Market Research Industry
Canadian hoteliers see gap in luxury market
Wednesday, 07, April 2010
More than 1,000 such hotel rooms are slated to open in Toronto and Vancouver over the next 12 months. But hoteliers aren't worried about oversupply: They insist the five-star market is underserved During the darkest days of the recession, one thought kept going through Tony Cohen's mind: Better to be building a luxury hotel through the downturn than to be opening one.Mr. Cohen, who with partner Peter Freed is putting the finishing touches on the 102-room Thompson hotel in the western part of downtown Toronto, isn't worried any more about filling rooms when the doors open in May.
The economy is recovering, business travellers are slowing returning, and the market is far from saturated. Toronto and Vancouver, Mr. Cohen believes, have long suffered from a lack of luxury in the hotel sector.That's about to change. Within the next 12 months, more than 1,000 luxury hotel rooms are slated to open in each of those cities – a huge expansion that was planned before the recession hit, and one with uncertain consequences for an industry that was hammered during the downturn.