Dear Accommodation Community,
Today, Governor General Julie Payette delivered the Speech from the Throne, recognizing the travel and tourism sector as being one of the hardest hit within Canada and outlining intended economic recovery measures. This is a monumental leap in the right direction for federal support as the Throne Speech will lead to a vote of confidence in the House of Commons in the coming days.
In working with the Hotel Association of Canada (HAC), along with other provincial and federal hotel and tourism organizations, such as the Tourism Industry Associations of BC and Canada (TIABC and TIAC), it has been our collective priority that our industry be recognized and supported in our path to survival; today that was achieved.
The Throne Speech brought attention to key advocacy asks that included:
- Extending the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy to summer of 2021 (the wage subsidy extension is part of the government's vow to create one million jobs, which would restore employment to pre-pandemic levels. It is also promising to "scale up" its strategy to help young people gain skills and find jobs)
- Expanding the Canada Emergency Business Account to help businesses with fixed costs;
- Improving access to Government loans (BCAP);
- Introducing further support for industries that have been the hardest hit, including travel and tourism, hospitality, and cultural industries like the performing arts;
- And supporting regional routes for airlines.
Further to this, the government also committed to addressing tax avoidance by digital corporations; the short-term rental file has been a long-term advocacy issue for our industry so this is another win and first step in addressing companies like Airbnb.
There has been a lot of heavy lifting to get to this place of recognition on a federal level and on behalf of the BCHA, I thank each of you for lending your voice and spotlighting the issues so deeply affecting our industry. We also extend our thanks to Minister Freeland and Minister Joly for supporting our industry and our advocacy asks. We will continue to work with our industry partners across Canada to ensure that the needs of our BC members are supported and recognized in Ottawa.
Provincially, earlier this week we learned that October will bring a provincial election. We are currently working to curate necessary tools and resources for our accommodation community to make an informed decision when the time comes to visit the polls or submit your vote by mail. We will have further information to share with each of you in the coming weeks.
Stay safe,
Ingrid Jarrett
President and CEO
British Columbia Hotel Association
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The BCHA announce their new partnership with the BC Regional Tourism Secretariat (BCRTS) and STR aimed at offering informed recovery strategies for BC accommodators that have been negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Using industry data from STR – the sector’s leading data benchmarking and analytics provider – BCHA and BCRTS will develop tools and strategies to support people and communities at the heart of BC’s tourism industry.
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Member Benefits:
- STR provides benchmarking reports to accommodations owners & operators so you can track your monthly performance in Occupancy, ADR (average daily rate), and RevPAR (revenue per available room) versus your competitors and/or your local market.
- The reports allow you to see if promotions worked or not, if the property is growing year over year, and aids in making better rate management and budgeting decisions.
- Your participation not only assists your property in creating better revenue management strategies, but the aggregated market data is invaluable to your local associations when lobbying for tourism-friendly legislation and preparing marketing strategies to promote tourism in your destination.
Keep in mind all individual hotel data remains confidential and is never released to a 3rd party.
Get started!
Participation is simple. Your property provides STR two pieces of data each month via their secure website www.str.com: total rooms sold and total rooms revenue. The submission takes less than 5 minutes, once a month. STR does the rest and produces a customized report for your hotel.
**4 Things to Know:
1) Your data remains confidential
2) Your participation assists not only your property, but also your local market and the entire province
3) Participation is fast and easy, taking less than 5 minutes a month
4) STR provides free training
For more information or to sign up for STR’s reports, please contact:
Emile Gourieux
Business Development Executive, Hotels—STR
Canada, Caribbean & Mexico
Tel: +1 (615) 824 8664 x3221
Email: egourieux@str.com
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HAC: Government Stands Behind Hotel Industry
in Speech from the Throne
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Today is a great day. The Speech from the Throne includes HAC’s key advocacy asks including:
- Extending the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy to summer of 2021;
- Expanding the Canada Emergency Business Account to help businesses with fixed costs;
- Improving access to Government loans (BCAP);
- And introducing further support for industries that have been the hardest hit, including travel and tourism, hospitality, and cultural industries like the performing arts.
Today the Government chose to stand behind our industry. This action is a direct result of our lobbying work, and your engagement in our Association. THANK YOU. The heavy lifting is done.
Now we start the important work of launching these programs and working through design elements to ensure that they fully meet the needs of our industry. Our goal will be speed, recognizing the critical state of our industry, and we will communicate just as soon as we have more concrete facts to share.
The icing on the cake was a commitment to address tax avoidance by digital giants. This has been a long-time advocacy issue for the industry as we were working to level the playing field against Short-Term Rental providers, like Airbnb. This was also included in the Speech from the Throne.
Our goal for today was to ensure that we had the support of Government behind us on our critical ask to survive, and we achieved that.
Thank you again for your confidence in our association and your continued support.
If I could please ask you to write to your Member of Parliament to say thank you, it would be appreciated. If you are social media inclined, please also direct tweet Minister Joly and Minister Freeland to say thank you.
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Grants for BC Economic Recovery |
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While many businesses are now fully reopened and have begun to rehire employees, we know others continue to struggle. The tourism, hospitality and retail sectors have been particularly hard hit. That’s why the next steps in our recovery plan will make key strategic investments in supporting businesses, including BC Small and Medium Business Recovery Grant.
Small and medium sized businesses that have experienced a significant and sustained downturn in sales and revenues due to COVID-19 will have access to a grant that will support business recovery for those that have a recovery plan and the ability to continue operations in a post-COVID economy.
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The BC Hotel Association is proud to announce our involvement with the Wine Institute of BC and other industry partners on the Harvest Campaign. This campaign is a direct, free member benefit designed to assist hotels in parts of the province capture much needed fall business. |
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Please fill in this survey |
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As we face the current and potential future impacts of COVID-19, we continue to work with all levels of government, along with our key partners and industry stakeholders, to support the needs of our industry.
Since the initial impact of the virus was felt, we've been regularly collecting data and tracking progress to quantify this changing landscape. In order for us to better understand the ramifications the pandemic has had and action relevant change, we must continue to update this information.
Below is a 5 minute survey that we ask for your participation in as we conduct this vital pulse check. Your responses will help us continue to advocate for the issues that matter most to you and allow us to spotlight the severe impact COVID-19 has had on our industry, actioning real change.
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InnFocus Magazine is an initiative of the BC Hotel Association. The quarterly publication is targeted to decision makers in the hospitality industry, offering content that aims to be educational and insightful for hoteliers across the province.
At BCHA, we are mindful of always delivering effective communications to our members and hotel community at large. As such, we require your feedback to assess how we effectively offer this communications tool in future.
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Upcoming BCHA Live Industry Updates |
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The BC Hotel Association is the voice of the hotel industry at the federal, provincial and community level. Ingrid Jarrett – President & CEO & Mike Macleod – Director of Member & Business Development cordially invite to share your voice, live and in person during the roadshow when we are in your community. We are starting with the Kootenays Sept 28-Oct 1. We look forward to seeing you there – please register below. All protocols will be in place for meeting safely in person.
The content of the session will include the state of advocacy efforts in the province, recovery strategies for our Tourism and Hospitality Industry, emerging issues, industry best practices and member benefit initiatives. There will be plenty of time during the session for feedback and questions from you.
Please RSVP as Public Health Office Protocols will require us to register everyone in advance. Space in each venue will be limited due to physical distancing measures.
We look forward to seeing you!
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BC Hotel Association Partners with BC Regional Tourism...
BRITISH COLUMBIA - The British Columbia Hotel Association (BCHA) is working in partnership with the BC Regional Tourism Secretariat (BCRTS) and to offer informed recovery strategies for BC accommodators that have been negatively impacted by the...
Read more
businessexaminer.ca
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Hospitality sector struggling to survive | Watch News...
The province has announced a 1.5 billion dollar economic recovery plan and it's been met with mixed reaction for industry leaders and opposition parties. Ingrid Garret, president of the B.C. Hotel Association, explains why more help is needed if...
Read more
globalnews.ca
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As part of our education pillar, BCHA continues to offer new courses and webinars from our education partners. Through our education series, BCHA members and hospitality professionals may access tools for continued growth within the hospitality industry at a significantly reduced price. We encourage you to take this time to explore the courses below: |
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Click here to sign up for any of the upcoming courses or webinars or learn more about all the education BCHA has to offer.
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