A hotel to be built in Winnipeg will really put hospital into the hospitality industry.

Manitoba hotel chain Canad Inns and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) say that a hotel to open in 2008 at the Health Sciences Centre (HSC) will be the only hotel in Canada on hospital property.

"This will be a special hotel, attached to Manitoba's largest medical residential facility," says Leo Ledohowski, president and CEO of Canad Inns.

"We will cater to the specialized needs of patients' families, health professionals and research scientists. With two floors of meeting and seminar rooms, it'll be very convenient, since the blood bank and laboratories are a stone's throw away as well.

Illustration courtesy of Canad Inns
Canad Inns will build its hotel at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, next to the Siemens Institute for Advanced Medicine.

"There may be a 'Biomed City' in the area one day. Though merely a concept at this stage, that seems to be the direction the vicinity is taking, what with a virology lab and dental facilities. All these are expected to generate a steady demand for the hotel's services," says Ledohowski.

"Attaching a hotel to a major health-care facility, I believe, is the first of its kind in Canada," he adds. "Canad Inns is pleased to be part of this exciting opportunity adding to our growing network of private/ public-sector partnerships.

"This fits with our corporate vision and mission. The public sector's contribution to the partnership is to lease us the land for 99 years, on which we can provide complementary facilities at prices lower than them. This is our sixth such synergistic partnership with the public sector."

The hotel will be next to the new Siemens Institute for Advanced Medicine research centre.

It will have 160 to 200 guest rooms on 20 floors, executive rooms and suites, banquet, meeting and convention spaces and other guest services, including two floors of restaurants.

Dr. Brian Postl, president and CEO of the WRHA, says: "At the WRHA, we are always looking for innovative opportunities to better meet the health-care needs of Manitobans. The Canad facility will support families in staying close to hospitalized relatives as well as provide first-class services to staff working on our campus as well as the many visiting physicians, scientists and other health-care professionals."

Canad Inns is Manitoba's largest hotel chain with seven hotels in Winnipeg, one in Portage La Prairie, Man., one in Brandon and one under construction in Grand Forks, N.D.

Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg is the largest health-care referral, teaching and research centre serving residents of Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario and Nunavut.

Located on 32 acres of land in central Winnipeg, the HSC is the designated trauma centre for Manitoba and the centre for neurosurgery, transplants and most hospital-based pediatric care for Winnipeg and its surrounding regions.

(Ashoke Dasgupta can be reached at dasgupta@businessedge.ca)