ALT YYZ: Not your average 2-star hotel

Project manager Yves Belanger and Hugo Germain outside the ALT Toronto Airport.

By Colleen Isherwood, Editor

TORONTO—The new ALT hotel at Toronto’s Pearson Airport has a view that takes in the airport terminals, downtown Toronto and downtown Mississauga with its distinctive twisting Absolute Towers. It’s an economical alternative to the Sheraton, the only other hotel linked by a 24/7 rail line to YYZ’s Terminals 1 and 3.

Hugo Germain, director of development for ALT hotels and Yves Belanger, project manager, took CLN editor Colleen Isherwood on a hard-hat tour last month.

As he pointed out the conference rooms, most of which are board-room size, Germain pointed out the advantages of the hotel as a hub for meetings. “You can fly people in from everywhere, and they don’t even have to leave the airport” he said.

Under construction last month, ALT Toronto Airport is linked by rail to Terminals 1 and 3.

ALT Toronto Airport is the third of Groupe Germain’s hip, cheap chic brand, the first being in Brossard, on Montreal’s south shore and the second in Quebec City.

The 153-room property incorporates a geothermal heating system, consisting of 18 wells dug 500-feet deep, noted Belanger. The same system was incorporated in the Brossard property. The system saves 45 per cent on the Brossard hotel’s energy bill. Other green features such as dual-flush toilets and a white membrane to block urban heat “show we have a conscience and make sense economically,” Germain said. “You don’t have to be 5-star to invest in that technology.”

Rooms are a standard 9 feet by 13 feet, and are all priced the same, even though some rooms have special features like extra windows or a corner view. The hotel bills itself as “a 4-star hotel for a 2-star price.”

During the construction tour, room numbers were clearly marked on the floor, and in the middle of each unframed room stood what Belanger called, “an IKEA box”. Like the popular furniture company, Groupe Germain has packaged each room’s furniture in a box, to be assembled once the room has been finished. No scraping of walls during move-in, no lost parts and everything is read to assemble.

It’s been a long journey since Groupe Germain responded to the RFP four years ago, with all the complications of dealing with a Crown Corporation.

The Toronto Airport version has some modifications from the Brossard model.

“There’s a greater focus on the lounge area, meeting space and there’s the convenience of the train.” The front of the hotel will be covered with coloured glass. And, Germain promises, the food and beverage component will be interesting.

As Germain concluded, “it’s not your average two-star hotel.”

Ideas that work: guestroom furniture is boxed and placed in rooms before framing.

More ALTs on the way

With the announcement of the construction of an ALT Hotel at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, Groupe Germain is on track to meet its target of building 10 ALT Hotels across the country over a five year period.

Other projects include downtown Winnipeg, which was announced this summer and will open in summer 2013, and downtown Montreal, also scheduled to open in summer 2013.

Construction of the new Halifax ALT hotel will get underway this fall, and it is scheduled to open early in 2013. The hotel will be convenient for both business travellers and tourists, thanks to an enclosed pedestrian walkway connecting the airport to the hotel. Comprising 169 rooms and a restaurant, it represents a $27 million investment.

“We’ve been looking to make inroads into the dynamic Halifax market for some time now, and our agreement with Halifax International Airport Authority allows us to move ahead with this project,” said co-president Christiane Germain.

She added that 50 per cent of the construction cost of an ALT Hotel will be spent in Quebec, particularly in the pre-fabrication process of hotel rooms, and about $100 million will be injected into the Quebec economy by the end of this project.