Insider Events – Hyatt Place Ottawa West

Basic details of the Unique Hotel

Hotel Name: Hyatt Place Ottawa West

Locally Owned, Sustainable, Community Oriented!

Grand Opening Date: May 27^th 2021

City, Country: Ottawa, ON

Website: Hyatt Place Ottawa West: Overview | LinkedIn

Pre-opening team:

• Alison Hunter | LinkedIn, General Manager came one year ago
• The management team began to take shape one year prior to opening.

Specific Hotel’s Questions:

When was the idea first proposed?

The idea goes back to 2018 but the first construction crew workers came mid-2019.

Who was the targeted customers’ market for the hotel?

A key element was certainly the National Defense (DND) - Department of National Defence: Overview | LinkedIn headquarters moving in down the street as well as Kanata Technology Park - Kanata North Business Association (kanatanorthba.com). Our main targeted market is corporate and government business but we also want to attract local tourists who wants to experience what a sustainable hotel is.

What was the main objective of this hotel?  

We want people to experience sustainability. We want to show people that they can feel comfortable, without having to make sacrifices, while still minimizing their impact upon the environment. We think that experiencing sustainability initiatives it is the first step committing to them.

What was different about this hotel?

We are locally Owned, Sustainable and Community Oriented!

We’re trying to shop local to reducing our carbon footprint: our tables in the restaurant are made of wood reclaimed from Ontario River.

We are also trying to eliminate all single use plastic: in the lobby we have a water fountain to allow guest to refill their reusable water bottles.

Other examples of sustainable initiatives we’ve committed to includes:

         Earth-friendly geo-thermal heating and cooling

• 225 solar panel on the rooftop
• thousands & thousands of bees on the rooftop
• motion sensor lighting in hallways and LED lighting throughout the hotel
• all suites are accessible – Our hotel is for everyone and anyone.

We are very proud to have opened our hotel Open with 5 key eco-rating

Hyatt Place Ottawa-West Embeds Sustainability Day One – Green Key Global

What was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome?

The biggest obstacle was the supply chain disruption during the pandemic. We had to be creative, moving around products from one vendor to another. I have things that still did not arrive yet. I’ve received my pillows one week before the inspection, but I’ve ordered them one year out.

Some rooms are not in service yet because stuff is missing.

On top of that, every time you change your date because a product did not arrive, you must change everything.

Was it challenging to staff the hotel?

At the beginning, it was not a challenging thing to staff. I felt blessed.

However, I have to keep the labor in check, and it takes more work to hire for a position. At the hotel everybody helps with everything.

For example, I have only one person in engineering. Sometimes other colleagues jump in to help. We have 21 employees’ total.

I know how devastated the pandemic has been for everyone. I don’t forget how lucky I am to do the thing that I love during this time.

What was your biggest triumph?

Supporting local businesses makes me feel so good. We want to help small businesses in our backyard.

For example, we have craft beers on our menus: we serve White Water Legion Lager which come from Ottawa Valley and supports Canada’s Veterans. We buy local from a company that has the same mentality than us.

We work with a local company (First Aid Plus) for our PPE and first aid equipment.  It is actually run by a veteran.

On our parking lot we have a veteran parking spot reserved.

We buy from a local florist. Anything we can buy locally we buy locally.

Last words

We look forward to the day when our industry is flourishing again, and we can meet together with our colleagues in person. Human interaction drives connections.

Article compiled by Elodie LORTAL, BHM, CMP | LinkedIn at National Arts Centre | Centre national des Arts: My Company | LinkedIn

Article edited by Rozanne Lyons, CMP,  Senior Project Manager at Intertask Conferences