OPENING DURING A PANDEMIC
Griffintown Hotel has bold plan
Montreal’s newest hotel entered the market at an interesting time.
Griffintown Hotel, a $46-million project spearheaded by a group of local investors, opened its doors last month amid the tourism industry’s worst summer on record. The 14-storey building, located a short walk from the Lachine Canal, includes 114 fully-equipped condo-style apartments that can be booked for short-, medium- and long-term stays, with discounts offered for rentals of seven days or more.
With Canada’s borders closed since March because of the coronavirus pandemic, occupancy rates at Montreal hotels averaged about 10 per cent in June, “and the trend for July and August isn’t much better,” Eve Paré, CEO of the Hotel Association of Greater Montreal, said Monday.
Key investors behind Griffintown Hotel include Lachance Immobilier, a Montreal-based real estate developer that has already built several condo towers in the neighbourhood, and several undisclosed individuals.
Despite the pandemic, “we felt there was a demand for short-term accommodation in the neighbourhood,” general manager Laura-michèle Grenier Martin told the Montreal Gazette in an interview. “Montreal hasn’t stopped; it’s just resting. We’ve had people book an apartment with their families because they had to undergo medical treatment here and wanted space. We think we can fill a niche.”
Griffintown Hotel’s owners are capable of withstanding a multiyear downturn in tourism, Grenier Martin insists.
“We’re prepared for the worstcase scenario,” she said. “Let’s assume the pandemic is around for several years. We thought, what can we do to adapt ourselves quickly and offer a product that’s safe? Zero-risk doesn’t exist, but we’re doing everything to limit risk as much as possible by making people autonomous and letting them live like locals.”
Griffintown Hotel’s one- and two-bedroom apartments range in size from 395 to 845 square feet. Each apartment is equipped with a full kitchen, a living room, one or two bathrooms and a washer and dryer. An entire floor is reserved for pet owners. Rooms are disinfected with dry-vapour machines such as those used in hospitals. All apartments have their own independent ventilation system.
Amenities include a 24-hour reception and security service, a five-level indoor garage and a street-level takeout section reserved for hotel guests. Upon request, reception staff can deliver orders directly to the rooms.
Apartment hotels such as this one “are a product that we’ve been seeing a lot more in Montreal, particularly with the popularity of Airbnb,” Paré said.
The new facility becomes one of a handful of hotels operating in Griffintown. The oldest is Groupe Germain Hospitalité’s Hôtel Alt Montréal, which opened on Peel St. in 2014, though its doors are currently closed until the end of August.
“Griffintown isn’t typically a neighbourhood that’s dense with tourists, so it’s an interesting bet,” Paré said. “It’s an even greater challenge to operate it without being part of a large chain.”
The way Grenier Martin sees it, one of Griffintown Hotel’s main selling points will be the freedom it affords its visitors.
“We’re a hybrid product, and we think that’s a plus,” she said. “We have hotel-style standards, on-demand service, but we also give our customers a lot of autonomy. People don’t necessarily want to live in a hotel and eat three meals a day at the restaurant, or spend money every time they need to wash their clothes.”