department in the 

corporate office.” 

To overturn this orthodoxy, start with 

the hotel properties. 

Jim Reynolds, the African American 

Chairman and CEO of Chicago-based Loop 

Capital, recently said in a CNBC interview: 

“I have not ever been able, and I’m trying, 

to find a correlation between Blacks on the 

board of directors and a company doing 

more for Blacks and African Americans. I 

haven’t seen it.” 

Adding a few diverse members to your 

Board of Directors and building a diversity 

department in HR is important but it is table 

stakes―the cost of entry. Moreover, hotel 

companies have been doing this for decades 

with little if any meaningful progress. 

For hotel CEOs, the leadership challenge 

is achieving diversity at the property 

managerial levels, where an array of 

owners, lenders, third party management 

companies, unions, and other stakeholders 

can intentionally or unintentionally 

block progress. To accelerate progress, CEOs 

must focus more time on implementing 

change in the properties starting with those 

they manage and with real estate owners 

and third-party operators who get it. 


Alex Mirza 

2. “Diversity data on employees and 

the talent pipeline is best kept confidential 

both internally and externally.” 

To overturn this orthodoxy, collect and 

share employee-volunteered data with all 

levels of the entire organization and franchised 

properties. Then make it public before the 

governments and regulators require us to 

do so. 

To foster progress towards more diverse 

leadership, the Government of Canada 

now requires corporations to disclose 

the percentage of board seats and senior 

management positions are held by women, 

minorities, Indigenous peoples, and 

persons with disabilities. The issue is data 

transparency. While I applaud this initiative, it 

is insufficient without actionable plans and 

goals that companies are held accountable 

to. 

Meanwhile, hotel industry leaders have not 

been forthcoming in sharing data. This is the 

same approach they used to protect customer 

reviews while TripAdvisor and other online 

travel agencies established the high ground 

with consumers, adding travellers’ photos 

and property ranking algorithms. To this day, 

Marriott is the only hotel brand that shows 

customer reviews on its own website. 

Hotel CEOs manage a complex ecosystem 

of stakeholders and recognize that the 

first step in leading any change process is 

to collect and disseminate data widely. 

3. “Our labor costs are already too 

high, and diversity will only increase 

our recruiting, training and legal 

costs.” 

To overturn this orthodoxy, use 

zero-based budgeting and reset the 

entire recruiting and HR model to reduce 

expenses. 

Labor-related costs make up over 

a third of operating expenses and have been 

outpacing revenue growth. However, the 

Canadian hotel industry also reached a 

record high pre-pandemic, generating over 

$19 billion in operating revenue and earning 

more than $15,000 a room in profits in 2019. 

Unlike airlines such as Southwest and Delta 

and other lower margin service industries, 

no publicly traded hotel management 

company has ever implemented an 

employee stock ownership plan. To my 

knowledge, no private equity firm has 

implemented a promote structure that gives 

hotel executive teams compensation for 

increasing real estate value. 

Still, contrary to conventional wisdom, 

accelerating diversity does not require spending 

more money or increasing a hotel’s fixed 

cost structure. What it does require is cost 

innovation that results from restructuring 

the talent acquisition process. The outcome 

of a new process should be spending 

less money on the internal resources, 

vendors, and search firms that are recycling 

the same candidates, sell data as their 

business model, and increase employee 

turnover which remains at 25-70%. 

We know that talent attracts talent. 

Diversity also attracts diversity. The marginal 

costs of building a diverse workforce 

should drop considerably if the diversity at 

managerial levels are addressed up front.

4. “The best way to reduce turnover and ensure fit is to use 

assessments and personality tests.” 

To overturn this orthodoxy, stop using assessments and 

personality tests. 

Hotels should take a cue from colleges and universities and 

decrease their reliance on standardized testing. In 2020, UCLA 

eliminated the standardized testing requirement in their 

application and saw a 28% increase in applications for freshman 

seats compared to the previous year. The campus also saw a 

historic increase in Black applicants, rising 48% over last year, and 

significant gains across all other racial and ethnic groups: 33% 

for Latinos, 35% for whites, 22% for Asian Americans, 34% for 

Pacific Islanders and 16% for American Indians. UCLA Campus 

officials also credited their long years of active recruitment in 

underserved areas and community partnerships. 

The lesson is clear: even if standardized tests are not 

inherently racially biased, they stand in the way of attracting 

diverse talent. To be fair, test creators have never claimed to 

measure drive, resilience, or human potential. At most, 

assessments should be reserved for highly technical roles or to 

de-risk hiring candidates from another industry. 

Also, while we all look for that hospitality gene to make a hiring 

decision, there is no correlation between a personality type 

and elite talent even at the front-line. Personality tests that can 

easily be used to wrongly label people and homogenize workplace 

cultures should be dropped altogether. 

agerially diverse industries to build a more diverse talent pipeline. 

The hotel industry, one of the greatest human meritocracies on 

earth, is poised for a remarkable comeback but there is much 

work to be done. During the pandemic, 71% of jobs lost in 

Canada were in the hospitality industry and much of the 

workforce has since switched industries in favor of more flexible 

working conditions. A new talent pool must be discovered and 

accelerated. The industry’s ability to improve service and meet 

its diversity goals will determine the pace of recovery. Significant 

innovation in all dimensions of human capital will be required 

to fend off substitutes like Airbnb and more alternative employers 

such as Amazon and food delivery apps. Hotel CEOs should 

begin by developing strategies to overturn orthodoxies and allocate 

more resources to those courageous enough to do so. 

Alex Mirza is the founder and CEO of Mogul – Hospitality Engine, a 

venture backed technology company whose mission is to perfect 

meritocracy and accelerate diversity. He is the former CEO of Cachet 

Hotels and has over 20 years of experience as a Senior Executive in 

hospitality and gaming. 

5. “There’s already enough diversity in our industry. 

Let’s just steal talent from our direct competitors.” 

To overturn this orthodoxy, spend time scouting talent in 

other service industries and testing new platforms. 

Conventional wisdom says that with at least 1.2 million 

women and minorities working in hotels in Canada prior to 

COVID-19, there is enough supply of supervisor-ready talent to 

source or promote from within the industry to make progress 

against stated diversity objectives. However, our analysis 

suggests otherwise: the quality and depth of the diverse talent 

pool is a significant problem. For example, at the hotel General 

Manager and Director levels, including rooms and food and 

beverage (the two functions that manage the most people and 

budgets), diversity drops by two-thirds compared to the frontline. 

According to our algorithm that uses customer reviews, 

brand scores, and market difficulty to rank the elite talent 

pool, only 15% of this smaller diverse talent pool are ready to be 

promoted to these senior property-level positions. In total, we 

estimate 2,000-3,000 minority candidates are ready for promotion 

from within the hotel industry versus the 10,000 required to fulfill 

the diversity objectives set by the hotel brands. This does not 

even factor in the talent needed for the record hotel pipeline which 

remains largely intact. 

Accelerating diversity requires more than increasing pay or 

incremental innovation. It requires experimentation to identify upand-coming 

diverse talent in hotels as well as adjacent industries, 

schools, and communities. Above all, breakthroughs 

will require new scouting systems and new listening posts. CEOs 

should make it a higher priority to look for talent in more man- 


y Mike Macleod 

Over recent months, it has been extremely interesting to watch and 

experience the various phases of our industry’s reopening. Leaders 

around the province stressed for many months that we needed a 

defined plan to ensure that our sector would not miss critical milestones, 

largely based around established seasons and travel patterns. While 

this assertion was absolutely accurate, it turns out the plan was simply 

a starting point—the diving off point on our path to reopening and 

recovery in earnest. 

What has transpired since then has been the identification of new 

challenges; some of these were anticipated, while others were not. 

What has remained consistent though is the need to remain nimble, to 

react to the changed landscape, and wherever possible, be proactive. 

“Please remain seated until the seatbelt sign is turned off” is a familiar 

travel phrase that can be used as a metaphor for our post-pandemic 

recovery. What has become clear, is that the travel experience, from 

beginning to end, is going to be choppy until we pass further milestones 

in relation to controlling the pandemic. And as we inch closer to a prepandemic 

way of life, where does the travel experience stand? 

Air travel is challenged by operational and logistical issues surrounding 

scheduling and ongoing border restrictions. Hotels continue to struggle 

with restricted demand for meetings and events business, along with 

business travel, while businesses that complete the visitor experience— 

including tours, attractions, restaurants, and event venues—are operating 

under inconsistent conditions. At the same time, each are dealing with 

a critical labour shortage that is widespread and shows little sign of 

abating any time soon. 

The BCHA continues to be committed to delivering tools, resources, 

and solutions to support our membership during these times of 

uncertainty. In order to ensure these resources are assisting our 

membership, we strongly encourage members to stay engaged in 

communications; this is the easiest way to stay on top of our industry’s 

constantly evolving landscape. We continue to push relevant industry 

content through our various communication channels, including our 

social media platforms, which often detail real-time information and 

breaking news as it relates to our sector. 

In addition to staying informed, we also encourage you to take action. 

Attend our monthly webinars, respond to our survey requests, support 

advocacy asks to engage with government officials, connect with a BCHA 

team member—these are all critical steps you can take to ensure your 

voice is heard. 

Over the coming months the BCHA will be visiting several regions across 

BC as part of our live Industry Update series. These in-person information 

sessions are designed with specific regions in mind and will offer members 

the unique opportunity to engage directly with the BCHA team, gaining 

critical information pertaining to their businesses while voicing their most 

pressing operational concerns and priorities. The sessions will also 

thoroughly outline BCHA’s member programs, allowing properties to take 

full advantage of these benefits. 

This fall, we are also elated to be launching an innovative hotel-specific 

community portal. This online hub will centralize valuable industry resources 

and tools, while further connecting membership. The tool will offer forums 

to ask questions, and directly engage with other members so that you can 

more readily keep your finger on the pulse of how hoteliers across BC are 

operating. In creating these peer-to-peer opportunities, the portal will also 

allow more of your team to be involved with the BCHA as we forge a new 

chapter for the future of our industry. Most importantly, it will allow you to 

engage on your terms and on your time as we know that the commodity 

of time is precious. 

Two key issues that will surely be featured in all our membership 

engagement efforts and platforms this fall will involve workforce shortages, 

along with property and liability insurance renewals. The workforce concerns 

continue to be top of mind right now, and while the situation continues to 

evolve, rest-assured we will be a helpful resource to you on that file. Like last 

year, many of our members will go through their annual property insurance 

renewals and we anticipate that this process will once again be complicated. 

We encourage those members in our Hospitality Insurance Program to watch 

our communication channels for plenty of detail and resources. 

As always, you can reach me at mike@bcha.com should you need any 

further information or assistance. 

Advertisers 

BCHA 31 

BC Hospitality Foundation 30 

Bunzl Inc 29 

Cloverdale Paint 13 

Coldstream 

IFC 

FortisBC 

BC 

Tex-Pro Western Ltd 4 

Western Financial Group 15 

World Web Technology 7

InnFocus Fall 2021

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