Ritz-Carlton Joins Vancouver’s Luxury Market
Chris · August 17, 2007
After years of rumours and anticipation, the Ritz-Carlton brand has finally announced a luxury hotel development in Vancouver’s downtown core. The $500 million project was designed by acclaimed local architect Arthur Erickson.
This will be the second Ritz-Carlton to open its doors in Canada after the Toronto property opens in 2009. The Ritz-Carlton Montreal is not officially part of the luxury brand, but may join later after an extensive renovation is completed.
Nestled at 1153 West Georgia street between the Loden Vancouver on Melville and the Shangri-La on Thurlow, the new 127 room Ritz-Carlton Hotel will occupy the first 20 floors of a new mixed-use tower.
Back in June, local construction development blog Pacific Metropolis featured the project, which looks like it will be the second tallest building in Vancouver after the Shangri-La Hotel and Residences.
Today the Vancouver Sun ran a story about the upcoming luxury property slated to open after the Olympics, in 2011.
In the Vancouver Sun article, Ritz-Carlton Senior V.P. Michael Beckley said he recognizes that there will be a lot of competition in the area, which is why Ritz-Carlton chose to operate a relatively small hotel in Vancouver:
“Wherever we put a Ritz-Carlton, we shoot to be number-one, and it will be possible to achieve that because the hotel isn’t that large”
Very much like the Shangri-La hotel due to open in 2008, Beckley said the new Ritz-Carlton will target high-end global business and leisure travelers, and notes the chain has a large database of clients who like to stay at Ritz-Carlton hotels all over the world.
Shangri-La Hotel V.P. and General Manager Stephen Darling welcomes the entry of the Ritz-Carlton brand to the Vancouver market:
“We’re very respectful of Ritz-Carlton and see them as one of our primary competitors in North America,” he said. “When a top-end brand comes to Vancouver, it’s going to have a tremendously positive effect on the overall market.”
This is terrific news for the Vancouver hotel community who are enjoying a glut of opportunities with four major luxury hotel developments currently in progress in downtown Vancouver (including Fairmont’s Pacific Rim opening in 2009).
With so much upscale hotel competition entering the market in the years ahead, no doubt all the current luxury players in Vancouver are wondering how they will fill rooms and attract the best talent moving forward.
And the best part? We have yet another hotel construction site to photograph and monitor!
Linkage
Ritz-Carlton coming to downtown Vancouver [Vancouver Sun]
Shangri-La Strategic Plan, Vancouver [VacantReady]
