Canadian Lodging News – Before & After
Mont Laurier Comfort – the real renovation
MONT LAURIER, QC-Mont Laurier, QC is strategically located on a major highway in the Laurentians north of Mont Tremblant. With 40 rooms, it attracts sports teams, salespeople and business travelers. In November 2012, the owners contacted Patricia McClintock & Associés Inc. They had already worked on the guestrooms-they were ready to address the lobby.
The results, completed in time for last month’s holiday season, included construction of a port cochère at the entrance, and a lobby that is almost double in size going from 480 to 775 square feet.
« Lobbies have become a focal point, an introduction to what a property has to offer, » said
Patricia McClintock, principal of the Montreal based hospitality design firm. « The traveler is more intent on making the lobby an interactive experience. »
By increasing the size, they also improved access to the front desk, improved the look of the front desk, and added more seating and a fire place. The designers opened up the lobby by adding windows.
« Before, the lobby was small with not enough seating, darker and typical of a small town hotel”, said McClintock. The new design incorporates artwork consisting of glass panels with pine trees and snow caps, typical of the area.
« While hotels are looking at standard amenities for the brand , they also want people who are travelling to remember where they went. The investors wanted to introduce a sense of wow and a sense of place.
« Mont Laurier is on the road to Baie James [James Bay]. We created that sense of place through the artwork, through the type of colouring. Quebec has its own specificities; it’s more daring, with more of a Latin influence. We put in a fireplace, where before there was none. It says, ‘come in, it’s cold, stop and see our welcoming fire place.’ »
