The National Hockey League players’ lockout will cost Vancouver hotels at least $5 million if it lasts the whole season, says the chairman of the city’s hotel association.

Calgary and Edmonton hotels are also expected to lose millions during the labour dispute, but the chairman of the Alberta Hotel and Lodging Association says he could not put a dollar figure on the amount.

Gary Collinge, chairman of the Vancouver Hotel Association, based his estimate on half of the Canucks’ 1,200 out-of-town season-ticket holders staying in hotels, for about two nights, over the course of 41 regular-season games.

“There’s no way we can possibly replace it,” says Collinge, adding his estimate was conservative. “The Canucks generate a tremendous amount of income here.”

Bayne Stanley, Business Edge
Georgian Court Hotel GM Bob Marando will have a bird’s-eye view of an empty GM Place, left.

Collinge, who is also general manager of the Hampton Inn and Suites located on Beatty Street – within walking distance of the Canucks’ home at General Motors Place – estimates his 132-room facility and other hotels could lose 10 to 15 room bookings per night around the dates when the team would have played.

“It’s not going to have a huge negative impact on any one hotel,” says Collinge. “This (effect) is more for all the Vancouver hotels collectively.”

Collinge’s estimate did not factor in lost revenue at hotels where visiting teams stay, which would push the $5-million figure up by a few hundred thousand dollars more. He says association executives have held meetings recently to discuss the lockout’s effect on their hotels and are “circling the troops” to find new ways to attract guests.

The association plans to work with organizers of the inaugural Rogers Video Santa Claus Parade and other festivals, and develop marketing partnerships with Tourism Vancouver.

William Schmidt, chairman of the Alberta Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), says Calgary and Edmonton hotels that accommodate visiting players, coaches, team officials, and media will feel the biggest impact. Other hotels will also lose guests as fans from rural Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan stay home.

However, Schmidt says: “I don’t know if it will get up to those kind ($5 million) of numbers” anticipated in Vancouver.

Food and beverage manager Philippe Doebeli of Vancouver’s Georgian Court Hotel says strike will affect staffing levels.

He estimates that Calgary and Edmonton could each lose at least 1,000 to 1,500 room bookings over 50 cancelled home hockey dates, while pubs and restaurants in those cities will also feel financial pain. Vancouver hotels will suffer the biggest loss, he predicts, because hockey-related hotel demand is higher on the West Coast.

The AHLA will look at ways to make up for the shortfall, but has not yet developed a strategy. Schmidt questions what can be done, because nobody knows exactly how long the lockout will last.

Calgary hoteliers are also concerned that the buzz the Flames created during their improbable run to the Stanley Cup finals last spring will quiet down, as former customers forget about the NHL and find ways to spend money elsewhere.

“Some of the goodwill that was established at that (playoff) time could be lessened,” says Schmidt.

He does not expect the lockout to affect room bookings at the hotel he manages – the Carriage House Inn, located about 65 blocks south of the Saddledome on Macleod Trail. But, he says, its sports bar definitely will.

In Vancouver, Bob Marando, general manager of the Georgian Court Hotel, says the lockout hurts hotels around GM Place more than other businesses because fans want to stay close to the arena.

The Georgian Court, which is also on Beatty Street and overlooks the Canucks’ rink, stands to lose 15 to 50 room bookings around game dates, depending on the calibre of the visiting team, he adds.

As a result, the hotel will likely employ fewer seasonal staff.

“For every 15 to 16 (empty) rooms, it means we’re employing one less maid,” says Marando. “That affects them in their own pocket, paying their bills and their mortgage and everything else.”

He says hotel association executives have discussed ways to book new events with various partners on vacant game dates, but were unable to because touring entertainers such as bands travel regional circuits and would have to disrupt their travel schedules.

“If it’s one night only in the place, I don’t think (new events) are going to come flooding into the city,” says Marando.

Marando hopes other previously scheduled new events that had been booked months in advance, such as the Santa Claus Parade and Super Cross motorcycle races at B.C. Place, will mitigate the effects of the lockout. But he indicates the revenue won’t be significant compared to dollars generated by the Canucks’ 41 regular-season home games and playoff contests.

“We’re event-driven,” says Marando. “We have corporate events, but the Canucks are what get us through the winter months.”

Business at the hotel’s Beatty Street Bar and Grill and a separate bistro will also take a big hit. Philippe Doebeli, the Georgian Court’s food and beverage manager, says the lockout spells a loss of $4,000 per game for the bar and bistro, while there will also be a “ripple down” on room service and breakfast sales.

“Hockey is the reason why we need (staff) in the bar,” Doebeli says. “So normally, we’d have a lot more shifts. Sometimes there are three games a week. So we have a lot less staff. Maybe we won’t hire them back.”

Fraser Boyer, director of operations for MJG Brewery Restaurants, which operates two pub/restaurants – Dix Barbecue and Brewery, and Yaletown Brewing Company – near GM Place, estimates each location will lose $3,000 to $4,000 per game.

In addition to drawing large crowds of fans attending home games, Dix and Yaletown also attract healthy audiences for road games shown on pay-per-view TV.

A boost in crowds for ABC’s Monday Night Football might help offset the loss, he adds.

Hotel and bar operators expect the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League, who play across from GM Place in B.C. Place, to help them recoup some of their losses.

The football team has already gained from the lockout. The Lions e-mailed a special two-for-one discount offer on their Aug. 27 game against Toronto to Canucks’ season-ticket holders and received a good response, said Leos president Bob Ackles.

The club is also approaching businesses that support the Canucks for sponsorship deals.

“The lockout is not something we’re jumping up and down about, because we’re starting to draw extremely well without having a situation at all,” says Ackles.

In Edmonton, Julian Koziak, president of the Chateau Louis Hotel located downtown, says his hotel will not lower staffing levels.

“We’re quite diversified,” says Koziak, whose facility does not have a sports bar.

He expects the Edmonton Roadrunners to help pick up the slack.

“It’s the only pro hockey west of Manitoba,” he notes.

The Chateau Louis holds 30 Oilers season tickets, which it uses for hotel and hockey packages. The hotel was one of the groups that came to the rescue of the Oilers when the financially struggling team was in jeopardy of leaving town as former owner Peter Pocklington was attempting to sell the club. (Edmonton Investors Group Ltd., a consortium of 38 investors, eventually bought the club.)

Regardless of when the lockout ends, Koziak does not think the damage will hurt the city’s hotel industry in the long term. “Edmonton is a hockey town,” he says. “So I don’t see there will be any negative effect with fans here any more than anywhere else.”

In Calgary, bar operators hope the Red Mile doesn’t become the Dead Mile after interest in the Flames reached a fever pitch last spring and thousands of fans jammed bars and eateries along 17 Avenue S.W.

“It really hasn’t affected us here at Jack’s,” says Ernie Tsu, co-owner of Classic Jack’s Restaurant and Bar. “We’re back to the regular swing.”

But, he says, the lockout may have an effect on typically slow nights that would have been boosted by a Flames’ game.

But the idle NHL clubs may offset some of the negative impact on hotels, pubs and restaurants. The Canucks own and manage their arena and can book other events.

The Flames operate the city-owned Saddledome and own the major junior Calgary Hitmen, who also play there. The Hitmen are expected to enjoy a surge in attendance during the lockout as Flames’ fans get their hockey fix another way.

The Oilers own the Edmonton Roadrunners of the minor pro American Hockey League, who moved to the Alberta capital this season from Toronto. Like the Oilers, the Roadrunners play out of Rexall Place, which is owned and operated by the Northlands Park community service organization.

Oilers general manager Kevin Lowe could also feel the financial effects of a downturn in Edmonton sports pubs. He is a part-owner of the Overtime Broiler and Tap Room on 111th Street, a popular fan hangout.

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)