HULL, QUEBEC, CANADA— Hilton Hotels Corp. is making good on its commitment to have greater distribution of product across its brands in Canada, and is looking to both conversions and new builds to add market strength. “There’s a huge opportunity here,” said J. Michael Curran, vp/marketing, Hilton Hotels Corp. “In the United States, better than 70% of all hotels are branded; in Canada, it’s 30%. As the infrastructure grows and more competition comes in, to be truly competitive [hoteliers]have to have the resources of the brand: the customer delivery channels, the technology, the marketing support, the global distribution to generate the customers.” He expects the new builds to be the smaller Hiltons in secondary and tertiary markets, such as Hilton Garden Inns. Hampton Inn already has a strong presence in the country with nine hotels, said Curran, as do full-service Hiltons. Indeed, the global lodging chain’s benchmark 25th hotel in the country is the $131.4 million Hilton Lac Leamy, which held its grand opening here Oct. 27. According to Michael Miele, Hilton’s director of brand performance, the property is the flagship in Canada for the brand, even though the chain has neither equity nor a management stake in the hotel. Located within 10 minutes drive of downtown Ottawa, the nation’s capital, the 349-room, new-construction property overlooks both Lac Leamy and Lac des Carrieres and is situated between a just-built conference center with flex space ranging from 23,000 square feet to 33,000 square feet and one of the Outaouais region’s premier gaming destinations, the Casino de Hull, which can accommodate 6,500 persons. The casino is operated by Loto-Québec, also the owner/developer of the Hilton. Established in 1969, Loto-Québec is a state-owned corporation that implements and operates lotteries and “games of chance” for the Government of Quebec, and via one of several gaming subsidiaries, runs state-owned casinos in the cities of Montreal and Charlevoix, as well as the Hull facility. The Hilton Lac Leamy is operated by another Loto-Québec subsidiary, Resto-Casino, through a franchise agreement with Hilton Inns, Inc. The hotel is being positioned to attract not only leisure and corporate business, but group and adjunct gaming business as well. “Having the hotel will expand our reach toward new markets, particularly from the United States,” said Sylvie Moisan, marketing director for the casino, noting hotel/casino/theatre packages are being considered. Given the amount of independent hotels in Canada, Curran noted there’s also “enormous opportunity for conversions here, where they’ll be seeking the resources of the big brands to help them stay profitable.” For example, said Curran, “We have a Doubletree conversion that’s set to open Dec. 1 at the Toronto Airport. The Doubletree International Plaza will have about 500 rooms and 60,000 square feet of meeting space. So we’ll have a nice synergistic relationship in Toronto, with a Hilton at the airport as well, although that’s more business-travel focused. The Doubletree will be more meetings and conventions oriented, with triple the meeting space of the Hilton….there’s a huge cross-sell opportunity to refer business to the other hotel when one is not available.” Expectations for synergies between Hilton’s properties in Québec and Montreal also are high. “Government agencies can now use Hilton in the three key cities of eastern Québec,” said Miele. Hilton Lac Leamy general manager René Gounel also pointed out “Ottawa is the base for many associations and there’s the government complement, the embassies, the political meetings. There’s also been a lot of development by [Canadian and international] high-tech companies, which has stimulated a lot of economic growth, the highest in the region,” said Gounel, although he admitted the sector has slowed down. The GM believes the favorable rate of exchange [Nov. 30; $1=CDN$1.57], as well as the conference center and the
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