GRAND FALLS-WINDSOR, N.L. — Grand Falls-Windsor might be looking for a new hotel business.
The town currently sits at about 200 rooms through three hotels within its limits — the Mount Peyton Resort and Conference Centre, Robin Hood Inn, and Westwood Inn and Suites.
“The town feels we’re underserviced in the accommodations area,” said Coun. Mark Whiffen, chairperson of the town’s economic development, tourism and heritage committee. “We said let's hire a consultant to determine if we could use more accommodations.”
So a hotel feasibility study was recently completed aimed at determining whether the town can support another hotel, or not.
The reasoning for the report is sound.
A new hotel project would provide Grand Falls-Windsor opportunity to expand its hosting abilities for sports tournaments, conferences and meetings, according to Whiffen.
“The town feels we’re underserviced in the accommodations area." — Mark Whiffen
It wasn’t too long ago Grand Falls-Windsor expected to see another hotel chain lay down roots in the community.
In 2015, Pacrim Development Services and developer Glenn Squires reached a contract to construct 40 Red Roof Inn hotels across Canada. Two were earmarked for Newfoundland and Labrador markets — one in Bay Roberts and one in Grand Falls-Windsor.
Locally, the building was intended to be a 61-room facility and would have been open by the first quarter of 2017.
To date, no groundbreaking has occurred in either community.
The feasibility report consultants met with local community shareholders to get a picture of what was needed. The town received the finished product a couple of weeks ago and were met with positive results.
The report recommended Grand Falls-Windsor could support a limited-service hotel. It could have as many as 90 rooms, offer complimentary breakfast, have a pool and a small meeting space.
The study gives the town a valuable tool as it pursues potential hotel investors.
“With a professional report, if we’re out prospecting we can say here are the stats and the information that you are going to need to make a business decision,” said Whiffen. “We figured that would be a better option.
“It was a valuable exercise for us. It provides us with good information.”
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