Hotel targets millenial market

By Maddy Hadfield

Millennials are the new target clientele for a hotel sitting on one of Centretown’s most storied lots.

Hotel Indigo, located on at the corner of Metcalfe Street and Laurier Avenue, will start operating independently as the Metcalfe Hotel on Feb. 12.

The hotel was formerly operating under the InterContinental Hotels Group, an international corporation whose brands include Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Candlewood Suites.

Patrick Quirouette, director of sales and marketing for the hotel, said that as the baby boomer generation ages, millennials are quickly becoming the focus of marketing efforts.

“Given that we’re in Ottawa, we end up being kind of a public servant town. We have a lot of baby boomers, and we’re understanding that that generation will slowly embrace retirement,” said Quirouette.

“So we need to focus on the new demographic that’s coming into our city, or that will be replacing them, and those are often the millennials or the hipsters.”

According to a study published by Expedia, millennials make up the largest demographic of travellers.

Quirouette said one of the biggest changes he hopes will draw in guests will be a newly-renovated lobby.

“Right now, it’s more of a passageway to check in and get to the elevator,” Quirouette said.

“It’ll be more of a place where people can gather and just kind of connect and network.”

But the hotel’s millennial marketing efforts go beyond mere aesthetics.

Without the restrictions that come with being part of a chain, the hotel is able to offer products from local vendors.

Quirouette said the hotel has partnered with the company that produces local brewing company Kichesippi Beer, as well as Harvey and Vern’s soda company.

“We’re also looking into local vendors for meat and produce,” Quirouette said.

Local charity organizations are also one of the hotel’s focuses.

Quirouette said the hotel partners with the Taggart YMCA on Argyle Avenue, a nod to the building’s rich history.

“When the building was built in 1907, we opened as a YMCA,” he said.

“We were the first YMCA in Ottawa. So we’ve raised money for them in different ways,” Quirouette said.

Before that, the property’s history dates all the way back to the Confederation era.

It was once owned by Father of Confederation Sir George-Etienne Cartier, a protégé of Sir John A. Macdonald.

It also was the social hub of the nation’s capital during the late 1860s and early 1870s, according to a history of the property prepared by journalist and Carleton University professor Randy Boswell, who is also the publisher of Centretown News.

Although their marketing focus has shifted towards millennials, Quirouette said the hotel is still aiming to keep its existing clientele, a mix of corporate and government clients.

“We don’t want to lose our clientele that we have, we just want to be in a position where we can be attractive for a younger generation,” Quirouette said.

To attract that younger generation, Quirouette said the use of social media is crucial.

“We’re using different communication channels to try to reach out to them, to bring some awareness to who we’re going to be,” Quirouette said.

He said he hopes the Metcalfe will become a hotspot for millennials who are looking for a place to hang out, grab a drink, or gather socially before heading elsewhere downtown.

“Whether they’re staying with us or not, we want the Metcalfe to be that place that’s kind of a hidden gem where people want to be.”