Located in downtown Montreal, the Hôtel Monville saw its occupancy rate drop to between 1 and 5% between April and July 2020. “In August, we reached an occupancy rate of 10% and in September, we saw a nice progression, but as soon as the orange and then red zone announcements were made, we lost all our reservations,” says Jean-Cédric Callies, sales and marketing director of the independent Montreal hotel.

Offers for locals

The establishment, which normally filled with business people and tourists mainly from Quebec, Ottawa, Toronto and the United States, had to find a way to accommodate locals. But how? “We created our own Montreal passport highlighting downtown attractions. An opportunity for visibility, but which did not generate many overnight stays.” Then, the idea of making an offer aimed at teleworkers was born. “We converted our suites into individual office spaces. Since workers no longer had the possibility of returning to the “open spaces”, they could rent a room in blocks of 4 hours with catering service and unlimited coffee. The hotel meets very strict health standards. It is therefore a private and safe place.”

In November, they also launched two new offers: a dinner-night-breakfast package in partnership with local restaurants and a package including immersive films with virtual headsets in partnership with the Phi Centre. "In December, we approached the 10% occupancy rate. We are far from the objectives, but the slightest victory is celebrated."

Twinning with start-ups

In order to take advantage of this slow period, Jean-Cédric Callies is banking on the creativity of start-ups to accelerate certain research and development projects. "It's about exchanges of good practices between start-ups and us," he explains. Hôtel Monville is working with MySmartJourney, which has managed to create content using QR codes. "For health reasons, we no longer have paper in the hotel, but we needed to continue to serve our customers and provide information on how the electric blinds or room service work, for example," explains the director. "This partnership allows us to improve our services. We are able to trace the information from the different QR codes used in order to adapt and improve the quality of our services."

The 20-story hotel has also partnered with startup Stay22, which offers interactive maps on which it is possible to add points of interest around the hotel, with automatic emails being sent.

Before the pandemic, the hotel already had a unique butler. The intelligent robot H2M2 from the Silicon Valley firm, Savioke, serves rooms in record time. “In addition to being our mascot, he is a popular marketing and operational element. Plus, he is Covid-friendly!” exclaims Mr. Callies. Electronic terminals with key dispensers have also been installed at the reception to allow contactless check-ins.

The R word

Just like pivoting or reinventing, resilience is another buzzword in these times of pandemic. Especially in the presence of business people like those at Hôtel Monville. “We are not necessarily looking to reinvent or revolutionize the hotel industry. In many sectors, the COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a trend accelerator. Technology will inevitably be part of our realities in the future. We wanted to be part of this movement. If it pushes us to evolve our business model, we will go in that direction.”

While it may surpass 2020, 2021 is still likely to be a tough year for hotel establishments. “We will probably be in this situation until April,” predicts Mr. Callies. “We will try to have a good summer with individual customers, depending on the speed of vaccination and the restrictions in force.”