Owner Raoul Malak's Vision for the Future of the Westin Bear Mountain

It Starts with the Ground Floor...

It’s going to be a complete facelift. We're going to start with the ground floor level. We have engaged a Vancouver based design firm who is going to work on a new design that will incorporate banqueting first, and we will endeavour to push banqueting towards the back of the building so we can use more of the natural light. So, all of the banqueting area, which is about 6000 square feet, will be completely restructured. We might add some additional footage to it as well.

What I mean by restructured is a complete renovation, from soundproofing to audiovisual, carpeting, furnishings, repairs, because this property has not had a facelift on the ground floor for at least 14-15 years.

In hotels, it’s about seven-year cycles. The Westin Bear Mountain missed a cycle of updates in its public areas, so that is where our innovation will begin. At the same time, while we are restoring the banqueting room, we’re going to enclose all the outside patios. The most important space in this building overlooks the golf course. And of course, we cannot have a patio that is seasonal, that people can enjoy for two to three months out of the year. We believe that the patio is a critical component of the new vision. We believe that people should be able to enjoy the view of the golf course and Mountain year round.

That raises the question of whether we are going to enclose the patio using a retractable roof and a new kitchen. We can’t have an additional eating and drinking area with 180 seats, while relying on an old kitchen. So, we will create a new kitchen in the outside enclosure. The first phase will be restructuring the banqueting area and patio enclosure, and phase two will be creating the new kitchen to accommodate the increased food and beverage service. Once we do these two phases, our food and beverage service will work comfortably, as will the banqueting service.

Next, we will start looking at the rest of the public areas, such as the front desk. The front desk area will be open, because we would like an open concept for our guests. This area will be modernized. It will allow the desk attendant to sit at a desk with two chairs for guest check-ins. The attendant will check the hotel guests in while sitting at the desk, and then stand up to welcome them. If the attendant has enough time, Westin Bear Mountain owner Raoul Malak continues, they will show the guests to their room, so that the service is barrier free.

Of course, we will incorporate all the technology that goes with the front desk area. In the future, all guests will be able check in using a mobile app that will also tell them if their room is available yet. this technology is in cooperation with Marriot International and Westin and will be implemented here by early 2020. This way, everything is coming along at the same time. All the public areas in the hotel, including the golf and members club, we will move to main floor and there will be a new café and gift shop.