North Bay's Best Western Hotel & Conference Centre has moved into the upper tier of hotel properties in the Gateway City following a three-year remodeling program.
About $3.5 million has been spent on renovations covering virtually every area of the property from its physical appearance at the front entrance to the more intimate and homey touches in its 130 guestrooms.
Located on Lakeshore Drive, just minutes from the downtown and the new Steve Omischl Sports Complex, the Best Western North Bay is the city's largest meeting and convention hotel that delivers the best for both corporate and leisure travellers.
Upgrades began in the fall of 2010 with a facelift to the hotel's front entrance where the familiar round pillars under the portico were replaced with stone supports.
“The whole look, feel and colour of the building has changed because it was very industrial-looking,” said general manager Angela Johnston. “We wanted to have some design and style to it.”
Beige and creamy earth tones dominate the hotel's colour palate among the new furnishings, decor and room accents that incorporate natural building materials like stone, granite and slate.
All guestrooms have been upgraded with new carpeting, beds, linens, bathroom fixtures, air conditioning units, and special granite touches to bathroom counters and window ledges. Among the new creature comforts are the new Simmons Felicity Pillow Top mattresses. “Everyone's loving those,” said Johnston. “I've had a lot of positive comments about those.
All rooms are now 100 per cent smoke-free.
Best Western is setting new standards for customer care with its I Care Clean program that uses advanced cleaning technology in its housekeeping inspection program with ultra-violet sterilization wands in high-touch areas and black light to detect particles and biological matter not visible to the eye.
“Service-wise, we take care of our guests,” said Johnston. “We're ensuring the guest is not only receiving good service, but a superior clean product.”
The renovations extend to the hotel's fitness centre which received new lighting, artwork, and brand-new Precor equipment. New slate flooring was installed in the pool area, showers, and saunas.
As North Bay's premier convention facility, the hotel boasts more than 11,000 square feet of combined meeting and banquet space that's been revamped with new vinyl, closets, lighting, carpeting and drapes. Meetings, conventions and various functions remain a huge part of the hotel's business with more than 500 functions every year. Conventions in excess of 300 delegates are not uncommon.
The Best Western's full-service Italian restaurant, Farina Ristorante, remains one of its strengths and frequently draws rave reviews from guests as being among the top three dining spots in North Bay.
The hotel's second restaurant, the Courtyard Cafe, was removed and converted to a lounge which opens up to the meeting room foyer.
Johnston's favourite area of the renovation is the bright and airy front lobby. The space was completely gutted and rebuilt with what she proclaims is the “biggest front desk area in North Bay.”
Bulky pillars were replaced to give lobby the appearance of being physically larger. New furniture was added and the reception area was pushed from a corner cubby hole closer to the front entrance to welcome incoming guests.
“Our staff is now more equipped to deal with the volume of customers,” said Johnston.
With North Bay becoming a hot bed of new hotel construction, Johnston said these renovations are necessary to stay in the upper echelon of the city's accommodation and hospitality sector.
“When I came on board I had a brand new team on the front desk right through to management,” said Johnston, a 35-year hotel industry veteran who arrived on the property a year ago. “I thought we had to step up our services as well as the product.”
Having worked for many hotel chains in northeastern Ontario, Johnston discovered after a week's worth of training in Arizona on Best Western's brand and philosophy that the international hotelier's culture is rooted in a supportive “family” approach throughout its chain of more than 4,000 hotels.
“Even though we're one big chain, we're all independent family-run type businesses. And that's pretty awesome.”
