Delta resorts moving into new airport hotel
Delta Hotels and Resorts has been named as the tenant for the new four-star hotel attached to the Calgary International Airport’s $1.4billion terminal expansion.
The shell of the 318-room hotel has already been built by the Calgary Airport Authority as part of its massive expansion project. Delta was awarded the tenancy in a competitive bid process, and is in the process of completing the interior according to its own specifications.
The hotel will boast more than 17,000 feet of conference and meeting space, including a 6,000-squarefoot ballroom; a restaurant and lounge; a spa and indoor pool; and a fitness centre with a view of the airport runways and Rocky Mountains.
Stephan Poirier, senior vice-president and chief commercial officer for the Calgary Airport Authority, said it conceived the hotel idea as a way to offer guests an improved experience but also to give the airport an additional source of revenue.
“For us, the most important thing was to create a source of revenue that diversifies from airline fees — landing fees, terminal fees and so on,” Poirier said.
Delta already offers the only existing accommodations on-site at the airport, a 296-room hotel connected to the building via a skywalk. Poirier said the future of that hotel will be discussed over the next few months, but he added the airport authority believes there is enough demand from travellers to fill both properties.
“We’ve looked at it, we spoke with a lot with operators, we hired external consultants as well to validate this and there’s definitely room for 600 rooms at Calgary International Airport,” he said.
Both Poirier and Delta Hotels president and CEO Ken Greene described the new terminal hotel as a “significant” investment for both partners.
But they declined to disclose the terms of the lease agreement or the amount of revenue the hotel is expected to generate for the airport.
Greene said the project is a first for Delta.
“We have other airport
So this is very unique to Delta, and very unique to the country — there’s not a lot of these properties KEN GREENE
locations, but nothing that is absolutely attached to a terminal,” he said. “So this is very unique to Delta, and very unique to the country — there’s not a lot of these properties.”
When it opens in the fall of 2015, the new terminal will handle all international and trans-border flights.
There will be 60 new shops and services in the new space and 22 new aircraft gates — effectively doubling the amount of terminal space at the airport.
Another piece of the expansion project — a $600-million, 14,000 foot parallel runway — opened in June.