For the past few days, out-of-towners looking to book a room in the capital via the regular online services have been greeted with page after page of hotel notices proclaiming: “Sorry, we’re booked.”
The notice was for all price levels, from the mid-range to the more deluxe houses like the Westin and the Lord Elgin.
A computer glitch perhaps?
“No glitch, we’re booked,” Westin general manager Ross Meredith said cheerfully Tuesday.
“Right now, I’ve got a pharmaceutical group, a banking group and a business group in the hotel. We’re very busy.”
While the middle of November (this year with snow squalls and very chilly temperatures) might not seem an ideal time for a trip to the capital, Meredith says business planners are limited in terms of availability for their events.
And a number of mid-sized events can easily outweigh the “big events” in participant totals.
“October and November — and the springtime months — can be very good months, for all sorts of reasons,” said Noel Buckley, president and CEO of Tourism Ottawa.
“The hotel business is made up of many elements: business, government, convention and tourism. When they all coincide, the rooms can disappear.”
And, while the full hotels are an anomaly, the Westin’s Meredith, for one, already has sights set on a couple of big events next month: The Hockey Canada 100th anniversary and the FIFA draws for the Women’s World Cup of soccer.
“We’re going to be busy through the end of the year. It’s a beautiful thing.”
By most online service registries, the hotel room inventory appears to be tight again Wednesday, then opening up on Thursday.
Bookings have rebounded for the hotel industry after a two-per-cent decline a year ago. Ottawa Tourism’s annual report for 2013 pegged overall hotel occupancy at 67 per cent. The average daily rate was $125.75.
“It’s been quite strong” in 2014, said Ann Meelker, the Lord Elgin’s sales and marketing director, “and we’re very optimistic about next year as well.”
With files from Robert Bostelaar
